In a 1936 speech, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously said “the fundamental idea behind the parks…is that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process in making for the enrichment for the lives of all of us.”
He said of the National parks “there is nothing so American.”
It seems fitting that our longest serving president would have his own National Park Memorial on the National Mall. While there is something to be said for them all, this is my favorite for the way it tells a cohesive story.
There are five outdoor rooms, each representing a different part of his life – the years prior to the presidency and one for each of his four terms as President.
It features four and a half tons of South Dakota red granite, 100,000 gallons of flowing water and lots of trees and greenery. Some parts feel like a sanctuary while others tell the sad, unsettling stories that marred his presidency.
Sculptures depict scenes from the Great Depression like men waiting in a bread line and others listening to a fireside chat. There’s a statue of FDR with his little dog Fala, a Scottish Terrier. His own words are inscribed in stone including the phrase “I hate war” from a 1936 speech.
There’s a nice sculpture of his wife Eleanor as well.
The original design offered no depiction of Roosevelt in his wheelchair. While he was wheelchair bound for much of his life, the American public had no idea because he worked so hard to conceal his disability.
However, the National Organization on Disability argued that he should be depicted in the wheelchair he designed for himself. They raised private funds to add it several years after the 1997 dedication in 2001.
The original memorial was designed by Lawrence Halprin, an accomplished landscape architect who had fond memories of the former President. While Halprin won the design contest in 1974, it was another twenty years before Congress awarded the funds to build it.
Incidentally, there is another Roosevelt Memorial that we didn’t visit. Its a 3x7x4 foot block of white granite that was dedicated by the living American Presidents in 1965. It is located on the lawn of the National Archives.
This was actually what Roosevelt suggested. He told his friend Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter his wishes regarding a memorial. Justice Frankfurter recalled the 1941 conversation:
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 any ornamentation, with the simple carving, In Memory of….
I can’t help but wonder what he would have to say about this stunning place of natural elements and well thought design that tells the story of his presidency so beautifully.
I hope he would be pleased. As a pet lover, I’m guessing he would be most glad to see his little Fala included by his side.
There are also patriotic works depicting Rosie the Riveter and life on the home front. In 1945, this cover depicted a young soldier, home from war and happily helping his mother peel potatoes.
Look closely.
There are some fun pieces too including a tattoo artist crossing out women’s names on a man’s bicep. There are a couple of April Fool’s covers that are much like an Easter egg hunt to find the things that are off. How many things can you find wrong with this cover?
In all, it’s a nice collection.
I have read that artists and critics of his age didn’t take his work seriously. It is often sweet and sometimes sentimental. It is sometimes a bit idealistic but I like to think Rockwell’s work reflects the values of another time while preserving threads of humanity that we all can still relate to some eighty years later.
A soldier came home for the last time yesterday. He received a hero’s welcome and his family found closure but it all was 77 years in the making. Private First Class Wilmer White was a young man, a 21 year old newlywed, when he was killed in action.
Yesterday in Pomeroy, Ohio people lined the streets to pay their respects in a swell of patriotic pride. A Girl Scout troop passed out flags, veterans came in their POW/MIA shirts and strangers stood together in the street. We all were temporarily united by our pride, respect and an odd mix of sorrow and joy as we watched the horse drawn hearse turn the corner on his final journey.
Someone wrote a beautiful obituary for PFC White, describing him as a young man who collected treasures from his adventures roaming the countryside and playing in the Shade River.
PFC White was a talented artist who could draw a realistic likeness. He was a good hunter who also enjoyed building things with wood and repurposed items.
It’s hard to imagine the anguish felt by a family waiting for 77 years to have their loved one identified. While scientists have been busy identifying PFC White and others like him, there still remain about 6,000 World War II soldiers whose families continue to wait.
At least one family and one community can rest knowing they did their best to give their hero the long overdue welcome he deserves.
