FDR

After we left the Jefferson Memorial, we went on to the newer Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, one of the sights we were most excited to see. Located along the Tidal Basin and carved into a quiet thickly wooded area, it is a sprawling reminder of the power and breadth of the Presidency of FDR.
With four "rooms," one for each term he was elected to, the memorial is filled with statuary and waterfalls. The first statue you come to, seen here, is the most controversial and it is actually outside the memorial proper. FDR, a victim of polio as an adult, spent much of his term in a wheelchair. With the expectations of the 1930s & 40s and with the need for a strong leader during the depression and World War II, FDR took great pains to keep the chair out of photos and out of the public eye.
When the memorial opened, no clear presence of the wheelchair were seen although it is somewhat represented in a statue to be seen in the next post. Complaints from organizations supporting people with disabilities led to this compromise. What I know of the strength of the President makes me feel he would approve, given the changing attitude toward people fighting such disabilities.