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Although few of them realize it, visitors to the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery confront a memorial to lost Americans and to a now distant war over public memory. As this presentation will demonstrate, the meaning of the American Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (the original title for the sepulcher that now contains the bodies of unidentified soldiers from several wars) was contested from the start. The congressmen and military officials who created the Tomb intended the monument as a symbol of America's victory in the Great War and as an icon of patriotism and courage. One of the most lavish public spectacles in American history, the official dedication ceremony for the Tomb, held on Armistice Day, 1921, reflected this agenda. However, a large number of poets, playwrights, and novelists rejected the Unknown Soldier's intended meaning, and for nearly two decades they worked to transform this symbol of noble sacrifice into a warning of war's horrors and futility. How these artists waged their defiant campaign-and, ultimately, how they lost to the forces of nationalism and martial tradition (an outcome that reverberates to this very day)-will serve as the focus of this 45-minute lecture. |
