Since the founding of the National Archives in 1934, only about three percent of the Nation’s history is preserved in its buildings. These records are what is known as our National identity. After the American Revolution, President Washington set up a precedent where an elected official would step down after two or four years. Instead of following the old ways of Europe, America’s identity centered around the President. Thus far America has had 46 presidents. Our 32nd President Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted to create a space that would hold all of his presidential papers and items. FDR is the only President in our history to have been elected four consecutive times. His idea would lead to the founding of the Presidential Library System. Let’s look at America in the 1930s.
Before President Roosevelt’s plan to create a Library the majority of our former Presidents took their papers upon leaving office. During the first one hundred and fifty years of our country, many of the papers from former presidents have been lost. Upon leaving office, President George Washington took his papers with him as he thought the records as his personal property. It was Washington’s plan to construct a building at his home in Mount Vernon, that would be dedicated as a place for “the accommodation and security of my Military, Civil and private Papers which are voluminous and may be interesting” (Hufbauer, 2005, p. 176). However, when Washington passed away, his papers went to his nephew Bushrod Washington. Unfortunately, Bushrod lent out several of George Washington’s papers which then fell into disrepair. Presidents Andrew Jackson and John Tyler had a majority of their papers destroyed in fires. While Presidents Martin Van Buren, Franklin Pierce, Ulysses Grant, and Millard Fillmore purposely destroyed their papers.
At the time Roosevelt was looking for inspiration, there was only one institution that had a complete set of Presidential Papers and is widely known as the first presidential library. This is the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center. The Center, is located in Spiegel Grove, Ohio and was opened on May 30, 1916. It was started by Hayes’ son, Webb Hayes II. The Hayes Center is supported by the Hayes Foundation and the Ohio Legislature, and is privately administered by the Ohio Historical Society. Intrigued by this model, President Roosevelt contacted Webb Hayes II on October 21, 1937 “I think it is particularly fitting that this comprehensive collection should include, besides President Hayes’ own library, his correspondence and other papers associated with his public life-a veritable gold mine for historical scholars” (Wilson, 1991, p. 771) and soon after Roosevelt sent Robert Connor, the Director of the National Archives to survey the Hayes Center. Connor brought back to Roosevelt a pamphlet of the Hayes Report for the year 1937 in which Connor highlighted key points that Roosevelt would be interested in. Those remarks were about the use of the materials for scholars and specialists, to provide research as a groundwork to aides, and system for classification and exhibits. This booklet is currently available for research at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.
Along with the potential model President Roosevelt saw in the Hayes Center, Roosevelt was left with a concern of how to construct a building suitable for his materials. Another model Roosevelt would later use surrounds the construction of the National Gallery of Art. When Roosevelt became president in 1932, he greatly put blame on the businessmen of the old order which included Andrew Mellon. Andrew Mellon previously served as the Treasury Secretary under three consecutive Republican presidents and his famed reputation fell when the stock market crash happened in 1929.
Hoover blew the whistle
Mellon rang the bell
Wall Street gave the signal
And the country went to hell
Shortly into his presidency, Roosevelt launched a public investigation into the taxes of Andrew Mellon claiming tax evasion and tax fraud along with having Mellon serve as an example for other businessmen. Mellon was thought to have been deducting from his income on his tax returns to purchase grand pieces of artwork. During the trial, Mellon met with Roosevelt secretly on December 22, 1936 and proposed that he would donate his art collection to the country and pay for the building to house the objects. Once the Gallery would be completed, Mellon told Roosevelt he wished that the building would be cared for by Congress and the Smithsonian giving Mellon immortality “Every man wants to connect his life with something he thinks eternal” (Hufbauer, 2005, p. 177) The agreement also allowed for the trustees to be appointed by Mellon and they would be more than the government appointees. The Mellon trustees would also be allowed to pick their own successors “the net result is that they will control the management of the Gallery, the site, and the contents therefore for all time…The anomaly is therefore presented of government property being managed by a private group” (Hufbauer, 2005, p. 177). President Roosevelt followed this formula for his personal library. As we have seen from these two moments, Roosevelt saw a path to pave the way for his own contribution to America.
In the latter half of 1937, President Roosevelt had announced his intentions of creating a library at his family estate of Hyde Park “For the last two years I have been considering more and more the disposal of what amounts to probably the largest collection of original source material of almost anybody over the last quarter of a century” (FDR Library). Roosevelt feared that in case of war or other disasters, he did not want his papers in Washington, and told the National Archives Director, Robert Connor that this library would become an extension of the National Archives. The location of the library met with some opposition from his colleagues and supporters. At one point, President Roosevelt wrote to some friends at Harvard for their input on where and how his papers should be kept. Samuel Morison wrote that the president should separate his papers between Washington DC and another location, while George Elliot told the president to keep his papers as a whole in one institution. Another Harvard friend, William Y. Elliot wrote that a library would be an ideal place for research but feared that it would be too similar to large monuments for example Monticello. Keith Morgan of the Infantile Paralysis wrote the president that the library should be located where he spent the most time, and suggested the library be built at Warm Springs. After much debate, Roosevelt settled on Hyde Park because “Students and historians –as well as the general public, Hyde Park fits into this picture because it is only two hours away from New York” (FDR Library) and asked Henry J. Toombs if he could draw some designs based on his sketch.
Toombs sent Roosevelt two design plans based on the concept drawing. Initially concerned with having not enough exhibit rooms, Roosevelt wanted the reading room “very carefully designed living room which would contain portraits, several of my favorite paintings, and perhaps a thousand of my books” (FDR Library). The shape of the building is a U, because Roosevelt wanted the library to be remembered by the residents of Duchess County with a stand out design. The building’s facade would also have the brick of older homes in Duchess County to act as a reflection of the 1920s.
Roosevelt invited a small group of men to a lunch meeting at the White House on December 10, 1938 to have more in depth discussion about his library “Where, and in what manner shall this accumulation of material be deposited to best serve the American People?” (FDR Library). Roosevelt had to have strong reasons to get this idea passed and needed to discuss some details before formally announcing his plans. Franklin Roosevelt, like the Hayes family knew of the value of history and that the records of the time would need to be preserved in order to see the past. When Roosevelt began his third term, his office had over 6,000,000 documents. These documents included, official documents about the Great Depression and the New Deal, personal correspondence, and letters from the American people. When President Hoover was in office, he received about 400 letters per day while President Roosevelt received over 4,000. Possibly a reason for creating a library was to offset the amount of papers he received on a daily basis. Roosevelt knew that this period in American history would become a distinctive era. He personally believed in the ‘political, economic, and social development’ (Connor, 1940, p 85) of the country and hoped that his collection would be the ‘subject of study by historians, political scientists, economists, sociologists, and other scholars’ (Connor, 1940, p 86). Roosevelt also wanted to showcase the new formats of records such as sound recordings and motion film:
There are a great many things beside mere documents and I hope very much that in this collection that is to be got together, we will have not merely letters and the written words but we will also have, as a part of the collection…the spoken word that is being recorded in every country, and recorded in such a way that the records can be permanently maintained for posterity. In other words, the human, the individual factor will enter into the writing of modern history far more greatly in the future than it has in the past.
An avid collector, Roosevelt had about 150 sound recordings, 200 reels of motion picture, 9,000 books, and 5,000 photographs, artifacts and objects. The President recognized the writing of modern history especially in the spoken word record and regarded them to be just as important as physical records, and that the ‘records of this era, alive and vibrant’(FDR Library). The men Roosevelt invited consisted of historians. At this meeting, they debated the name of the library, and then to finalize the need for one. Roosevelt had stated he did not want his name associated with the building, and proposed that the name should be Hyde Park Library. Some of the men at the meeting opposed the suggestion and told the President of the existing Hyde Park libraries in the country and the public library in Hyde Park, New York. Other names for the library included Crum Elbow Library. The name Crum Elbow was part of the original land in which the library would be built upon. Waldo G. Leland was the first to recommend the Roosevelt Library as its name, which was approved by the other men. Leland and the others said that the library should not be general in its mission and to think about the materials that would have to be restricted from the public. The men also told the President that his ‘personal and official papers…constitute the principle reason for establishing the Library’ (Hufbauer, 2005, p. 181). All the men agreed that the estate of Hyde Park must dedicate a few acres of land towards the library.
The library itself would be built as a modern building with up to date fireproof facilities and would hold Roosevelt’s books, papers and other historical material. At the completion of the project, the library would be maintained by the United States and used for any public events as told by Congress. By having the Library on the Roosevelt estate, it gives the President the chance to assist in the arrangement and the development of his collections “It is my hope that during my lifetime I will continue to live in the family home of Hyde Park, and if a period collection of this kind is permanently domiciled on what is my own place” (Sparrow 2017). The Roosevelt estate until this time has been under the control of Franklin’s mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt. Roosevelt’s father James Roosevelt wrote in his will that Franklin would obtain the site, Wheeler Place after Sara’s death. In July of 1939, Sara Delano Roosevelt signed a document that would release her control of the land to Franklin. After that was completed, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt wrote and signed a deed that the land would be given to the United States and also acknowledge the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library. The seventy-sixth Congress was given the legislation to approve, but some republicans objected to the library claiming that it was “unnecessary expense in a time of economic hardship” (Burk 1981, p. 401). However, the President wrote in the bill that the initial money would be provided from outside the government, following what Andrew Mellon promised with the National Gallery. The legislation H.J. Res. 268 was passed by Congress in July of 1939 and the President signed it into effect on July 18, 1939. The bill made it clear that the Roosevelt Library will be under the supervision of the National Archivist “accept from Franklin D. Roosevelt collection of historical material…acquire for the said Library from the other sources, by gift, purchase, or loan, historical books related to and other historical material contemporary with and related to the historical material acquired from the donor” (Connor, 1940, p 90). The bill also creates a board of trustees who are required to accept gifts that would benefit the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.
The funding for the library was started by Randolph G. Adams, Waldo G. Leland, Samuel E. Morison, Basil O’Connor and Frank C. Walker who acted as the first trustees. The campaign was able to raise $400,000 from 28,000 donors with the largest donation from Henry Morgenthau Jr. Correspondence between Randolph Adams and James Matthews determined that they wanted to have a play that would dramatize the need for a presidential library and would hope to encourage citizens to donate. The play would increase the danger of prior presidential papers being destroyed and that the country shouldn’t fear that anymore because Roosevelt will save his papers in a secure location. The Library Campaign also used a slogan that glorified Roosevelt’s actions. The Campaign said “President Roosevelt has been called the nation’s answer to the historian’s prayer. He recognized the statemen’s obligation to supply the historian with the records that constitute the raw materials of history. Rooseveltian way of ‘destroy nothing’ accumulate in many collections” (Papers of the FDR Library Inc). The library site was going to be the first and localized American center that would enrich the American people.
Once the library was completed, Roosevelt designated four collections that would be the first of many to be transferred. The collections that were for immediate transfer were: Public and Personal Papers, Historical manuscripts, maps, paintings, New York State material, and Book and Pamphlets. These records reflect when Roosevelt was working as a New York senator, the assistant secretary to the navy, governor of New York and the first two terms as President of the United States. This material in total would take up between 5,000 and 6,000 linear feet of shelving. At the cornerstone ceremony held on November 19, the President said:
Of the papers will which will come to rest here, I personally have attached less importance to the documents of those who have occupied high public or private office than I do to the spontaneous letters which have come to me and my family and my associates from men, women and from children in every part of the United States, telling me of their conditions and problems and giving me their own opinions.
It is believed that Roosevelt has been the only president to formerly announce that the Library will contain letters from the public. This pronouncement demonstrates that records made by the American people have equal weight as to those of official standing. According to the people’s record to Roosevelt, they will be treated as official records because they will have the information about daily life of citizens in relation to the New Deal. The Archivist of the United States, R.D.W. Connor called Roosevelt ‘the nation’s answer to the historian’s prayer’ (Cornerstone Transcript) and praised Roosevelt for his acknowledgement that records are important for historians and the general public. What is interesting in the speech given by Connor, is that he as well as Roosevelt had the assumption that the records created during this time would become a major segment to study in American history. Connor also points out that during the White House does not have an archive and briefly mentions that presidential papers are misplaced. The final point made by Connor during the cornerstone ceremony, is that the ceremony in itself is significant because it is first of its kind.
The construction of the library was completed in the summer of 1941. In the first line of Roosevelt’s speech is ‘dedication of a library is in itself an act of faith, to bring together the records of the past and to house them in buildings where they will be preserved for the use of men and women in the future’ (PSF, OF, PPF). The dedication speech, is an active reminder that this event marks the first step in having a permanent institution for presidential papers. The speech also reflects, the importance of the facility once again going back to his original idea that the records from his presidency would be of great value. ‘I, as President have the privilege of accepting this newest house in which people’s records are preserved – public papers and collections that refer to our own period of history’ (PSF, OF, PPF). As stated earlier, Franklin had always been an avid history student over the course of his life. Whether or not the creation of the library can be attributed to a yearn for immortality, it is certain that he wanted a place that the public could specifically learn from current events. In a letter from a student to Eleanor Roosevelt, the student asked for ways that students could learn more about the immigration policies during the late 1930s. This is just one of many letters from students asking the President and First Lady how they can increase their knowledge on events and prepare them for their future. Later in his dedication speech, Roosevelt made an improvised line which has become one of his most famous:
It must believe in the past, it must believe in the future and it must above all, believe in the capacity of its own people so to learn from the past that they can gain in judgement in creating their own future.
This phrase encourages and promotes individual learning, but also allows people to view and critique the policies of the time. As a part of the initial concept, the library was to have had a wing that would solely reflect the Duchess County history and would be managed by the Duchess County Historical Society. This inclusion would have also shown an aspect of the time from the perspective of a small community. The Duchess County wing was not ultimately in the finished library as the Library Committee thought it would not be connected with the President and his work. In the collection of Margaret Suckley’s Paper now at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library there was a place within the arrangement of materials for the Duchess County wing. Roosevelt’s dedication speech followed with:
We believe that people ought to work out for themselves, through their own study, the determination of their best interest rather than to take another kind of course. These difficult days that we are distributing our own historical collections more widely than ever before throughout the length and breadth of our land. Times wiser that these records should not be too greatly concentrated National one. We hope that millions of our citizens from every part of the land will be glad that what we do today makes available to future Americans the story of what we have lived and are living in our lives and what we are living today, and what we will continue to live during the rest of our lives.
The Dutch Colonial library cost in total $376,000 from private funds. Roosevelt was most proud of the study which was later named the President’s Room. The President’s room is the only room that truly reflect the style and the personality of Franklin. All the furniture and the placement of the materials was arranged by Franklin himself. The reason for putting the most care into this room was because Roosevelt had plans to use this room once he left office permanently. Some of the most valuable items placed in this room include titles that once belonged to President John Adams and one of FDR’s earliest self-designed wheelchairs. At the time of the opening, the arrangement of the collections consisted of seven groups: Public Papers of FDR, Private papers of FDR, private papers of Eleanor Roosevelt, Roosevelt Family Papers, papers of individuals and corporate bodies, naval history and duchess county. The most important collections to Roosevelt were in his private papers. Roosevelt had told the archivist that any of the papers from the White House should be used only as supplemental information and that the true study of Roosevelt’s presidency should be from his private papers and the papers of his associates. In a note to the library archivist’s Margaret Suckley, Roosevelt wanted his pre-presidency material to be considered as background material so that people could see his transition into the presidency. Roosevelt also stated in the transfer of his papers to the Library, making it a clear notion that his library director will report to the Archivist of the United States directly from the time when the site is operational. Over the course of his third term, Roosevelt kept sending material to Hyde Park as the country prepared for World War II. At this time, the first director Fred Shipman started to question the fate of the papers once Roosevelt died.
For some time, President Roosevelt was in bad health. Roosevelt had been diagnosed with heart failure and several other arterial diseases that were causing severe exhaustion. On April 12, 1945 while having a portrait done, Roosevelt said his last words before slipping into a coma “I have a terrible headache”. It was said that two hours later, Roosevelt had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and has died. When Vice-President Truman was told the news by Eleanor, he said “I have the most terribly responsible job any man every had” (Frank 2015). Immediately after taking the oath of the President’s Office, Harry Truman took legal custody over all of Roosevelt’s papers. This could be attributed to the limited knowledge Truman knew about the War and possibly the Manhattan Project. Truman claimed that his reasons for taking the papers was because he declared a national security emergency. These files are now known as the Map Room Papers. President Eisenhower later blamed Roosevelt for not allowing his Vice President to have access to information while he was still alive and said the Truman was unprepared to lead because of it. A legal battle ensued between Fred Shipman and President Truman along with the American public about the access of the papers.
The library only had a small team that was working on getting some of the earlier papers organized for some public viewing. The first completed collections that became public were Roosevelt’s Naval papers. It took the Library three years to win the legal debate about the ownership of the Roosevelt Papers. The other legal case was with regard to the public being able to view the library material in its entirety. Shipman and Truman argued with the United States Senate that the material still remained unprocessed and that recent material was considered to be sensitive or in some cases classified information. The Senate believed that the records relating to World War II held crucial information that related to WWII contracts and an investigation of Arabian Oil. Once the papers became a part of the government’s control, it allowed for Shipman and his team to officially label documents deemed sensitive and classified material. By March of 1950 all of the Roosevelt materials were open to the public for research.
In addition to papers about Franklin Roosevelt, upon Eleanor’s death in 1962, the library prepared for the arrival of her collections. In order to fulfill the wishes of the Roosevelts, the library started to draw up designs for extensions to the overall building. Eleanor Roosevelt’s collection was over 2 million in materials. The library in the 1970s had built the Eleanor Roosevelt wings that now hold her massive collection. Eleanor’s papers include her years as first lady and her career and life after leaving. The collection also has all copies of her ‘My Day’ column, reflecting her impact in public life. In the early 2010s, the Library was undergoing the largest renovation since 1941. In this project, the library upgraded all of its systems making a new modern archive while maintaining the historical façade. As of today, only .5% or less of materials remain closed to public view.
The Franklin D. Roosevelt Library is an extension of the National Archives. The National Archives was also built during the first term of Roosevelt’s Presidency in 1934. Roosevelt was also very involved in the early days of the national archives in terms of recommending to RDW Connor that the staff “appointing a Negro to work on such archives as relate to the Negro race in the United States” (Clark 2006) and even expressed some suggestions in the Archives acquisition policy. While the National Archives promotes the access of high value government records, the Roosevelt Library encompasses “lesser valued” records which he would store at the Library once he was done with them. At the same time the National Archives was being established, President Roosevelt was learning some of the techniques he needed to make his library functional. It is important to address that Roosevelt wanted to have all of his papers held outside of the National Archives because he wanted to keep all of the correspondence from the citizens that wrote to him daily to remain a part of his collection instead of the Archives only saving the letters made by him and his associates.
The United States has looked towards the office of President since the Revolutionary War as a main contributor to our national identity. With each President that we elect into this office, we as citizens are voting for a figure that would be an emblem of our identity. As we continue to elect new Presidents, their Presidential Library will be a reminder of what their impact was on our country. Franklin D. Roosevelt had created a library with basis on educational and governmental growth and that all citizens have the right to access the information from the Executive Office and question the policies made to improve ourselves. Some scholars have questioned the Roosevelt Library as a shift in commemoration, but Americans, enjoy the idea that as a citizen they can use the Library for supplemental materials for research and learn more about a period in our history. In the aforementioned information, Roosevelt hoped that people would come to the Library and seek out information as told by the American People of the time. The Nation has benefitted from this statement tremendously, and they have gotten to see letters from students and families about the hardships of the Depression and asking for ways that Americans can help during times of War. The letters also have allowed visitors to view the negative side of the people in our country especially in terms of the immigration of Jews trying to leave Nazi Germany during World War II, and the Japanese internment camps. These two topics have been the most controversial issues that are documented in the Library. One letter that makes reference to the immigration of Jews read “We don’t need more of their kind here” (Morgenthau Papers) which is a prime example of material that FDR wanted Americans to learn from as he stated in the last line of his library dedication speech. In reading some of the letters about the Japanese internment on the West Coast, it is clear that the letters contain the same or in some cases harsher sentiments. These documents reflect the most important parts of human nature, and without these records how can we expect to create a better future.
Our National identity, is made up all parts of our long history. We the people have created records that show our attitudes to other citizens, on politics, and everything that lies between the good and the bad in what we see as historical events. There is little to no evidence of what the American people had lived through on a daily basis until the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt. It is fact that some of the presidential papers that can be found at the Library of Congress are in better condition and completeness that from the founding fathers, but the Roosevelt Library embraces all sides of identity. The Roosevelt Library has done great work in keeping all of the letters and messages from the citizens together, so that we can get a clear understanding of daily life as it happened.
As we have seen from Roosevelt’s predecessors, the view of records of the presidency were victims of destruction as they were not deemed to be of public importance at the time and in some cases, were purposefully blocked from access by their estate. The creation of a Presidential Library, acts not just as a place of secure holding for the materials but also it remains a part of the identity which was created during the various presidencies. The Roosevelt Library although not the first presidential library, was able to draw from the success of the Rutherford B. Hayes Center to expand on what a library could become. It is remarkable to think that a President could determine any single period in our history as important, but Roosevelt knew that the American people would benefit from the material of his tenure.
The Roosevelt Library set a precedent for all future presidents of the United States to develop their own institutions that would be for the educational efforts for citizens to continue to know what their President has done for them and their country. President Truman announced in 1950 that he would also build his own Library and then donate the site and his papers to the National Archives. This led to Congress passing the Presidential Libraries Act of 1955 which was introduced by Edward Herbert with H.J. Res. 330. Congress passed the bill by saying that a lack of a system “has resulted in irreparable loss or dispersion of important bodies of Presidential documents during the 166 years of our Nation’s existence” (Ginsberg 2015) on July 5, 1955. President Dwight Eisenhower signed the bill into law on August 12, 1955. Former President Hoover moved all of his papers from Hoover Library on War, Revolution, and Peace held at Stanford to his own institution in West Branch, Iowa in 1960. Hoover greatly took advantage of the Presidential Libraries Act so that he would have his own.
Today, there are many sides on the debate as to whether or not Presidential Libraries are modern shrines to our past leaders. Many scholars claim that the libraries are not worth the tax dollars and money should be given elsewhere. In Benjamin Hufbauer’s Presidential Temples, he argues that the Roosevelt library gave a clear shift in how we as a nation remember leaders. Haufbauer writes “they enshrine not just national dreams but also national nightmares” (Hufbauer, 2005, p. 2) reflecting on the Nixon and Johnson Libraries respectively. He also goes on to write that the libraries show the dominancy of the President’s power in the modern day and that starting with Roosevelt the Presidents have taken on more of an imperial stance. This imperial nature Haufbauer points back to Roosevelt as he was quoted to say “man’s desire to be remembered is colossal” (Hufbauer, 2005, p. 6). This statement is echoed in many works by Anthony Clark. In Clark’s The Campaign “presidents have built larger temples to themselves” (Clark, 2015, p 32). Clark also writes that the earlier presidential libraries are designed for historians, researchers and tourists to come and explore the records of the presidents. Once the Kennedy library was completed, it felt that the Kennedy Library was the change. The chapter on the Kennedy Library from David Cross’s Chasing History had one line that stuck out “this is the John F. Kennedy Library and that’s what makes it unique” (Cross, 2014, p. 49). Reading this line, the sense that the library wanted to make a point about Kennedy being killed during his presidency makes their institution different from the other libraries, and they did not mention the value of the records. In Lynn Scott Cochrane’s article Presidential Libraries: Presidential, Yes; Libraries, Not Really, highlights that some of the libraries particularly with the John F. Kennedy Library “withhold documents or selectively release them to favored researchers” (Cochrane, 2002, p 59), which puts the lack of freedom to access to the materials. With the Nixon and Johnson libraries going back to Hufbauer’s quote of national nightmares. The question about these libraries is there has been a “white-wash” on their terms, more famously with the Nixon Library and Watergate before the library joined NARA. Haufbauer quotes “a time of resisting for the people, the nation and to the cause of all mankind in the world” (Hufbauer, 2005, p. 89) this applied to the Johnson library when it was planning the initial exhibit about the Vietnam War. In an article written by Mary Stuckey Presidential Secrecy: Keeping Libraries Open, she writes that the open government Roosevelt had hoped for is being blocked by executive orders that “increase the power presidents and former presidents have over opening or closing records” (Stuckey, 2006, p 142). This kind of behavior is similar to the behavior of President John Adams when he took his papers because he did not want Jefferson seeing his materials to Henry Adams, who blocked access on both John and John Quincy’s papers for fifty years when he was done writing family biographies. In Robert Burk’s article New Perspectives for Presidential Libraries, he commented that the Watergate Scandal allowed for all presidential papers to be owned by the public but instead created for the allotment of the AOFUS to place restrictions up to twelve years. The executive orders 12667, and 13233 have made redactions on open government papers which Roosevelt hoped we would all learn from. This is not the future Roosevelt planned for.
Franklin D. Roosevelt became President during one of the most difficult times in American history. He was able to provide solutions to defeat the Great Depression and was able to create jobs for many Americans nationwide through the New Deal. During World War II, Roosevelt provided strength and hope to a country that was reluctant to go to war until the attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941. Roosevelt is the only President to be elected into office for four terms. With all of Roosevelt’s governmental accomplishments, his greatest contribution to our nation was his presidential library. The Presidential Library allows the opportunity for all people to come and research the life and the presidency of one of America’s greatest leaders of the twentieth century. The library has materials ranging in all aspects of Roosevelt’s careers, while the majority of his collection surrounds his presidential years. One of the important parts of the collection, is that we can see the 6,000,000 letters written from the American people, asking questions, giving suggestions to policies, giving opinions on some of the world news of the day. Within these records we see the negative side of our country during World War II on the home front, while getting to see the official transcripts of speeches and memorandums about the New Deal and the War.
In the articles and books criticizing the current state of Presidential libraries and the lack of reaching a middle ground in the way the museum side handles exhibits, we get a clear view from Roosevelt that everything citizens need to know can be found in the records themselves not just the museum. Our national identity is constantly being changed with each new president. As we have seen throughout this paper, our identity is synced with our president. The Rutherford B. Hayes Center provided a model in which Roosevelt took and embellished, which Truman continued, and Eisenhower made into law. These institutions remind us that we have clear access to see how our country was operated and that it is up to the citizens to use the public records to shape our identity for the future.
References
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Collection: FDR Library File, 1937-1964; FDR Library File, compiled from PSF: FDR Library, PPF 5720 and OF 3900; Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York.
Collection: Henry Morgenthau Jr. Papers, 1866-1953; Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York.
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FDR’s original pencil sketch of the Library, drawn April 12, 1937. Courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum website; version date 2019.
Folder: Cornerstone Ceremony Transcript; Papers of the FDR Library Inc., 1938-1947. Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York.
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Folder: The President’s Room. Margaret L. Suckly Papers; Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York.
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