Editing Vietnam Veterans Memorial (section)

===Opposition to design and compromise===
{{See also|Maya Lin#Vietnam Veterans Memorial}}
The selected design was controversial, in particular due to its black color, its lack of ornamentation, and its configuration below ground level.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2015/04/30/403034599/vietnam-veterans-memorial-founder-monument-almost-never-got-built|title=Vietnam Veterans' Memorial Founder: Monument Almost Never Got Built|website=NPR.org}}</ref> Among other attacks, it was called "a black gash of shame and sorrow."<ref name=Garber>{{cite news |last= Garber |first= Kent |title= A Milestone for a Memorial that Has Touched Millions |newspaper= U.S. News & World Report |date= November 3, 2007|url= https://www.usnews.com/articles/news/2007/11/03/milestone-for-a-memorial-that-has-touched.html |access-date= November 11, 2009}}</ref>  Two prominent early supporters of the project, [[Ross Perot]] and [[Jim Webb|James Webb]], withdrew their support once they saw the design. Webb said, "I never in my wildest dreams imagined such a [[nihilism|nihilistic]] slab of stone."<ref name="politico">{{cite web |url= https://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/vietnam-war-memorial-dedicated-nov-13-1982-215643 |title= Vietnam War Memorial dedicated, Nov. 13, 1982 |last= Glass| first=Andrew |date= 13 November 2015 |website= Politico |access-date=7 March 2020}}</ref>  [[James G. Watt|James Watt]], [[United States Secretary of the Interior|secretary of the interior]] under President [[Ronald Reagan]], delayed issuing a building permit for the Memorial due to the political opposition.<ref name=Wills>{{cite news |last= Wills |first= Denise |title= The Vietnam Memorial's History |work= The Washingtonian |date= November 1, 2007 |url= http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/people/5595.html |access-date= November 11, 2009}}</ref>
Since its early years, criticism of the Memorial's design faded. In the words of Scruggs, "It has become something of a shrine."<ref name=Garber />

Negative reactions to [[Maya Lin]]'s design created a controversy; a compromise was reached by VVMF's agreement to add a flagstaff and a realist statue at the site. Consequently [[Frederick Hart (sculptor)|Frederick Hart]] (who designed the sculpture that was part of the third-place winner in the original design competition) was commissioned to produce a bronze figurative sculpture. Opponents of Lin's design wanted to place this sculpture of three soldiers at the apex of the two walls, to make the soldiers the focal point of the memorial and the Wall a mere backdrop. In the end, the sculpture was placed in an entry plaza. On October 13, 1982, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts approved the addition of the flagstaff and the Hart sculptures. The statue ''[[Three Soldiers (statue)|Three Soldiers]]'' was dedicated in 1984.