This part of the memorial represents FDR's 1st term as president.InscriptionsWall, right to leftTHIS GENERATION OF AMERICANS HAS A RENDEVOUS WITH DESTINYI PLEDGE MYSELF TO A NEW DEAL FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLEIN THESE DAYS OF DIFFICULTY, WE AMERICANS EVERYWHERE MUST AND SHALL CHOOSE THE PATH OF SOCIAL JUSTICE...THE PATH OF FAITH, THE PATH OF HOPE, AND THE PATH OF LOVE TOWARD OUR FELLOW MAN.NO COUNTRY, HOWEVER RICH, CAN AFFORD THE WASTE OF ITS HUMAN RESOURCES. DEMORALIZATION CAUS
This part of the memorial represents FDR's second term as presidentInscriptionsAbove bread lineThe Test of Our Progress is Not Whether Add More to the Abundance of Those Who Have Much, It Is Whether WE Provide Enough for Those Who Have Too Little.Above sculptures of farmersI See One Third of a Nation Ill-Housed, Ill-Clad, Ill-NourishedAbove radio sculptureI Never Forget That I Live in a House Owned by All the American People and That I Have Been Given Their Trust.Wall, right
Inscriptionswest wallWE MUST BE THE GREAT ARSENAL OF DEMOCRACYBouldersI HATE WARWall by waterfallI HAVE SEEN WARI 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 CHIDREN STARVING. I HAVE SEEN THE AGONY OF MOTHERS AND WIVES.I HATE WARBehind FDR sculptureTHEY (WHO) SEEK TO ESTABLISH SYSTEMS OF GOVERNMENT BASED ON THE REGIMENTATION OF ALL HUMAN BEINGS BY A HANDFUL OF INDIVIDU
InscriptionsWall, entranceMore Than as End to Wars We Want and End to the Beginnings of All WarBeneath United Nations emblemEleanor RooseveltFirst United States DelegateTo the United NationsLeft of Eleanor Roosevelt sculptureThe Structure of World Peace Cannot be the Work of One Man, or One Party, or One Nation... It Must be a Peace Which Rests on the Cooperative Effort of the Whole World.stepsJanuary 30, 1882 Franklin Delano Roosevelt Born at Hyde Park New York - 1905 Marrie
The four open-air rooms of the FDR Memorial represent each of the four terms of office to which he was elected. A meandering pathway leads past waterfalls, bronze sculptures, and his own powerful words carved on the granite walls. A statue of Roosevelt sitting in a wheelchair greets visitors and reminds them of the man who refused to let disability stop him.
There is an elongated set of 5 stairs that connects the upper level to the lower level. It gives the look of an amphitheater, where one might sit to watch the big show of the impressive fountain.
Visitors see the five-panel mural that occupies the back of the wall dividing Room Two into two halves. They also see the five columns that they may deduct tie in somehow with the five panels of the mural. “Social Programs” was created by Robert Graham.
Leaving the “Funeral Cortege” is another ramp to the left and a handrailed stairs to the right. Turn the corner, a statue of Eleanor Roosevelt is standing, behind her head is an emblem of the United Nations with inscription below: “Eleanor Roosevelt, First United States Delegate To The United Nations.”
Just beyond the two jumbles of stones and the fountain, is an alcove. There sits a larger than life statue of FDR wearing a cloak, portrayed in one of his favorite chairs at Hyde Park, New York. Hidden from view are the wheels on the chair located on the back.
Voters did not know the seriousness of Franklin Roosevelt's heart disease when they elected him to a fourth presidential term. With victory in sight, FDR made a final trip to Eastern Europe and the Middle East. At Yalta, he negotiated post-war agreements with the Soviet Union and Great Britain.
World War II began in Asia and Europe in the 1930s. FDR campaigned on keeping the US out of the war while secretly providing weapons and ships to democratic Great Britian without Congress knowing. These resources helped Great Britian fight authoritarian German and Japanese forces. With conflict raging off both coasts, voters reelected President Roosevelt to an unprecedented third term.
