The presidential memorials in the United States honor the various Presidents of the United States and seek to perpetuate their legacies.
Living and physical elements
A presidential memorial may have a physical element which consists of a monument or a statue within a monument. Its entire presence consists of a physical structure that is a permanent remembrance of the president it represents. Most well known presidential memorials such as the Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson memorials have a physical element.
There are also official presidential memorials that have a living element with only a minor physical presence. An example of a presidential living memorial is the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Located in a wing of the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C., the Wilson Center has a small exhibit concerning President Wilson's life and work, but it is best known for its work to unite the world of ideas with the world of policy by supporting scholarship linked to issues of contemporary importance. In this way the living memorial perpetuates President Wilson’s legacy of scholarship linked closely to international relations.
Similarly, the Harry S. Truman Scholarship honors U.S. college students dedicated to public service and policy leadership, and thus may be considered a memorial with solely a living element. The Truman Scholarship is the sole federal memorial allowed to honor President Truman.
This can also be accomplished through the establishment of a policy institute, like the Eisenhower Institute whose mandate is to advance Eisenhower's intellectual and leadership legacies through research, public education, and public policy recommendations.
The James Madison Memorial Building, the third and newest building of the Library of Congress, is an example of a memorial with both living and physical elements. The building houses a memorial hall to President James Madison, but is also dedicated in memory of his 1783 proposal that the Continental Congress form an official library.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts also has both a physical element, a striking building in Washington, DC, and a living element, an ongoing series of live theatrical performances, presented in the name of a fallen president.
Multiple statues of other physical memorials to some presidents exist, larger installations include:
Washington Monument
Washington Monument (Baltimore)
Washington Monument (Washington County)
George Washington Masonic National Memorial
George Washington's Mount Vernon
Adams National Historical Park
Jefferson Memorial
Thomas Jefferson's Monticello
James Madison's Montpelier
James Madison Memorial Building
Andrew Jackson Statue in Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C.
Andrew Jackson Memorial at the Museum of the Waxhaws, Waxhaw, NC
Andrew Jackson's The Hermitage
Martin Van Buren National Historic Site
Franklin Pierce Homestead
James Buchanan Memorial in Meridian Hill Park in Washington, DC
President James Buchanan's Wheatland
Lincoln Memorial
Lincoln Highway
Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park
Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial
Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site
Lincoln Home National Historic Site
Ford's Theatre National Historic Site
Lincoln Tomb and War Memorials State Historic Site
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
Ulysses S. Grant Memorial
Grant National Memorial
James A. Garfield Memorial
James A. Garfield Monument
James A. Garfield National Historic Site
Benjamin Harrison memorial statue
McKinley National Memorial
National McKinley Birthplace Memorial
Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site
Sagamore Hill National Historic Site
Theodore Roosevelt Island
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Warren G. Harding Memorial (Marion Cemetery)
Hoover Tower
Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum
Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial
Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park on New York City's Roosevelt Island
Harry S. Truman National Historic Site
Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum
Truman Scholarship
Eisenhower National Historic Site
Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home
John F. Kennedy National Historic Site
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame
John F. Kennedy Memorial (Dallas)
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park
Lyndon B. Johnson State Park and Historic Site
Lyndon Baines Johnson Memorial Grove on the Potomac
Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum
Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum
Jimmy Carter National Historic Site
Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum
Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, Washington, D.C.
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum
George H. W. Bush Memorial in Houston, Texas's Sesquicentennial Park
George Bush Center for Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, Langley, VA
George Bush Presidential Library and Museum
President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site
William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park
George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum
Mount Rushmore National Memorial
The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial is currently being planned for Washington, D.C.
The Adams Memorial is currently being planned for Washington, D.C.
