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March of Dimes Receives 2001 Four Freedoms Medal From Roosevelt Institute
HYDE PARK, N.Y., MAY 4, 2001 -- Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, president of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, today presented the March of Dimes with the 2001 Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Medal in a ceremony held here. Dr. Jennifer L. Howse, president of the March of Dimes, accepted the award on behalf of the foundation.
The March of Dimes received the Freedom from Want medal. "My grandfather would be extremely proud of all that the March of Dimes has done, and continues to do, to improve the lives of children, mothers and families in the spirit of FDR’s third freedom, through which he called on all of us to help erase hunger, poverty, and pestilence from this earth," Ms. Roosevelt said.
Ms. Roosevelt, who also serves as vice chairman of the March of Dimes Board of Trustees, continued, "In awarding the Four Freedoms Medal to the March of Dimes, we honor an organization that is unsurpassed in carrying forward the legacy of compassion that Franklin D. Roosevelt bequeathed to the nation and the world when he established it in 1938."
"For over six decades, the March of Dimes has fought a ceaseless and tireless campaign to rid the world of the devastating effects of polio, birth defects, sickle cell anemia, and other childhood and adult diseases. Through your efforts, untold millions of children and families have been spared from the ravages of such afflictions. You continue to search for further advances in treating or preventing other childhood disorders in a never-ending struggle to improve the lives of the world’s most precious resources, its children. A pioneer in the use of private and public funds to support advanced research, the March of Dimes has served as a model for other medical organizations, and stands today as an inspiration to us all."
The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Freedom Medals, awarded nationally since 1951 and internationally since 1982, are presented to Americans in Hyde Park, New York and in alternate years to international figures at the Roosevelt Study Center in Middelburg, the Netherlands. Medals honor outstanding individuals and/or organizations that have demonstrated a lifelong commitment to the ideals espoused in President Roosevelt’s "Four Freedoms" speech delivered to Congress on January 6, 1941.
Some of the most outstanding figures of the twentieth century have received the award, including U.S. Presidents Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, and Jimmy Carter; Princess Juliana of the Netherlands; Archbishop Desmond Tutu; Czech President Vaclav Havel; and the Dalai Lama.
The other recipients of Four Freedoms medals at today’s ceremony, one for each of the Four Freedoms proclaimed by President Roosevelt in his famous speech, were:
- The veterans of World War II, Freedom from Fear.
- The New York Times/Ochs-Sulzberger Family, Freedom of Speech and Expression.
- Johnnie Rebecca Carr, Freedom of Worship.
The Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute is a nonprofit organization headquartered at the FDR Presidential Library in Hyde Park, New York. Its mission is to inform new generations of the ideals and achievements of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, to inspire the application of their spirit of optimism and innovation to the solution of current problems, and to provide financial and program support to the FDR Library.
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