Hi, I'm Jennie Pierson.

Okay.

Hi, I'm Jennie Pierson and today,

we'll be talking about-- today?

Hi, I'm Jennie Pierson and today,

we're talking about Maya Lin.

Cheers.

So it's 1980

and the people at the Vietnam War Memorial Fund

are like, I got an idea: let's have a competition

to see who can design the best Vietnam War Memorial.

[burps, laughs] Sorry.

- You're okay. - So they get

1,500 submissions to this contest.

They're walking by, they're like,

that one's too tall.

I think this one is a little too political,

thank you very much.

And this one is too disgusting.

Then they-- they walk up to one,

wow, this is [bleep] beautiful.

Right, guys? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

We're--we get this. We love it.

We love it. Let's--this one.

This is it! This is the one!

We love this one!

Whose is it? Reveal the winner.

And they're like, okay, are you ready for this?

It is a 20-year-old college student named Maya Lin.

And they're like, what? It's just a college student?

That's crazy.

Cut to Yale and Maya Lin is

sitting in her architecture class.

And they're like, sorry to interrupt your class,

but is Maya Lin here?

We have something to tell her.

And he's like, whatever, fine.

Maya!

Maya!

And she's like, huh? I--I'm over here.

Uhh!

And they're like, you won the contest

for the Vietnam War Memorial.

We're making your sculpture.

Can you imagine?

Um--and Maya was just like, guess what?

I won. I won!

I guess I'm drunker right now than I thought I'd be.

I'm sorry. - You're--don't be sorry.

- Okay. - You're doing so good.

- I thought I would be more normal at this point.

- You're fine. - Okay.

So all of these war veterans are saying

this memorial has no military symbolism,

there's no weaponry, we don't get it.

It's a black gash of shame.

And we are not on board with this.

Ross Perot, he was gonna donate $160,000

to the building of this memorial.

He walks up to them and he's like, hold on.

This is a woman? And she's Asian?

She's a young, Asian woman?

I'm not gonna give you any money to build this thing

if you don't stop-- [laughs]

I don't know--

Hold on. You better pick someone else.

I'm pissed, I'm pissed, I'm pissed.

I'm running for president in 12 years.

[bleep] you guys. I'm pulling my funding.

The committee that had chosen her,

they heard all of the-- this backlash.

And they went to Maya and they were like,

okay, so listen, a lot of people are pissed off.

We have a couple of compromises.

We'd--we'd like to put more military symbolism into it.

We'd--we'd like to have a bronze--a bronze statue

of a solider carrying an American flag

um, placed in the center of your--

of your memorial.

Uh, and then also,

what if we paint the black marble white?

How does that sound?

And Maya is like, hell no.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Not in a million years.

And they were like, [bleep]. [laughs]

All right, you know what?

Let's bring it to Congress, bitch.

We're bringing it to Co-- no, that's dumb.

[laughs]

- ♪ Underdog ♪ - Um, okay.

What do I wanna say next? Okay.

So at this Congressional hearing,

politicians, veterans-- all testifying against her.

I don't like that it's the color black!

I don't like that it's abstract!

I don't get it!

What is minimalism?

I don't like that it looks like a pee sign--

a pee sign? [laughs]

I don't like that this looks like a peace sign

because those damn hippies are always

flashing a peace sign at me

and I don't like it!

The chairman is like, all right,

we've heard all this shitty stuff.

Maya, you wanna come up here?

Maya gets up there

and she's like, okay, guys,

this memorial should rise up out of the earth

like a wound that can be healed.

This is supposed to feel personal

so families and friends of people who have died

can come to the memorial and feel the loss

of their loved ones as if it was a gravesite.

It's not a political statement.

It's just a sense of togetherness and community.

And the chairman is like, I get it.

I wanna feel sorrow, too.

Everybody just wants to feel something.

And okay, we're gonna do it. We're gonna do it.

We're gonna do it.

[uplifting music]

♪ ♪

So this memorial goes up.

And when it went up, there was, like,

this big celebration for it.

And 10,000 veterans marched to the wall in commemoration.

But they were like, you know,

this is gonna be shitty, right?

This is gonna be crap.

This is gonna be, like,

just dumb and we're not gonna care.

And they get up to the memorial.

The granite is sort of reflective.

So what happens is the Veterans would walk up

and they would see themselves reflected in the names

of the fallen soldiers.

And it was a very emotional experience.

And they were like, whoa.

This is beautiful.

Maya was, like, watching all of this shit go down.

And she was like, I [bleep] told you.

I told you you would cry.

See all these people crying?

I told you they would cry.

- Yeah. - She probably

wasn't that mad.

Maya was able to see this outcome

and say, oh, this really did

have a really cool impact on everybody.

So Maya Lin goes from this B student at Yale

to one of the most prominent architects

and artists of our time.

So Maya Lin's design style made a difference.

On all the memorials going forward.

It all became more abstract after that.

She really influenced a lot of designers

and architects and artists.

So in 2016, President Obama

presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Obama was like, uhh,

good job.

I love your work.

Hope to see more of it.

And he kissed her on--

right on the lips.

[both laugh]

[kissing sounds]

I just made a fool of myself right now.