February 19, 1999

Having spent more than a decade gazing from the White House at the memorials and monuments to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt decided that all he wanted after he was gone was a simple plaque the size of his desk placed among greenery in front of the National Archives.

He did, in fact, get his wish-the desk-size plaque does grace the grounds of the National Archives. But 52 years after his death, he got what many Americans feel is a far more fitting tribute and a well-deserved place among Washington's pantheon of great presidents.

What the nation gave FDR was a 7.5-acre memorial in West Potomac Park, along Washington's beautiful Tidal Basin, that is like no other in the federal city.

Celebrating its second anniversary in May, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial has quickly become the most visited presidential memorial, attracting more tourists in its first year than the famous memorials to Lincoln, Jefferson, and Washington.

The memorial is divided into four outdoor "rooms" divided by granite walls, each commemorating the key event or crisis that set the tenor for one of Roosevelt's four terms as President.

Each room contains sculptures, quotes from FDR carved into the walls, and a water feature such as a pool or waterfall. The addition of water to each gallery is more than an attempt to add a dramatic element. It is symbolic of the essential role water played in Roosevelt's life, from his days as Secretary of the Navy, to his beloved waterfront retreat on Campobello Island, to his home at Warm Springs, Ga.

Room One sets the stage for his presidency with a restful waterfall and a high-relief of FDR waving from an open car and is titled "The First Inaugural."

In Room Two, visitors are confronted with stark depictions that capture the country's somber mood during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when Americans' emotions were shaped by hope, despair, and hunger. Three sculptures by George Segal, "The Fireside Chat," "The Rural Couple," and "The Breadline" bring these three pervasive forces to startling life. A 30-foot bas-relief by sculptor Robert Graham portrays several facets of Roosevelt's New Deal. Here the cascading waters are no longer placid.

The next room depicts the destruction wrought by World War II. Much of the granite lies in rubble. A statue shows a troubled FDR in the White House, a cape covering his shoulders and his beloved Scottish terrier Fala at his feet.

Roosevelt's fourth term, shortened to just a few months by his death, is the theme of the memorial's final room. The mourning into which the country plunged is vividly suggested in the enormous bronze bas-relief titled "The Funeral Cortege." Nearby, a soothing waterfall represents the peace that followed World War II, which Roosevelt did not live to see.

This last room is historic for another reason. It contains a sculpture of Eleanor Roosevelt, the United States's first delegate to the United Nations, and is the first instance in which a first lady is depicted by a commemorative work anywhere in a city replete with monuments to the well-known and obscure. The sculpture, "Seeds of Peace," honors her work at the United Nations to draft the U.N. Declaration on Human Rights.

Though the ingenuity of the FDR Memorial's design elicited rave reviews, this being Washington, it was by no means free of controversy.

Because FDR rarely allowed himself to be photographed or depicted in his wheelchair, in none of the sculptures is the wheelchair visible. This omission angered many disabled individuals and their advocates who insisted that ignoring such a salient element of Roosevelt's existence continued the stigmatization of the handicapped they had spent decades erasing.

Just before the memorial's official dedication, President Clinton sent legislation to Congress, which it passed, to commission a statue of Roosevelt that clearly shows him in his wheelchair. Clinton remarked that during Roosevelt's era, Americans were not as tolerant or understanding of disabled individuals, and it would have been impossible for Roosevelt to be elected if voters had known he could not walk. Thus, FDR's efforts to hide his condition. Clinton added that if FDR were alive today, he would be impressed by the progress the country has made in moving beyond a view of handicapped persons as inferior and "would insist on being shown in his wheelchair."

The FDR Memorial is on Ohio Drive, S.W., between the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials. It is open from 8 a.m. until midnight every day, though the store selling books and souvenirs about Roosevelt closes at 10 p.m. The memorial is particularly dramatic at night.

Finally, a word of warning: The National Park Service has ended its policy of allowing visitors to wade or play in the water features, but they can still dangle their feet in the water!

More information is available at www.nps/gov/ncro/PublicAffairs/FdrMemorial.htm.