Located along the famous Cherry Tree Walk on the
Western edge of the Tidal Basin near the National Mall, this is a memorial not
only to FDR, but also to the era he represents. The memorial traces twelve
years of American History through a sequence of four outdoor rooms; each one
devoted to one of FDR's terms of office.
Sculptures inspired by
photographs depict the 32nd President: A 10-foot statue shows him in a wheeled
chair; a bas-relief depicts him riding in a car during his first inaugural. At
the very beginning of the memorial in a prologue room there is a statue with
FDR seated in a wheelchair much like the one he actually used. To his side is
a statue of his dog, Fala.
President Bill Clinton dedicated
the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial on Friday, May 2, 1997. In doing so,
President Clinton walked slowly on crutches, just as FDR had walked 60 years
before, to dedicate this memorial to the president who had led the country
through its worst depression and a brutal war.
"The only thing he have to fear,
is fear itself." These are the words spoken by our 32nd President, a man who
knew what courage meant. Despite, at age 39, being stricken with polio and
paralyzed from the waist down, he guided the country through some of its
darkest times. This memorial honors this man and his story.
