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From: "I. Stephen Margolis" <[log in to unmask]>
To: "Betty Ray Alfred" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: FW: Hugh Gallagher Reports on FDR Statue Victory
Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2000 09:21:53 -0400
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Disposition-Notification-To: "I. Stephen Margolis" <[log in to unmask]>

Hi,

Please post this for me to the CP List.

Let's celebrate our victory.

ISM

-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of
jfa (Justice For All Moderator)
Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2000 9:48 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Hugh Gallagher Reports on FDR Statue Victory


                        Justice For All

                        [log in to unmask]

         Hugh Gallagher Reports on FDR Statue Victory

Hugh Gregory Gallagher, [log in to unmask], writes:

I am delighted to report that work has begun this week on the installation
of the statue depicting President Roosevelt seated in his wheelchair.  The
statue will have a prominent position at the entrance of the Franklin Delano
Roosevelt National Memorial, in Washington, DC.  The work will be completed
by
the end of the year, when it will be dedicated by President Clinton.

This statue of FDR seated in his wheelchair, comes as the result of the
efforts of thousands of disabled Americans who rallied, raised money,
lobbied
the Congress, called talk shows, persuaded editorial writers and columnists,
so as to commemorate the greatest president of the Twentieth Century as one
of us, a person with disability.  This generation of disabled people has
made
it happen.  This statue will serve as the nation's tribute to the many
contribution made by disabled Americans as symbolized by this statue of the
paraplegic FDR.

We Americans with disabilities must thank the sculptor Robert Graham and the
architect Lawrence Halprin for their genius and skill in taking our concept
and making it real.  We must thank the National Organization on Disability -
especially Mike Deland and Alan Reich -- for spearheading the drive to raise
the money for the statue.  Thanks go also to the National Park Service, the
Congress for appropriating the money for site preparation and to the
President, Bill Clinton, who has supported us all the way.


Description of the Statue

I have seen the sculptor's model of the statue and it is excellent!,
excellent!  It could not be better.

The statue has Roosevelt sitting in the simple wheelchair he designed.  The
chair consisted of the seat of a kitchen chair to which he attached wheels.
He put the big wheels put in front, so that he could turn on a dime.  The
chair, unlike the bulky wicker chairs of the time, could fit in the trunk of
a car.

Roosevelt is wearing a rumpled suit, his trademark "pince nez" glasses and
the old Fedora hat which he always wore in political campaigns.  It was his
"lucky" hat.  FDR'S legs are clearly smaller than those of an able bodied
man; but his powerful shoulders are almost bursting out of his suit coat.
His head is tilted a bit upward and, somehow, the artist has caught the
strength and confidence of the man, caught the power of his leadership which
inspired and propelled a nation through its two great crises -- the
Depression and World War II.

The statue, life size, will be placed on the pavement, without a plinth or
pedestal.  Able bodied people may overlook it or bump into it as they do
with
people using wheelchairs.  Wheelchair users will be able to sit side by side
with the President, people who are blind will be able to feel and sense his
qualities, and children will be able to sit on his lap.

To be sure that able bodied people do not overlook it, the architect,
Lawrence Halprin, has backed the statue with a granite wall 50 feet long, 12
feet high extending out towards the drive way.  Upon this wall there will be
an inscription 30 feet long which will be placed at wheelchair level.
Underneath each letter there will be placed the corresponding Braille
symbol.
As visitors approach the Memorial, the long wall will reach out to them.
Their eyes will be drawn to the inscription and, because of its length, they
will be caused to slow and read it, word by word.  This will cause them to
look and experience the statue and contemplate the achievement of this
disabled man.

The inscription is taken from his wife and partner, Eleanor Roosevelt, who
said in speaking of FDR's bout with polio and his sevens years of
rehabilitation, that "he had to think out the fundamentals of living and
learn the greatest of all lessons - infinite patience and never-ending
persistence."  It is a personal and moving message which is entirely
appropriate to this most personal statue of the disabled man who was
President.

The statue will be unique.  Like the Statue of Liberty, it will be a beacon
to all nations.  It will proclaim that in America, people with disabilities
are full citizens, equal in the eyes of its citizenry, empowered with all
the
rights that Americans have to "life, liberty and pursuit of happiness."

Hugh Gregory Gallagher
[log in to unmask]
301-229-3465.

--

Congratulations to all who helped make this progress possible!

Fred Fay
Chair, Justice For All
[log in to unmask]
http://www.jfanow.org

Register to Vote Online at http://www.fec.gov/votregis/vr.htm

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