Franklin Roosevelt once told Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, “if they are to put up any memorial to me, I should like it to be placed in the centre of that green plot in front of the Archives Building. I should like it to consist of a block about the size of this”, pointing to his desk.

It took more than 50 years for a fitting monument to be erected, but Roosevelt’s request for modesty was not heeded. Opened in 1997, this memorial is a mammoth park of four granite open-air rooms, one for each of Roosevelt’s terms, with statuary and waterfalls. The president, a polio victim, is portrayed in a chair, with his dog Fala by his side.

Dramatic waterfalls cascade into a series of pools in the fourth room. The water reflects the peace that Roosevelt was so keen to achieve before his death. A relief of Roosevelt’s funeral cortege was carved into the granite wall by artist Leonard Baskin. It depicts the coffin on a horse-drawn cart, followed by the crowds of mourners walking behind.