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"Jefferson
Memorial Cherry Blossoms" by Paul McGehee. The waters of the Tidal
Basin in our Nation's Capital, Washington, DC, are lined along the
shore with beautiful Japanese flowering cherry trees, known as
"Sakura". The colorful cherry blossoms each Spring attract thousands of
tourists to DC. The first two trees were originally planted in 1912, a
symbolic gift to the people of the United States from the people of
Japan (trees continued to be planted up until 1920 around the Tidal
Basin). As a reciprocal gesture, President Taft gifted Japan with
flowering dogwood trees in 1915. As years went by, the trees were
attracting so many to Washington that it was planned to celebrate them
with an annual Cherry Blossom Festival each Spring during their peak
time of blooming. The first Festival was held in 1935. Around this same
time period, a big plan for the tree-lined shoreline of East Potomac
Park was starting to take shape, construction of the majestic memorial
to President Thomas Jefferson. This was an ambitious project
spearheaded by then-President Franklin Roosevelt. One of President
Franklin Roosevelt's personal heroes was founding father Thomas
Jefferson, the 3rd President of the United States. Jefferson had served
as Virginia's representative to the Continental Congress, and drafted
the Declaration of Independence which became the rallying point for the
founding of our nation. He had served as Vice President under a man he
initially ran against, John Adams. And he had been Washington's
Secretary of State. Jefferson, a brilliant man, a writer, musician,
inventor, was also a gifted architect. In the 1930's a plan was put in
place to construct a grand memorial to Jefferson the President, the
statesman, the man. Land was set aside (which
was once designated for a monument to Roosevelt's cousin, Theodore
Roosevelt) for the Jefferson Memorial project. In 1935, one of the
nation's top architects, John Russell Pope, was tapped for the
important project, which was to incorporate tributes to Jefferson's
designs and those of more classical elements. Jefferson's designs for
the University of Virginia and his own home Monticello, were liberally
quoted in the plan for the Memorial. On a chilly day in December, 1938,
President Roosevelt broke ground for the Jefferson Memorial, broadcast
live nationally on radio. A year later, the cornerstone was placed.
Construction began and continued through some of the darkest days of
World War II. On April 13, 1943, FDR officially dedicated the Jefferson
Memorial. It's a beautiful place, with many quotes from Jefferson
displayed within the open air structure of its rotunda...originally a
temporary plaster figure of Jefferson stood within, as the giant bronze
by Rudolph Evans was not yet complete. The final, full-figure bronze
statue of Thomas Jefferson, standing 20' tall, on top of a 6'
pedestal, was installed in 1947, two years after the death of Franklin
Roosevelt. In more recent years, the Memorial went through a period of
physical decline and has lately been the subject of a massive
restoration project that they are just now putting the finishing
touches to. Once again the gleaming white dome of the Jefferson
Memorial will preside over the riot of color that is the annual Cherry
Blossom Festival, and will forever preside over our Nation's Capital as
a reminder of the legacy of one of our country's most important
founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of
Independence...where it all began, for the United States of America.
"Jefferson Memorial Cherry Blossoms" is faithfully
reproduced as an archival-quality print from McGehee's original artwork, each hand-signed by the artist.
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