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I want to welcome you all on behalf of their own Roosevelt Memorial Foundation and this I'm very street is now one year since. Eleanor Roosevelt her journey's over came home for the last time a. Year is a short time to lift the curtain that descended with her death and behind which all of us stood to give voice to our grief. But even the gloom of that gray November morning twelve months ago when we gathered at the graveside to say farewell did not dim the glow of her memory a memory that shines brighter with each passing day is one of the blessings of our lives that we knew her learn from her and were inspired by. She could see a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower and happily she could communicate her vision to we who knew her she was and always will be one of those people for whom time seemed to stand still and who could bridge all the generations of their interval on earth darkness had no place in the life of Eleanor Roosevelt and it has even less place in her remembrance for hers was a radiance that warmed the cold that beckoned to the last that kindled hope where none had ever fled when she died a score of eulogies. We delivered in the general assembly of the United Nations from every corner of the growth the first the only time that a private citizen has been so on it I recalled that she gave her faith not only to those who shared the privilege of knowing her and of working by her side but to countless men women and children in every part of the world who loved their Even as she loved them for she embodied the wisdom. And the will to achieve a world in which all men walk in peace and dignity and to this goal better life she dedicated her tireless energy and the strange strength of her extraordinary personality she was as we know a remarkable woman this great and gallant lady who was known as the first lady of the world she was strong but gentle idealistic but practical humble as well as proud her life was restless crowded fears she thought of herself as an ugly duckling but she walked in beauty in the slums and the ghettos of the world bringing with her the reminder of her beloved Saint Francis that is in the giving that we receive and wherever she walked beauty was forever there we all know the facts of her extraordinary life she was the wife of a president and author of books the writer of a daily newspaper column she was a diplomat and she was one of the most gifted an unusual politicians of our time and some standard reference works she's already referred to as first first as a United States diplomat and write and second as the wife of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I don't know whether she would approve of that sequence but I believe Franklin Roosevelt must have been thinking of her when he said the only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today and there was no limit to the tomorrow in Eleanor Roosevelt's life there were no doubt she moved all of her days with a strong and active fit for Harry she put it simply and wisely as she did with all things life was meant to be lived and curiosity must be kept alive one must never for whatever reason turn his back on life she never did and we are the richer her inspiration came from the wisdom the vision of a dignified human existence as a natural right inherent in the moral personality of man and certainly her greatest role was that of a humanitarian who cared about people with warmth and a willingness to fight for their rights that made her whole life a mission. Can we measure the impact of her life can we place a number on the endangered on the sick on the distressed that she aided can we say how many times she made defeat in The Shining victory standing here on the either home she loved to tabulate her try ups or cite her attainments as if they were statistics would be an empty exercise she was above all a realist and she would be the first to object her own role was not what interested interested her but the work to be done and the need. Though her name a century from now will I daresay be remembered above all for the impetus that she gave the cause of human rights and dignity what matters to her was not her role the urgency but rather the urgency of transforming the brotherhood of man from a high ideal into a practical realistic achievement she did more than any one of our day can we commit ourselves any less than she to the proposition that all human beings share a common human substance belong to one human species are sons of a common Father our brothers in a single family she saw in all mankind what she experienced in herself the fact of being human and in all logic and reason she could not ask or expect for herself what she would not ask or expect for others so until the burdens are lifted from the shoulders of all of our people no memorial to Eleanor Roosevelt no tribute we pay can be complete one week after she died at the memorial service in the Cathedral of St John the Divine I noted that we are always saying farewell and this will always standing at the edge of loss attempting to retrieve some memory some human meaning from the silence something which was precious and is gone it is so now what we have lost and Eleanor Roosevelt is not her life she lived that out to the for what we have lost what we wish to recall for ourselves what we wish to remember is what she was herself. And who can name an American poet has written there is only one man in the world and his name years old man there is only one woman in the world and her name is all women there is only one child in the world and that child's name is all children remembering Eleanor Roosevelt on this first anniversary of her death we remember all people thank you. An. Atlas. We thank you Governor for the tender recollections before you came and I said I thought of nothing more appropriate than at this tender moment to call on you thanks for making good my statement ladies and gentlemen we have shifted our ceremony somewhat because of the inclement weather we have already broken ground of the new wings and as you know President Roosevelt made a simple sketch for these near wings he and Mrs Roosevelt discussed them many times and discussed their need and the shape for these additions it is a source of pride to the foundation that we can now translate that dream into reality and we are proud that these new wings wheel housed the only documentation of this great woman's humanity to be found nowhere else on earth these ceremonies will be brief because Mrs Roosevelt would have wanted it that way therefore no pomp and circumstance simply getting on with the task at hand I have the great pleasure to present to you. The administrator of the General Services Administration the agency that will maintain these wings after the American people have helped us build them ladies and gentlemen the honorable or not I'll. Thank you. Mr Chairman that is to Stevenson members of the Roosevelt family representatives of the Eleanor Roosevelt Memorial Foundation and gas it is a pleasure and a great privilege to take part in this ceremony attending the breaking of ground for the Eleanor Roosevelt wings for the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library it is a great privilege because I have the conviction that all of us here today have come but with one purpose in mind to honor Eleanor Roosevelt and to show our love and admiration for a truly great lady and in what better way can we do this than by helping to bring to fruition something in which she had a deep and abiding interest as President Roosevelt said on the same grounds over twenty two years ago that at the dedication of a library is in itself an act of faith libraries are built not just for the present but even more for the future those of us in Washington are reminded of the meaningfulness of this pronouncement by the words etched in stone on the face of our Archives building what is past is prologue we end the General Services Administration. And its National Archives whose charge it is to preserve the documents and records which comprise this nation's heritage particularly proud to have an important part to pay and this tribute to Eleanor Roosevelt. Libraries preserve a heritage and keep alive great figures the statesman the public leaders the humanitarians the scholars and the ports I am reminded that only a week before last President Kennedy traveled to em has smashed to bits to break ground for a library to be named for Robert Frost Eleanor Roosevelt was a citizen of the world whose devotion and unique talents to the promotion of well Brotherhood are already well known well Brotherhood and human rights were to hood not just high sounding phrases she believed profoundly that peoples of all races and all nations and all creeds should be brothers to each other she preached this in a gentle way at every opportunity the occasion might be in the United Nations Assembly in some remote village in India already her own beloved hypot many times it was indeed in this very library here she talked with groups of students and scholars leaders from government business and labor or just plain citizens from here and abroad and always there were schoolchildren from all over the United States sometimes she talked with them on the lawn in front of the library sometimes in a reading room and sometimes in a corner of this main exhibition room I am told that she never turned down a request to come here to talk with people if a crowded schedule permitted both the President and Mrs Roosevelt early foresaw the need for additional space and this lifer. Space for research in the wealth of historical papacy and for the many museum objects that cannot be shown because of lack of room she often wished for a small auditorium where she could talk to her visitors this edition will have such a place where for many years to come those who knew Mrs Roosevelt in person or through her works can speak to those who visit this a library and where film can be viewed and recordings of her voice can be heard just about two years ago it was my great good fortune and that of my friend Wayne Grover the activists of the United States to be guests of Mrs Roosevelt it in a cottage nearby she spoke to us of her interest in the library her hopes for its future and her faith and its role in encouraging understanding and goodwill throughout the world it is with great satisfaction that I can say now on this first anniversary of her death that what she wanted will be carried out in only one particular Well these wing must be different than her specific wishes they will be devoted to the purposes she wanted but they will also be in her memory they will depict the story of her life her interests and her achievements she would have thought to such a society but in this we respectfully disagree with those of us here today who admired and loved this great woman and the countless numbers who will come to this place in the future are indebted to the Eleanor Roosevelt Memorial Foundation forest generosity in its vision and making possible this living memorial to Eleanor Roosevelt Thank you Mr Ambassador thank you General. Thank you ah. Thank you very much and I present to you not for your acknowledgment to individuals who play a special important part in connection with the new wings first Dr Wayne Seagrove archivist of the United States Dr Grossman let me say something the only. Law. And now Dr Elizabeth Drury librarian of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library here at Hyde Park Dr Bird thank you Ian. Now ladies and gentlemen may I ask Mrs on a homestead come say a few words on behalf of the Roosevelt family this is hosted. A and. Thank you Mr Benjamin mother would not have wanted this to be an unhappy day in any form and neither would she. Have been in the slightest bit fazed by the weather as it exists today. She would have happy to have so many friends. Gathered here and to know that a few of her children and a few of hope grandchildren are also together and she would be extremely happy to know that her friends and her family. Helping to carry on. As best they can the things that she cared about and what about were it thought until the very end thank you the only outlet. Thank you Ana And now ladies and gentlemen I asked Dr Kidd to close our services Oh my dear God judge over men and nations we ask by blessing upon our great free public may America ever remain free and mighty and true to her best ideals bless the president of the United States and all public servants that they may walk in justice before the and that all their acts may read down to the greater welfare of our people we pray that blessing on this groundbreaking ceremony and on the edifice that will eventually arise may this coming building serve for the good of the many in service to the living may be a perpetual reminder of vice servant Eleanor Roosevelt and her achievements grant us to use her many talents as a trust from the the that we may put out at the heavenly usery our health our faith our strength our wealth our time and our influence with others that the efforts of the Eleanor Roosevelt Memorial Foundation may prosper and be a constant reminder of her work for others to do justly to love Bursey and to walk humbly with our God Oh man.