This morning I received a breathless (as in, accusatory! alarming!) press release from an organization called the National Civic Art Society. They’re the Washington-based group that’s orchestrated much of the opposition to Frank Gehry’s proposed design for the Eisenhower Memorial. “National Civic Art Society Calls Attention to Conspicuous Gap in the Eisenhower Memorial Commission’s Meeting Minutes,” read the headline. The release—short on actual facts but long on incriminating conjecture—then went on to accuse the commission of secretly approving adoption of the General Services Administration’s Design Excellence Program as the method of choosing a designer for the memorial, as if organizing a competition and inviting the best available architects were an indictable offense. Imagine that?

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