Above: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC, as it appears across from the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. Photo by Brent McKee, August 2018.
"In 1934, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a great admirer of Jefferson, contacted the Commission of Fine Arts about the possibility of erecting a statue of Jefferson..." ("Thomas Jefferson Memorial," Historic American Buildings Survey, 1994 (image download link, from the Library of Congress)).
The Thomas Jefferson Memorial got under way in 1934 with the creation of the congressionally-approved Thomas Jefferson Memorial Commission. Though not specifically a New Deal project, President Franklin Roosevelt played a key role throughout the entire construction process, as highlighted in a 2003 National Park Service (NPS) report. Indeed, the NPS notes that FDR approved the final design.
President Roosevelt spoke at the Memorial groundbreaking on December 15, 1938; he laid down the cornerstone on November 15, 1939; and he spoke at the memorial dedication on April 13, 1943, saying: "Today, in the midst of a great war for freedom, we dedicate a shrine to freedom. To Thomas Jefferson, Apostle of Freedom, we are paying a debt long overdue."
The great irony of Thomas Jefferson, of course, is that he fought for freedom while owning slaves. Perhaps the best that can be said (the issue will be debated forever) is that Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers set in motion a society that would, eventually, give more freedom to more people.
Even today freedom is a problem in America (and so... let us not think that we're far superior to Jefferson), with those born into wealth enjoying a vastly greater degree of freedom than other Americans - for example: greater freedom from debt; greater freedom to travel; greater freedom to hold meaningful jobs (thanks to connections, nepotism, cronyism, and the ability to work in unpaid, but prestigious internships); greater freedom to not work at all; greater freedom from the criminal justice system (e.g., the cash bail system, softer treatment for white collar criminals, better legal defense); greater freedom & choice in healthcare, education, and housing; and so on and so on.
FDR once said, quoting "an old English judge": "Necessitous men are not free men." And in America today, of course, we excel at creating necessitous (impoverished) men, women, and children.
Perhaps, someday, the American caste system will be replaced by true freedom for all. And perhaps Thomas Jefferson and Franklin Roosevelt will be remembered as early, albeit imperfect promoters of that true freedom.
The great irony of Thomas Jefferson, of course, is that he fought for freedom while owning slaves. Perhaps the best that can be said (the issue will be debated forever) is that Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers set in motion a society that would, eventually, give more freedom to more people.
Even today freedom is a problem in America (and so... let us not think that we're far superior to Jefferson), with those born into wealth enjoying a vastly greater degree of freedom than other Americans - for example: greater freedom from debt; greater freedom to travel; greater freedom to hold meaningful jobs (thanks to connections, nepotism, cronyism, and the ability to work in unpaid, but prestigious internships); greater freedom to not work at all; greater freedom from the criminal justice system (e.g., the cash bail system, softer treatment for white collar criminals, better legal defense); greater freedom & choice in healthcare, education, and housing; and so on and so on.
FDR once said, quoting "an old English judge": "Necessitous men are not free men." And in America today, of course, we excel at creating necessitous (impoverished) men, women, and children.
Perhaps, someday, the American caste system will be replaced by true freedom for all. And perhaps Thomas Jefferson and Franklin Roosevelt will be remembered as early, albeit imperfect promoters of that true freedom.
Above: President Franklin Roosevelt laying down the cornerstone of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, November 15, 1939. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.
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