I visited the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial on the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC, on the day after it opened in 1997. Bought the book and everything.
Nearly five years later, I finally got around to READING the book. I was surprised to find that
a) The FDR Memorial Commision was founded by a joint resolution of Congress as early as August, 1955
b) The present site was reserved in September 1959
c) The first design competition was held in 1960
d) The chosen design was ABANDONED in 1965 in the face of public controversy
e) The design proposal for the Memorial was selected in 1974
f) Construction of the Memorial actually commenced in 1994.
Here’s my question…just what the hell WAS that first, early-1960s design that incited such public controversy?
Did the Republican leadership during the Eisenhower administration select a statue of FDR with his hands in the pockets of John Q. Public? Did JFK’s Best and Brightest want an FDR with a gleaming halo and flaming sword?
I don’t have a concrete explanation for you, Uke, but the confluence of dates leads me to guess that the project may have been sidelined in the wake of the dedication of the real FDR memorial in 1965.
The controversy probably surrounds FDR’s own words, which are quoted in this article:
This was supposedly what FDR told Chief Justice Felix Frankfurter in 1941. That article claims that Frankfurter’s diary was always waved around anytime someone tried to propose a more grandiose memorial.
It’s still there, and it’s one of my very favorite memorials in my town. It’s just a simle little marble hunk (I think it’s marble), along with a nearby plaque that explains its rather unobtrusive nature. All I can say is Franklin got the five thousand dollar memorial for which he asked, and the rest of us got our $54 million memorial. Now, who was the big spender again?
The dispute came up early in the planning process for the current memorial (which I quite like) – historians were incensed that there is, in fact, a very subtle depiction of FDR in a wheelchair (covered by a blanket, as I recall), since the man himself spent a lot of time camouflaging his handicap. Advocates for the handicapped, on the other hand, were incensed that there wasn’t a more obvious depiction.
Haven’t heard anything on it for a while. I suppose the two sides decided that the representation was fair and enough, in combination with the fact that nowadays, pretty much everyone knows the truth.
The wheelchair bit (and for that matter the cigarette holder, which you will also not see at the Tidal Basin memorial) were controversies surrounding the final, 1990s version. I think Uke is asking why the 1965 design was shitcanned.
zigaretten seems to recall that it was more of that '60s monolith stuff, which would certainly square with contemporary designs, such as the memorial to Franklin’s cousin.
As I said, I think that the little rectangular chunk at the Archives, also placed in 1965, has something to do with it. It may have been laid down that year as a consolation prize to those who wanted a 20th anniversary commemoration. Or, it may have been planted and people didn’t like the idea of another, more expensive, and presumably uglier memorial being placed in the tidal basin when FDR’s own wish had just been granted.
Sofa King – I agree completely with your assessment of the real FDR memorial. It’s simple and moving, and the other one (which I refuse to see) spits in the face of the man.
I think my curiosity has been more or less satisfied.
Goodness, that WAS one ugly-ass memorial idea, wasn’t it? I knew it had to be pretty bad to offend the aesthetic sensibilities of 1965 America. No representational sculpture at all?
I’ll have to remember to make a trip past the Archives next time I’m in DC, and see the memorial FDR really wanted.
Interesting quote from the man on the subject (adds yet another layer of FDR-respect to my already hefty pile), and I can see why Larry the Architect didn’t mention it in the commemorative book.
Yeah, go for it. Remember, Box 30. Folder 22. Don’t screw it up. Anderson’s the name, Clinton Anderson. He’s one of the Anderson boys. And report back to me with your findings ASAP. Don’t stop for waffles on your way back home.
And, uh, I swear I’ll get around to looking up your ancestors in the Red Hook cemetery real soon.