This rectangular block of white marble is inscribed "In Memory of Franklin Delano Roosevelt 1882-1945."
The idea grew out of a conversation that Franklin Roosevelt had with Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter on September 26, 1941. Frankfurter reported that Roosevelt had said that if he were to have a monument in Washington, it should be in front of the National Archives and it should be no larger than his desk. And that is its size: 3 feet tall, 7 feet long, 4 feet wide. It was funded through an anonymous group of friends whose names are sealed into the base, and dedicated on the 20th anniversary of FDR's death, April 12, 1965.
