The Powell Memorial after being unveiled in December 2022. The construction of a memorial to honor the memory of Powell and his leadership during World War Z was authorized by Congress in 2015 and signed into law by President Dean.
Almost immediately afterwards began the disputes over the monument. House Speaker Eric Cantor pushed for a monument on the scale of the Lincoln Memorial or Washington Monument, declaring such the only fitting way to honor Powell. On the other hand, Dean himself advocated a smaller, humbler monument as one more akin to the kind that Powell himself would have wanted. A few fringe figures opposed the monument outright, viewing Powell’s execution of the Redeker Plan as cruel, blaming him for the outbreak as part of the Bush administration or some conspiracy, or accusing his assumption of power in 2009 thanks to faithless electors as a de facto military coup that weakened constitutional governance. When Sarah Palin won the 2016 election, she initially promised a massive monument to Powell. However, as the administration was forced to face other issues, she agrees to a more limited monument as part of a budget deal with Democrats in 2017.
A section of West Potomac Park, near the sight of the FDR Memorial, was selected from half a dozen potential alternative locations which included a site close to the Lincoln Memorial and a site outside of Washington in Arlington National Cemetery where Powell is buried. The monument itself was designed by Eddie Dixon of Texas. Around a statue of Powell are a series of walls made from scrap metal recovered from abandoned cars engraved with tally marks-one for every thousand casualties of the Zombie War and Great Panic in the United States. Powell himself stands at the center, atop an epitaph reading ‘Here stands a man who never forgot his root, who exemplified dignity, integrity and leadership and who, in America’s darkest hour, fought to save her to the last breath.’