Historic Figures: Franklin D. and Eleanor Roosevelt - Hyde Park, NY

Franklin D. and Eleanor Roosevelt

Hyde Park, NY

N 41° 46.191 W 073° 56.026

Short Description: 

A sculpture that that features Franklin D. and Eleanor Roosevelt is locate outside the Henry A. Wallace Visitors Center at the Franklin D. Roosevelt national Historic Site in Hyde Park, NY.

Long Description:

A bronze sculpture of Franklin D. and Eleanor Roosevelt is base on a photograph taken on the south lawn of their home in Hyde Park, NY. Eleanor is sitting on a chair while Franklin is seated on the right side of a bench. They are seated around a small circular table which contains two closed books and an open book.

Eleanor is wearing a dress with a half-sleeve jacket. She has her hands at waist level and her legs are crossed, left over right. Franklin is wearing a business suit and tie. He has his right arm on the back of the bench and his left hand on the opened book. There is space to sit to Franklin's right and left.

The sculpture was created by Studio EIS of New York City, cast at the Tallix foundry and copyrighted in 2008.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born at Hyde Park, NY on January 30, 1882 into a prominent and wealthy family. He spent nearly his entire life in public life as a New York State Senator (1910 -1913), Assistant Secretary of the Navy (1913), Vice-Presidential candidate with James M. Cox (1920), Governor of New York (1929 -1932) , and president of the United States (1933-1945). He was the only American president to be elected for four terms.

Despite being paralyzed from polio (1921) he led the United States during the worldwide economic crisis known as the Great Depression and World War II. He returned the nation to prosperity and, together with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin, led the Allied Forces to victory against Germany, Italy, and Japan in World War II. He died at Hot Springs, AR, just before the end of the war on April 12, 1945.

Eleanor Roosevelt was born on October 11, 1884 in New York City. On March 17, 1905 she married her fifth cousin Franklin D. Roosevelt and together they lived in Franklin's Hyde Park estate. Upon the election of Franklin as president of the United States she served as First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She died in New York City on November 7, 1962.

Eleanor became famous in her own right because of her advocacy for civil rights and social justice. She served as the United States Representative and Chairwoman to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, United States Delegate to the United Nations General Assembly, and was appointed by President Kennedy to be Chairwoman of the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women.