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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The first person I want to thank for helping me to write this book is Susan Raposa, the information specialist for the Commission of Fine Arts. At the very start of this process she was helpful and thorough, and she encouraged me to believe that there was indeed a book worth writing in the neatly stacked boxes in the quiet CFA offices. Marcella Brown, the information resources specialist at the National Capital Planning Commission, also aided early on by opening up her files. Shelly Jacobs at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library worked diligently on my FOIA requests, and Jennifer Mandel helped me sift through the newly opened material. The staff at the National Park Service National Capital Region offices generously gave me access to material in their files. Martha Sell at the American Battle Monuments Commission helped me negotiate every researcher’s nightmare—a fire in the archives. Archivists at the George Bush, George W. Bush, and William J. Clinton Presidential Libraries graciously helped me determine that their collections held little for me. The same is true for Kim Nusco at the John Carter Brown Library. I am indebted to all of them.

I am also incredibly grateful for the time key actors took to talk to me and respond to my arguments about the memorials. Maurice Barboza, Marilla Cushman, Don De Leon, Ed Dwight, Frank Gaylord, Jan Scruggs, Friedrich St. Florian, Jan Scruggs, and General Wilma Vaught are all remarkable and remarkably busy people. I couldn’t have written this book without their help. And though I know they don’t all share my conclusions, I hope they find a profound respect for them in these pages.

My dear friend and favorite photographer, Hank Savage, took nearly all the photographs in the book. This is the second book he has illustrated for me, and I couldn’t be more grateful. Thank you, Hank.

Scholars Beth Bailey, Pete Daniel, Ed Linenthal, George Sanchez, and Dell Upton each stepped up to provide crucial support at some point in the project. I am grateful for their kindness and their scholarship.

The Program in American Culture at the University of Michigan has been my intellectual and institutional home for a very long time. I am lucky and proud to be part of this community of scholars. I want to thank the AC staff—Judy Gray, Mary Freiman, Marlene Moore, Brook Posler, and Tabby Rohn—for being so good at what they do. Graduate students Aimee Von Bokel and Paul Farber were able assistants as I wrote. And, of course, I am indebted to my friends and colleagues here, past and present, for the time they have given in reading drafts, asking hard questions, and pushing me in unexpected and productive ways. This is especially true of Paul Anderson, Sara Blair, Jay Cook, Julie Ellison, Jonathan Freedman, Joe Gone, Sandra Gunning, June Howard, Mary Kelley, Tiya Miles, Damon Salesa, Xiomara Santamarina, Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, Amy Stillman, Alan Wald, Penny Von Eschen, and Magdalena Zaborowski. Julie, June, and Mary have also been important mentors for me. Phil Deloria and Greg Dowd both helped me think through this book and saw me through the tenure process with kindness and grace; I will always be grateful to them. Michael Witgen was my closest reader and most focused critic. I am much obliged for his help; he made this a better book.

Niels Hooper at the University of California Press has shepherded this book across what feels like, to both of us I am sure, vast expanses of time and space. Thank you for all the weak coffee in bad conference hotels across the country and for your perseverance. Thanks also to all involved parties at the press, especially the patient and efficient Kim Hogeland and the eagled-eyed Elizabeth Berg.

I cannot thank my friends enough. Marybeth Lewis proofread the whole manuscript. Ann Stevenson kept me going on innumerable occasions; Curt Catallo fed me on innumerable occasions. Deirdre, John, Hugh, and Guy Cross took great care of me when I was in Washington. Heidi and Vincenzo Binetti shared the chaos and the fun of the life of a scholar with a house full of kids. The teachers at Bach Elementary School, Slauson Middle School, and Pioneer High School took fabulous care of these kids. Jean Mandel, Dahlia Petrus, and Sioban Scanlon inspired me to want to do this right. And Frank Mitchell helped because he is Frank.

I have had an unending supply of unconditional love from my parents—Earlene Hass and Robert Hass. Anything I have ever done well comes from them. My family—Leif, Luke, Tommy, Margaret, Sahai, Tom, Brenda, Marilynn, Duncan, Molly, Jenny, Duncan, Josephine, Ella, Fiona, Louisa, Charlie, Leon, Co Co, Bill, Karin and family, Libby and family—have supported me in a million ways, big and small. Of course, Cameron Magoon has been my partner in this and in all things. Thank you for every little thing, really. Finally, I want to thank Finn and Cole and Hazel for being Finn and Cole and Hazel. You guys gave me a reason to write this book.