2001 Photography Contest
Best of Show
photos by Michael Williamson, The Washington Post
FDR in a Wheelchair Statue Dedication
Three years after the Memorial honoring Franklin Delano Roosevelt was dedicated, a controversy brewed over whether to acknowledge his time spent in a wheelchair. After much debate between those who thought FDR's wishes to keep his health private and those who thought that the stigma of being disabled should be overcome the issue was settled with the unveiling of a statue showing President Roosevelt in a chair that he built himself. The sight of the once most powerful man in the world guiding a country through war from a wheelchair is inspirational to disabled people everywhere. There's now even a phrase that wheelchair-bound people say when they see the statue -- "he did it all from a chair." President Clinton, who pushed for the addition with the blessing of Roosevelt family members, dedicated it in January 2001, just days before he left office.
President Clinton hugs Anna Eleanor Roosevelt at the ceremony to dedicate the Franklin Delano Roosevelt wheelchair statue. Anna Eleanor Roosevelt is the granddaughter of FDR and Eleanor.
Tourists get a close look at the new FDR in a wheelchair statue. They are curious about a diagram that's etched on the back of the statue that shows a drawing of the chair as designed by FDR himself.
Sen. Max Cleland (R), a severely injured war veteran, chats with Hannah McFadden, age 4, after the statue was unveiled. Disabled visitors feel that the depiction of a President in a wheelchair is inspirational and long overdue.
Deanna Hudson, of Shreveport, LA, plants a kiss on the FDR statue. Her sister is taking a photo (off camera) for her father for whom FDR was a hero.
Kyle Glozier, deeply moved by the sight of the FDR wheelchair statue, leans his head into the statue. At left, several blind people feel the statue (this was encouraged). Kyle, age 15, is in a wheelchair due to cerebral palsy.
As night falls, Wendall Smith of Washington, D.C. pauses at the FDR in a wheelchair statue. The statue is an inspiration for both the disabled and the able-bodied.
Sheila Rabaut, of Great Falls, VA, feels steel panels featuring braille lettering (for the blind) that's part of the FDR in a wheelchair statue. Touching the panels and the statue itself is encouraged.
The FDR in a wheelchair statue is kept lit so it may be visited at night.
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