Roosevelt Island FDR Four Freedoms Park Launches New Educational Web Site Telling History Of President Franklin D. Roosevelt - Take Aerial Ride Over FDR Park Too

The Roosevelt Island FDR Four Freedoms Park



launched a new educational web site exploring the history of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.



According to this Press Release from the FDR Four Freedoms Park Conservancy:

In celebration of Presidents Day, Four Freedoms Park Conservancy (the “Conservancy”) announced today the launch of fdr4freedoms.org, a free educational resource chronicling the life and times of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Compatible with high school and college curricula, the resource complements the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedom Park’s extensive educational and public programming.

Equivalent to more than 400 pages of written text, fdr4freedoms.org constitutes a comprehensive monograph on President Roosevelt’s life and his influence on the most critical events of the 20th century – the Great Depression and World War II. Its features include:

• Fifty-two downloadable chapters, each exploring a specific topic related to President Roosevelt ranging from his pivotal New Deal to the historic 1939 Marian Anderson concert to the establishment of the United Nations;
• More than 800 primary sources, including archival photographs, newspaper clippings, and audio and video footage;
• Short biographies of 80 key historical figures; and
• A collection of five-minute originally produced documentaries.

Through its in-depth analysis of national and global events and the availability of primary source materials, fdr4freedoms.org is designed to help teachers and students supplement current curricula and further address Common Core State Standards.

Ambassador William vanden Heuvel, Founder and Chair Emeritus of the Conservancy and of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, said, “Our hope was to make Four Freedoms Park a pioneer example of the use of outdoor public space for major educational purposes. The website does that,” said vanden Heuvel. “It provides a superb history of the Roosevelt era for the thousands who come to the Park each month and it makes this history equally available to the vast online audience interested in the era of the greatest President of the 20th century. The website is an achievement of great significance in the field of education.”

The scholarly advisory board, including Doris Kearns Goodwin, Geoffrey Ward, and Douglas Brinkley, helped oversee the website’s content, which was written by Dr. Allida Black, David Woolner, Katharine Greider, Greg Robinson and Ambassador William vanden Heuvel among other acclaimed Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt historians and scholars.

In addition to being accessible online, the material has been pre-loaded onto 10 Conservancy iPads at the Park, which are available to visitors free of charge so that they can explore the memorial and its historical significance in tandem.

fdr4freedoms.org was made possible by the generous support of its lead donor, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, and other donors. The Stavros Niarchos Foundation, one of the world’s leading international philanthropic organizations, is also a major donor to Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park.

“The digital content goes a long way towards connecting the younger generations with FDR’s monumental legacy, and provides many additional opportunities to further enhance it,” said Andreas Dracopoulos, Co-President of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation’s Board of Directors.

About the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park

The Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park is the first memorial dedicated to President Roosevelt in his home state of New York. Located on a triangular four-acre plot at the southern tip of Roosevelt Island in the East River, the Park, designed by Louis I. Kahn, includes walkways lined with trees, waterfront promenades, and a portrait bust of President Roosevelt created by artist Jo Davidson. Carved in the ‘Room,’ the Four Freedoms described in Roosevelt’s historic January 6, 1941 State of the Union address: freedom of speech and expression; freedom of worship; freedom from want; and freedom from fear. First announced in 1973 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller, Mayor John Lindsay, and other visionary urban planners, the monument’s design was the last work of the late Louis I. Kahn, an iconic architect of the 20th century. Dedicated on October 17, 2012, the Park is operated in partnership with New York State by the Four Freedoms Park Conservancy. For more information on FDR Four Freedoms State Park, please visit: www.fdrfourfreedomspark.org.

About the Stavros Niarchos Foundation


The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (http://www.SNF.org) is one of the world’s leading international philanthropic organizations, making grants in the areas of arts and culture, education, health and sports, and social welfare. The Foundation funds organizations and projects that exhibit strong leadership and sound management and are expected to achieve a broad, lasting and positive social impact. The Foundation also seeks actively to support projects that facilitate the formation of public-private partnerships as effective means for serving public welfare.

From 1996 until today, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation has approved grant commitments of $1.57 billion / €1.20 billion, through 2,816 grants to nonprofit organizations in 110 nations around the world.

Click here to view the fdr4freedom educational web site.