really this memorial and museum is such a striking image on the kansas city skyline. what a great story goes with that. it was in 1919, soon after the november 1918 armistice that a group of business leaders gathered and said let's do something to honor the war dead of kansas city and create a tribute for peace. and so what you see behind me is the outcome of that. the fund-raising campaign that lasted only two weeks that raised more than $2.5 million. equivalent today of about $40 million. and then the people gathering here on this site in 1921. about 100,000 people in a city of about 250,000. and then the remarkable memorial being constructed and opening with president calvin coolidge in 1926 and again the people of the community gathering here. at that time about 150,000 people. said to be the largest crowd that the president or a president of the united states had spoken to up until that time. such was the -- i think the outpouring of honor for those who had served in world war i. and also a yearning for peace and a different sort of future than the most recent pa

this memorial and museum is such a striking image on the kansas city skyline and what a great story goes with that. it was in 1919, soon after the november 1918 armistice that a group of business leaders gathered and said let's do something to honor to war dead of kansas city and create a tribute for peace. what you see behind me is the outcome of that. a fund raising campaign that lasted only two weeks that raised more than $2.5 million. the equivalent today of about $40 million. then the people gathering here on this side in 1921 with a five allied commanders, about 100,000 people in a city of about 250,000, and then the remarkable memorial being constructed and opening with president coolidge in 1926 and the people of the community gathering here. at that time about 150,000 people. said to be the largest crowd that the president or a president of the united states had spoken to up until that time. for peace in a different sort of future. than the most recent past. then this memorial with many complexity, it's really quite a striking architectural feature. served as a gathering place f