The Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial will take you on a walk through time as Franklin D. Roosevelt’s four terms in office are chronicled throughout four outdoor “rooms” and gardens featuring stone, sculpture and water. The Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial also features a bookstore stocked with Franklin D. Roosevelt and Washington, DC souvenirs.
Features of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial
Stone
The Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, designed by influential American landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, spans 7.5 acres, stretching out rather than rising up, across a stone-paved floor. Granite walls define the Memorial’s four “rooms,” each representing a different term in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency from 1933 to 1945. 21 of Roosevelt’s inspiring quotes from his four terms in the White House are etched into the granite walls, from his quotes on the Great Depression to those on World War II.
Sculpture
The Franklin D. Roosevelt National Memorial includes sculptures by Thomas Hardy, Robert Graham, George Segal, Neil Estern and Leonard Baskin. In the first “room” the stage is set for Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency with a bold, high-relief bronze sculpture by Thomas Hardy, The Presidential Seal and a bas-relief sculpture by Robert Graham entitled, The First Inaugural. George Segal’s The Fireside Chat, The Rural Couple and The Breadline capture the mood of the Great Depression while Social Programs by Robert Graham is reminiscent of Roosevelt’s New Deal programs in the second area of the Memorial. A 9-foot-tall sculpture by Neil Estern called FDR and Fala dominates the third room and depicts Roosevelt seated with a cape around his shoulders and his dog at his feet. In the fourth room is a 30-foot-long bronze bas-relief piece by Leonard Baskin that mourns the death of Roosevelt and Neil Estern’s Eleanor Roosevelt, the first sculpture of a first lady in a commemorative work in Washington, DC.
Water
Running water is an important physical and metaphorical component of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial. Each of the four outdoor “rooms” feature a waterfall that represents one of Roosevelt’s terms in office. As you move from room to room, the waterfalls become larger and more complex, symbolic of the increasing complexity of a presidency marked by vast upheavals of economic depression and war. The symbolism of the five main water areas can be described as: a single large drop, reflective of the crash of the economy that led to the Great Depression; multiple stairstep drops, representing the Tennessee Valley Authority dam-building project; chaotic falls at varying angles as a remainder of World War II; a still pool, symbolic of Roosevelt’s death; and an area that combines all water features as a retrospective of Roosevelt’s presidency.
Be sure to stop by the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial Bookstore, located near the memorial entrance along West Basin Drive. Books, other educational materials and souvenirs related to Franklin D. Roosevelt and Washington, DC are available to purchase.
Travel Tips
- Park Rangers on duty will be happy to answer any questions you might have about the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial.
- The Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial is ADA complaint.