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FDR Memorial: Your Views

Here's some of the e-mail we got about the new FDR Memorial and the late president. You can send us e-mail at editor@AllPolitics.com, and be sure to include your name and home town.

'Defined An Age'

The man was no doubt "a chameleon on plaid," but he led this country longer than any other. He defined an age, spoke to his country by the fireside, gave inspired speeches and undeniably presided over America's rise to the front of the world community.

Creating a memorial for anyone is inherently difficult. People who we immortalize invariably come under heated criticism. Putting a chink in people's armor and projecting your guilt on others is a human tradition.

Throw in the fact that the memorial is for a political figure in a partisan society and you have an impossibility. A preface to every human being you meet is -- NOT PERFECT. We can all agree he was not perfect and neither is anyone remembered on the Mall. Our desire to malign him for his imperfections or bad public or private choices only underscores the unforgiving and intolerant times he had the guts to try to change The people of this country made him an icon -- a hero. Whether he deserved to be is rhetorical -- the facts are stubborn things -- he is a hero -- and icon.

Thank you.

-- Tom Wyatt, Indianola, Miss., May 2


'Hope Similar Plans Will Be Made For Reagan'

FDR is a good choice to memorialize at the mall. I would hope that similar plans will be made for Reagan.

-- Dan Ryan, Buffalo, N.Y., May 2


'Should Put It In Moscow'

Sirs,

If they're going to erect a monument to FDR, they should put it in Moscow, not Washington, District of Criminals. I think Clinton would have rather dedicated the memorial to Joseph Stalin but there's a very slight chance that one or two Americans would have objected. They, of course, would have been branded as right-wing wackos by the Clinton Broadcasting Network and he probably would have gotten away with it. President Clinton and her husband obviously idolize FDR and the strides he made to socialize America. Instead of wasting taxpayers money on luxuriating themselves and setting up monuments to enshrine their socialist ideals, I would like to see some backbone exhibited by our elected officials in standing up for the ideals of the American people as set forth in the founding documents of our forefathers. It is a disgrace and an offense to see the brazen disregard for the Constitution and the Bill of Rights by this administration and its cronies. Unfortunately, there is no polling data to support such a radical shift in policy. Someone needs to notify the king that he is wearing no clothes and the serfs are beginning to notice.

-- Robert Gibson-Taylor, Longmont, Colo., May 2


'Is There Room?'

Is there room on the FDR Memorial for the names of the thousands of Haitians who were killed under his direction from 1915-1920, or for the list of illegal acts for which FDR publicly said he should have been impeached and jailed for "900 years," or for the fact of FDR's perjury on his conduct of the most systematic illegal persecution of homosexuals in American history? Is there room for the names of the men at Pearl Harbor? ...

-- Mark Willey, May 1


'If Not FDR, Then Who?

If not FDR, then who?

-- Gaylord O. Hydal, Springfield, Mass., May 1


'No Person More Worthy'

There is no person more worthy of having a memorial on the Washington Mall than Franklin D. Roosevelt except our Founding Fathers. FDR took a nation of out of complete collapse and put it on the road to greatness just by his personal faith in the United States and the belief in its future. Just to hear his magnificent voice lifted a nation's spirits.

As a handicapped person, he made me believe in my ability to do when others told me I can't, that my cup is half full, not half empty, and to be proud of myself.

It will be many years before someone of his stature comes our way again.

-- Sydelle Zabow, Elizabeth, N.J. May 1


'One Of The Greatest'

FDR was, in my opinion, one of the greatest American presidents of all time. He definitely deserves a memorial on the Mall in our nation's capital.

-- Terry L. Winkles, Guntown, Miss., May 1


'The Monstrosity It Is Today'

Had his legacy ended with WWII, Roosevelt certainly would have gone down with the great ones. But his policies allowed the government to become the monstrosity it is today.

-- Jason Cunningham, May 1


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