In 1946, the country was still in mourning.
In 1946, the country was still in mourning.

. . . or click on the link here for Audio Player – Dedication of FDR Home At Hyde Park – April 12, 1946 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection.

April 12th 1946 marked one year since the sudden passing of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Since then a war was won, a peace was struggled with and a world was slowly getting pieced back together.

On this day in 1946 Hyde Park, the home of President Roosevelt, and the grounds where was buried, were turned over to the people of the U.S. as the permanent home of the FDR Library and a National Monument to the memory of FDR.

The dedication ceremony was simple – an invocation, an address by Eleanor Roosevelt (widow of FDR) an address by President Truman, and the singing of the National Anthem by Marian Anderson.

Here is that dedication – a technical note: the original discs this broadcast were preserved on are badly damaged, and every effort has been made to clean them up, without sacrificing too much in the way of decent sound. I tried, but it still sounds pretty lousy. But sometimes history just takes precedence.