[10] The 1908 authorizing legislation established an Arlington Memorial Amphitheater Commission (AMAC) to oversee the design and construction of the structure.

[13] Ten days later, Colonel William W. Harts of the United States Army Corps of Engineers was elected the commission's executive director.

Lemos, Morrison, Warren, and Hewitt specifically name Thomas Hastings,[16] as does the United States Commission of Fine Arts[17] and others.

Congress added the leader of Camp 171, United Confederate Veterans of the District of Columbia, to the commission as a full voting member.

The amphitheater was supposed to have neared completion on February 15, 1917, but these lengthy delays meant that the construction schedule was extended for a full year.

[37][38] But railroads and cargo ships were so congested carrying war materiél and military personnel that the marble could not be transported to Arlington National Cemetery until late 1917.

The Corps of Engineers was also ready to connect the water and sewer lines, grade the grounds and roads, and install plantings and sod.

The stage and amphitheater are designed so that any speaker must look down at the klismos chair while addressing the audience, and must look at the USS Maine Mast Memorial if looking up.

[48] A famous citizen soldier quotation from Washington’s “Address to the New York Provincial Congress, 26 June 1775,” is inscribed inside the apse of the Memorial Amphitheater.

"[50] It is an excerpt of this quotation: “When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the Citizen, & we shall most sincerely rejoice with you in that happy Hour, when the Establishment of American Liberty on the most firm, & solid Foundations, shall enable us to return to our private Stations in the bosom of a free, peaceful, & happy Country.” A quote from President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is inscribed above the stage.

"[51] Decorative 9-foot (2.7 m) tall urns carved with eagles, rams' heads, and snakes were placed on pedestals in niches on either side of the stage.

Above the west entrance of the amphitheater is a quote from the Roman poet Horace: "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" ("It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country").

An unknown soldier was identified and brought back from France, and interred inside a small marble tomb on Armistice Day on November 11, 1921.

To construct the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (as it was then informally called), the pedestal for the memorial statue envisioned in Hastings' design was removed.

A 2-inch (5.1 cm) deep layer of soil brought from France along with the unknown soldier's body lined the bottom of the burial vault.

[57] The Lorimer/Hudson design, like nearly all the other submissions, anticipated removing the retaining wall below the tomb and building the monumental staircase first envisioned by Thomas Hastings.

Congress agreed with this revision, and on February 28, 1929, authorized construction of the stairs, new road and pedestrian approaches, alterations to the formal gardens, and a new overlook.

By then, settling of the amphitheater and entrance hall, cracking of walls and exterior marble, water damage, and other serious problems were beginning to affect the structure.

But the finished study identified even more serious issues, almost all of which were caused by design deficiencies which did not take into account the seasonal expansion and contraction of the building's marble.

The World War II unknown was interred in the southwest vault beneath a slab with the dates "1941-1945" carved into its western edge.

Although the commission had long ago fulfilled its basic mission of the construction of Memorial Amphitheater, it still had the legal authority to approve the placement of plaques, markers, and other commemorations on the inside, on the exterior, or on the grounds of the structure.

The extra funds paid for widening of the steps and portico in front of the east entrance — increasing the number of people who could view the changing of the guard at the tomb to 800 individuals from 200.

[69] The mid-1970s widening of the Memorial Amphitheater portico, reconstruction of the pedestrian approaches, and repairs to the plaza around the Tomb of the Unknowns represented the first major construction at the site since 1920.

According to unnamed preservationist experts interviewed by The Washington Post, the historic urns should have been restored or placed in a museum—not donated to private owners for sale.

[51] Within a week of press reports about the sale, Arlington National Cemetery officials said that Clark Construction had been instructed to preserve the urns.

But questions were raised in 1994 that indicated the Army (under pressure from the Reagan administration to placate veterans' groups by finding a Vietnam War unknown) ignored evidence that the remains could be identified.

[84] Although the structure was dedicated during Wilson's presidency, he never visited Memorial Amphitheater or the Tomb of the Unknowns due to a massive stroke on October 2, 1919, from which he never recovered.

The first funeral to be held in the amphitheater was that of sculptor Moses Jacob Ezekiel, creator of the Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, on March 30, 1921.

"Black Jack" Pershing,[92] General of the Air Force Henry H. "Hap" Arnold,[93] Secretary of Defense James Forrestal,[94] and Antarctic explorer and Rear Admiral Richard E.

It was the first time the amphitheater had held such a service since the interment of an unknown member of the armed forces representing Vietnam War dead in 1984.