Clinton Presents Memorial as Symbol ‘of FDR’s Faith’

WASHINGTON — Franklin D. Roosevelt, who dominated this capital more than half a century ago, returned to center stage Friday as President Clinton led the nation in dedicating a memorial to his momentous years in the White House.

“This memorial will be the embodiment of FDR’s faith . . . ,” Clinton declared, “reminding us that whenever America acts with certainty of purpose and FDR’s famous flexibility of mind, we have always been more than equal to whatever challenges we faced.”

The ceremonies, which elevated Roosevelt--along with Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln--to the pantheon of chief executives honored with memorials here--took place under brilliant, cloudless skies. It was “the best day Washington has had in months,” exulted CBS correspondent Mike Wallace, who served as master of ceremonies.

And a threatened protest by organizations representing the disabled, who had demanded a statue of Roosevelt in a wheelchair, did not occur. This was largely the result of a bipartisan deal that Roosevelt himself would have admired: Republican lawmakers pledged to redeem Democrat Clinton’s vow to add such a statue to the memorial, which sprawls along 7 1/2 acres near the Potomac River.

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Yet even as the 90-minute ceremony proceeded, the politics of the day added a note of irony to the memorial’s dedication: The tribute to the president who launched the nation into an age of activist government was led by a Democratic successor who had proclaimed an end to the era of big government. Moreover, even as Clinton honored Roosevelt, his aides, along with Democratic members of Congress, were huddled with Republicans on Capitol Hill, putting the finishing touches on a balanced-budget deal that would deepen the cuts Clinton already has made in the federal government apparatus created by Roosevelt.

Although Clinton did not acknowledge the paradox, he did remark that “the great legacy of Roosevelt is a vision and a challenge, not a set of specific programs.” That was, perhaps, intended to deflect criticism of his own emphasis on reducing the size and cost of the federal bureaucracy.

But comments by other Democrats indicated that they believe Roosevelt might have taken a different path, even in today’s political climate.

“I think President Roosevelt would have embraced a lot of changes. Flexibility was something he was capable of,” said Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry. “But I don’t think he would have embraced some of the diminution of effort for children and those less fortunate.”

“He would have understood that times have changed,” said Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa. “But the gap is widening between rich and poor in America, and Franklin Roosevelt would never stand for that.”

Whatever the differences over such policy matters, all agreed on the significance of Roosevelt’s achievement in overcoming the results of his affliction with polio. Nearly every speaker made reference to it, none more forcefully than Vice President Al Gore, who said of the 32nd president: “Though he could not stand unaided on his own legs, Americans and freedom-loving people throughout the world stood upon his shoulders.”

And Clinton provided an unintended reminder of Roosevelt’s condition when he hobbled to the podium on crutches, a result of his recent knee injury.

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While Roosevelt was president, most Americans did not realize the full extent of Roosevelt’s disability, thanks to his skill at subterfuge. But Harold Ickes, Clinton’s former deputy chief of staff and the son of Roosevelt’s Interior secretary and confidant, said that he still has “vivid memories” of the president visiting the Ickes home in Olney, Md., for an occasional poker game. Roosevelt would be lifted out of his White House car by Secret Service agents and placed in a wheelchair, Ickes recalled.

Unlike the more traditional monuments to Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson, the spread-out configuration of the Roosevelt memorial resembles an outdoor museum or park. Visitors are invited to walk through four chambers, enclosed by granite walls, each representing the tribulations and triumphs of one of Roosevelt’s four terms as president.

Quotations from FDR’s speeches--inscribed in the walls, statutes and bas relief sculptures--and waterfalls, emblematic of Roosevelt’s love of the sea, convey the stories both of Roosevelt’s turbulent presidency and a dramatic period in the nation’s history.

Among the noted sculptors who contributed to the project was Robert Graham of Los Angeles. His bas relief creations depict Roosevelt’s first inaugural and the impact of the New Deal’s social programs with text, some of it in Braille, and visual images.