A national memorial to Thomas Jefferson was authorized 77 years ago today. It was dedicated in 1943.
Thomas Jefferson-political philosopher, architect, musician, book collector, scientist, horticulturist, diplomat, inventor, and third President of the United States-looms large in any discussion of what Americans are as a people. Jefferson left to the future not only ideas but also a great body of practical achievements. President John F. Kennedy recognized Jefferson’s accomplishments when he told a gathering of American Nobel Prize winners that they were the greatest assemblage of talent in the White House since Jefferson had dinner there alone. With his strong beliefs in the rights of man and a government derived from the people, in freedom of religion and the separation between church and state, and in education available to all. Thomas Jefferson struck a chord for human liberty 200 years ago that resounds through the decades. But in the end, Jefferson’s own appraisal of his life, and the one that he wrote for use on his own tombstone, suffices: “Author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia.”
Some fortunate wedding parties are able to have photos taken at the Jefferson Memorial among architect John Russell Pope’s beautiful columns and curves. (That’s Emily and Rob, co-official daughter and son-in-law of NewMexiKen.)
Just a short distance from the FDR Memorial where are inscribed my favorite quotations in washington
“”No country, however rich, can afford the waste of its human resources.
Demoralization caused by vast unemployment is our greatest extravagance. Morally, it is the greatest menace to our social order.”
“In these days of difficulty, we Americans everywhere must and shall choose a path of social justice…
The path of faith, the path of hope, and the path of love toward our fellow man.”
“Among American citizens, there should be no forgotten men, and no forgotten races.”
“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much;
It is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”