Abstract
From 1955 to 2001 the FDR Memorial Commission worked through a laborious public process to complete the memorial. After two decades of failed attempts, it joined with the National Park Service (NPS) who assisted with design and construction of the memorial. In 1974 the NPS conducted an invited competition and selected Lawrence Halprin to design the memorial. By 1978 Halprin's design concept was approved by the various federal agencies. After more than a decade of delay due to lack of funding, the groundbreaking occurred in 1991 and the Memorial was dedicated in 1997. This was followed by the addition of a sculpture depicting FDR in a wheelchair in 2001. This narrative traces the role of the public, as well as elected and appointed officials during the 27-year public process that led to the completion of the memorial and the response of Lawrence Halprin to those inputs.
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