Bob Ray Sanders 
Sanders: Remembering FDR and our country through his times
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Bob Ray Sanders
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Long before John F. Kennedy was elected, Americans had fallen heads-over-heel for Franklin Delano Roosevelt, perhaps the most beloved president of the 20th century.
I can remember growing up hearing the old folk talk about "Mr. Roos-e-velt," and I still shiver at hearing how they recalled his death, in much the same way that many today still tell of hearing about the assassination of Kennedy.
A few weeks ago when I wrote a column about U.S. presidents and some little-known facts about them (including the first swimming pool in the White House built for Roosevelt), I received a call from a very upset World War II veteran.
He, as I, had included Roosevelt among the greatest presidents who had ever served, and he said he was perturbed that the nation had never built an FDR memorial.
Upon returning his call, and first listening to more of his rage about the nation’s disrespect of this great American, I told him that I was sure there was a memorial to FDR. I had seen it.
No, it wasn’t exactly on the mall, I told him, but it was close. And I admitted that when I first saw it on one of my last visits to Washington, I’d actually just stumbled on it.
The veteran thought that any monument to Roosevelt should be equally as majestic as the one to Abraham Lincoln, as noble as the one to Thomas Jefferson and as prominent as the one to George Washington.
I tried, but certainly failed to explain that, in a way, the memorial to FDR was more majestic because it lacked "majesty;" more noble because there was so much humility about it; more prominent because of the way it commanded the 7.5-acre space it occupied.
Our nation’s tribute to this remarkable man not only captures the person, but makes an incredible attempt to capture the times and the people he touched — the people to whom he brought hope.
The National Park Service describes the location as being "along the famous Cherry Tree Walk on the Western edge of the Tidal Basin near the National Mall."
Designed by Lawrence Halprin, the monument wasn’t dedicated until 1997 although it was commissioned in 1974.
There is a serenity to the work that is in contrast to the periods of U.S. history it represents — a time in which there was both a Great Depression and a great war. With waterfalls, trees and life-like sculptures, the Roosevelt Memorial is unique.
In four "outdoor rooms" depicting the four terms of the president, the visitor is embraced by each period with the president’s words and symbols marking the times.
The country was already in a depression when Roosevelt took office in 1933, and the memorial symbolizes those hard times with a sculpture of men standing in a breadline.
One of the quotes on a wall of the first room states: "No Country, however rich, can afford the waste of its human resources. Demoralization caused by vast unemployment is our great extravagance. Morally it is the greatest menace to our social order."
The second room includes the statue of a man listening to a radio — to one of Roosevelt’s fireside chats, of course — and feeling that sense of hope that this president brought forth with his New Deal.
Perhaps the most symbolic is the third room, where the sound of rolling waters can be heard as they tumble over toppled boulders, a dramatic image of war’s destruction. Also there is the sculpture of a seated pensive president with a cape covering most of his wheelchair. Nearby is his dog.
The caped Roosevelt caused protests from some advocates for the disabled because they thought it was trying to hide the president’s polio affliction. In fact, much of the nation never knew the severity of Roosevelt’s disability, so that was an accurate depiction. Still another statue was commissioned to show FDR clearly seated in a wheelchair, and it has been placed nearby the memorial.
Of course, Roosevelt only served a few months of his fourth term, and the fourth room of the monument sums up his impact on the nation even to this day.
"More than an end to war, we want an end to the beginnings of all wars," is one inscription in the room.
Another, which is still applicable today is, "Freedom of speech. Freedom of worship. Freedom from want. Freedom from fear."
