National Memorials: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial

Thomas Jefferson was known as a renaissance man; his knowledge was broad and diverse and he accomplished a great many things in his lifetime. He owned a plantation which he named Monticello, spoke six languages, was an inventor and holder of over 10,000 patents. He was one of America’s founding fathers, the first Secretary of State and the 3rd president of the United States which is the greatest accomplishment an American can achieve. However, it was his wish that his tombstone reflect some of the things that “he had given the people, not the things that the people had given to him.” . The epitaph reads: “Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, Author of the Declaration of the Independence and of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom and
The location of the Tidal Basin was selected in 1937 after some debate. Since its dedication in 1943, it has served as a backdrop for ceremonies as well as a focal point during the Cherry Blossom Festival. As is the case with other memorials preceding and succeeding the construction of the Jefferson Memorial, there was controversy surrounding it. The choice of the memorial location and the need to remove cherry blossoms were very controversial at the time. Lincoln and Anacostia Parks were locations which were under consideration. The Washington Post states that “Neither of these would attract the number of visitors that would go to the north rim of the Tidal Basin or the proposed site in the Mall.” With the full backing of not only Congress but the sitting President as well, clearly the memorial needed to be in a location of true honor and easy access. The plan included removing trees and several groups including several women’s groups, hotel associations, architecture groups and a horticulture club all opposed the memorial arguing that destruction of the cherry blossom trees was unnecessary and was a result of the lack of planning and it could have been easily avoided. When construction on the memorial began in November of 1935, 50 women marched on the White House to protest the damage that was going to happen to the famous cherry trees on the site. These trees were a gift from the mayor of Tokyo in 1912. Many of these women chained themselves to a tree at the construction site, which is now referred to as the infamous "The Cherry Tree Rebellion." President Roosevelt got involved and he was up at arms at the entire controversy calling the whole thing "flimflam", driven by the media. He made it clear that only 88 trees would be removed, and that in addition to that hundreds more would be