Historical Name: FDR
Common Name: White Oak
Latin Name: Quercus alba
The Franklin D. Roosevelt White Oak stands on the beautiful Hyde Park, New York estate where the president, who led the nation out of the great 1930’s depression, yearned to return. Shortly after his nomination for an unprecedented fourth term as president, Roosevelt wrote to the chairman of the Democratic Party that he would serve again if needed. Still, he wrote, “All that is within me cries out to return to home on the Hudson River.” During his presidency, Roosevelt led an attack to cure the country’s economic woes with his “New Deal.” He counseled the ailing nation with his “fireside chats” on radio. Roosevelt was one of America’s great leaders who, though himself crippled by polio, brought the nation through difficult economic times and World War II. This tree was grown from a seed collected from an old White Oak growing on the front lawn of FDR’s home, and was planted into UCNJ’s Historic Tree Grove in 2004.
(text adapted from American Forests)