Roosevelt's legacy is
"an inspiration"
Union Station houses FDR museum By: Pamela H. Sacks -- T&G STAFF -
Edited by: StanKlos.com
WORCESTER- Nick R. Roosevelt, a great-grandson of former
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, stood by with a wide, Kennedy-esque smile
yesterday as his uncle, James R. Roosevelt Jr., cut the ceremonial gold ribbon
opening the Franklin D. Roosevelt American Heritage Center Museum in Union
Station.
The snip of the scissors capped a patriotic ceremony
attended by about 220 people, many of them veterans of World War II, for whom
FDR is more a vivid memory than a historical figure. The event started with the
posting of the colors by the Vernon Hill American Legion Post 435 Color Guard.
Speakers included U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern,
D-Worcester; Stanley L. Klos Author and Historian, Robert Bullock, director of
institutional advancement at the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute in
Hyde Park, N.Y.; state Rep. Robert P. Spellane, D-Worcester; City Councilor
Thomas P. White; and Edward Augustus, Democratic candidate for Worcester's
Second District Senate seat.
Author and workingman's hero Studs Terkel, 92, addressed
the audience by video, calling FDR "an inspiration of mine" and "the
best president of the last century."
Presidential scholar and author Stanley
L. Klos last night gave the keynote address for the event. In a telephone
interview earlier in the week, Mr. Klos said that the FDR center and its museum
are important because "history is a crystal ball of the future."
"What were the challenges of the past and what worked
and what didn't?" Mr. Klos said. "No 20th Century President went through
more perilous times than FDR."
Mr. Klos said that "He always saw Roosevelt as
'The Technology President'and the most overlooked accomplishment of FDR was the electrification
of America. When he took office, 90 percent of rural homes had no electricity,
prompting people to forsake rural areas for the cities. FDR created the Rural
Electrification Administration, which along with Tennessee Valley Authority Act,
Grand Coulee, and Hoover Dam brought power to the countryside and formed the
backbone of the National Electrical Grid."
"He understood the key to prosperity was inexpensive
and plentiful power," Mr. Klos said. "He bottled up the natural
resources."
FDR also was the impetus behind the Manhattan Project,
which split the atom, led to the development of the atom bomb and ultimately
harnessed nuclear power as an energy source. Today, Mr. Klos said, demands on
energy and oil are skyrocketing, as people around the world seek to have
disposable income and the type of life we know in the United States, with
automobiles and other modern conveniences.
"The United Germany is only third behind us in oil
consumption," Mr. Klos said. "If China reaches the proportion of people
with cars that we have in the U.S., that will exhaust OPEC's oil reserves. As
the world's needs grow for more and more energy, we are going to be in an
extremely competitive field."
What would Roosevelt do?
"He would realize that the world is now a global
economy, and there is a war of economics," Mr. Klos said. "Yes, we're in
a terrorist war right now, but the global war has shifted to a competition for
natural resources and quality of life."
In Mr. Klos' view, FDR would realize the key is weaning
ourselves off oil and its importation. He would be aware that the electrical
grid he put together wastes enormous amounts of energy because it has not been
upgraded and fails to make use of superconductivity.
"An updated electrical grid would increase electrical
delivery by 40% without increasing product while allowing us to transmit power
over greater distance. We could do what Japan, France and Germany have done and
build the next the generation of breeder reactors we created that are so
efficient and wean us off fossil fuels," Mr. Klos said. "FDR would be
calling another Manhattan Project to see, with our greatest minds, if we could
find a third form of energy and supply the needs of the United States and
prepare the country for the oil shortage that is coming in the next 20 years."
Mr. McGovern noted that FDR stopped at Union Station two
times, so it seemed a perfect choice for the location of the museum. He
mentioned that, in his office in the nation's capital, he has hanging on a wall
FDR's four freedoms, as depicted by Norman Rockwell: Freedom from fear, freedom
from want, freedom of speech and freedom to worship.
The congressman said that FDR demonstrated that government
can be a force for good, pointing out that Social Security makes up half the
income of more than 60 percent of senior citizens.
"I look forward to bringing my children to this
museum," Mr. McGovern said, gesturing to his 3-year-old daughter. "As she
gets older, I want to teach her about the legacy of FDR."
Stanley Bockstein of Holden was among the World War II
veterans who made up the audience. He served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps in
India, among other locations, and is a member of the China, Burma and India
Association. He described the museum as "very important, very appropriate."
"As a child of the 20th century, I want to know as much
as I can about the era I lived through," said Mr. Bockstein, 81.
The museum is the brainchild of Dr. Joseph J. Plaud, who,
inspired by his grandmother, started collecting FDR and New Deal memorabilia
when he was a teenager.
Dr. Plaud, a 39-year-old forensic psychologist from
Whitinsville, has since amassed what is widely considered to be finest
collection of its kind in private hands. It includes hundreds of unique signed
documents, photographs and artifacts, which will be on display on a rotating
basis in the museum's quarters - not far from the jazz club, Union Blues.
Admission to the museum is free; donations are accepted.
Dr. Plaud, who keeps encyclopedic knowledge of FDR in his
head, said in his remarks that the former president greatly valued museums and
libraries. He quoted FDR as saying: "We must believe in the past, we must
believe in the future, and we must believe in the capacity of people to learn so
that they can gain in judgment in creating their own future lives."
In that spirit, Dr. Plaud said, he worked for two years to
open the museum under the auspices of his nonprofit center dedicated to FDR's
legacy. A component of the museum, which is administered by archivist Cyrus D.
Lipsitt, will be educational programs for children in the Worcester public
schools. Scholars and students at the city's colleges and universities will be
able to use the rich cache of historical materials.
Each of the speakers touched on the role FDR played in
lifting the country out of the Great Depression. When he took office in 1933,
FDR inspired hope with his fireside chats and created great public works
projects to put people back to work.
"He had the courage and compassion to realize what a man
needed was a hand and not a handout," said Mr. White.
Mr. Bullock remarked that interest in the Roosevelts has
not diminished over time, and he anticipates years of collaboration between the
institute in Hyde Park, once the seat of the Roosevelt family, and the new
museum.
As the morning's activities drew to a close, Worcester
writer and photographer Idamay Arsenault was presented with a Certificate of
Special Congressional Recognition by Mr. McGovern. Through her photography, Mrs.
Arsenault is credited with spearheading the renaissance at Union Station. Mr.
McGovern also presented Dr. Plaud with a flag flown over the Capitol.
Later, as guests milled around munching doughnuts and
cookies, Nick Roosevelt stood to one side while his uncle signed autographs. The
young Mr. Roosevelt is 18 and grew up in Berkeley, Calif. He was headed to the
Democratic National Convention in Boston to serve as a volunteer. He is entering
the University of Pennsylvania in the fall and intends to major in history and
government.
"All the Roosevelts, we all love history," he said.
Unauthorized Site:
This site and its contents are not affiliated, connected,
associated with or authorized by the individual, family,
friends, or trademarked entities utilizing any part or
the subject's entire name. Any official or affiliated
sites that are related to this subject will be hyper
linked below upon submission
and Evisum, Inc. review.
Please join us in our mission to incorporate The Congressional Evolution of the United States of America discovery-based curriculum into the classroom of every primary and secondary school in the United States of America by July 2, 2026, the nation’s 250th birthday. , the United States of America: We The
People. Click Here