Franklin+D.+Roosevelt+Memorial


 * María Solbes **

** Franklin Delano Roosevelt memorial: **

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Introduction : After my trip to Washington DC I liked a lot of places but one of the ones I enjoyed the most was Franklin Delano Roosevelt memorial. This memorial had many different phases he had written that made me remember the situation we are living today. Also knowing about his life and experience made me realize that many people we don’t even know what they are passing through, it can be a hard time but still they do their best job to make it better, like him. People never knew he was invalid and he didn’t want people to realize, still he made great things for his country. ======

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This is dedicated to the memory of Franklin Delano Roosevelt  US president that helped his country from entering a great dept. In here it is divided in 5 rooms where each of it represented a term of his presidency (4 terms) and one of it a prolog in the entrance, where you can see a sculpture of him in a wheel chair, built time after the memorial was completed, since he didn’t like people to know he was invalid. It was constructed to give him the honor he deserved and transmit his image to future generations. Each room is filled with different quotes he said in that time he was living and situations he was facing. ======

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 Stucture : This building was designed by Lawrence Halprin, but the memorial also includes the help of American artists that help with the construction of this building: Leonard Baskin, Neil Eastern, Robert Graham, Thomas Hardy, and George Segal. As well as the master of stone carver John Benson, contributed with his work. The memorial is constructed on what is known as the Cherry Tree Walk and covers a total of about 7.5 acres; it is one of the most expensive ones. It took them many years to finish the structure of Franklin Delano Roosevelt since congress establish it in 1955 but until mat 1997 took place as a memorial. You can find different sculptures for example one of Eleanor Roosevelt his wife that was also very important in American history. Another one where he is sitting with his dog Fala in a wheelchair (it's hard to tell he is there unless you look at the back). ======

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 History: This memorial of Franklin Delano Roosevelt  is build to remember his great contributions and give him the honor he deserves. Another reason, is because they want future US generation to know about him and follow his ideals. The statue of him sitting in a wheel chair represents the physical disability that he faced thought his life, without wanting people to know about it and inspires leadership as well as perseverance. ======

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 Opinion: What mostly called my attention when I saw this was that at first was that the prolog was not build until after it was all done, because he did not want the people to know his situation of being in a wheel chair and never led people take any picture of him. This impressed me since I realized that this is symbolizing that many people cannot be okay as you believe or they make you think, but you may never know. Also what I really found interesting was all the phrases that were written on the walls, I could identify withmany of them. One of the ones I identify the most was “the only thing you have to fear is fear itself”. This is very real and I think made Americans want to continue facing their problems. I learned how people talked about others and the importance they gave to the opinion, like Roosevelt to the point of hiding his wheel chair or way of living. When I visited at first it was like I had a flashback of the life I am leaving today, I started reading all the phrases and connecting with my life. Also seeing the way it is designed as well as constructed with 5 rooms represented exactly. I think it was really good visiting this memorial; he was an important man in American history and with his great quotes made others reflect, as I did. ======

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**__Bibliography: __** ======

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 "Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial National Memorial (U.S. National Park Service)." // U.S. National Park Service - Experience Your America //. Web. 17 Mar. 2011. <http://www.nps.gov/frde/index.htm>. ======

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<span style="font-family: Calibri; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: 35.45pt;"> "The History Of The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial." // Essortment Articles: Free Online Articles on Health, Science, Education & More... // Web. 17 Mar. 2011. []. ======

=** Roberto Argüello **= =Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial=

<span style="display: block; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">In August 1955, 10 years after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, congress of the United States established a project to create a memorial in honor to President Roosevelt. Many years after, in May 1997 formal president Bill Clinton, dedicates the memorial to Roosevelt. This memorial represents the 12 years of the history of the United States in which Roosevelt served as president. The memorial communicates us the reason of why Americans were fighting in //World War II.// The memorial is organized into five outdoor rooms; the first room is the prologue where we find customer service and a statue of him sitting on his wheelchair. The architect of the memorial didn’t wanted to include the statue but some years later, after citizens were insisting to include the statute of him in the wheelchair it was added to the memorial. The reasons citizens wanted the statue, was to show others that not because you are an ‘invalid’ person means that you can’t do big and important things like Roosevelt did. The four remaining rooms are dedicated to Roosevelt’s terms as president, each room dedicated to each term he was in office. <span style="display: block; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Long after Roosevelt’s death his own words call out from the walls of his memorial as though he were somehow in the present. There are about 40 quotes in the memorial, all quotes in different walls, and the big coincidence is that most of the quotes Roosevelt said in that time fit in the situation that we, Mexicans and most of the world are getting into once again. <span style="display: block; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">The project to establish the memorial was created in 1955 but the memorial was constructed and inaugurated until 1997. The main designer was Lawrence Halprin that received help from a stone carver named John Benson and many others Americans artists such as Leonard Baskin, Robert Graham, Neil Estern and some more. This huge memorial is located near the Jefferson Memorial, and the Washington Monument. It has some nice pools, big green trees, plants and stones that make the place look nice. The memorial is mostly made out of marble which looks good in most of the things. The statutes are located in different areas of the memorials and each statue represents a life marking event in the life of the people who lived in those times when USA was getting into a depression. <span style="display: block; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 35.4pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: -35.4pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">The memorial is dedicated to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32th president of the United <span style="display: block; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 35.4pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: -35.4pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">States. He was an invalid president that changed the life of millions of people and did many important things sitting in his wheelchair. He is a role model for anyone and a true honorable man. He shows us that everything is possible and that you and I can always contribute to any type of cause. The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial seemed very interesting to me because it is very different from the other memorials. Most of the walls on the memorial had quotes he said and there were also some statues of the situation he and the people in USA were living. The thing the caught my attention were the quotes he said, most of them are very deep and solid. One of the statues that I saw in the memorial was about five men standing outside a house with a soup bowl in their hands. It was hard to believe the situation people were living, because to get to the point where you go and ask for food outside a stranger’s door, well that is a kind of embarrassing. I didn’t knew much about Franklin Roosevelt when I got to Washington DC I learned that he was president of USA for four times, he got polio at the age of 39 and that he was in office while World War II. The only two things I knew about Roosevelt was that he was the husband of Eleanor Roosevelt and that with his perseverance, courage and brain, he stop The United States from falling into a great depression. I felt sorry when I saw Roosevelt sitting on the wheelchair because he did marvelos things for the country and maybe if could have walked and move freely he might achieved better things in his life. I liked the place where the memorial is located because there are nice trees, plants, flowers, and pools that make the place look nicer. All of the quotes he said are wonderful, most of the quotes fit in the situation we are living today. Nothing excited happened to me there, the only thing that happened was that I stayed behind the group because I was reading the quotes and taking a lot of pictures. I like and admire the structure the memorial is built, it is great to see different kind of memorials. It would be really boring if every memorial was the same type. I enjoyed being at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt memorial, I learned a lot of what he said, and of the situation Americans were living in that time, I feel sorry for them, but I feel proud at the same time.

__ Bibliography: __
====<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">"Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial National Memorial (U.S. National Park Service)." //U.S. National Park Service - Experience Your America//. Web. 17 Mar. 2011. <http://www.nps.gov/frde/index.htm>. ==== <span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-indent: -36pt;">"Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial." //Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia//. Web. 17 Mar. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Delano_Roosevelt_Memorial>.

<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-indent: -36pt;">Rosenberg, Jennifer. "FDR Memorial in Washington D.C." //20th Century History//. Web. 17 Mar. 2011. [].

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
<span style="display: block; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;"> The great depression was a really tough time for United States. Wasn’t the only thing that really affected economy and daily life in USA, world war two was right at the window. It was the beginning of chaos. Fortunately United States awaited one man that would change everything and overpass this depressing situation. Our 32nd president, Franklin D. Roosevelt was the man that changed the story. <span style="display: block; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;"> Highlights in history from USA can be found in the beautiful city and capital of this powerful country, Unites States. Washington D.C. has a great variety of historic and artistic monuments, memorials, and places to visit. One of the 380 parks in the D.C park system is the West Potomac Park. This special park is a piece of land dedicated to the man that awakened us from the great depression. It is the Franklin D. Roosevelt memorial, which remembers his great devotion to the country and the patriotism he had serving it. <span style="display: block; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;"> The Park is based on 4 different rooms, representing the 4 terms the president served. The rooms are decorated with various waterfalls and bronze statues, which all of them represent some important event or accomplishment during his serving. Inscriptions are carved on the room walls, what’s particular of this inscriptions is that all of them are different quotes from different speeches he made. This park design was created by Designer Lawrence Halprin. Halprin had a great idea that would help remember people that even if someone is invalid for some reason, he is not less than you. Roosevelt was paralyzed from the hip down, and couldn’t walk. The park design is made up so people who are in wheelchairs can go around with no problem at all. Congress made that suggestion and practically took care that it was taken and well done. This big memorial did not opened publicly till 1997, and still today you can go any day to visit this beautiful memorial, except Christmas which Roosevelt believed as a sacred day and nobody should work that day. Every thought that came out from Franklins head is put up in that memorial, for respect, and for teaching. <span style="display: block; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;"> A big park with very special details in it, that’s what it takes to remember Franklin D. Roosevelt and the four presidential terms he served to the country. It calls your attention when someone tells you that there is this one single president that served 4 terms instead of a maximum of two. You want to know what happened. When I visited this memorial, I started to think in invalid people and that it is just bad luck what they had, they are not less than us and even if we see them like that, one of them can change the world or history; as this man did. I felt like willing to do something for my country. There’s always an obstacle in the way, but that’s not enough to stop you from getting what you want. I personally think that the place is just perfect. It opens your eyes and implants you the marvelous ideas this man had and the way he took the country out of what could end in social and economically chaos. He deserves this memorial, and people should take the time to admire it and think back to whom he was, read about him and reflect on his ideas and in what conditions did he serve. He gave himself to the country in order to make it a better place for others.