Bells for America

The Cold War, Modernism, and the Netherlands Carillon in Arlington

DIEDERIK OOSTDIJK

Amsterdam University Press foundation

This book received support through CLUE+: the Research Institute for Culture, Cogni- tion, History, and Heritage of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; the Matching Fund of the Shared Cultural Heritage Program of Dutch Culture; Museum Klok & Peel; and the Singing Bronze Foundation.

Originally published 2019 by Penn State University Press Special edition licensed to Amsterdam University Press

Cover photo by Abbie Rowe, National Park Service, 1960. National Archives of the Neth- erlands, Code-Archive 195501964, Access Number: 2.05.118.2323. Courtesy of the George Washington Memorial Parkway.

Cover design: Coördesign, Leiden Lay-out: Regina Starace

IsBn 978 94 6372 775 4 doI 10.5117/9789463727754 nur 630

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or trans- mitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the written permission of both the copyright owner and the author of the book.

Every eff ort has been made to obtain permission to use all copyrighted illustrations reproduced in this book. Nonetheless, whosoever believes to have rights to this material is advised to contact the publisher. Contents

vii List of Illustrations

ix Acknowledgments

1 Introduction | Forestroke

15 1 | Bells for America

45 2 | The Smallest Bell (1952)

81 3 | Casting the Carillon (1954)

121 4 | A Modernist Tower on the Monumental Axis (1960)

167 5 | A Cold War Relic (1995)

197 Conclusion | The Echo of Dissonance

205 Epilogue

213 Notes

231 Bibliography

239 Index

Illustrations

1. The Netherlands Carillon 13. Detail of the fifth bell, dedicated to the 2 province of Gelderland, with designs by 2. View from the Netherlands Carillon Genia Lücker and Gerard van Remmen 4 102 3. The Netherlands Carillon 14. Genia Lücker, pencil drawing on 6 sepia paper of the bell dedicated to Education 4. Aerial rendering of the Mall axis 103 11 15. The Nevius Tract, ca. 1953 5. The Old Church (Oude Kerk) in 109 Amsterdam in 1965, with the newly restored carillon in the tower 16. Rad Kortenhorst, Joseph W. Martin, 19 and Herman van Roijen during the ceremony for the delivery of the 6. Paul Philippe Cret, drawing of the carillon to the American people, 1954 Washington Peace Carillon 118 30 17. U.S. Marine Corps Memorial 7. Police photograph of the carillon 124 of St. Stephen’s Church, Nijmegen, damaged in 1944 18. The changing of the guards at the 38 Tomb of the Unknowns, Arlington National Cemetery 8. Queen Juliana and President Truman 128 at the symbolic presentation of the Netherlands Carillon, 1952 19. Eric Gugler and Paul Manship, design 46 of the Freedom Shrine 131 9. The presentation of the smallest bell of the Netherlands Carillon, 1952 20. Site plan for the Freedom Shrine, 47 featuring the Netherlands Carillon and the U.S. Marine Corps Memorial 10. One of three mobile bell trucks that 132 collected money for the Netherlands Carillon in 1952 21. Gerrit Rietveld’s model of the design for 50 the Netherlands Carillon 140 11. Brass plate of Genia Lücker’s design for the largest bell of the Netherlands 22. Joost Boks, drawing of the initial design Carillon for the Netherlands Carillon 92 145 12. The fourth bell, dedicated to the Dutch 23. Meridian Hill Park province of Overijssel, with designs by 148 Genia Lücker and Gerard van Remmen 100 ( viii)

Illustrations ashington, D.C., asseenfrom the 31. 30. esident John F. Kennedy withLuns 29. evation study ofmemorialsplanned 28. aul Koning, bronze lions onthelow 27. oost Boks, sketches for thesecond 26. oost Boks, pendrawing ofthesecond 25. an Hengel, Seaton,andVan Roijen in 24.

201 Netherlands Carillon W 191 Carillon toPresident Bill Clinton, 1995 the fiftieth bellofthe Netherlands Prime MinisterW 172 and Van Roijen intheOvalOffice, 1961 Pr 164/165 Potomac River for theNevius Tract asseenfrom the El 163 Carillon basalt wallinfront ofthe Netherlands P 162 design oftheNetherlands Carillon J 161 design for theNetherlands Carillon J 158 the day ofitsdedication, 1960 front oftheNetherlands Carillon on V

im Kok presenting

eal Estern’s statueofEleanor 36. 35. 34. 33. 32. 38. ixin’s “Stone ofHope” aspartof 37.

Carillon, dedicated toMartinLuther Carillon, dedicated toEleanor N 207 Carillon, dedicated toGeorgeMarshall The 51 206 King Jr. The 52 203 bells oftheNetherlands Carillon Some ofthela 202 from theNetherlands Carillon Arlington N 212 Roosevelt The 53 211 Washington D.C. Memorial inWest Potomac Park, the MartinLutherKingJr. National Lei Y 209 Potomac Park, Washington D.C. Delano Roosevelt Memorial inWest Roosevelt aspartoftheFranklin st rd nd

belloftheNetherlands belloftheNetherlands belloftheNetherlands

ational Cemetery asseen ational Cemetery vishly decorated, smallervishly decorated,

Acknowledgments

More people helped me in writing this book than there are bells in the Neth- erlands Carillon. I owe my first thanks to my American friends Steve and Ellen Ballerene, who took me to Arlington at the end of the previous century, allow- ing me to discover the Netherlands Carillon. I wrote the bulk of this book in Wassenaar at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies in the Human- ities and Social Sciences (NIAS), and I want to thank the fellows and staff at this institution, in particular Marwan Kraidy, Arthur Verhoogt, Ewa Stanczyck, and Dindy van Maanen. A stipend from the Netherland-American Foundation (NAF) gave me the opportunity to visit the National Archives in Washington, D.C. DutchCulture has generously supported the publication of this book through their Shared Heritage Matching Fund. Staff and students at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam let me talk about bells instead of literature for years. I am grateful to Karim Admiraal, Babs Boter, Gert-Jan Burgers, Erin La Cour, Amrita Das, Lonneke Geerlings, Liesbeth Geudeke, Katja Kwastek, Marco Last, Susan Legêne, Roel van den Oever, Anita Raghunath, Tim Scheffe, Freek Schmidt, and Kristine Steenbergh for providing new insights and practical help, and special thanks to Jawek Kamstra for his pertinacious enthusiasm to boot. Berend Boks, Frank Fritsen, Rob Fritsen, Ernest Goyarts, Klaas Haan, the late Kersen de Jong, Henriëte van Notten, Leopold Quarles, Marc Verheul, Paul van der Grinten, and most preciously, Anne-May Wachters-van der Grinten shared documents, images, family histories, and personal memories that have enriched this book and my knowledge of my country’s hidden history. It has been a delight to work together with Joost Eijsbouts, Harry van der Loo, and Luc Rombouts as the Netherlands Carillon Advisory Committee and with staff members of the Commission of Fine Arts, especially Kathryn Fanning, Museum Klok & Peel, the National Park Service (particularly Ming-Yi Wong), and the Netherlands Embassy in Washington, D.C. (most notably Wilfred Hulzebosch, Ron Linker and Vincent Storimans). Luc graciously inducted me into the numinous world of bells and carillons and unflaggingly encouraged my pursuit of harmony. Joost was generous in trusting me with his company’s business files. Harry has made the second edition of this book possible with his indefatigable energy and infectious enthusiasm. Tiffany Ng ( x) A cknowledgments nia State University Press for theirtrustandconfidence.IthankIrene van Eburne, AnnikaFisher, Ellie Goodman,andHannahHebert atPennsylva Press, which mademewriteabetterbook. IthankPatrick Alexander, Jonathan questions, asdidtwoanonymous readers for thePennsylvania State University and Dawn Skorczewski alsoread earlier draftsandasked thought-provoking the imagesinthisbook. He, IanCopestake, Emily Embree, LewisKirshner, lon culture andtheNetherlands Carillon. Theo Bögelshelpedmeinselecting and Edward Nassor shared anecdotes,facts,andstories aboutAmerican caril every day.every whose silenceduring thewritingofthisbook, Ihearinbetweennoise their encouragement andinspiration, Isendouttotheonesloved andlost that’s howthelight gets in”—do notjustapply tobells.My finalgratitude, for ing.” Thelinesfrom Cohen’s song“Anthem”—“there isacrackineverything / taught me“to ringthebellsthatstillcanring”and“to forget my perfect offer Stehouwer, Charlotte vander Voort, ClarindeWesselink, andLeonard Cohen Andrew Niemeijer, LisaRooijackers, MartijnOostdijk, Staci Rosenthal, Saskia Bresser,friends already mentioned,Mary Stef Craps, Waldemar Krijgsman, for preparing thesecond edition sopromptly andefficiently. Along withother Rossum, Jaap Wagenaar, andJan- P eter Wissink atAmsterdam University Press - - - introduction for my Ph.D. ofCongress andwasstaying with attheLibrary ber 1997. Ihadleft my nativeNetherlands topursueresearch origin, thoughthisintriguing detailisnotvisible tothe public. of pounds. Eachbellisinscribed withatale from itscountry the largestissixfeet, nineinchesindiameter andweighs12,654 is eight inchesindiameterandweighsthirty-five pounds,and three Dutchbellfoundries. Thebellsrangeinsize:thesmallest bronze bellswithacombinedweight of61,438pounds,castby ground andonly partly visible tovisitorsdownbelow, hangfifty across thePotomac River. Insidethebelltower, highabovethe bronze lions standguard, facing toward thenation’s capital reinforced bysteelplates. Just outsideitsquartziteplaza, two is composedofa127-foot belltowerinanopensteelstructure erlands adecadeearlier andfor supplying it MarshallPlan aid, Americans inthe1950s tothankthemfor liberatingtheNeth which itlooks. AgiftbestowedbytheDutchpopulation to World War IIMemorial, andtheWashington Monument upon than itsfamousneighborsortheLincoln Memorial, theNational Washington, D.C. TheNetherlands Carillon is much less known hill overlooking theNational Mall,itoffers amagnificent view of Virginia, theNetherlands Carillon looms suddenly. Situated ona and thehallowed ground ofArlingtonNational in Cemetery the larger-than-life United States MarineCorps War Memorial ing givenfor thepresence ofthismonument. Nestled between Netherlands Carillon isaperplexing sight. There isnowarn Towering overblack oaks,white pines,andsprucetrees, the Forestroke

The firsttimeIsa w theNetherlands Carillon wasinNovem - - - ( 2) Bells for America made mefeel. Iremember thatamixture of prideandembarrassment took photos northeletter reflect howthisinitial encounter withthemonument lon andasked whether shehadeverheard of it.Shehadnot.Neither the mother thatIrecently found after herdeath,Imentioned seeingthe caril my friends standingawkwardly nexttothedarkling tower. Inaletter tomy the netherlandsto thepeople of theun erlands Carillon. Itook pictures oftheengraving, “from thepeople of States MarineCorps Memorial, andwesuddenly stumbled upontheNeth visit thecemetery. Ontheway backtothecar, Iwanted tostopattheUnited two friends inGeorgetown.Onafoggy Sunday, wedrove toArlington i ted states, Parkway. George Washington Memorial author. Courtesy ofthe sculptor Paul Koning. Photo: Boks, andthebronze lionsby in 1960 byarchitect Joost The belltower wasdesigned Arlington, Virginia,in2015. ington Memorial Parkway in part oftheGeorgeWash- lon inArlingtonRidge Park, Fig. 1 ” andofone The Netherlands Caril- - - for atimeandplace when life seemedmore harmonious andless complex. us in“TheBellsofSanBlas,” butinmetheyalways evoke afeeling ofnostalgia The meaningofbells“is manifold,” Wadsworth asHenry Longfellow reminds vistas theNetherlands Carillon may offer me(fig. 2). understanding. Ilong toclimbthewindingstaircase toseewhat sights and This strangemonument isstillhiding inplain sight. Its bellsbeckon tomefor So what was this very Dutchthingdoinghere? So what wasthisvery building thatcouldhave beenaminiature version oftheNetherlands Carillon. (and which couldeasily bemistaken for agasstation) hung inastarkly angular where for Iwasbaptizedandwhere thefuneralservice my fatherwasheld the neighborhoodwhere Igrew up. Thesingle bellofthemodernistchurch lands Carillon wasbuilt inthesameDutchpostwarreconstruction style as stirring somethingstrangely familiar(fig.1).Thebelltowerofthe Nether for amoment—resembled anarchitectural style Iknewfrom my childhood, and thesteelcladdingplates andround hexscrews—which Ijusthadtotouch construction. Its lean, modernistdemeanor, thesharp-cornered box beams, but Iwasalsoconfounded thatIhadneverheard aboutorseenthissoaring my compatriots hadacquired aspotamongallthesefamousmonuments, hold ofme,withthelatterbeingdecidedly stronger. Iwassurprisedthat design onthemonumental axis,visually connectingthe memorialground reasons. First, thebelltower, which waserected in1960, isthefirstmodernist erlands Carillon, standingonanArlingtonmoundoverlooking thecapital. not looked for / But heard, halfheard, inthestillness,” like thoseintheNeth my conscious experience. Theyare, inT. S. Eliot’s words, “not known,because tourists andlocals, Iusedtofilter out thesesounds,andtheyhardly entered siteit Amsterdam, dothesameonMonday where Iwork, mornings.Like many day,every andtheEijsbouts bellsontopofthemainbuildingatVrije Univer Hemony carillons whisper theirmellifluous notesthroughout thecitycenter musical backdrop ofAmsterdam, thecitywhere Inowliveandwork.Five over themarketplace inwar-torn Nijmegen, my hometown.It isalsothe scape for my entire life. It ishowthemedieval St. Stephen’s Church sounded understand thattheintonations ofbellshadbeenpartmy personalsound that itspealsandclangswere oddly familiartometoo.Iwasbeginning Carillon thistime,stillpuzzled byitsnuminous presence butmore mindful onasummerscorcher.the cemetery Ijubilantly approached theNetherlands them chimingwhile Iwalked downfrom theArlingtonMetro station through the hightower, were silent. It wouldbemore thanadecadebefore Iheard e mostDutchpeople ofmy generation, Ionly dimly knewwhat a bells, right? At my firstvisittothemonument, the bells, recently returned to inmy homeland.Something with carillon was,despiteitsresounding history Lik Despite itslackofr enown, theNetherlands Carillon isuniquefor three - 2 1

- - - ( 3) introduction ( 4) Bells for America right. Photo: LucRombouts, withpermission. Courtesy oftheGeorgeWashington Memorial Parkway. and theJefferson Building oftheLibrary Congress are visiblebehindtheLincoln Memorial onthe statues at thetwo mainbridgesleadingtoArlington.TheWashington Monument, theCapitolBuilding, in Monument Wars. monuments artform,” are aninherently conservative KirkSavage argues Memorial—a favored touristattraction—by more thantwodecades.“Public Carillon predates Maya Lin’s arresting andnonfigurative Vietnam Veterans employed for monuments. Thestripped-down designoftheNetherlands on in1950s America incommercial andresidential housingbutwasnotyet Johnson, theDutchmemorialembodies astyle thathadonly recently caught work byBoks’s earlier contemporaries, LudwigMies vanderRohe andPhilip the unadornedsteelstructure hasadistinctly industrialfeel. Reminiscent of Designed bytheDutcharchitect Joost Boks, theaustere, angulardesignof of ArlingtonwiththeMallinWashington ontheothersideofPotomac. Fig. 2 eth bellwascompleted for theNetherlands Carillon. Themodernismofthe Women’s Memorial, which were both dedicated in1995, theyear thefifti as evident intheKorean War Memorial andGlenna Goodacre’s Vietnam National World War IIMemorial from 2004,ortoamore figurative approach, faithful toneoclassical designs,asexemplified bythe recent addition ofthe View from theNetherlands Carillon.Flanking theLincoln Memorial are thefour Italian equestrian 3 Monuments inandaround thecapitalgenerally stay - Hoover hearsrighteousness. rience through [sound] asenseofspace.” memorial. proposes, toseehowoursensescan“workinunison” toperceive thiselusive ton. Ratherthan“trading insight for Iwant, asAndrew sound,” M.Shanken sufficiently graspthecomplex spatiallandscapethatitoccupies inArling experience. Ananalysis oftheNetherlands Carillon asavisualobjectwillnot ing musical instrument thatwecanlistento,makingitacomplex sensory monument isthatitnotjustasight for ustogazeat.It isalsoafully work viscerally.underlying story abstract form trustingthattheviewer andlistenerwillgraspthe andsound, ings. TheNetherlands primarily through Carillon tries toconvey memory neoclassical memoriallandscapeofthecapitalanditsimmediatesurround Netherlands Carillon notetothemostly addedadissonant andrevolutionary century inthebell’scentury chimes. Theserelations were primarily shapedbyWorld DutchandAmerican relations ofthetwentieth to hearechoesofthevarying Bisseraoduction ofasound, V. Pentcheva argues,“triggers early and thenlatereflections/echoes.” the othersideofMarshallDrive,asIoriginally didmany years ago(fig.3). by toseetheMarineMemorial orthegraves ofArlingtonNational on Cemetery bells atsummerconcertswhile gazingatthecapital’s skyline orwhen passing berations ofitsbellsaffect theirexperiences nonetheless; visitorsmay hearthe come specifically toview the Netherlands Carillon, butthesoundsand rever lends ameaningto theirspeech.” courage.” acter: “Whenthesegreat bellsringout,itwill beasummonstointegrity and Hoover argued thatthecarillon chimedwiththesenator’s upstandingchar in April1959, ayear before theNetherlands Carillon wasunveiled, President lon inanalmostfully enclosed belltower. Duringthededication ceremony backdrop tothefigure isatwenty-seven-bell, automatically operatedcaril an eleven-foot statueoftheRepublican senatorwho passedaway in1953. The Washington. TheRobert A.Taft Memorial ontheCapitol grounds consistsof The Netherlands Carillon isnottheonly monumental carillon in and around them consciously, butthebellsare partoftheirphenomenological experience. may notknowfrom where thesesoundscome,andtheymay notevenregister the soundscapeofArlingtonRidgePark andmuch ofthecemetery. Visitors has bothoptions andsoundsitsfiftybellsdaily, subtly andephemerally filling wires toabaton-type clavier oranautomatic device. The Netherlands Carillon twenty-three tuned bellsforming twoormore chromatic octaves attachedby The pr The secondr In additi 7 AsLongfellow wrote, bellsproduce “one soundtoall,”but“each / 4 Few oftheapproximately 1.5 million visitorstoArlingtonRidgePark on totheseidiosyncratic connotations, however, itisalsopossible eason why theNetherlands Carillon isanexceptional 8 5 Whereas Iassociate bellswithnostalgia, Thisfunction enables visitors “to expe- 6 Acarillon consistsofatleast ------( 5) introduction ( 6) Bells for America the GeorgeWashington Memorial Parkway. northernmost tipofArlingtonNational Cemetery. Photo: LucRombouts, withpermission.Courtesy of for political reasons duringthatera hasneverbeenstudied extensively. Curtain, theway inwhich bellsandcarillons were giftedbyWestern nations avant-garde music were usedaspolitical instruments onbothsidesoftheIron it hasbecomeincreasingly clear howtypesofclassical, jazz,operatic, and also symbolic weaponstofight communism during the Cold War. Although in apatriotic andnonreligious way thatisalien tomy generation. Bells were of carillons through aerialwarfare mademy parents’ generation veneratebells confiscation ofbellsinthe Netherlands by Nazi Germany andthedestruction ofthesehistoric events. Theforcefulalso helpedshapethecultural memory War IIandtheCold War, andalthough only dimly remembered, thebells Fig. 3 The Netherlands Carillonloomingbehindtrees andthefamiliarwhitegravestone markers onthe 9 a crucialally for theUnited States duringtheCold War. Harboring oneofthelargest Communist parties inWestern Europe, Italy was Soviet Union’s constant vetoesofItaly’s membershipintheUnited Nations.” front of alargecrowd, Truman vouchedthathewould“continue toresist the thanked Italian prime ministerAlcide DeGaspari for hiscountry’s gift.In Italian andAmerican national S. anthems, while PresidentTruman Harry singer Ezio Pinzasangfrom Giuseppe Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra aswellthe decades before theireventual unveiling in1951, duringwhich theItalian opera oughly American. James Earle Fraser andLeoFriedlander designedthem Italy, theirdesignsinaneoclassical style with ahint ofartdecowere thor Although thebronze equestrianstatuesbythebridgewere manufactured in of theNetherlands Carillon isalsoconnectedtothepostwaraidprogram. intriguingly,financed, withmoneyprovided bytheMarshall Plan. Thehistory Memorial Bridge—connecting Washington andArlington—were castinItaly, that make uptheArts ofWar andtheArts ofPeace atbothsidesofArlington monument ‘owned’ orgeneratedby‘the people.’” ican citizens” topay for it,makingtheStatue ofLiberty“the firstnational French giftcamewithoutabase,andtheWorld successfully “mobilized Amer identity. French architect Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi asasymbol ofAmerican national New York Harbor. Thestatue,agiftfrom France in1886,wasconceivedbythe that were bestowedbyforeign nations. Most notable istheStatue ofLibertyin nationalistic. OutsidetheD.C. area, there are other, more famousmonuments American memoriallandscapeamongcommemorativesitesthatare staunchly it istheonly truly transnational monument thatoccupies acentral spotinthe Alighieri givenbyItalian Americans in1920. by French womentotheirAmerican counterparts andasculpture ofDante lands Carillon wasoriginally envisaged,hasa1922 statueofJoan ofArc given Meridian HillPark, close totheformer Dutchembassywhere theNether Embassy Row, forashington, D.C., instance,contains many ofthesememorialgifts,and alsohasitsfairshare ofinternational monuments to commemorate friendship betweentheUnited States andothercountries. most exalted ideals. what Lauren Berlant calls“the National Symbolic,” asitembodies America’s values, eventhoughittooisexemplary ofhowtheNational Symbolic works. erlands Carillon hasbeenmuch less successfulinresonating withAmerican match America’s self-chosenidentity asabeaconfor immigrants, the Neth culture, economy, andCold War politics underpinstheNetherlands Carillon. tion,” asaneditorialinJoseph Pulitzer’s newspapersummarized. tradesmen, theshopgirls,artisans—byall,irrespective ofclassorcondi W The thir 10 It waspaidfor by“the French people—by theworkingmen, d reason why theNetherlands isthat Carillon issoextraordinary 13 Whereas theStatue ofLibertywascarefully designedto 14 Thefour bronze, gilded statues 12 It isaperfect example of 16 Asimilarmixture of 11 Yet the - - - - 15 -

( 7) introduction ( 8) Bells for America of thenation.” images andnarratives” thatconstitute“the ‘objective’ official political reality situated inthatsacrosanct spaceare indeed“a communally heldcollection of Ann Hassnotes,applying thetermBerlant hadcoined. theMallwasconceivedas“aand beyond, national symbolic space,”asKristin War, War, theRevolutionary andWorld War II.Inthelatenineteenth century which symbolize defining events inAmerica’s firstthree centuries: the Civil Memorial, theWashington Monument, andtheWorld War IIMemorial, National Mall,andthemonument isalmostinadirect linewiththeLincoln the Netherlands alltheprincipalmonuments onthe Carillon, you cansurvey the photograph thatinspired thismemorialare thoroughly American. by theChinesesculptorLeiYixin from Chinesegranite,buttheinitiativeand In contrast, therecent MartinLutherKingJr. Memorial wasmadeinChina a central place inthememoriallandscapeofcapitalUnited States. facture were carried outbynon-Americans abroad andwhich received such et theNetherlands Carillon ismore unusual. It istheonly monument ofwhich theconception, design,andmanu bestowed byanothercountry Carillon atfirstsight wasduetothisjarringcontext. tion for itssheeraudacity. My ambivalence when appraisingtheNetherlands its surroundings andneighboringiconic monuments thatitcommandsatten presented inMay 1950. ThisDutchmodernistartifactdiffers sostrikingly from nocturnal photograph taken afew days aftertheNetherlands Carillon was looming presence hasanaugustquality, asshowcased inAbbie Rowe’s iconic, deviant monument hastaken onastarkdignity. itsswarthy, Litup afterdark, tor toNetherlands Carillon canfailtonotice itsincongruity. Yet, for me,this perpendicular beamsandblocky steelplates bearingitsmassiveweight, novisi landing atortakingofffrom nearby Ronald Reagan Airport. With itsslender, drowned outbyasolemn silence, only occasionally interrupted byplanes ers ofArlingtonNational Cemetery’s northerntip, where soundsofcarsare a monument. It popsupunexpectedly behindthefamiliarwhite grave mark Highway. You may objectcomprises notevenregister thatthisfactory-made etherlands Carillon looks outlandish,asifaforeign objecthas Washington, andyou may seeitwhisk bywhen drivingalong Jefferson Davis streamlined steelstructure when crossing theTheodore Roosevelt Bridge from landed inAmerica’s symbolic sculpture garden. You cancatchaglimpseofits key questions Iexplore inthisbook. nationalist monuments that reify what theUnited States represents are the Potomac. Why andhowtheNetherlands Carillon cametostandamongthese Department oftheInterior asanoptical extension oftheMallacross the wasconceived inthe1950ssituated, bytheNational andthe Park Service where theNetherlands Carillon andtheUnited States MarineMemorial are Y The N 19 It isalittle knownfact,however, thatArlingtonRidgePark, 18 Themonuments 17 From - - - - the otherextreme. memorial onthemonumental axis, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, shows the American public hasengagedwith,for instance,thesecondmodernist considerably less activethanwithothermemorialsites.Theway inwhich Yet theAmerican (and Dutch)engagement withtheNetherlands Carillon is in thesummer, takinginthesoundsofcarillon whenever itisplayed. the belltower, children climbonthelions, andcouples lounge onthegrass has only partly taken withtheAmerican public. Joggers dorest underneath of theCold War. ments itlooksperhapsmostsignificantly, outoverand, withthehistorical era resonates withneighboringsitesaswelltheprincipalmonu history box. butalsoshowhowits Openingitwillnotonly reveal itsownuniquestory white headstones—the Netherlands Carillon isliterally andfiguratively a black Mansion linkingthecemetery’s totheCivil War, history anditsthousandsof imposing marble Tomb oftheUnknowns, theneoclassical Robert E. Lee Compared tothesprawling siteofArlingtonNational its Cemetery—with War II—that theIwo Jima Memorial hasbecomefamiliartoallAmericans. of IraHayes” aboutthetragic fateofonetheheroic flagraisersafter World (1949) starringJohn Wayne toPeter LaFarge’s mournfulfolk song“TheBallad hasbeenrepeated sooften—fromvictory theheroic movie SandsofIwo Jima had captured theJapanese islandinFebruaryofAmerican 1945. Thisstory Raising theFlagonIwo Jima, taken afterAmerican marinesandnavy corpsmen is itselfanechoofJoe Rosenthal’s seemingly stagedbuthistoric photograph oftheNetherlandsquainted withtheoriginstory Carillon. DeWeldon’s statue gravestones inthecountry’s mostfamouscemetery, Americans are unac figures tothewell-known portrayed in ontrary military Felix de Weldon’s designoftheflag planting on Iwo Jima orthe rows ofsimple, white a society’s confrontation withthepast.” atrick Hagopianargues,“A memorialmust ‘take’ withthepublic; ifa scape orcityscape,studying itwouldcontribute little toourunderstandingof sinkingunremarkedmemorial isnevervisited, into thebackground ofaland credited withrevolutionizing ideas aboutpublic monuments. most written-about and why monument shehasbeen inAmerican history” monument, which helpexplain why hershasbecome“the mosttalked-about, Each oftheseactsreflects apersonalengagement withMaya Lin’s abstract ties duringtheCold War. understanding ofhowtwo societies tried toreinvent theircollective identi ofthe forgottenthat tellingthestory Netherlands Carillon willdeepenour teddy bearstobottles ofbooze,cigarettes, andmedals—at themonument. wall, buttheyalsoleave assorted offerings—ranging from flowers, poems,and thatare displayedfifty-eight thousanddeadAmerican servicemen onthe As P C 21 Visitorscollect rubbingsofthenames ofthemore than 20 Granted, theNetherlands Carillon 23 It ismy belief - - 22 -

- ( 9) introduction ( 10) Bells for America a lens through which tosee.” the word, borrowing KirkSavage’s definition ofsight as “a thingtobeseenand nited States accepted thegiftandoffered itaprimespotinthe and withthegrandiose plans oftheNational (NPS)tooptically Park Service American memorial landscapebecauseitresonated withitspolitical agenda “collective feelings ofinferiority.” could alsostemfrom asenseof“social consensus andobligation” oreven Doss hasargued.While itmay beareflection ofgenuine appreciation, giving meanings. Gratitude isacomplex conceptintermsofmonuments, asErika torebuild itseconomy,country itispossible todetectother, less obvious for helpingtoliberatetheNetherlands andfor theMarshallaidgranted the the Netherlands Carillon wasostensibly offered asagift tothe United States becomepartoftheAmerican memorialcore? Although by anothercountry that central question ofthisbook: How didamodernistmonument produced postwar past.By listeningtothebells’ historical reverberations, wecananswer eeking beneaththesteelplates oftheNetherlands Carillon, wecan inspect therustybellsfrom upclose andheartheechoesofNetherlands’ the worldafteradevastatingwarandNazi occupation. valuable colonial possession inIndonesiaandwasseekingtofindits place in of theNetherlands, aonce-powerful empire thatbythe1950s hadlost itsmost white gravestones ofArlingtonNational Cemetery, westare inthedirection two mostpowerfulnations intheworld.Looking south,beyond theendless discerning thegovernmental seatofwhat bythe1950s hadbecome oneofthe Washington, D.C., past the Lincoln, Washington, and World War II memorials, Carillon offers, bothliterally andmetaphorically. Looking east, wecangazeat the historical pastaswell.Thisbook aimstoevoke thesights theNetherlands sive surroundings isevengranderthanfrom below andinspires alook into landing, theview oftheimpres Outside thebooth,onacrampedobservatory sound thefiftybellsthathangaboveandbelow thecarillonneur’s perch. about ahundred feet where abovetheground, thepedals ofanoakkeyboard Years aftermy initialvisit,Ilearned thatthespiralstaircase leads toabooth who want tomake theirway tothetop, soithasbeenclosed off for decades. Carillon. TheNational cannotguarantee Park thesafety Service ofvisitors with alarge,locked chainonitduringmy firsttwotripstothe Netherlands other visitorstoday, Iwasblocked from climbingthosestairsbyaheavy door lon, visitorscouldclimbthenarrow, spiralstaircase insidethetower. Like all reimagine itsown past,present, andfuture thantothanktheUnited States. economically andmore related motivated, totheDutchneed self-serving, States duringtheCold War, andtheDutchgiftwastoa largedegree political, will reveal, theDutchpopulation wasdeeply ambivalent abouttheUnited In thisboo The U P k Ilook attheNetherlands Carillon asasight intwosensesof 24 Intheoriginalplans for theNetherlands Caril 25 As the history oftheNetherlands Asthehistory Carillon - - during theheight oftheCold War. to thesemagniloquent plans andtheuneasyharmony created bytwoallies Freedom theNetherlands Shrinewas never created, Carillon owesitsplace Memorial Parkway. Fine Arts.Courtesy oftheGeorgeWashington never realized. Photo: NPS /U.S. Commission of but theFreedom Shrine at theendoflinewas Washington Memorial are visibleinthecenter, Tract in1954. TheLincoln Memorial andthe U.S. Capitolacross the Potomac totheNevius National Park Service plannedtoextendfrom the Fig. 4 doing thedishes. Govert Verheul, ofEconomic Affairs in from1951, allegedly theMinistry while rialism” oftheWashington obeliskandtheLincoln Memorial. would echothe“patriotic chauvinism” andthe “burgeoningAmerican impe- monuments, butitchimedideologically. Furthermore, theFreedom Shrine Shrine wouldform adisharmonious symphony withtheothertwoVirginian across theglobe. Architecturally, theneoclassical colossus oftheFreedom of theFree World, theUnited States wouldfight for freedom anddemocracy side ofthePotomac andannouncetotheworldthat,asundisputedleader the Netherlands Carillon. Thisgrouping wouldfinalizetheMallonother by twoWorld War IImonuments—the United States MarineMemorial and Memorial (fig.4).The Freedom wouldbeflanked Shrine,asitwasnicknamed, the central axisoftheCapitol, theWashington Monument, andtheLincoln NPS proposed anewnational monument dedicated totheBill ofRights on rightfully considered adifferent kindofmemorialspacefrom Arlington,the Mall officially extends from theCapitol totheLincoln Memorialandis connect thememorialsitesofNational MallandArlington.While the ton in 1995, on the fiftieth anniversary of theliberation ofthe ton in1995, onthefiftieth anniversary Netherlands. Minister Wim Kok offered thefiftieth bellofthe carillon to President BillClin The ideaf Aerial rendering oftheMall axis,whichthe or theNetherlands Carillon wasconceivedbyapress officer, 27 TheNetherlands Carillon wascompleted afterPrime 26 Although the - ( 11) introduction ( 12) Bells for America gained anadditional function ofcommemoratingwarsandindividuals. tions ofwealth andpower. Theywere prestige objectsthat,afterWorld War I, have inheritedmany ofthesemeaningsbells,buttheyhave addedconnota began toreverberate throughout theworldintwentieth century. Carillons In theUnited States, thebellbecamesynonymous with liberty, anideathat to cannonsorartillery, bellsandcarillons becamesymbols ofDutchidentity. hope. Asbellswere captured aswarbootyandmelted downtobeconverted associated withthepassageoftimebutwere alsoread assymbols ofjoyand first chapter, “Bells for America,” reflects onhowbells have always been harmoniously echoingthenumber ofbellstheNetherlands Carillon. The a significant stageofthecarillon’s completion withitsfiftysections, and, This book coverstheCold War infivechapters,each history focusing on materials. Theenforced unityexerted bytheBells for America Committee each bellfoundry haditsownworkingmethodandusedslightly different bell foundries, thecarillon theyproduced asawhole wasdisharmonious since in itsfraught political compromises. Although castbythree eminent Dutch for thebells andwasinternally discordant. Thislackofharmony reverberated monument. Thecommitteewasbarely able toscrape togetherenoughmoney to solicit apoet,artists,andbellfoundries toaidintheconstruction ofthe by Kortenhorst, initsattemptstogathersufficient funds forthecarillon and exposes thetrialsandtribulations oftheBellsfor America Committee, led sentatives, Joseph William Martin Jr. Thethird chapter, “Casting theCarillon,” 954, forty-nine more bellswere ceremoniously bestoweduponthe and acceptedbyhisAmerican counterpart, thespeaker oftheHouse ofRepre American people byRadKortenhorst, thespeaker oftheDutch parliament, imminent. during the state visit.Intruth,a monarchical crisis and a political scandal were as wellbetweenthequeenandDutchcabinet,which becamepalpable since there were visualandaudible tensions betweenJuliana andBernhard instead thesmallest bellofthecarillon symbolized acognitivedissonance, the Netherlands afterthehardships ofWorld War II.Iargue,however, that four daughters embodied thehopethatpeaceandprosperity couldreturn to emblem ofthatunity. For mostDutchpeople, theroyal couple andtheir ety chimedtogether, withtheroyal family atSoestdijk Palace asthecrowning Carillon asawhole wasintended tosymbolize howharmoniously Dutchsoci ously presented ittohermotheronValentine’s Day 1952. TheNetherlands Queen Juliana andPrinceBernhard’s children, PrincessMarijke, hadprevi “I am thesmallest, / thepurest.” To underscore thismeaning, theyoungest of President Truman. Thebell,arepresentation ofDutchchildren, bore thetext, carillon thatQueenJuliana oftheNetherlands brought toAmerica togive The secondchapter In 1 , “TheSmallest Bell,”centers onthefirstbellof - - - - the towerfor practical andfinancial reasons. carillon’s disharmony butnotallofit,asthetwelve largestbellsremained in ment andtwelve Dutchmultinationals, therenovation resolved most ofthe Davis Construction andRoyal Eijsbouts andfinancedbytheDutchgovern the majorityofbellstoberetuned inthe Netherlands. Carried outby Chamber ofCommerce in New York, arenovation process beganthatrequired Berend Boks, thesonofarchitect, andKersen deJong ofthe Netherlands of World War theDutchfinally IIloomed, gottheiracttogether. Initiatedby oftheend embarrassment tobothcountries. Whenthefiftieth anniversary and thebelltowerwere andtheNetherlands neglected, Carillon becamean promote amessageofhope,friendship, andpeace.Duringtheyears thebells maintaining theNetherlands Carillon orusingitsideallocation andmusic to the DutchnorAmerican authorities seemedparticularly interested in With theexception ofthefirstdirector carillonneur, Frank P. Law, neither erlands Carillon fell into disrepair almostimmediately afteritsdedication. nations everywhere intheworld. nations everywhere Cold War messagethattheUnited States wasadefender ofsmalldemocratic executive branchbecausetheDutchgiftresounded sowellwiththeAmerican maintained sufficient political support from the National andthe ParkService erlands Carillon heldontoitsassignedspot.TheNetherlands Carillon and strong opposition from theAmerican Veterans (AMVETS),theNeth ation ofNew Guinea byIndonesia.Despiteareluctant Fine ArtsCommission who waswaginghisownwarwiththeAmericans overtheinevitable annex Roijen hadtocontend withaDutchministerofforeign affairs, Joseph Luns, to beremoved becauseofhissupposedcommunist leanings. Moreover, Van modernist architect, who GerritRietveld, hadmadetheinitialdesign, America Committee hadleft nofunds.Additionally, therenowned Dutch The erection ofthebelltowerfacedmany financialobstacles, astheBells for the Netherlands Carillon inArlingtonaspartofthelargerFreedom Shrine. State Department andtheNational wasable Parks toclaimaspotfor Service, how ambassadorHerman vanRoijen, through hisexcellent contacts withthe ourth chapter, “A Modernist Tower ontheMonumental Axis,” a prominent place inthememoriallandscapeofUnited States. It details resolves themainquestion ofhowtheNetherlands Carillon acquired such importance. dimensions were ofsecondary The Netherlands Carillon wasapolitical gift,which implied thattheaesthetic likewise led totensions betweenthethree artistsworkingonthedecorations. unique, modernistluster. Although Iwelcome thefact thattheNetherlands the remaining dissonance oftheNetherlands Carillon andrestore thetower’s The fifthandfinalchapter The f In theconcl usion, Ireflect onthecurrent renovation, which willeliminate , “A Cold War Relic,” traceshowtheNeth - - - - ( 13) introduction ( 14) Bells for America to tune our ears to a cacophonous Dutch story ofwarandrecovery.to tuneourearsacacophonous Dutchstory the World War IIMemorial. Inorder toseetheNetherlands Carillon, weneed side ofthePotomac, theLincoln Memorial, theWashington Monument, and withthemostsignificantCemetery—and American memorialsontheother its neighbors—the United States MarineMemorial andArlingtonNational erlands Carillon properly when theyhearhowitresonates withtheCold War, The people oftheNetherlands andtheUnited States canonly seetheNeth cause memorials to disappear from view obscure their history andmeaning.” cause memorialstodisappearfrom view obscure theirhistory difficult tostudy, andevenharder tohistoricize,” as “thesame forces that note ontheAmerican memoriallandscape.“Neglect,” asShanken writes,“is is neededtoensure thatthemonument willnotforever remain adissonant Carillon willchimeinfullharmony for thefirsttimeinhistory, more effort - 28