A Tale of Two FDR Memorials

The Franklin Delano Roosevelt National Memorial

Spring has sprung!  It's once again warm enough for some bicycling so last Friday afternoon, Tim and I biked to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt National Memorial near the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C.

Built for $48 million, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt National Monument was dedicated May 2, 1997, to honor the 32nd president as one of the great leaders of our country, joining just three other presidential monuments on the Mall, those honoring Presidents Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson. Oddly enough, it was FDR himself who dedicated the Jefferson Monument when it was completed in 1943.

Visitors to FDR's monument follow a meandering path through four outdoor galleries (one for each of FDR's four terms) that recall the America FDR governed during the grip of the Great Depression and later, World War II.  The galleries are filled with man-made fountains, granite slabs, bronze statues and bas-reliefs created from historical photographs of FDR's era. 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt with his dog Fala

Even before the monument was officially dedicated, disability advocates heatedly voiced their disappointment that little evidence of Roosevelt's paralysis from polio was displayed. At issue was the cloaked Roosevelt statue (shown above), for unless one walked to the side to look carefully at the rear legs of the chair where FDR sits next to his dog Fala, few would notice the small wheels attached to its legs. On May 1, 1997, in an effort to correct this oversight, the Senate passed a bill approving funding for an additional statue to clearly show FDR's disability and sent the bill on to the House for approval.

This statue of FDR in his wheelchair was added to the monument in July 1998.

Designer Lawrence Halprin envisioned a memorial that  appeals to the human senses.  One may view iconic FDR quotations such as "The only fear we have to fear is fear itself" etched into the monument's walls. 

One of several waterfalls created on the memorial's 7.5 acres

The sound of falling water masks the thunder of airplanes taking off and landing at the nearby Reagan National Airport as the monument's many fountains recycle almost 100,000 gallons of water every minute.  Braille captions beckon fingers to touch.  Visitors are lured to participate with the statues in the scenes depicted.

Tim joins the bread line.

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt's statue

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt also has her niche in FDR's memorial where she is honored for her role in the creation of the United Nations following World War II. 

FDR Memorial erected at Pennsylvania Avenue & 9th on April 12, 1965.

However, the Franklin Delano National Memorial is not the only FDR memorial in the District.  The first memorial, erected by FDR's friends on the 20th anniversary of his death, is much more modest, just as FDR had requested.  It is located at the northwest corner of the National Archives Building.  A nearby plaque tells this story:  

This plaque describes FDR's wish for a modest memorial.

"In September 1941 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt called his friend, Supreme Court Justice Frankfurter to the White House and asked the Justice to remember the wish he then expressed. “If any memorial is erected to me, I know exactly what I should like it to be. I should like it to consist of a block about the size of this (putting his hand on his desk) and placed in the center of that green plot in front of the Archives building. I don’t care what it is made of, whether limestone, or granite or whatnot, but I want it plain without ornamentation, with the simple carving, 'In Memory of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.' "

FDR's first memorial is located on the northwest side of the National Archives.

Maybe it's only fitting that since FDR served twice the terms of any other president, he should have twice the number of D.C. monuments.