JEFFERSON MEMORIAL DEDICATED
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) 75 years ago, April 13, 1943, in tribute to Thomas Jefferson*, the Third President of the United States, the Jefferson Memorial was dedicated here in the Nation's Capital.
The impressive memorial, dedicated on the anniversary of Mr. Jefferson's birth, was designed by architect John Russell Pope** who also designed the National Archives Building.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who laid the memorial's cornerstone in 1939, gave the dedication speech. FDR concluded with the words:
"The words which we have chosen for this memorial speak Jefferson's noblest and most urgent meaning and we are proud indeed to understand and share it:
'I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man'".
*Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was born in Shadwell, Virginia. TJ was a man of many great accomplishments but he chose to be remembered for only three. These are carved in his tombstone: Author of the Declaration of American Independence & of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, & Father of the University of Virginia.
**John Russell Pope (1874-1937) was born in New York City & studied at Columbia University. JRP designed the National Archives Building, Jefferson Memorial & West Building of the National Gallery of Art, all located in Washington, D.C.
SOURCE
"Thomas Jefferson, a Brief Biography", Thomas Jefferson Monitcello, Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc., www.monticello.org/
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) 75 years ago, April 13, 1943, in tribute to Thomas Jefferson*, the Third President of the United States, the Jefferson Memorial was dedicated here in the Nation's Capital.
The impressive memorial, dedicated on the anniversary of Mr. Jefferson's birth, was designed by architect John Russell Pope** who also designed the National Archives Building.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who laid the memorial's cornerstone in 1939, gave the dedication speech. FDR concluded with the words:
"The words which we have chosen for this memorial speak Jefferson's noblest and most urgent meaning and we are proud indeed to understand and share it:
'I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man'".
*Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was born in Shadwell, Virginia. TJ was a man of many great accomplishments but he chose to be remembered for only three. These are carved in his tombstone: Author of the Declaration of American Independence & of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, & Father of the University of Virginia.
**John Russell Pope (1874-1937) was born in New York City & studied at Columbia University. JRP designed the National Archives Building, Jefferson Memorial & West Building of the National Gallery of Art, all located in Washington, D.C.
SOURCE
"Thomas Jefferson, a Brief Biography", Thomas Jefferson Monitcello, Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc., www.monticello.org/
Jefferson Memorial
Photo by John White (2007)
