The FDR Memorial
1 of 3

Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, Washington, DC, National Park Service, Aerial View, August 15, 1996. Looking across the Tidal Basin towards the Jefferson Memorial.

During the 1930s and early 1940s, Franklin Roosevelt gave considerable thought to his own commemoration. FDR created the first modern presidential library at his home in Hyde Park, New York. Every president since then has followed his lead, and presidential libraries have become the dominant form of presidential memorials outside of Washington, D.C.. Considering a more traditional memorial in the nation's capital, Roosevelt reportedly told Felix Frankfurter that he wanted nothing more than a plain block of stone the size of his desk erected in front of the National Archives. Such a memorial was built during the 1960s.

Nevertheless, in 1955, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial Commission was established and has dedicated its efforts ever since to creating a grander memorial than the block of stone next to the Archives.