It hardly seemed the right time for the construction of a new memorial in Washington. The timing was inopportune: The year was 1934, and the country was in the midst of the Great Depression. Along the Tidal Basin of the Potomac Park seemed an inappropriate location; it was amid the cherished cherry blossom trees, their planting the brainchild of former First Lady Helen Taft.
Despite the timing and the location, Congress passed a joint resolution on June 26, 1934, to establish a 12-member Thomas Jefferson Memorial Commission (TJMC) “for the purpose of considering and formulating plans for designing and constructing a permanent memorial” to the man whom “the American people feel a deep debt of gratitude.”
