The following is a conversation between Joe Daniels, President & CEO of the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation, and Denver Frederick, Host of The Business of Giving on AM 970 The Answer WNYM in New York City.
Joe Daniels
Denver: At a time when we agree on so little, it’s good to have an initiative that everyone can subscribe to and rally around, and that would be saluting those who have been awarded the National Medal of Honor, and now there’s a museum in the works to tell the stories of these service members who received our nation’s highest honor. And here to discuss that with us is Joe Daniels, the former CEO of the National 9/11 Memorial Museum, and currently, the President and CEO of the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation. Good evening, Joe, and welcome to The Business of Giving.
Joe: Thanks for having me, Denver.
Denver: What is the history of the Medal of Honor, sometimes referred to as the Congressional Medal of Honor, and how was it conferred?
Joe: The Medal of Honor was started back in the Civil War, and it was created by President Lincoln to honor those that went above and beyond the call of duty. And it’s interesting, although there’s been about 3,500 medals awarded in our nation’s history since then, it wasn’t until World War I really that many of the other medals that we’re familiar with today– be it the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, Distinguished Service Crosses– came onto the scene. So as far as the elite nature as now the nation’s highest award for valor in combat, even the 3,500 doesn’t fully capture how elite this medal is and the heroism that the medal represents. It’s incredible, that the guys that have earned it… when you read their stories, they are almost always by definition just incredibly daunting circumstances for which, in a moment or in a short time period, they’ve just done incredibly selfless and courageous acts many times to save their fellow soldiers.
Denver: And I think Teddy Roosevelt is the only President who has received one?
Joe: Yes, he was, and also… I just learned this yesterday or a couple days ago, Teddy Roosevelt is the only President that earned the medal, and he’s also the only one to earn a medal and also the Nobel Peace Prize ….which someone at the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument up on 89th and Riverside, when I was speaking at a Memorial Day ceremony a few days ago, pointed out to me. So, a pretty special guy.
And so reinforcing a sense to all Americans, to all generations, particularly the younger generations, that there is a responsibility to contribute to this experiment is really, really important, and I think doing that through the lens of these recipients…
Denver: That’s quite the combo. The idea of this museum has been kicking around for a long time. What was the catalyst to do it now? And where is this museum going to be built?
Joe: The idea has been kicking around. I mean there’s so many different ways to look at why we should have a Medal of Honor Museum. I think that just at one level as an example, we have Hall of Fames for all of our sports leagues. And fundamentally, what those places are doing and saying is: we have lots of folks in society participate in an activity, and we want to step back and look at those that really define the best of the best in that activity. And the reality is that our military, that’s been over 40 million Americans that have served in the military, and 1/100th of those… even less than that… have earned the highest award for valor. And so the idea is that the values that underlie the Medal of Honor– which is integrity, courage, compassion, and putting others above self– we have a real opportunity to share those stories with future generations to remind people that this 243-plus year experiment as a nation is just that; it’s an experiment and there is simply no guarantee that we just continue.
And so reinforcing a sense to all Americans, to all generations, particularly the younger generations, that there is a responsibility to contribute to this experiment is really, really important, and I think doing that through the lens of these recipients…Oftentimes the medal is awarded to those who are in frontline combat, so they often tend to be the more junior individuals who are participating, and they come from small towns, big cities, all over the nation. And in moments where they had to make really, really impossible decisions.. have stepped up to do so, and we think that those stories can inspire people in their civilian lives to be the best of who they can be.
Denver: There’s no doubt about it because these Medal of Honor awardees are a humble group and don’t particularly go out of their way to tell their story, but knowing the inspiration that it can provide to the next generation is probably one of the reasons they’ve embraced it.
Joe: I think that’s exactly right, Denver, and honestly, one of the reasons that I’ve – after spending 12 years as the CEO of the 9/11 Memorial Museum, in deciding what I wanted to do as my next undertaking, it really was that aspect that you just mentioned. And I remember way back in 2005, we were always going to build a memorial as a nation to those 2,983 individuals that were killed, but that was the right thing to do, to honor those, and there’s tons of controversy about what the memorial would be, but it was clear that we should honor those that were lost.
But the question of a 9/11 Museum was pretty hotly debated, and I remember some very specific conversations with individuals in the FDNY and the NYPD that essentially said, “Look, we were just doing our jobs that day. So many of our fellow firemen or cops, they never made it out, and all we were doing is what we were supposed to do, and we don’t need a big museum to us.” And the conversation that we had with them essentially comes down to: This is a museum… or that was a museum that although it was about them, it wasn’t necessarily for them, and it was this idea that they can make an even further contribution to the city they love, to the country they love by allowing us to use their stories to inspire the millions of people that have visited that museum.
And I know for a fact that there have been millions of kids that have gone through the 9/11 Museum, gone back to their towns across the country, and the first time that they see a firefighter or a cop, they look at them with just this additional and enhanced level of respect. And similar in this case, it’s the same thing with the recipients, at the first discussions… as you said this idea has been batted around forever, but I think that what we’ve been able to do in the last year is change the valence of the discussion in talking to the recipients and really reinforce that, “Yes, this is a museum about you, but it’s not a museum for you.” And they have really latched onto that because they are a very humble bunch; and to a man, and there’s only unfortunately 70 living recipients, which is another driver why we need to get this project done… but they always talk about: they don’t wear the medal for themselves, they wear it for those that never came home. They are part of a continuum of service in this country, and so the idea is that some kid is going to go through the future Medal of Honor Museum, be inspired by these stories, and when they find themselves as an example in a place that we’ve all been in, which is to be a silent witness watching some poor kid get bullied, in that moment, because of that inspiration, they are going to step forward and say, “Hey, leave that kid alone!” And it’s that idea of inspiring civilians to be their best that is really the impetus behind the National Medal of Honor Museum.
And one of the things that I’ve talked to my team about is it will be an interesting metric over time… is that as we undertake this process of reaching out to America to raise the money that we need, to collect the stories that we need, we want to also bring, of course, a tremendous visibility to the Medal of Honor, to Medal of Honor Day, so that hopefully at some point if we do our jobs right, March 25th will be a very significant day in America every year.
Denver: That’s a great impetus. Well, speaking about the museum, I know it’s still in the early innings, have you found a home for it yet? I know you’ve been looking. And do you have a target date when you would like to see this opened?
Joe: So it originally was slated to be built in a town in South Carolina called Mount Pleasant, and the reason it was there is an interesting meta look at how projects gets sited and located. The Medal of Honor Society, which is the group that all living recipients are a part of, happens to have their headquarters on the USS Yorktown. It used to be on the Intrepid up here in New York, and then in the ‘90s, they decided to move it to another aircraft carrier, which they did, which happened to be the Yorktown.
And then this idea started to get kicked around that we should build a land-based National Medal of Honor Museum. And basically when the team—when I got down there, and I brought some folks from my 9/11 team, we really understood pretty quickly that if we want to build a museum that has as our mission the highest impact on the country, then one of the first principal questions is: What location gives us the best chance to do that? And as great as that area is, and I have just nothing but good things to say about Mount Pleasant and Charleston, it’s a relatively small market. There’s a lot of places people want to go to, but we are looking at measuring our visitation in millions and not thousands. And so we have been undergoing what we’re calling a targeted national search.
Over the last eight months, we’ve been looking at places like San Diego, and Denver, and Dallas, and DC, and we’re close to making a decision, and it’s been really wonderful to see the reception that these cities are giving us. I mean fundamentally, they understand, particularly with the team that was able to build the 9/11 Museum & Memorial that this is going to be something that is nationally visible; this is going to be America’s next national treasure, and it’s a huge patriotic entity that will be in their city. And ideally… and we’re working hard towards it, and I expect we’ll be able to meet it.. but that we’re looking to announce our new home by the end of September of this year. And then we’re looking at about four years to build… three and a half to four years… and our ideal target date is Medal of Honor Day, which very few people know is a day; it’s March 25th, and that would be 2023.
And one of the things that I’ve talked to my team about is it will be an interesting metric over time… is that as we undertake this process of reaching out to America to raise the money that we need, to collect the stories that we need, we want to also bring, of course, a tremendous visibility to the Medal of Honor, to Medal of Honor Day, so that hopefully at some point if we do our jobs right, March 25th will be a very significant day in America every year.
Denver: Great to give greater focus to that day. Finally, Joe, you recently announced the formation of Links in the Chain. This is a brand new partnership; tell us about it.
Joe: Links in the Chain is just a wonderful, wonderful partnership that we’ve started. We decided at the beginning, there were so many incredible service organizations and military and vet-focused organizations in this country, and how wonderful would it be as a stamp of credibility for us as an entity to partner with these guys to get their support and to have a relationship with their members. I think that the hardest part of building a museum, and this was certainly our case back in 2005, is when you are just plans on paper, it’s very easy, and I think from your listeners’ perspective and so many of the folks that you’ve interviewed with, doing big things is really hard. And a lot of – unfortunately there is a tendency to just feel a bit like this is never going to happen, and that is always the case until it actually does happen. And of course the first markers of success are often the bricks and mortar, piling and supports, and building the structure. But until you get to that point, it’s really important to show the donor community and those that want to send in the $5, or write the big checks, that this is going to happen. Part of that is the experience we’re able to show, but the other part, the Links in the Chain part, is to say that places like the Navy Seal Foundation, or the VFW, or Semper Fi, these major organizations that reach millions of people, believe in this project, want this project to happen. So that’s what this is all about at this stage; it’s raising awareness. They’ve committed to helping us connect with their members.
One of the things that’s really important to us is that there’s a lot of oral histories that have already been done from the recipients, but one of the things that we want to focus on is: what is the legacy of those recipients? So even meeting family members who had a grandfather that was a World War I Medal of Honor recipient, and learning how that impacted their family across the generations. There’s a lot of people that know recipients or have heard stories, so we really want to make this a national project, and having these tremendous partners as a part of it, it’s a huge boost for us.
…it is the DNA of the medal, about putting others above self that we really want to highlight; and we’re going to do that through some of the most powerful, emotional
Denver: It’s a big help. One corollary to that, if I can add, Joe, is that after it has been built, people will look at it, and say, “Oh, that was easy! That was a natural!” And you’re like, “Oh, no, it wasn’t!”
Joe: That’s exactly true. I remember specifically way back in the day when I became President of the Memorial Museum, after Mayor Mike gave me the job, I would come home and my wife would ask me, “How was your day? And I would say, “I love this. I love what I’m doing, but I don’t know if we’re going to be around in two weeks.” And that’s a whole other case study in the sense that the emotional politics were so tremendous, and still to this day, the fact that 40% of all of the 9/11 family members, they never got any human remains back to lay their loved ones to rest, and we’re building on the very last site that their loved ones were ever seen; it added an emotional component to it.
This is different in a sense that that urgency, very few people– put it this way, wake up in this country and say, “Where the hell is that National Medal of Honor Museum?” Obviously, my board, the staff is doing that, and what that says though is that we really need to, as a part of our project… which is why we’re doing Links in the Chain, is to raise awareness that… as you pointed out at the start of the show… there are so few things that the left and the right can agree on, and the values that underlie the medal is one of those things, and I really believe that we have this obligation to build this national treasure, to build the National Medal of Honor Museum, something that can unite all of us. And whether it’s the recent and terrible school shootings out in Denver, or what happened at UNC Charlotte, you see individuals that are civilians, and again, the parallel to 9/11 is really tight, as much as we appropriately praise those first responders, there’s hundreds and hundreds of stories of civilians in those buildings that day who did incredible things for those that they were there with. And it’s the same thing here, and it is the DNA of the medal, about putting others above self that we really want to highlight; and we’re going to do that through some of the most powerful, emotional narratives that exist in American history.
Denver: Joe Daniels, President and CEO of the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation, thanks so much for being here this evening. For people to learn more, or become involved, or help support this work, tell us about your website.
Joe: Very much appreciate that. People can go to mohmuseum.org, and follow our progress, and donate. Frankly, what I can say is: whether you can give a $1 or $10 or more than that, there is something very special that this is—we are talking about on the ground floor… we are right there…but we are going to make this happen. And the pride that a family can feel in donating now, and in about four years from now, when the eyes of the country… every living President, every living Medal of Honor recipient, thousands of veterans and members of the public are there to open that museum… the idea that someone stepped forward at this time to donate is really important. So if people go to mohmuseum.org, they’ll have a chance to get involved.
Denver: Thanks, Joe. It was a real pleasure to have you on the show.
Joe: You bet! Thanks, Denver, so much.
Denver: I’ll be back with more of The Business of Giving right after this.
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