For an unabashed liberal and believer in social justice, visiting President Franklin D. Roosevelt's home, Springwood, in Hyde Park, New York was a special trip for me in September 2004.  As I walked the grounds and toured the buildings, I was thinking "with all the history here, if only the walls could talk."  Since they can't, here are a few pictures that you won't see on a lot of postcards!

The front of the home, seen here, looks very much as it did when President Roosevelt lived here before moving to the Governor's Mansion in Albany, and later, the White House.

Inside the house, you find such FDR reminders as his original low-profile wheelchair, made from one of the home's straight back chairs...

...to the hand-pulled elevator he used to lift himself between the upper and lower floors of the house so he would not be trapped if there was a fire and no one was with him.

Before you say, "that's just a gravel driveway", remember "if only the walls could talk..." You're looking down the main house's driveway to the New York Route 9, on the very spot, about 300 yards from the mansion shown above, where FDR stopped after carrying  himself on crutches to prove to himself that polio would not beat him.  He went on from here to become the Governor of New York and President of the United States.

Back in the house complex, there are more signs of FDR's presidency including the "radio room" in the "tower wing", located to the left rear of the bell hanging over the porch, where FDR made his Election Night speeches to the nation.

If you look closely at the upper right part of the photo, you'll see the broadcast antenna is still in place!

A slow walk through FDR's stable showed not only part of his saddle and equestrian equipment collection, but also his horses' stalls.

A closer look at the stalls shows FDR's confidence in his ideas -- his horse is named after his first administration, the New Deal!

The Rose Garden a few steps away contains the graves of FDR and Mrs. Roosevelt (aka "Eleanor")...

...while on the other side of the white marble memorial lay circular markers for the final resting places of Chief and Fala, two of the President's dogs.

While walking from the Rose Garden to the FDR Presidential Library, one is struck by how this man crippled by polio inspired and led the Free World to victory in World War II.

One sculptor, sensing this president's role in history, honored FDR's leadership with a statue called simply "The War President".

As a military retiree who used his veteran's educational benefits to attain an Associate, Bachelor and Master degree, I was touched when I walked into the presidential library and found the desk where FDR signed the GI Bill, the law that created the middle class in America.

As I often say, "God Bless FDR; God Bless the GI Bill!"  I wouldn't be where I am in life without either!