WASHINGTON — Taiwan is pledging $1 million to help build a memorial honoring President Dwight D. Eisenhower in Washington as the project organizers begin a fund-raising campaign to complete the monument.
The gift announced Tuesday marks a critical phase for the Eisenhower Memorial after 15 years of planning. Organizers must determine whether they can raise the money needed to build the long-delayed monument. They hope to raise at least $20 million privately and build support in Congress for additional construction funding.
This year’s 70th anniversary of the end of World War II is a fitting time to recall Eisenhower’s accomplishments as a military general and president, Taiwan’s economic and cultural representative to the United States, Lyushun Shen, wrote in a letter to Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas, the memorial commission’s chairman. Eisenhower ‘‘holds a very special place in the hearts of the people of Taiwan,’’ Shen wrote, citing Eisenhower’s support for Taiwan’s security.
‘‘President Eisenhower’s legacy is to be credited all the way through for generations to come,’’ Shen said.
Historians and organizers behind the Eisenhower Memorial effort said they found Eisenhower’s reputation around the world rivaled that of any other United States president. They have been introducing the memorial plans to various nations and hope others will support the project.
‘‘Eisenhower is arguably the most international of all presidents,’’ said retired Brigadier General Carl Reddel, executive director of the memorial commission. Eisenhower’s legacy ‘‘in many ways resonates today more abroad than it does in the United States because Eisenhower’s impact was so fully international.’’