Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial

After we left Eastern Market we headed back to the Mall and got off at the Smithsonian station.  We then headed west until we could turn south to go around the Tidal Basin.  The last time we'd toured the Mall we had not gone any further around the basin than stopping by the Jefferson Memorial and I wanted to see more.

After making a quick stop at Jefferson we kept going until we ran into the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial.  Unfortunately coming from this direction we technically started at the end of the memorial, which is laid out in a chronological progression.  To learn more about the proper progression through the memorial check out this description.

Franklin Roosevelt remains intimately connected to the National Park Service. During a speech in 1936, President Roosevelt noted the special quality of national parks by stating that "there is nothing so American." He captured the essential truth of the agency by declaring, "the fundamental idea behind the parks...is that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us."
--from Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial website

While we saw some signs they weren't very prominent.

Before too long we came to the memorial proper.

Roosevelt is famous for his dedication to what he believed were four fundamental freedoms: of speech, of worship, from want, and from fear.

As you walk through the memorial, which is rather extensive and not one structure like you'll find with Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln you will see many different FDR quotes such as this one.

This area is supposed to have water, however it was discovered that the design of the area was faulty as too much water ended up in the utility vault, so the fountain was drained so that the issue could be fixed.

Eleanor Roosevelt, who besides being First Lady also served as the First United States delegate to the United Nations is of course featured in the memorial alongside her husband.

Roosevelt's death in office (shortly after he'd started his unprecedented fourth term--after finishing his unprecedented third term was unexpected and he was given a state funeral, including the transport of his coffin on a caisson through Washington DC.

Fala, the Scottish Terrier, was quite possibly America’s favorite presidential pet. So popular, in fact, that his statue receives a prominent position next to the statue of his owner, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in the third room of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The bronze statue of Murray the Outlaw of Falahill, Fala’s full name, is the only presidential pet honored in such a way.

Franklin Roosevelt had several pets, but only Fala, named after a family ancestor, would quickly become the president’s favorite. So endeared was he that he remained at the president’s side and a common fixture at the White House until the Roosevelt’s death in 1945.
--from Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial website

"I have seen war. I have seen war on land and sea. I have seen blood running from the wounded...I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities destroyed...I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives. I hate war."
--Franklin Delano Roosevelt August 14, 1936

A defining characteristic of Roosevelt's term before World War II was the Great Depression and things like bread lines.

He was also famous for his Fireside Chats, broadcast on radio to the entire nation, something fairly new for a president.

Finally when we got to the start of the normal path through the memorial we came upon the gift shop.

Next to the gift shop is the "prologue room" which contains this statue of Roosevelt, showing something that was not widely shared during his lifetime, at least not through the media, his reliance on a wheelchair due to polio, which he contracted at the age of 39 and which caused him to lose the use of his legs.

The statue was not part of the original memorial. It was added in 2001 following a campaign by the National Organization on Disability to demonstrate that after contracting polio at the age of 39, Roosevelt spent much of his life in a wheelchair and should be shown that way. Others asserted that FDR went to great effort to conceal his disability. Private funds were raised, and the statue was added. The chair in the statue depicts the one the president designed himself from a kitchen chair and tricycle wheels.
--from Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial website

If you'd like to see more photos from the site check out this album.

~Matt