Before the Wall: How a Dream Becomes a Memorial chronicles the largest open design competition in the 20th century and provides a heretofore unknown look at the selection, approval, design, and construction of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. The handwritten journal entries of Grady Clay, chair of the jury for the design competition, are the primary source.
This is the human story of how the Memorial came to fruition through an open-design competition process; it provides the missing piece of the history of the memorial. The book reveals the deliberations of the jury that chose the controversial, winning design. It also shows the importance of the competition program document and the professionalism of the jury in bringing the design to realization. By reading these first-hand, copious notes, the reader is given an extraordinary opportunity to be present with the jury. The opening chapter describes the (mostly) joyous day of the dedication of the Memorial. In following chapters, the reader becomes privy to the design decisions - winnowing 1421 submissions down to a final winner, two other finalists, and several honorable mentions. The heretofore unknown work of the eight-person jury is revealed. This spans the time from the jury's first meeting through the unveiling of the winning design and then through the conflict that erupted. The project was almost derailed by a very vocal group of veterans, columnists, and politicians opposed to the design. The project was saved by a cadre of other veterans, citizens, other columnists, professional designers, and artists. The jury and those charged with building the Memorial (the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF)) found themselves in the middle of this controversy.
The reader will be able to interpret the thoughts and processes of significant events that occurred more than four decades ago, but which remain of considerable interest today. The authors weave a tale of individual passions, beginning with Jan Scruggs' dream as a Vietnam veteran, Maya Lin's visionary design, and the jury's deliberations.
Ultimately, a Memorial was created that formed a bridge between the conflict created by the Vietnam war to the healing of our nation. The intersection of these lives, within the context of the design competition, produces a truly remarkable story.
