President Franklin D. Roosevelt speaks at the dedication of the Smoky Mountain National Park 

This is a photograph of President Franklin D. Roosevelt speaking at the dedication of the Smoky Mountain National Park on September 2, 1940. In his speech Roosevelt conveyed necessity of the national parks by stating "In this Park we shall conserve these trees . . . for the happiness of the American people. The old frontier that put the hard fibre in the American spirit and the long muscles on the American back, lives and will live in these untamed mountains to give to the future generations a sense of the land from which their forefathers hewed their homes." Roosevelt also supported the national parks by supporting the commemorative stamp series during National Park Year in 1934, urging the public to visit, and adding new parks into the system.