[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 95 (Tuesday, July 8, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H4851-H4853]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            REGARDING THE FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT MEMORIAL

  Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
Senate joint resolution (S.J. Res. 29) to direct the Secretary of the 
Interior to design and construct a permanent addition to the Franklin 
Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, DC, and for other purposes.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                              S.J. Res. 29

       Whereas President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, after 
     contracting poliomyelitis, required the use of a wheelchair 
     for mobility and lived with this condition while leading the 
     United States through some of its most difficult times; and
       Whereas President Roosevelt's courage, leadership, and 
     success should serve as an example and inspiration for all 
     Americans: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
     United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. ADDITION TO FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT MEMORIAL.

       (a) Plan.--The Secretary of the Interior (referred to in 
     this Act as the ``Secretary'') shall plan for the design and 
     construction of an addition of a permanent statue, bas-
     relief, or other similar structure to the Franklin Delano 
     Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C. (referred to in this 
     Act as the ``Memorial''), to provide recognition of the fact 
     that President Roosevelt's leadership in the struggle by the 
     United States for peace, well-being, and human dignity was 
     provided while the president used a wheelchair.
       (b) Commission of Fine Arts.--The Secretary shall obtain 
     the approval of the Commission of Fine Arts for the design 
     plan created under subsection (a).
       (c) Report.--As soon as practicable, the Secretary shall 
     report to Congress and the President on findings and 
     recommendations for the addition to the Memorial.
       (d) Construction.--Beginning on the date that is 120 days 
     after submission of the report to Congress under subsection 
     (c), using only private contributions, the Secretary shall 
     construct the addition according to the plan created under 
     subsection (a).

     SEC. 2. POWERS OF THE SECRETARY.

       To carry out this Act, the Secretary may--
       (1) hold hearings and organize contests; and
       (2) request the assistance and advice of members of the 
     disability community, the Commission of Fine Arts, and the 
     National Capital Planning Commission, and the Commissions 
     shall render the assistance and advice requested.

     SEC. 3. COMMEMORATIVE WORKS ACT.

       Compliance by the Secretary with this joint resolution 
     shall satisfy all requirements for establishing a 
     commemorative work under the Commemorative Works Act (40 
     U.S.C. 1001 et seq.)

     SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this 
     joint resolution such sums as may be necessary.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Utah [Mr. Hansen] and the gentleman from America Samoa [Mr. 
Faleomavaega], each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Utah [Mr. Hansen].
  (Mr. HANSEN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, S.J. Res. 29 directs the Secretary of the Interior to 
plan and construct the addition of a permanent statue, bas-relief, or 
other similar structure to the present Franklin Delano Roosevelt 
Memorial in Washington, DC, to recognize that President Roosevelt's 
leadership was provided to the Nation while he was a disabled 
individual using a wheelchair.
  The resolution requires that the Secretary, as soon as practicable, 
report to Congress and the President his findings and recommendations 
for this addition to the FDR Memorial. The Secretary may seek the 
assistance and advice of the disabled community, the Commission of Fine 
Arts, and the National Capital Planning Commission in creating a final 
design for this addition to the FDR Memorial.
  The Commission of Fine Arts must approve the Secretary of the 
Interior's final design plan. Furthermore, the resolution requires 
construction of the addition to the FDR Memorial begin 120 days after 
submission of the report to Congress, using only private contributions.

                              {time}  1500

  The entire process for the addition to the FDR Memorial must comply 
with all of the requirements of the Commemorative Work Act of 1986.
  Mr. Speaker, S.J. Res. 29 has the strong support of the Clinton 
administration. Additionally, this resolution is heartily endorsed by 
former Presidents Bush, Carter, and Ford. Finally, there is broad 
unified support for this resolution within the disabled community.
  Mr. Speaker, the resolution honors the achievements of President 
Roosevelt, who served this Nation while disabled, and I urge my 
colleagues to support Senate Joint Resolution 29.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  (Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA asked and was given permission to revise and extend 
his remarks.)
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, Senate Joint Resolution 29 is a 
Senate-passed measure that was authored by the good Senator from the 
State of Hawaii, Senator Daniel Inouye, and is a companion to H.J.Res. 
76, a bill introduced by my colleague on the Committee on Resources, 
the gentleman from New York [Mr. Hinchey], who is also a member of the 
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial Commission.

[[Page H4852]]

  The legislation directs the Secretary of the Interior to design and 
construct a statue or a similar structure at the FDR Memorial to 
recognize that President Roosevelt's great leadership was provided 
while the President used a wheelchair.
  I know that many Members are aware of the controversy that preceded 
the dedication of the FDR Memorial on May 2, 1997. Representatives of 
the disabled community have raised concerns that the memorial did not 
adequately reflect the President's disability and undertook a campaign 
to see that President Roosevelt be depicted in a wheelchair to reflect 
that disability, which was the result of polio, did not diminish his 
ability to provide great leadership to our Nation.
  Although the President took actions to play down his disability, he 
has been an inspiration to millions of Americans who have seen that a 
disability need not diminish the ability of an individual to fully 
participate in all aspects of life.
  The issues addressed by Senate Joint Resolution 29 were of great 
concern to the disabled community and the FDR Memorial Commission and 
members of the Roosevelt family. I am glad to see we have before us 
today a consensus bill that will address this issue in a dignified and 
thoughtful manner.
  Mr. Speaker, I support the legislation and urge my colleagues for 
their support of this bill. I thank my good friends and the gentleman 
of the Subcommittee on National Parks and Public Lands for his 
management of this bill.
  Mr. HINCHEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the legislation. As 
the sponsor of the House version of the resolution, I am pleased that 
it has been brought before the House so promptly and expeditiously. The 
Senate has already adopted the resolution by unanimous consent, and the 
President has publicly supported it. I especially want to thank our 
committee chairman, Don Young, and our subcommittee chair, Jim Hansen, 
for expediting the resolution's consideration, and Dan Smith, of the 
committee staff, for his work on this.
  Along with our colleague, Phil English, I served on the Franklin 
Delano Roosevelt Memorial Commission, which was responsible for the 
design and construction of the new Roosevelt Memorial. For a long time, 
the Commission was ambivalent about whether the memorial should include 
a depiction of the President in his wheelchair. On the one hand, we 
knew that President Roosevelt did not want to be portrayed in his 
wheelchair when he was in office, and he kept the extent of his 
disability form the public. On the other, we know that his disability 
is certainly no secret today, and that most Americans find it one of 
the most inspiring facts about his life.
  America has changed in the years since President Roosevelt died, and 
in the years that the memorial was being planned and built. Congress 
enacted the Americans with Disabilities Act, which recognizes and 
protects the rights of the disabled to full participation in our 
society. When the memorial was first conceived, there was no legal 
requirement that it be made accessible to the handicapped, and it had 
already gone through several plans and designs before accessibility 
even became a consideration. The minds and hearts of our people have 
opened themselves to the disabled in a way that I am sure that 
President Roosevelt would have welcomed. I think this change in law and 
in attitude has brought most of us who were involved with the Memorial 
close to a consensus that the President's disability should be 
acknowledged in the memorial, and his triumph over it celebrated along 
with the many other triumphs of his life and work.
  President Roosevelt came from the Hudson Valley, as I do, although 
our families had little in common. He was a hereditary aristocrat, and 
grew up on a vast estate overlooking the river. He was educated at the 
best and most exclusive schools--Groton and Harvard--and was groomed 
for a life of privilege. Yet his presidency reached out to all 
Americans. He displayed a particular concern with the lowly, with those 
who had little or nothing, those whose lives were a forest of obstacles 
rather than a vista of opportunity. For this he was called a traitor to 
his class--and those of us who toiled to build the railroads and the 
towers, and slogged through the mud, loved him all the more for it.

  I believe that at least part of the reason he cared so much about 
those who had to struggle was his own struggle after he was stricken 
with infantile paralysis just before he turned 40. He made the decision 
that it would not let it stop him. But it also must have made him 
understand and sympathize with those who faced other obstacles and 
tried to overcome them--even if they were not as successful as he was.
  President Roosevelt may have intended to be more open about his 
disability once he left office, and no longer felt the need to convey 
an image of strength to the Nation. He designed a modest retirement 
home for himself on his estate at Hyde Park. It was at his retirement 
cottage where he held the famous barbecue for the King and Queen of 
England. He designed the cottage to be handicapped-accessible and 
barrier-free--a major innovation in its time. Had he lived, his home 
might have served as an example, and might have advanced barrier-free 
design by several decades.
  But as I said, even if his disability was not widely known when he 
was alive, it is known now. We should not try to hide it again at the 
memorial or elsewhere. Instead, we should show the positive side. We 
should let today's Americans and future generations know that an 
obstacle like the one the President suffered can be overcome. We should 
let them know that people with disabilities are people like everyone 
else, people whose talents and capabilities can benefit everyone else, 
people who can lead and can achieve. And we should let the memorial 
serve as a place of pride and inspiration for those who do suffer from 
disabilities: that someone who shared their burden rose as high as 
President Roosevelt and achieved as much.
  We hope that progress on this addition to the memorial will go 
forward as expeditiously as this legislation, and that Secretary 
Babbitt and the Park Service will turn their attention to it as quickly 
as possible. At the same time, I hope they will review some concerns 
that have been raised about accessibility at the memorial now that it 
is open to the public--to find ways to allow disabled visitors to 
experience the same sense of participation and closeness to the 
Roosevelts as other visitors, specifically to be able to feel the 
braille inscriptions, touch the statues, and enjoy the cooling waters 
as President Roosevelt himself did. The resolution gives the Park 
Service flexibility in developing a design for this addition, but we 
hope that the Service will fully take into account the sensibilities of 
disabled Americans, and will include a representation as prominent and 
tangible as the statues that have already been erected.
  Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this 
opportunity to comment on the importance of Senate Joint Resolution 29, 
a bill that fully honors the memory of one of our Nation's finest 
Presidents, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
  Foremost, I want to thank Senator Inouye of Hawaii for introducing 
this legislation. Senator Inouye's leadership and dedication to a 
proper memorial has been second to none. Senator Inouye has correctly 
stated that, ``disability is a natural part of the human experience and 
in no way diminishes the right of individuals to participate in all 
aspects of American life * * * the depiction of President Roosevelt in 
a wheelchair will inspire the tragically afflicted. It may very well be 
a more honest way to depict President Roosevelt.'' Such a strong 
commitment on the part of Senator Inouye has allowed us all to pay full 
tribute to the life of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
  I also want to thank Representative Don Young of Alaska, chairman of 
the House Resources Committee, and Representative George Miller of 
California for bringing this legislation to the House side in a 
bipartisan manner.
  Modifying the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial by adding a 
permanent statue which depicts him as a citizen with a handicap is 
essential if we are to fully understand the life and times of FDR. The 
need to erect a permanent addition to the FDR Memorial is twofold. 
First, it is imperative to publicly acknowledge the great 
accomplishments of our 32d President. And second, a permanent statue 
sends a message to our citizens that handicaps do not limit a person's 
opportunity for achievement.
  FDR's accomplishments as President speak volumes of the fact that 
people living with handicaps can accomplish their goals. Throughout his 
tenure as President, FDR remained firmly committed to the development 
of all Americans, those with disabilities, and those without. In his 
second inaugural address, FDR spoke of the ``road of enduring 
progress'' on which he claimed that ``mental and moral horizons had 
been extended.'' For FDR this goal was especially important to those 
living with handicaps. Ultimately, FDR sought the advancement of this 
cause through the establishment of a foundation at Warm Springs, GA, to 
help other polio victims, and inspired the March of Dimes program which 
funded an effective vaccine.
  To be sure, our country has built upon the legacy of FDR and has come 
a long way in ensuring the equality of all citizens living with 
disabilities through programs such as the Americans With Disabilities 
Act and the Individuals. With Disabilities Education Act. The FDR 
Memorial is simply a testament of how far along the road of progress we 
have come as a nation to ensuring that persons living with

[[Page H4853]]

both mental and physical handicaps are entitled to equal rights, equal 
access, and equal opportunity.
  The FDR Memorial serves as a reference point for those of us who are 
traveling down the road of progress. FDR renounced fear as it is 
``nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed 
efforts to convert retreat into advance.'' President Roosevelt's 
continued renunciation of fear, refusal to crumble, and ability to act 
decisively and fearlessly in spite of the pressures of the Great 
Depression and World War II allowed him to develop into one of the 
finest role models for the people of the United States.
  A permanent statue of FDR as a citizen with a disability will forever 
inspire all citizens to forge through our fears and most difficult 
times. To me it is ironic, yet only fitting, that during the Great 
Depression, a time when our Nation was in fact disabled, a man living 
with a handicap, stepped beyond his limitations to lead our Nation like 
no other. Our 32d President not only lived with a handicap, but did so 
while being one of the great leaders of our country. FDR is symbolic of 
perseverance, and his Presidency is testimony that mental and physical 
handicaps are not impediments to success.
  In the end, a permanent statue which portrays Franklin Delano 
Roosevelt as a person with a handicap will be forever a reminder that 
disability is part of humanity and in no way reduces a person's chance 
of fulfilling his or her dreams.
  Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, 
and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Goodling). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Utah [Mr. Hansen] that the House suspend 
the rules and pass the Senate joint resolution, Senate Joint Resolution 
29.
  The question was taken.
  Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 5 of rule I and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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