Lincoln Memorial was chosen and authorized by Congress. The World War I Munitions Building previously occupied that area. VVMF decided to choose a design for the Memorial through a national design competition, with a first prize of $20,000. The competition was open to any American over 18 years of age, and by the end of the year 1980, 2,573 individuals and teams had registered for the competition, and by the deadline of March 30, 1981, 1,421 designs were submitted. The designs were displayed at an airport hangar at Andrews Air Force Base for the selection jury, in rows covering more than of floor space. Each entry was identified by number only. All entries were examined by each juror; the entries were narrowed down to 232, then to 39. Finally, the jury selected entry number 1026, which had been designed by Maya Lin. Opposition to design and compromise The selected design was controversial, in particular due to its black color, its lack of ornamentation, and its configuration below ground level. Among other attacks, it was called "a black gash of shame and sorrow." Two prominent early supporters of the project, H. Ross Perot and James Webb, withdrew their support once they saw the design. Said Webb, "I never in my wildest dreams imagined such a nihilistic slab of stone." James Watt, secretary of the interior under President Ronald Reagan, delayed issuing a building permit for the Memorial due to the political opposition. Since its early years, criticism of the Memorial's design faded. In the words of Scruggs, "It has become something of a shrine." 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 (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. Building the memorial On March 11, 1982, the revised design was formally approved, and on March 26,