Another problem was a translation problem. The arts professionals knew how to read Lin's drawing; they would have recognized the form, the setting, and the materials as standard elements in land-art pieces. The veterans, on the other hand, didn't know about the land-art aesthetics. The veterans read Lin's pastel rendering as, at best, a weird shape.
"The first thing I thought of," stated veteran Jan Scruggs, "was that it looked like a bat." Scruggs seemed to accept Lin's design until the controversy began.4.
Pat Buchanan, political commentator, declared that the distinguished art and architectural jurors on the selection committee were "a pack of communists and anti-war lefties." Buchanan and Representative Henry Hyde, Republican from Illinois, led a campaign featuring letters which claimed that one of the jurors on the selection committee was a communist and four of the jurors had been anti-war protesters. Ross Perot had given a hundred and sixty thousand dollars to fund the design competition, and he became one of the leaders of protest along with Buchanan and Hyde.
One of the fiercest protesters was a veteran named Tom Carhart, who had been awarded two Purple Hearts. He had entered the competition, having had no artistic training other than reading a book called, Anyone Can Sculpt. He believed that only a veteran could know what would constitute a proper memorial for veterans. Carhart referred to Lin's wall as an "open urinal" and he has been credited with suggesting that for an inscription, the words, and "Designed by a gook." Carhart described Lin's memorial as a "Black gash of shame." He rallied a number of supporters.
Frederick Hart, who had been an apprentice to the designer of the Iwo Jima Memorial, had set his sights on getting the commission for the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial (although, he had been an anti-war protester, and had once been tear gassed in a demonstration).
