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Previously on "The Roosevelts"...

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Franklin Roosevelt was stricken
with a mysterious disease.

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His legs felt funn and he felt feverish,

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and he never walked without help again.

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But his secret wouldn't keep him
from the White House.

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I pledge myself

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to a new deal for the American people!

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And now part 5 of "The
Roosevelts: An Intimate History."

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Funding for this program was provided

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by members of The Better Angels Society,

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a nonprofit organization dedicated to
educating Americans about their history

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through documentary film.

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Members include Jessica and John Fullerton.

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The Pfeil Foundation

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Joan Wellhouse Newton.
Bonnie and Tom McCloskey.

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And the Golkin Family.

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Additional funding was provided
by the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations,

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dedicated to strengthening America's future
through education;

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by the National Endowment
for the Humanities,

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exploring the human endeavor;

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by Mr. Jack C. Taylor...

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And by Rosalind P. Walter.

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Major funding was provided by
the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

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and by the generous contributions to your
PBS station from viewers like you.

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Thank you.

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Before the names Theodore,

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Eleanor, and Franklin

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were indelibly etched into
the American consciousness

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and the course of human
history was forever changed

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by their individual endeavors,

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a prominent family made a point

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of teaching the value of altruism,

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the power of perseverance,

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and the virtue of helping
out one's fellow man.

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This great nation will endure,

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will revive, and will prosper.

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So first of all,
let me assert my firm belief

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that the only thing we have to fear is...

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fear itself.

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Nameless, unreasoning, unjustified...

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By the time FDR takes office,

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there are at least 15 million unemployed,

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probably more,

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at least a quarter of the nation,

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maybe a third.

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And action now.

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To get a sense of this,
imagine that you're

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one of 100,000 people in a football stadium

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and that as you file out you're handed

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a piece of paper saying, "you're fired."

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Imagine the next week 100,000 more

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come into that stadium, and as they leave,

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each of them is told,
"you no longer have a job,"

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and imagine that happening
for 52 weeks of the year

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for 3 straight years.

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You will then have approximated

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the total of unemployed
when Franklin Roosevelt

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takes office.

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By 1933, it was hard to put down
a chilling thought...

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"maybe the depression
is never going to end."

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There's a sense of fear
that pervades the country.

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John Maynard Keynes, the British economist,

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was asked if there'd
ever been anything before

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like the great depression?

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He said, "yes. It was called the dark ages,
and it lasted 400 years."

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We humbly ask the blessing of God.

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May he protect each and every one of us.

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May he guide me in the days to come.

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Saturday, March 4, 1933,
was inauguration day.

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Among the friends and
family members invited

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to watch Franklin
Roosevelt's inaugural parade

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from the reviewing stand
was the new president's

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42-year-old sixth cousin Daisy Suckley.

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She was quiet, good-humored, unmarried,

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and already deeply devoted
to Franklin Roosevelt.

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His invitation had been so exciting,

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she told a relative,
that when the weekend was over

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she thought she'd have to enter a convent.

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My seat was on the president's stand,

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section "B," top row, from where I saw

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the White House grounds, the parade,

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and the president's head
throughout the afternoon.

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He had a high chair to sit on,

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which gave the effect of his standing.

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The first part of the parade was dignified,

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the last part a sort of circus...

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Tom mix cavorting in
white on a black horse,

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movie actresses on a float,

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bands in fantastic feather costumes,
et cetera.

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Democracy!

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The inauguration symbolized

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almost a century and a half
of American continuity,

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but on that day in 1933, Americans were
in the third year of a great depression

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so crippling that it seemed to some

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that unless the new president acted

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with unprecedented boldness,

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American democracy itself
might be at an end,

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and there were many who feared

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the magnetic but essentially untried man

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in the reviewing stand could not
possibly be equal to the task.

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Still 11 years earlier,
Daisy had witnessed first-hand

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Roosevelt's gallant struggle
against the ravages of polio.

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"Franklin is a man... mentally, physically,

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and spiritually,"
she confided to her diary.

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"What more can I say?"

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The rest of the country could only hope

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that she was right.

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S01E05
The Rising Road

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sync and corrected by ninh
www.MY-SUBS.com

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There've been 3 presidents

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who were larger than the
office they inherited.

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One was Washington,
who fairly invented the office;

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there was Lincoln,
who preserved the country

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at the center of which sits that office,

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and then there was Roosevelt,

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who fundamentally changed the relationship

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of the citizen to the central government.

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The presidency is like
a soft leather glove,

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and it takes the shape of
the hand that's put into it,

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and when a very big hand is put into it

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and stretches the glove,
stretches the office,

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the glove never quite
shrinks back to what it was.

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So we are all living today with an office

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enlarged permanently by Franklin Roosevelt.

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A president could be judged great,

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Theodore Roosevelt once explained,

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only if he had faced and
overcome a great crisis.

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Franklin Roosevelt would
find himself confronted

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by the two greatest crises
since the civil war.

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He had been taught since boyhood

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to believe himself capable
of succeeding at anything

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to which he put his mind and hand,

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and in part because of that belief,

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he proved to have the
power to make a majority

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of his fellow citizens believe it, too.

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The best of the new deal programs
was Franklin Roosevelt's smile.

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He was armored with Christian faith

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that the universe is well-organized

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and with the American faith
that history is a rising road

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and things are going to be all right.

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Had that enormous head
and that wonderful grin,

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and it was the tonic the country needed.

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The country was depressed.

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We use the word depression in lots of ways,

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and what they needed was a man who was

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incapable of depression.

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I have never known a man

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who gave one a greater sense of security.

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I never heard him say there was a problem

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that he thought it was impossible

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for human beings to solve.

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I never knew him to
face life or any problem

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that came up with fear.

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Franklin Roosevelt
was essentially a lonely man.

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No one was allowed to know all

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that was going on within
what one aide called

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his "thickly forested interior."

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That becomes a habit in your life,

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to not reveal yourself to others,

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as if there's a scar that

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you're afraid that someone else will see.

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You always have to be the one that's up.

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You always have to be the
one that's doing well,

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and it means that you're not in touch,

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in a certain sense,
with some of those emotions

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within yourself.

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It makes it harder for you,

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but it also makes you more mysterious,

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more magical, perhaps,
to the outside world.

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Ideology did not interest him.

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Once asked for his philosophy,

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he said he was a Christian and a Democrat

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and that was all.

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He was steeped in tradition

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and conservative by instinct,

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but he was also utterly
unafraid of experimentation.

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"It is common sense to take a method

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and try it," he said.

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"If it fails,
admit it frankly and try another,

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but above all, try something."

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"I want to be a preaching president,"

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FDR said, "like my cousin Theodore,"

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and he believed,
just as Theodore Roosevelt had believed,

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that the presidency was
"preeminently a place of moral leadership."

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Building on the work
of the first Roosevelt,

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the second Roosevelt gave us the idea,

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the shimmering,
glittering idea of the heroic presidency

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and with it the hope that complex problems

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would yield to charisma.

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This sets the country up for
perpetual disappointment.

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He set lofty goals for himself

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and his country and pursued them

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with a cheerful deviousness
that sometimes appalled

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his allies and often disappointed his wife.

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He might have been happier

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with a wife who was completely uncritical.

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That I was never able to be,

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and he had to find it in other people.

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Nevertheless,
I think I sometimes acted as a spur,

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even though the spurring was not always
wanted or welcome.

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I was one of those who served his purposes.

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The Roosevelts would become

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perhaps the most admired
and the most reviled couple

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ever to occupy the White House.

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Franklin would be denounced as a dictator,

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a socialist, a traitor to his class.

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Eleanor was dismissed as naive,
meddling, dangerously radical.

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They needed each other, too.

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One was strong where the other was weak.

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FDR was not as idealistic
as Eleanor Roosevelt.

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Eleanor Roosevelt was
not as good a politician

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as Franklin Roosevelt.

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Together they represented

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both the better angels of our nature

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and a sense of how to get it done,

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how to let those angels actually have
some authority and run things.

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5,000 banks have failed.

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9 million savings accounts
have been wiped out,

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and Roosevelt declares

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a national bank holiday.

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And this is a happy term,

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not at all like Hoover's "Moratorium,"

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and for several days,

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the country operates without cash.

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Pickpockets are no longer
able to ply their trade.

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The floating crap game disappears.

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The new movie "King Kong"
plays at the radio city music hall

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to empty houses,

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and the expectation is that
when the banks are reopened

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in the following week

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there's gonna be a massive withdrawal.

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On Sunday evening, March 12,

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8 days after his inauguration,

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the new president spoke
to the american people.

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The president wants to come into your home

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and sit at your fireside
for a little fireside chat.

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Some 60 million Americans

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gathered around their radios.

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My friends, I want to talk

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for a few minutes with the people

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of the United States about banking,

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to talk with the comparatively few

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who understand the mechanics of banking

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but more particularly with
the overwhelming majority

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of you who use banks for
the making of deposits

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and the drawing of checks.

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I want to tell you...

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Roosevelt did for speaking

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what bing Crosby did for singing.

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They called it crooning.

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Before that for all of human history,

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leaders had talked to their people...

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Like this.

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They had had to orate
because the microphone

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hadn't been invented.

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And Roosevelt was the first one

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to understand that you could
have this new relationship

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with the audience that was
an intimate relationship.

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Let me make it clear to you

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00:15:10,177 --> 00:15:14,213
that the banks will take care of all needs,

261
00:15:14,215 --> 00:15:16,215
and it is my belief that hoarding

262
00:15:16,217 --> 00:15:18,384
during the past week has become

263
00:15:18,386 --> 00:15:22,288
an exceedingly unfashionable pastime.

264
00:15:22,290 --> 00:15:24,801
He spoke to them like a father,

265
00:15:24,821 --> 00:15:26,892
like a favorite Uncle,

266
00:15:27,087 --> 00:15:28,427
speaking to them on a Sunday night.

267
00:15:28,429 --> 00:15:30,462
Many of them had already gone to bed,

268
00:15:30,464 --> 00:15:31,797
but they were huddled under their covers.

269
00:15:31,799 --> 00:15:33,832
It was a cold night.

270
00:15:34,066 --> 00:15:37,146
They turned out the lights
to save on electricity,

271
00:15:37,166 --> 00:15:39,505
and his voice came over the radio,

272
00:15:39,727 --> 00:15:42,942
and it reassured them that
things were gonna be ok.

273
00:15:43,274 --> 00:15:45,344
In less than 15 minutes, he explained

274
00:15:45,346 --> 00:15:48,614
how the banking system
was supposed to work.

275
00:15:48,864 --> 00:15:50,749
He explained how it had failed.

276
00:15:51,047 --> 00:15:53,206
Some of our bankers had shown themselves

277
00:15:53,226 --> 00:15:55,646
either incompetent or dishonest

278
00:15:55,666 --> 00:15:58,384
in their handling of the people's funds.

279
00:15:58,404 --> 00:16:00,962
They had used the money entrusted to them

280
00:16:00,982 --> 00:16:04,485
in speculations and unwise loans.

281
00:16:04,505 --> 00:16:08,891
He explained what his
administration and Congress had done.

282
00:16:08,911 --> 00:16:11,270
This bank holiday is affording us

283
00:16:11,272 --> 00:16:13,706
the opportunity to supply the currency

284
00:16:13,708 --> 00:16:16,436
necessary to meet the situation.

285
00:16:16,456 --> 00:16:20,680
Remember that no sound
bank is a dollar worse off

286
00:16:20,700 --> 00:16:25,250
than it was when it closed
its doors last week.

287
00:16:25,384 --> 00:16:27,642
And then he spoke to them as an equal,

288
00:16:27,662 --> 00:16:31,190
and he said that "all that we've done
"in Washington will mean nothing

289
00:16:31,210 --> 00:16:34,526
without the support of
the American people."

290
00:16:34,528 --> 00:16:36,095
After all, there is an element

291
00:16:36,097 --> 00:16:38,831
in the readjustment of our financial system

292
00:16:38,833 --> 00:16:43,268
more important than currency,
more important than gold,

293
00:16:43,270 --> 00:16:47,072
and that is the confidence
of the people themselves.

294
00:16:47,074 --> 00:16:49,074
Confidence and courage are the essentials

295
00:16:49,076 --> 00:16:52,611
of success in carrying out our plan.

296
00:16:52,613 --> 00:16:56,048
Let us unite in banishing fear.

297
00:16:56,050 --> 00:16:58,317
It is your problem, my friends...

298
00:16:58,319 --> 00:17:01,286
your problem, no less than it is mine.

299
00:17:01,288 --> 00:17:05,190
Together we cannot fail.

300
00:17:05,192 --> 00:17:06,458
Ladies and gentlemen,

301
00:17:06,460 --> 00:17:08,060
the president of the United States

302
00:17:08,062 --> 00:17:12,075
has spoken to you from the White House
in Washington, D.C.

303
00:17:12,600 --> 00:17:16,502
And in 14 1/2
minutes, he utterly changed

304
00:17:16,504 --> 00:17:19,338
the mindset of Americans.

305
00:17:19,340 --> 00:17:22,808
When he says in that first fireside chat

306
00:17:22,810 --> 00:17:27,946
"hoarding has become a
terribly unfashionable pastime.

307
00:17:28,091 --> 00:17:31,178
"Please take your money out
from under your mattresses

308
00:17:31,198 --> 00:17:33,394
"and redeposit it in the banks

309
00:17:33,414 --> 00:17:37,356
when they reopen," people actually did it.

310
00:17:37,358 --> 00:17:39,958
The same people who had been lining up,

311
00:17:39,960 --> 00:17:42,461
pushing each other out of the way to get

312
00:17:42,463 --> 00:17:44,263
their money out of the banks,

313
00:17:44,265 --> 00:17:46,398
they now after listening
to the new president

314
00:17:46,400 --> 00:17:47,966
on the radio, they lined up

315
00:17:47,968 --> 00:17:50,969
to redeposit the money.

316
00:17:50,971 --> 00:17:53,745
Now that's leadership.

317
00:17:55,774 --> 00:17:58,210
Dear sir, while listening

318
00:17:58,212 --> 00:18:00,312
to your broadcast Sunday night,

319
00:18:00,314 --> 00:18:03,549
our little home seemed a church,

320
00:18:03,551 --> 00:18:06,385
our radio the pulpit,

321
00:18:06,387 --> 00:18:09,054
and you the preacher.

322
00:18:09,056 --> 00:18:12,817
Thank you for the courage and faith
you have given us.

323
00:18:13,060 --> 00:18:16,502
♪ Every time it rains... ♪

324
00:18:16,764 --> 00:18:18,997
My dear Mr. President,

325
00:18:18,999 --> 00:18:21,600
no sooner had your voice died on the air

326
00:18:21,602 --> 00:18:24,589
when mother, a hard-shelled Republican,

327
00:18:24,609 --> 00:18:28,841
jumped from her chair saying,
"isn't he a fine man?"

328
00:18:28,843 --> 00:18:31,243
And father with tears in his eyes said,

329
00:18:31,245 --> 00:18:35,480
"I feel one hundred
percent better already."

330
00:18:35,482 --> 00:18:38,483
This, I am certain, is the effect your talk

331
00:18:38,485 --> 00:18:42,221
must have had on all who heard you tonight.

332
00:18:42,223 --> 00:18:45,131
♪ There'll be pennies from heaven... ♪

333
00:18:45,151 --> 00:18:51,857
"Capitalism," one of Roosevelt's
advisers remembered, "was saved in 8 days."

334
00:18:54,483 --> 00:18:55,400
The banks are open.

335
00:18:55,402 --> 00:18:57,069
The headlines tell a new story,

336
00:18:57,071 --> 00:18:58,971
new confidence, new spirit.

337
00:18:58,973 --> 00:19:01,440
Billions in untapped wealth begin to flow.

338
00:19:01,442 --> 00:19:03,842
New money backed by real assets pours

339
00:19:03,844 --> 00:19:05,911
from Uncle Sam's treasury to revitalize

340
00:19:05,913 --> 00:19:07,412
the country's commerce.

341
00:19:07,414 --> 00:19:11,298
The leader leads, and the nation heeds.

342
00:19:11,719 --> 00:19:14,052
Roosevelt had had his entire cabinet

343
00:19:14,054 --> 00:19:16,521
sworn in at once, something that had

344
00:19:16,523 --> 00:19:18,824
never been done before.

345
00:19:18,826 --> 00:19:20,659
It included Harold Ickes,

346
00:19:20,661 --> 00:19:22,527
an old progressive party follower

347
00:19:22,529 --> 00:19:24,563
of the president's cousin Theodore,

348
00:19:24,565 --> 00:19:26,899
as interior secretary,

349
00:19:26,901 --> 00:19:29,768
and Southern Democrats
like Senator Cordell Hull

350
00:19:29,770 --> 00:19:33,338
from Tennessee,
who became Secretary of State.

351
00:19:33,340 --> 00:19:35,674
Henry Wallace, the Republican editor

352
00:19:35,676 --> 00:19:37,609
of a farm journal from Iowa,

353
00:19:37,611 --> 00:19:40,479
was named Secretary of Agriculture,

354
00:19:40,481 --> 00:19:42,981
and Frances Perkins took the oath of office

355
00:19:42,983 --> 00:19:45,317
as Secretary of Labor,

356
00:19:45,319 --> 00:19:50,155
the first woman ever to
serve in any cabinet.

357
00:19:50,157 --> 00:19:52,658
Over the coming years,
the ranks of government

358
00:19:52,660 --> 00:19:55,727
would for the first time come to include

359
00:19:55,729 --> 00:19:59,831
more talented women,
as well as Catholics, Jews,

360
00:19:59,833 --> 00:20:02,467
and African-Americans.

361
00:20:02,469 --> 00:20:05,003
The Roosevelt administration is run

362
00:20:05,005 --> 00:20:07,573
by a man who never knew any of those people

363
00:20:07,575 --> 00:20:09,107
when he was young,

364
00:20:09,109 --> 00:20:14,046
but he was so secure and so unthreatened,

365
00:20:14,048 --> 00:20:17,049
and if you are,
then you can employ the talents

366
00:20:17,051 --> 00:20:19,518
of anyone you like.

367
00:20:19,520 --> 00:20:22,054
FDR understood that no program

368
00:20:22,056 --> 00:20:25,357
and no presidency could
work unless the president

369
00:20:25,359 --> 00:20:27,159
continued to communicate effectively

370
00:20:27,161 --> 00:20:28,760
with the voters.

371
00:20:28,762 --> 00:20:31,530
To do that,
he welcomed the press into his office

372
00:20:31,532 --> 00:20:33,198
twice a week...

373
00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:37,769
997 times before he was through.

374
00:20:37,771 --> 00:20:39,838
Except for Theodore Roosevelt,

375
00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:42,975
most presidents before
him had treated reporters

376
00:20:42,977 --> 00:20:45,911
as little better than spies.

377
00:20:45,913 --> 00:20:48,480
FDR called them by their first names,

378
00:20:48,482 --> 00:20:50,949
claimed to be a newspaperman himself

379
00:20:50,951 --> 00:20:54,119
because he'd once edited the
"Harvard Crimson,"

380
00:20:54,121 --> 00:20:57,389
and provided a constant
flow of copy that kept

381
00:20:57,391 --> 00:21:01,660
him always at the center of events.

382
00:21:01,662 --> 00:21:05,398
Ha ha ha! Is it on straight?

383
00:21:07,165 --> 00:21:09,668
We are planning within a few days

384
00:21:09,670 --> 00:21:11,036
to ask the Congress

385
00:21:11,038 --> 00:21:13,538
for legislation to enable the government

386
00:21:13,540 --> 00:21:17,376
to undertake public works,
thus stimulating directly

387
00:21:17,378 --> 00:21:19,244
and indirectly the employment

388
00:21:19,246 --> 00:21:22,180
of many others in well-considered projects.

389
00:21:24,417 --> 00:21:26,118
Never in american history

390
00:21:26,120 --> 00:21:29,421
had so much transformative
legislation been passed

391
00:21:29,423 --> 00:21:32,357
by Congress in so little time.

392
00:21:32,359 --> 00:21:36,928
Republicans as well as
Democrats voted for it.

393
00:21:36,930 --> 00:21:38,630
During the first hundred days

394
00:21:38,632 --> 00:21:40,732
of Franklin Roosevelt's administration,

395
00:21:40,734 --> 00:21:44,169
15 major bills granted
the federal government

396
00:21:44,171 --> 00:21:47,306
the power to decide
which banks should reopen

397
00:21:47,308 --> 00:21:50,509
and which should be allowed to fail,

398
00:21:50,511 --> 00:21:53,412
to guarantee depositors' bank deposits

399
00:21:53,414 --> 00:21:56,114
and to definitively separate commercial

400
00:21:56,116 --> 00:21:57,449
and investment banking activities

401
00:21:57,451 --> 00:22:00,679
in the Glass-Steagall Act,

402
00:22:00,699 --> 00:22:02,487
to demand greater transparency

403
00:22:02,489 --> 00:22:04,690
in the selling of stocks and dictate

404
00:22:04,692 --> 00:22:07,492
the gold value of the dollar,

405
00:22:07,494 --> 00:22:11,749
to make loans to homeowners
to save them from foreclosure,

406
00:22:11,769 --> 00:22:16,902
and keep farm income high by
paying farmers not to produce,

407
00:22:16,904 --> 00:22:20,105
to provide public jobs
for those who needed work,

408
00:22:20,107 --> 00:22:23,041
and to provide public
power and flood control

409
00:22:23,043 --> 00:22:25,243
to the vast Tennessee River Basin

410
00:22:25,245 --> 00:22:29,481
that sprawled across 6 states, the TVA.

411
00:22:29,483 --> 00:22:32,150
♪ Got a handful of nothing ♪

412
00:22:32,152 --> 00:22:35,053
♪ and I watch it like a hawk ♪

413
00:22:35,055 --> 00:22:36,788
♪ Well, I'm doing ok ♪

414
00:22:36,790 --> 00:22:40,058
♪ I'm living in a great big way ♪

415
00:22:48,134 --> 00:22:52,404
The AAA, the PWA, the FDIC...

416
00:22:52,577 --> 00:22:55,273
among the alphabet soup
of programs Roosevelt's

417
00:22:55,275 --> 00:22:58,610
new deal created to stimulate the economy

418
00:22:58,612 --> 00:23:02,381
and combat unemployment
was one especially dear

419
00:23:02,383 --> 00:23:03,982
to the president's heart.

420
00:23:03,984 --> 00:23:05,584
He had pushed it through Congress

421
00:23:05,586 --> 00:23:08,505
in less than a week
after being inaugurated,

422
00:23:08,525 --> 00:23:11,988
the civilian conservation corps.

423
00:23:12,909 --> 00:23:16,695
The CCC eventually put
some 3 million jobless men

424
00:23:16,697 --> 00:23:20,298
to work preserving the American landscape,

425
00:23:20,300 --> 00:23:22,286
controlling erosion,

426
00:23:22,306 --> 00:23:25,170
developing national parks,

427
00:23:25,172 --> 00:23:28,971
planting hundreds of millions of trees.

428
00:23:29,443 --> 00:23:31,843
They earned $30 a month

429
00:23:31,845 --> 00:23:36,772
and sent 25 of it home
to help their families.

430
00:23:37,494 --> 00:23:40,332
♪ I'm the salt in the ocean ♪

431
00:23:40,352 --> 00:23:43,188
♪ I'm the sun in the sky ♪

432
00:23:43,190 --> 00:23:45,998
♪ I'm Franklin D. Roosevelt ♪

433
00:23:46,018 --> 00:23:47,504
♪ I'm a million dollars ♪

434
00:23:47,524 --> 00:23:51,251
♪ as long as I've got
a snap in my fingers ♪

435
00:23:51,271 --> 00:23:54,084
♪ got a rhythm in my walk ♪

436
00:23:54,104 --> 00:23:56,101
♪ got the devil to pay ♪

437
00:23:56,103 --> 00:23:59,175
♪ I'm living in a great big way ♪

438
00:23:59,723 --> 00:24:02,407
Inspiring his forest
army by a personal visit,

439
00:24:02,409 --> 00:24:04,242
President Roosevelt makes his first tour

440
00:24:04,244 --> 00:24:06,278
of the civilian conservation corps camps

441
00:24:06,280 --> 00:24:08,013
in the Shenandoah Valley.

442
00:24:08,015 --> 00:24:10,215
After inspecting skyland,
the commander-in-chief

443
00:24:10,217 --> 00:24:12,184
takes a seat at the
head of the table to eat

444
00:24:12,186 --> 00:24:13,718
with the boys,

445
00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:15,087
and he enjoys every bite

446
00:24:15,089 --> 00:24:18,356
of the plain,
wholesome food furnished at the camp.

447
00:24:18,358 --> 00:24:20,659
I wish that I could
take a couple of months off

448
00:24:20,661 --> 00:24:22,494
from the White House and come down here

449
00:24:22,496 --> 00:24:24,062
and live with them because I know I'd get

450
00:24:24,064 --> 00:24:26,631
full of health the way they have.

451
00:24:26,633 --> 00:24:28,233
The only difference is that they put on

452
00:24:28,235 --> 00:24:30,535
an average of about 12 pounds a piece

453
00:24:30,537 --> 00:24:32,103
since they got here,

454
00:24:32,105 --> 00:24:34,206
and I'm trying to take off 12 pounds.

455
00:24:40,446 --> 00:24:43,715
FDR's most ambitious and daring program

456
00:24:43,717 --> 00:24:46,351
was the national recovery administration,

457
00:24:46,353 --> 00:24:51,574
which set prices and
wages in 541 industries.

458
00:24:52,077 --> 00:24:55,694
Roosevelt was asking
businesses to keep wages up

459
00:24:55,714 --> 00:24:59,426
and simultaneously keep prices down.

460
00:24:59,833 --> 00:25:03,074
Two million employers signed up.

461
00:25:03,522 --> 00:25:07,281
The NRA was so popular that
when a parade it sponsored

462
00:25:07,301 --> 00:25:10,842
marched down 5th Avenue,
more than a quarter of a million

463
00:25:10,844 --> 00:25:14,093
New Yorkers came out to cheer.

464
00:25:14,748 --> 00:25:16,047
My father took me there.

465
00:25:16,049 --> 00:25:18,150
I was 10 years old,

466
00:25:18,152 --> 00:25:21,753
and to this day, it is the greatest parade

467
00:25:21,755 --> 00:25:24,256
in the history of New York City.

468
00:25:24,258 --> 00:25:27,926
Garment workers, tailors, barbers, marched

469
00:25:27,928 --> 00:25:31,129
like medieval guilds down 5th Avenue.

470
00:25:31,131 --> 00:25:33,932
It went on all through the afternoon,

471
00:25:33,934 --> 00:25:37,169
all through the evening, past midnight.

472
00:25:37,171 --> 00:25:39,137
People went to movies, they came out,

473
00:25:39,139 --> 00:25:42,466
and paraders were still going by.

474
00:25:43,885 --> 00:25:48,429
They were saying, "we do our part,"

475
00:25:49,201 --> 00:25:52,717
that the American people were going to be

476
00:25:52,719 --> 00:25:56,221
in league with the American government

477
00:25:56,223 --> 00:25:59,224
in seeing that the
country could lift itself

478
00:25:59,226 --> 00:26:01,860
out of the great depression.

479
00:26:06,098 --> 00:26:07,798
"There is a unity in this country,"

480
00:26:07,818 --> 00:26:11,436
FDR said,
"which I have not seen since we went

481
00:26:11,438 --> 00:26:14,606
to war in 1917."

482
00:26:17,810 --> 00:26:19,411
What he did in the first hundred days

483
00:26:19,413 --> 00:26:21,813
was demonstrate that the federal government

484
00:26:21,815 --> 00:26:25,001
was capable of acting swiftly.

485
00:26:26,086 --> 00:26:27,919
We tend to forget,

486
00:26:27,921 --> 00:26:30,355
partly because we want to forget,

487
00:26:30,357 --> 00:26:34,326
that at about that time the word dictator,
dictatorial,

488
00:26:34,328 --> 00:26:39,064
dictatorship did not have
an unambiguously bad ring,

489
00:26:39,066 --> 00:26:40,999
not just in America but in Europe, as well,

490
00:26:41,001 --> 00:26:42,667
where people were simply terrified

491
00:26:42,669 --> 00:26:46,037
by the sense that things
had spun out of control,

492
00:26:46,039 --> 00:26:48,707
and respected people talked
to Franklin Roosevelt

493
00:26:48,709 --> 00:26:52,094
about the need for dictatorial powers,

494
00:26:52,114 --> 00:26:55,881
and the president shrank from those,
rightly so,

495
00:26:55,883 --> 00:27:00,051
but he did infuse his
rhetoric with strong appeals

496
00:27:00,053 --> 00:27:03,021
to collective, almost military action...

497
00:27:03,023 --> 00:27:07,159
"we're all in this war together."

498
00:27:07,161 --> 00:27:10,795
It rang tellingly reassuring

499
00:27:10,797 --> 00:27:13,298
to a lot of Americans at that point.

500
00:27:15,935 --> 00:27:20,105
The United States
was not alone in its suffering.

501
00:27:20,107 --> 00:27:22,607
Everywhere, countries had been devastated

502
00:27:22,609 --> 00:27:25,911
by the worldwide depression.

503
00:27:25,913 --> 00:27:30,649
In parts of Europe,
democracy itself had collapsed,

504
00:27:30,651 --> 00:27:32,584
and some people had turned to other,

505
00:27:32,586 --> 00:27:35,643
more extreme solutions.

506
00:27:37,858 --> 00:27:40,292
Some Americans, too, were disillusioned

507
00:27:40,294 --> 00:27:43,528
by their government's
response to the crisis

508
00:27:43,530 --> 00:27:48,567
and took to the streets in protest.

509
00:27:48,569 --> 00:27:50,569
Shortly after he became president,

510
00:27:50,571 --> 00:27:53,572
FDR had a visitor who said to him,

511
00:27:53,574 --> 00:27:56,041
"Mr. President, you're either
gonna be our greatest president,

512
00:27:56,043 --> 00:27:58,977
or you're gonna be our worst president,"

513
00:27:58,979 --> 00:28:02,080
and Roosevelt said, "No, if, if I fail,

514
00:28:02,082 --> 00:28:04,413
I'll be our last president."

515
00:28:07,787 --> 00:28:09,921
I think we can wonder
whether our descendants...

516
00:28:09,923 --> 00:28:13,925
because I think they'll still be here...

517
00:28:13,927 --> 00:28:17,362
what they will think about us,

518
00:28:17,364 --> 00:28:19,931
and let us hope that at
least they will give us

519
00:28:19,933 --> 00:28:23,301
the benefit of the doubt,

520
00:28:23,303 --> 00:28:26,638
that they will believe that
we have honestly striven

521
00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:29,608
in our day and generation to preserve

522
00:28:29,610 --> 00:28:34,846
for our descendants a
decent land to live in

523
00:28:34,848 --> 00:28:39,017
and a decent form of
government to operate under.

524
00:28:41,854 --> 00:28:43,922
Some of the new legislation

525
00:28:43,924 --> 00:28:46,691
would be overthrown by the courts.

526
00:28:46,693 --> 00:28:50,562
Other laws would turn out to
have been counterproductive,

527
00:28:50,564 --> 00:28:53,331
but in just a little over 3 months,

528
00:28:53,333 --> 00:28:56,935
the federal government that had
been a mostly passive observer

529
00:28:56,937 --> 00:28:59,237
of the people's problems

530
00:28:59,239 --> 00:29:04,175
had become an active force
in trying to solve them.

531
00:29:04,177 --> 00:29:05,577
It's more than a new deal.

532
00:29:05,579 --> 00:29:07,879
It's a new world.

533
00:29:07,881 --> 00:29:10,415
People feel free again.

534
00:29:10,417 --> 00:29:13,084
They can breathe naturally.

535
00:29:13,086 --> 00:29:17,289
It's like quitting a
morgue for the open woods.

536
00:29:17,291 --> 00:29:19,024
Harold Ickes.

537
00:29:19,026 --> 00:29:20,558
The pitch is up.

538
00:29:36,375 --> 00:29:40,045
At the end of the
first hundred days in 1933,

539
00:29:40,047 --> 00:29:42,814
he goes back to campobello
for the first time

540
00:29:42,816 --> 00:29:45,417
since he was stricken with polio...

541
00:29:49,222 --> 00:29:51,456
And he goes out in the woods,

542
00:29:51,458 --> 00:29:55,760
and he's sitting on a tree stump,

543
00:29:55,762 --> 00:29:59,164
and a couple of people he knows
are taking a walk in the woods,

544
00:29:59,166 --> 00:30:00,231
and when they come upon him,

545
00:30:00,233 --> 00:30:03,501
he's got his head in his hands,

546
00:30:03,503 --> 00:30:06,304
and then when he looks up he
has a grimace on his face,

547
00:30:06,306 --> 00:30:08,640
a look of suffering.

548
00:30:08,642 --> 00:30:10,742
Then he notices that they're there,

549
00:30:10,744 --> 00:30:13,612
and it was like a shutter
clicking in a camera,

550
00:30:13,614 --> 00:30:16,581
Roosevelt,
then he notices that they're there,

551
00:30:16,583 --> 00:30:18,750
"picking flowers, Billy?"

552
00:30:18,752 --> 00:30:20,785
And the mask was back on.

553
00:30:27,526 --> 00:30:30,028
This evening,
Virginia hunt told me

554
00:30:30,030 --> 00:30:31,930
that Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt

555
00:30:31,932 --> 00:30:35,767
evidently don't get on together.

556
00:30:35,769 --> 00:30:37,736
She is always off somewhere, though always

557
00:30:37,738 --> 00:30:41,906
on hand for dinners and receptions.

558
00:30:41,908 --> 00:30:45,610
It is very sad as they are
both such splendid people

559
00:30:45,612 --> 00:30:49,748
and must miss a happy married life.

560
00:30:49,750 --> 00:30:51,616
Daisy Suckley.

561
00:30:58,858 --> 00:31:00,425
When Eleanor Roosevelt

562
00:31:00,427 --> 00:31:03,962
first came to the White House
after her husband's election,

563
00:31:03,964 --> 00:31:06,331
the long-time chief Usher greeted her

564
00:31:06,333 --> 00:31:08,500
as "Miss Eleanor," just as he had

565
00:31:08,502 --> 00:31:12,370
during her uncle's presidency,

566
00:31:12,372 --> 00:31:15,540
and she hurled herself into
her duties as first lady

567
00:31:15,542 --> 00:31:20,812
with all the energy for which
Theodore Roosevelt was famous.

568
00:31:20,814 --> 00:31:24,716
She began holding weekly
press conferences of her own.

569
00:31:24,718 --> 00:31:28,186
She allowed only female reporters to attend

570
00:31:28,188 --> 00:31:31,589
because only men could
attend her husband's.

571
00:31:31,591 --> 00:31:35,093
Politics was officially off limits,

572
00:31:35,095 --> 00:31:37,195
but no previous president's wife

573
00:31:37,197 --> 00:31:40,832
had ever done anything remotely like it.

574
00:31:40,834 --> 00:31:43,768
She would go on to write a
syndicated newspaper column

575
00:31:43,770 --> 00:31:45,403
called "My Day"

576
00:31:45,405 --> 00:31:49,507
and have a network radio
program of her own.

577
00:31:49,509 --> 00:31:51,543
When a reporter warned her to be careful

578
00:31:51,545 --> 00:31:54,879
what she said for fear of
embarrassing her husband,

579
00:31:54,881 --> 00:31:57,482
Eleanor explained that when she said things

580
00:31:57,484 --> 00:32:01,686
that caused criticism she
would often do so deliberately

581
00:32:01,688 --> 00:32:04,255
to "arouse controversy"

582
00:32:04,257 --> 00:32:06,057
and to "get the topics talked about

583
00:32:06,059 --> 00:32:09,461
and so get people to thinking about them."

584
00:32:11,530 --> 00:32:14,799
The White House, Washington.

585
00:32:14,801 --> 00:32:20,238
Hick dearest, it was good to talk to you.

586
00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:24,509
The one thing which
reconciles me to this job

587
00:32:24,511 --> 00:32:29,080
is the fact that I begin
to think there may be ways

588
00:32:29,082 --> 00:32:31,850
in which I can be useful.

589
00:32:31,852 --> 00:32:34,219
I am getting some ideas

590
00:32:34,221 --> 00:32:38,189
which I want to talk over with you.

591
00:32:38,191 --> 00:32:41,593
A world of love to you and good night

592
00:32:41,595 --> 00:32:46,297
and God bless you, "light of my life."

593
00:32:46,299 --> 00:32:47,732
E.R.

594
00:32:50,202 --> 00:32:53,371
Lorena Hickok...
"Hick" to Eleanor Roosevelt...

595
00:32:53,373 --> 00:32:57,876
had been one of America's
top newspaperwomen in 1932,

596
00:32:57,878 --> 00:33:00,645
when she was assigned
by the associated press

597
00:33:00,647 --> 00:33:03,681
to cover the Democratic candidate's wife

598
00:33:03,683 --> 00:33:06,518
and found herself so in
love with her subject

599
00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:08,353
that she quit her job because she could

600
00:33:08,355 --> 00:33:12,390
no longer be objective.

601
00:33:12,392 --> 00:33:15,260
The result was one of the
most intense friendships

602
00:33:15,262 --> 00:33:17,562
of Eleanor Roosevelt's life.

603
00:33:17,564 --> 00:33:22,100
When apart,
the two women wrote one another daily.

604
00:33:22,102 --> 00:33:24,069
Hick darling,

605
00:33:24,071 --> 00:33:29,274
remember always,
no one is just what you are to me.

606
00:33:29,276 --> 00:33:32,744
I'd rather be writing this
minute than anything else,

607
00:33:32,746 --> 00:33:36,414
and yet I love many other people

608
00:33:36,416 --> 00:33:39,651
and some often can do things
for me probably better

609
00:33:39,653 --> 00:33:43,354
than you could,
but I've never enjoyed being

610
00:33:43,356 --> 00:33:50,595
with anyone the way I enjoy being with you.

611
00:33:50,597 --> 00:33:52,430
The important thing about Lorena Hickok

612
00:33:52,432 --> 00:33:55,033
is that when Eleanor
first became first lady,

613
00:33:55,035 --> 00:33:58,303
Lorena's the one who gave
her the confidence to become

614
00:33:58,305 --> 00:34:01,306
something other than a
ceremonial first lady,

615
00:34:01,308 --> 00:34:04,075
and more importantly, she loved Eleanor.

616
00:34:04,077 --> 00:34:05,810
It was the first person,
perhaps, that loved

617
00:34:05,812 --> 00:34:08,179
Eleanor completely for her own self

618
00:34:08,181 --> 00:34:10,315
more than she loved anybody else.

619
00:34:10,317 --> 00:34:12,550
I mean,
Franklin loved her but loved the world.

620
00:34:12,552 --> 00:34:14,452
Lorena fell in love with Eleanor,

621
00:34:14,454 --> 00:34:16,654
and it gave her, I think,
the self-assurance that

622
00:34:16,656 --> 00:34:19,824
she needed for this whole
new role as first lady.

623
00:34:22,962 --> 00:34:26,097
In July of 1933, they quietly

624
00:34:26,099 --> 00:34:29,834
took off together in Eleanor's
blue buick convertible

625
00:34:29,836 --> 00:34:33,605
for a month-long vacation on
the back roads of new England

626
00:34:33,607 --> 00:34:36,708
and the gaspe peninsula in Canada.

627
00:34:36,710 --> 00:34:39,811
The Secret Service
wanted to send an escort.

628
00:34:39,813 --> 00:34:42,480
The first lady refused to have one

629
00:34:42,482 --> 00:34:44,582
but did agree to carry a revolver

630
00:34:44,584 --> 00:34:46,751
in her glove compartment,

631
00:34:46,753 --> 00:34:48,052
though she carried no ammunition

632
00:34:48,054 --> 00:34:49,988
with which to load it.

633
00:35:01,834 --> 00:35:04,068
In most of the little towns they visited,

634
00:35:04,070 --> 00:35:07,472
she went unrecognized.

635
00:35:07,474 --> 00:35:11,543
That kind of anonymity would not last long.

636
00:35:11,545 --> 00:35:13,812
Eleanor Roosevelt's frequent travels

637
00:35:13,814 --> 00:35:16,981
would soon help make
her the best-known woman

638
00:35:16,983 --> 00:35:18,650
in the world.

639
00:35:27,359 --> 00:35:30,228
Lawndale, California.

640
00:35:30,230 --> 00:35:35,266
Most honorable president,
I am writing you this morning

641
00:35:35,268 --> 00:35:37,936
in all faith that if I can get word to you

642
00:35:37,938 --> 00:35:40,104
of our horrible plight you will not

643
00:35:40,106 --> 00:35:43,441
pass it by unnoticed.

644
00:35:43,443 --> 00:35:46,044
I am a mother of 7 children

645
00:35:46,046 --> 00:35:50,114
and utterly heartbroken
in that they are hungry.

646
00:35:50,116 --> 00:35:53,551
Have only 65 cents in money.

647
00:35:53,553 --> 00:35:58,089
The father is in L.A. trying
to find something to do.

648
00:35:58,091 --> 00:36:01,192
Provisions all gone.

649
00:36:01,194 --> 00:36:03,528
Our pride isn't all gone,

650
00:36:03,530 --> 00:36:05,029
and if we have a chance,

651
00:36:05,031 --> 00:36:07,665
we can care for ourselves and be happy.

652
00:36:13,305 --> 00:36:15,306
President Herbert Hoover's mail

653
00:36:15,308 --> 00:36:18,776
had been handled by a single clerk.

654
00:36:18,778 --> 00:36:21,579
The Roosevelts needed 50.

655
00:36:24,583 --> 00:36:27,552
During the week following
FDR's inauguration,

656
00:36:27,554 --> 00:36:32,790
450,000 Americans wrote the White House.

657
00:36:32,792 --> 00:36:35,960
During the 145 months that followed,

658
00:36:35,962 --> 00:36:38,830
FDR and his wife received an average

659
00:36:38,832 --> 00:36:44,302
of between 5,000 and 8,000
letters every single day.

660
00:36:44,304 --> 00:36:46,170
"Never before have we had leaders

661
00:36:46,172 --> 00:36:48,339
"in the White House to whom we felt

662
00:36:48,341 --> 00:36:52,544
we could go to with our problems,"
one woman wrote,

663
00:36:52,546 --> 00:36:55,113
"for never before have our leaders seemed

664
00:36:55,115 --> 00:36:58,983
conscious of the masses."

665
00:36:58,985 --> 00:37:02,220
They wrote because they felt they knew him,

666
00:37:02,222 --> 00:37:05,123
but there was a lot they did not know.

667
00:37:06,959 --> 00:37:09,661
It still amazes me
to realize that even though

668
00:37:09,663 --> 00:37:12,497
the public knew that he had had polio,

669
00:37:12,499 --> 00:37:14,566
they had no idea, really most people,

670
00:37:14,568 --> 00:37:17,368
that he could not walk on his own power.

671
00:37:21,740 --> 00:37:24,509
If you look at the photographs of him

672
00:37:24,511 --> 00:37:26,211
through the years,

673
00:37:26,213 --> 00:37:29,881
there are thousands of
pictures of him standing.

674
00:37:29,883 --> 00:37:35,453
He is always in some way
leaning on something.

675
00:37:35,455 --> 00:37:37,255
He's balanced.

676
00:37:41,327 --> 00:37:43,428
Sometimes his hand is behind his back,

677
00:37:43,430 --> 00:37:45,563
leaning on the cane,

678
00:37:45,565 --> 00:37:49,834
or he's holding a car door,

679
00:37:49,836 --> 00:37:52,971
but the extraordinary thing
is that there are lots

680
00:37:52,973 --> 00:37:55,974
of accounts of people
who said they visited him

681
00:37:55,976 --> 00:38:00,812
in the oval office and
that he rose to greet them.

682
00:38:00,814 --> 00:38:02,880
He never once rose to greet anyone.

683
00:38:02,882 --> 00:38:08,586
He could not rise without
locking his braces,

684
00:38:08,588 --> 00:38:14,359
but he was so outgoing and so magnetic that

685
00:38:14,361 --> 00:38:18,496
people thought they saw him
doing things he did not do,

686
00:38:18,498 --> 00:38:21,232
just the power of his own personality.

687
00:38:24,470 --> 00:38:27,538
His press secretary Steve Early turned away

688
00:38:27,540 --> 00:38:29,274
all reporters' questions

689
00:38:29,276 --> 00:38:32,110
about the president's disability.

690
00:38:32,112 --> 00:38:35,813
"It's not a story," he'd say.

691
00:38:35,815 --> 00:38:38,316
When guests filed into
the formal dining room

692
00:38:38,318 --> 00:38:40,652
at the White House,
they found the president

693
00:38:40,654 --> 00:38:44,088
already seated at the head of the table.

694
00:38:44,090 --> 00:38:49,360
No one was to see him being
wheeled down the hall.

695
00:38:49,362 --> 00:38:52,497
The secret service became
expert at installing

696
00:38:52,499 --> 00:38:54,866
and removing special ramps to allow

697
00:38:54,868 --> 00:38:57,468
the president to enter a
building without anyone

698
00:38:57,470 --> 00:39:00,405
seeing him being carried.

699
00:39:03,008 --> 00:39:05,176
And when the White House imposed rules

700
00:39:05,178 --> 00:39:07,879
on how he could be filmed and photographed,

701
00:39:07,881 --> 00:39:11,949
few complained, at least at first.

702
00:39:28,667 --> 00:39:31,536
No images of FDR in his wheelchair

703
00:39:31,538 --> 00:39:35,273
or getting in or out
of cars were permitted.

704
00:39:40,346 --> 00:39:42,680
No visual record was to be made

705
00:39:42,682 --> 00:39:45,116
of the arduous effort it took him to move

706
00:39:45,118 --> 00:39:47,218
just a few feet.

707
00:39:59,031 --> 00:40:01,332
Photographers who defied the rules,

708
00:40:01,334 --> 00:40:03,668
including ordinary tourists,

709
00:40:03,670 --> 00:40:07,672
had their film confiscated
by the secret service.

710
00:40:09,942 --> 00:40:12,477
The thing that's different from our time

711
00:40:12,479 --> 00:40:16,514
is that the press cooperated,

712
00:40:16,516 --> 00:40:19,183
and people bought it in
the thirties and forties.

713
00:40:19,185 --> 00:40:21,185
They bought it.

714
00:40:21,187 --> 00:40:25,957
They thought it was intrusive on the whole.

715
00:40:25,959 --> 00:40:29,193
I don't think anyone as afflicted as he was

716
00:40:29,195 --> 00:40:32,797
could ever be elected to
national office today.

717
00:40:32,799 --> 00:40:37,402
I think it would be impossible,
which is sad.

718
00:40:44,176 --> 00:40:46,077
What I want you to do is to go out

719
00:40:46,079 --> 00:40:49,681
around the country and
look this thing over.

720
00:40:49,683 --> 00:40:52,250
Go talk with preachers and teachers,

721
00:40:52,252 --> 00:40:55,286
businessmen, workers, farmers.

722
00:40:55,288 --> 00:40:57,588
Go talk with the unemployed,

723
00:40:57,590 --> 00:41:01,359
those who are on relief
and those who aren't,

724
00:41:01,361 --> 00:41:02,860
and when you talk with them,

725
00:41:02,862 --> 00:41:05,797
don't ever forget that
but for the grace of God,

726
00:41:05,799 --> 00:41:13,004
you, I, or any of our friends
might be in their shoes.

727
00:41:13,006 --> 00:41:14,772
Harry Hopkins.

728
00:41:18,510 --> 00:41:21,312
When Eleanor Roosevelt
and Lorena Hickok ended

729
00:41:21,314 --> 00:41:25,216
their vacation in the summer of 1933,

730
00:41:25,218 --> 00:41:28,186
Hickok moved into her own
room at the White House

731
00:41:28,188 --> 00:41:30,488
and then went to work traveling the country

732
00:41:30,490 --> 00:41:33,424
as chief investigator for Harry Hopkins,

733
00:41:33,426 --> 00:41:37,729
the head of the Federal
Emergency Relief Administration.

734
00:41:37,731 --> 00:41:41,799
Able and impatient,
fueled by cigarettes and black coffee,

735
00:41:41,801 --> 00:41:44,669
Hopkins combined the
hard-eyed sensibilities

736
00:41:44,671 --> 00:41:46,337
of a seasoned political operative

737
00:41:46,339 --> 00:41:50,675
with the conscience of a
committed social worker.

738
00:41:50,677 --> 00:41:53,978
Told a new federal program
was likely to succeed

739
00:41:53,980 --> 00:41:56,080
in the long run, he answered

740
00:41:56,082 --> 00:41:58,015
that wasn't good enough.

741
00:41:58,017 --> 00:42:02,053
"People don't eat in the long run,"
he said.

742
00:42:02,055 --> 00:42:04,288
Hopkins would remain one of Roosevelt's

743
00:42:04,290 --> 00:42:06,691
most effective and devoted advisors

744
00:42:06,693 --> 00:42:09,827
throughout his presidency,

745
00:42:09,829 --> 00:42:12,630
eager always to know from Lorena Hickok

746
00:42:12,632 --> 00:42:18,770
what was really happening
outside Washington.

747
00:42:18,772 --> 00:42:21,806
It was the worst place I'd ever seen.

748
00:42:21,808 --> 00:42:24,375
In a gutter along the main street,

749
00:42:24,377 --> 00:42:26,778
there was stagnant, filthy water,

750
00:42:26,780 --> 00:42:30,148
which the inhabitants used for drinking,
cooking, washing,

751
00:42:30,150 --> 00:42:33,151
and everything else imaginable.

752
00:42:33,153 --> 00:42:34,619
On either side of the street were

753
00:42:34,621 --> 00:42:37,955
ramshackle houses, black with coal dust,

754
00:42:37,957 --> 00:42:43,661
which most americans would not
have considered fit for pigs,

755
00:42:43,663 --> 00:42:46,264
and in those houses every night children

756
00:42:46,266 --> 00:42:51,836
went to sleep hungry on
piles of bug-infested rags,

757
00:42:51,838 --> 00:42:54,439
spread out on the floor.

758
00:42:54,441 --> 00:42:56,374
Lorena Hickok.

759
00:42:57,843 --> 00:43:00,411
Eleanor read every one of the reports

760
00:43:00,413 --> 00:43:03,214
Lorena Hickok wrote for Harry Hopkins

761
00:43:03,216 --> 00:43:06,517
and made sure they were
among the papers she left

762
00:43:06,519 --> 00:43:09,821
on FDR's bedside table each evening

763
00:43:09,823 --> 00:43:13,124
so that he could read them, too.

764
00:43:13,126 --> 00:43:15,993
In late August, Hickok telephoned Eleanor

765
00:43:15,995 --> 00:43:17,628
at the White House.

766
00:43:17,630 --> 00:43:20,598
If she wanted to see for
herself how bad things were,

767
00:43:20,600 --> 00:43:25,236
she should come to Scotts run,
West Virginia.

768
00:43:25,238 --> 00:43:28,039
The first lady of the United States came,

769
00:43:28,041 --> 00:43:31,909
driving alone in her Buick.

770
00:43:31,911 --> 00:43:33,778
The American Friends Service Committee

771
00:43:33,780 --> 00:43:35,947
had been working in the region to help

772
00:43:35,949 --> 00:43:39,584
unemployed coal miners and their families.

773
00:43:39,586 --> 00:43:44,055
Some men had been without work for 8 years.

774
00:43:44,057 --> 00:43:47,058
There was already a plan
by West Virginia University

775
00:43:47,060 --> 00:43:50,194
to shift some families to a big plot

776
00:43:50,196 --> 00:43:54,065
of gently rolling land
nearby owned by a family

777
00:43:54,067 --> 00:43:56,567
named Arthur.

778
00:43:56,569 --> 00:43:59,704
This is the
worst place in depression America.

779
00:43:59,706 --> 00:44:03,141
Eleanor Roosevelt goes down
there with Lorena Hickok,

780
00:44:03,143 --> 00:44:05,943
and they say these folks are gonna be out

781
00:44:05,945 --> 00:44:09,247
of these caves and culverts within a year

782
00:44:09,249 --> 00:44:12,650
and a new community called Arthurdale

783
00:44:12,652 --> 00:44:15,286
is going to arise.

784
00:44:15,288 --> 00:44:17,588
Eleanor returned to Washington,

785
00:44:17,590 --> 00:44:20,024
committed to take over the project

786
00:44:20,026 --> 00:44:22,960
and make "Arthurdale" a model community.

787
00:44:22,962 --> 00:44:26,097
FDR shared Eleanor's enthusiasm.

788
00:44:26,099 --> 00:44:28,933
Both believed that the
lives of the rural poor

789
00:44:28,935 --> 00:44:31,569
should be improved so
that they would not be

790
00:44:31,571 --> 00:44:34,171
tempted to shift into
the already overcrowded

791
00:44:34,173 --> 00:44:37,875
industrial cities.

792
00:44:37,877 --> 00:44:41,646
165 families were eventually chosen.

793
00:44:41,648 --> 00:44:44,048
Each was to be given a furnished home,

794
00:44:44,050 --> 00:44:47,885
a plot of land,
farm equipment, and livestock

795
00:44:47,887 --> 00:44:50,021
with 30 years to pay the government back

796
00:44:50,023 --> 00:44:52,924
for its investment.

797
00:44:52,926 --> 00:44:56,994
The project was troubled
from the beginning.

798
00:44:56,996 --> 00:45:00,465
The first 50 prefabricated
houses did not fit

799
00:45:00,467 --> 00:45:02,934
their foundations.

800
00:45:02,936 --> 00:45:07,772
The finished homes cost 4
times what had been budgeted.

801
00:45:07,774 --> 00:45:11,409
When interior secretary
Ickes complained to FDR,

802
00:45:11,411 --> 00:45:13,444
he just shrugged.

803
00:45:13,446 --> 00:45:18,983
"My missus," he said,
"hasn't any sense about money at all."

804
00:45:18,985 --> 00:45:22,119
When she tried to attract
small-scale industries,

805
00:45:22,121 --> 00:45:25,957
congressional opponents
torpedoed her plans.

806
00:45:25,959 --> 00:45:28,493
A vacuum cleaner plant failed.

807
00:45:28,495 --> 00:45:33,898
So did a shirt maker and
a tractor manufacturer.

808
00:45:33,900 --> 00:45:36,767
Eleanor refused to give up.

809
00:45:36,769 --> 00:45:39,170
She was as dedicated to Arthurdale

810
00:45:39,172 --> 00:45:42,540
as her husband was to warm Springs.

811
00:45:42,542 --> 00:45:45,309
When federal funds proved insufficient,

812
00:45:45,311 --> 00:45:48,713
she contributed nearly
all her earned income

813
00:45:48,715 --> 00:45:50,982
and canvassed wealthy friends to underwrite

814
00:45:50,984 --> 00:45:54,552
projects,
including a progressive high school

815
00:45:54,554 --> 00:45:56,587
that allowed miners' children to get

816
00:45:56,589 --> 00:46:01,359
advanced schooling their
parents could not have imagined.

817
00:46:01,361 --> 00:46:03,561
She adopts a whole community,

818
00:46:03,563 --> 00:46:07,565
and she goes every year to
the graduation at Arthurdale,

819
00:46:07,567 --> 00:46:09,233
to the elementary school graduation,

820
00:46:09,235 --> 00:46:12,370
the high school graduation,

821
00:46:12,372 --> 00:46:15,406
and she square dances, and she plays

822
00:46:15,408 --> 00:46:19,577
with the folks at Arthurdale,
the whole community.

823
00:46:19,579 --> 00:46:23,014
She had this brilliant
notion that it's better

824
00:46:23,016 --> 00:46:25,116
for everybody when it gets better

825
00:46:25,118 --> 00:46:26,751
for everybody.

826
00:46:28,954 --> 00:46:33,124
It was always individual by individual.

827
00:46:40,799 --> 00:46:43,134
To its critics,
Arthurdale came to

828
00:46:43,136 --> 00:46:47,538
symbolize everything
wrong with the new deal.

829
00:46:47,540 --> 00:46:53,978
They charged that it was wasteful,
overambitious, socialistic,

830
00:46:53,980 --> 00:46:55,613
but for those who lived there,

831
00:46:55,615 --> 00:47:01,519
Eleanor Roosevelt was a godsend,
and Arthurdale was a triumph.

832
00:47:01,521 --> 00:47:02,753
"We woke up in hell,"

833
00:47:02,755 --> 00:47:05,456
one of the first homesteaders remembered,

834
00:47:05,458 --> 00:47:08,893
"and went to bed the next night in heaven."

835
00:47:12,831 --> 00:47:15,132
Portsmouth, Virginia.

836
00:47:15,134 --> 00:47:20,037
Mr. President and wife,
we is just in a place

837
00:47:20,039 --> 00:47:23,674
where we don't know what to do.

838
00:47:23,676 --> 00:47:26,844
Some of we colored peoples is so ragged

839
00:47:26,846 --> 00:47:31,215
we is ashamed to get out among the peoples,

840
00:47:31,217 --> 00:47:34,752
and it's getting cold, no wood,

841
00:47:34,754 --> 00:47:36,387
and if we don't get something to do,

842
00:47:36,389 --> 00:47:40,358
we will freeze to death during the winter.

843
00:47:40,360 --> 00:47:43,961
Some of these peoples here
where we rents houses from,

844
00:47:43,963 --> 00:47:46,030
if a person can't pay house rent,

845
00:47:46,032 --> 00:47:48,232
some of them will take the window out

846
00:47:48,234 --> 00:47:51,302
and take the doors off.

847
00:47:51,304 --> 00:47:58,643
So please do what you can for we peoples,
please.

848
00:48:02,848 --> 00:48:06,017
Most americans
suffered during the depression

849
00:48:06,019 --> 00:48:10,141
but African-Americans suffered most.

850
00:48:10,161 --> 00:48:14,191
3 out of 4 still lived
in the Jim Crow south.

851
00:48:14,193 --> 00:48:17,194
More than half of them were without work,

852
00:48:17,196 --> 00:48:20,264
and federal relief almost always went first

853
00:48:20,266 --> 00:48:23,401
to needy whites.

854
00:48:23,403 --> 00:48:27,438
Some 400,000 desperate
people migrated north

855
00:48:27,440 --> 00:48:31,042
during the 1930s only to discover

856
00:48:31,044 --> 00:48:37,848
that, in many big cities,
there was no work to be had.

857
00:48:37,850 --> 00:48:40,051
Theodore Roosevelt had once sought to deal

858
00:48:40,053 --> 00:48:41,052
with african-american citizens

859
00:48:41,054 --> 00:48:44,689
through a single representative...

860
00:48:44,691 --> 00:48:47,291
Booker T. Washington.

861
00:48:47,293 --> 00:48:49,794
Franklin and Eleanor
Roosevelt understood that

862
00:48:49,796 --> 00:48:53,397
the world had changed,
and his administration

863
00:48:53,399 --> 00:48:57,735
would prove more sympathetic
to african-american aspirations

864
00:48:57,737 --> 00:49:01,105
than any of its predecessors.

865
00:49:01,107 --> 00:49:03,774
Eleanor Roosevelt obtained for her friend,

866
00:49:03,776 --> 00:49:06,711
the educator Mary McLeod Bethune,

867
00:49:06,713 --> 00:49:10,281
several posts within the administration.

868
00:49:10,283 --> 00:49:12,249
When Bethune came to the
White House for dinner

869
00:49:12,251 --> 00:49:15,519
for the first time, a gardener stopped her.

870
00:49:15,521 --> 00:49:17,521
"Hey there, auntie," he said.

871
00:49:17,523 --> 00:49:19,390
"Where y'all think you're going?"

872
00:49:19,392 --> 00:49:22,593
She looked him up and down, then asked,

873
00:49:22,595 --> 00:49:26,397
"Which one of my sister's
children are you?"

874
00:49:26,399 --> 00:49:30,601
No one ever tried to stop her again.

875
00:49:30,603 --> 00:49:33,270
Following the advice of Bethune and others,

876
00:49:33,272 --> 00:49:37,975
FDR appointed an informal network
of second-level officials,

877
00:49:37,977 --> 00:49:41,912
who came to be called his "black cabinet,"

878
00:49:41,914 --> 00:49:44,849
and Harold Ickes and Harry Hopkins

879
00:49:44,851 --> 00:49:48,019
struggled to ensure that
new deal relief programs

880
00:49:48,021 --> 00:49:50,087
did not discriminate.

881
00:49:51,957 --> 00:49:56,127
By 1935, 1/3 of all black americans

882
00:49:56,129 --> 00:49:59,563
would be receiving
federal help of some kind,

883
00:49:59,565 --> 00:50:02,266
and african-americans
all over the country were

884
00:50:02,268 --> 00:50:03,834
shifting their allegiance

885
00:50:03,836 --> 00:50:06,237
from the party of Abraham Lincoln

886
00:50:06,239 --> 00:50:09,140
to the party of Franklin Roosevelt.

887
00:50:11,877 --> 00:50:16,247
But local prejudice persisted
in federal programs.

888
00:50:16,249 --> 00:50:19,717
Most CCC camps were segregated.

889
00:50:19,719 --> 00:50:21,919
The coal miners of Arthurdale voted

890
00:50:21,921 --> 00:50:25,289
to keep out black homesteaders.

891
00:50:25,291 --> 00:50:26,857
Black reporters were barred

892
00:50:26,859 --> 00:50:30,895
from the president's press conferences,

893
00:50:30,897 --> 00:50:34,465
and the shame of lynching persisted.

894
00:50:34,467 --> 00:50:40,237
In 1933, 26 americans
died at the hands of mobs,

895
00:50:40,239 --> 00:50:44,475
3 times as many as had been
lynched the year before.

896
00:50:46,878 --> 00:50:49,013
New York senator Robert Wagner

897
00:50:49,015 --> 00:50:53,184
and Senator Edward Costigan
of Colorado introduced a bill

898
00:50:53,186 --> 00:50:58,289
to make lynching a federal crime.

899
00:50:58,291 --> 00:51:00,691
Southern politicians denounced it

900
00:51:00,693 --> 00:51:02,726
as an assault on state's rights

901
00:51:02,728 --> 00:51:06,063
and kept it locked up in committee.

902
00:51:06,065 --> 00:51:08,599
FDR had denounced lynching as

903
00:51:08,601 --> 00:51:10,735
"a vile form of collective murder"

904
00:51:10,737 --> 00:51:15,106
and was willing to sign
the bill if it was passed,

905
00:51:15,108 --> 00:51:20,778
but he felt he could not
back the bill in public.

906
00:51:20,780 --> 00:51:22,813
Walter White of the National Association

907
00:51:22,815 --> 00:51:25,483
for the Advancement of Colored People asked

908
00:51:25,485 --> 00:51:27,585
to see the president.

909
00:51:27,587 --> 00:51:29,720
His Appointments Secretary said the boss

910
00:51:29,722 --> 00:51:32,490
was far too busy.

911
00:51:32,492 --> 00:51:34,792
Then Eleanor invited white to tea

912
00:51:34,794 --> 00:51:40,197
on the south portico with the president.

913
00:51:40,199 --> 00:51:44,168
There was really nothing he could do,
FDR said.

914
00:51:44,170 --> 00:51:45,669
The speaker of the house believed

915
00:51:45,671 --> 00:51:48,506
the bill unconstitutional.

916
00:51:48,508 --> 00:51:50,007
If it reached the senate floor,

917
00:51:50,009 --> 00:51:53,511
it would be filibustered to death.

918
00:51:53,513 --> 00:51:55,446
Eleanor persisted.

919
00:51:55,448 --> 00:51:58,349
So did the president's mother.

920
00:51:58,351 --> 00:52:00,618
FDR was immovable.

921
00:52:00,620 --> 00:52:02,153
Seniority had given

922
00:52:02,155 --> 00:52:04,989
Southern Democratic
senators and congressmen

923
00:52:04,991 --> 00:52:08,092
more than their share of chairmanships.

924
00:52:08,094 --> 00:52:10,227
"I did not choose the tools with which

925
00:52:10,229 --> 00:52:13,697
I must work," he finally told white.

926
00:52:13,699 --> 00:52:16,567
If he came out for the anti-lynching bill,

927
00:52:16,569 --> 00:52:18,803
he would be unable to pass legislation

928
00:52:18,805 --> 00:52:20,571
the whole country needed,

929
00:52:20,573 --> 00:52:24,608
including african-americans.

930
00:52:24,610 --> 00:52:27,111
We were very disappointed.

931
00:52:27,113 --> 00:52:34,285
The interesting thing was that
particularly african-american people

932
00:52:34,287 --> 00:52:36,020
had such a strong feeling

933
00:52:36,022 --> 00:52:39,423
about Franklin Roosevelt
and all the things that

934
00:52:39,425 --> 00:52:43,494
he was doing that they saw
clearly that his own party

935
00:52:43,496 --> 00:52:48,365
was defeating him at every step.

936
00:52:48,367 --> 00:52:53,437
The good thing was that
Mrs. Roosevelt encouraged

937
00:52:53,439 --> 00:52:56,173
young people to act.

938
00:52:56,175 --> 00:53:02,246
She was always there to say,
"stay within the law

939
00:53:02,248 --> 00:53:05,983
"and keep yourselves in hand,

940
00:53:05,985 --> 00:53:10,387
but always stand for what you believe."

941
00:53:10,389 --> 00:53:15,593
And I think it was that that
gave us a kind of strength.

942
00:53:15,595 --> 00:53:17,628
The president liked to remind critics

943
00:53:17,630 --> 00:53:19,563
who thought him too cautious that

944
00:53:19,565 --> 00:53:22,399
"you have to wait,
even for the best things,

945
00:53:22,401 --> 00:53:26,003
until the right time comes."

946
00:53:26,005 --> 00:53:28,906
Although bills to end
lynching would be revived

947
00:53:28,908 --> 00:53:32,376
again and again during his administration,

948
00:53:32,378 --> 00:53:35,279
that time would never come,

949
00:53:35,281 --> 00:53:38,482
but Eleanor Roosevelt
would continue to argue

950
00:53:38,484 --> 00:53:41,652
for all of them.

951
00:53:41,654 --> 00:53:43,220
Any president gets lied to

952
00:53:43,222 --> 00:53:47,424
by all the yes-men around him.

953
00:53:47,426 --> 00:53:50,127
They all need to go around
that chain of command

954
00:53:50,129 --> 00:53:55,900
and find out what's really
going on on the ground.

955
00:53:55,902 --> 00:54:01,172
She was a tremendous asset
to him in telling him

956
00:54:01,174 --> 00:54:03,807
what was working,
not working in the new deal.

957
00:54:03,809 --> 00:54:06,310
She would fill the inbox next to his bed,

958
00:54:06,312 --> 00:54:07,578
and he would then say to his cabinet,

959
00:54:07,580 --> 00:54:10,314
"my missus tells me, WPA's not working

960
00:54:10,316 --> 00:54:14,385
too well in Texas."

961
00:54:14,387 --> 00:54:16,554
The Roosevelt marriage was a partnership

962
00:54:16,556 --> 00:54:19,123
in which each played a very important part,

963
00:54:19,125 --> 00:54:22,192
each admired the other,
each wanted very much

964
00:54:22,194 --> 00:54:25,329
the approval of the other.

965
00:54:25,331 --> 00:54:27,298
That was true throughout
their lives together,

966
00:54:27,300 --> 00:54:29,600
even when they were mad at each other.

967
00:54:29,602 --> 00:54:31,602
They lived very separate lives.

968
00:54:31,604 --> 00:54:32,736
Even when they were in the White House,

969
00:54:32,738 --> 00:54:35,139
they were very separate lives,

970
00:54:35,141 --> 00:54:39,710
and she took a sort of
cold view of his fame

971
00:54:39,712 --> 00:54:43,480
and the kind of popularity he had.

972
00:54:43,482 --> 00:54:44,648
She knew who he was, and he wasn't

973
00:54:44,650 --> 00:54:47,318
quite who they thought he was.

974
00:54:47,320 --> 00:54:50,020
And he sought her approval,

975
00:54:50,022 --> 00:54:53,657
but he had all sorts of
practical political decisions

976
00:54:53,659 --> 00:54:54,758
that he felt he had to make,

977
00:54:54,760 --> 00:54:57,428
some of which she disapproved of,

978
00:54:57,430 --> 00:55:00,297
and it bothered him
when she didn't like it.

979
00:55:07,639 --> 00:55:09,740
It is a happy privilege to talk to you

980
00:55:09,742 --> 00:55:14,545
once again about Georgia
Warm Springs Foundation

981
00:55:14,547 --> 00:55:18,148
and its fight against infantile paralysis.

982
00:55:18,150 --> 00:55:20,784
It is a privilege because I can tell you

983
00:55:20,786 --> 00:55:23,921
of the accomplishments
of those who are fighting

984
00:55:23,923 --> 00:55:27,925
this battle.

985
00:55:27,927 --> 00:55:29,660
Whenever he could manage it,

986
00:55:29,662 --> 00:55:33,297
the president escaped to Warm Springs,
Georgia.

987
00:55:33,299 --> 00:55:37,168
A few days there,
always restored his energy

988
00:55:37,170 --> 00:55:40,638
and lifted the spirits
of all the polio patients

989
00:55:40,640 --> 00:55:45,576
struggling to regain their feet.

990
00:55:45,578 --> 00:55:48,178
To have the president
of the United States be

991
00:55:48,180 --> 00:55:51,482
a sufferer from the same
thing you had struggled with

992
00:55:51,484 --> 00:55:55,953
was enormous benefit to them.

993
00:55:55,955 --> 00:55:58,322
He was the example.

994
00:55:58,324 --> 00:56:00,357
They just loved to be in his presence.

995
00:56:00,359 --> 00:56:02,993
They loved to see him lead games and play

996
00:56:02,995 --> 00:56:07,665
water polo and preside
at Thanksgiving dinner,

997
00:56:07,667 --> 00:56:10,267
which he did with enormous
ceremony every year

998
00:56:10,269 --> 00:56:11,402
no matter what he was doing.

999
00:56:11,404 --> 00:56:13,704
He was always there for Thanksgiving.

1000
00:56:13,706 --> 00:56:16,540
And the first thing we do is to, uh,

1001
00:56:16,542 --> 00:56:19,343
distribute the spinach,
which you're all so fond of.

1002
00:56:21,714 --> 00:56:24,381
And then at last, we get busy,

1003
00:56:24,383 --> 00:56:26,550
and we commit murder.

1004
00:56:29,889 --> 00:56:32,656
During his early days at Warm Springs,

1005
00:56:32,658 --> 00:56:34,558
he had lifted his own spirits

1006
00:56:34,560 --> 00:56:37,294
by fitting out a farmer's old Model T

1007
00:56:37,296 --> 00:56:40,531
with hand controls and setting out alone

1008
00:56:40,533 --> 00:56:46,670
along the back roads of meriwether county.

1009
00:56:46,672 --> 00:56:47,938
He'd get out in his car,

1010
00:56:47,940 --> 00:56:50,841
and he'd ride all over the community,

1011
00:56:50,843 --> 00:56:53,077
and if he saw you outside the road there,

1012
00:56:53,079 --> 00:56:54,678
he would toot his horn, say,

1013
00:56:54,680 --> 00:56:57,047
"may I speak to you just a minute?"

1014
00:56:57,049 --> 00:57:00,818
And he'd say, uh,
"how you and your family getting along?"

1015
00:57:00,820 --> 00:57:02,886
Once he found out that
you was all right there,

1016
00:57:02,888 --> 00:57:05,122
if you if you needed some supplies,
anything,

1017
00:57:05,124 --> 00:57:06,490
or didn't have enough to eat,

1018
00:57:06,492 --> 00:57:08,592
"I'll have my farm supervisor, Otis

1019
00:57:08,594 --> 00:57:10,894
bring you something."

1020
00:57:10,896 --> 00:57:12,262
And when he got that settled down,

1021
00:57:12,264 --> 00:57:14,999
he found out you gonna be all right,

1022
00:57:15,001 --> 00:57:17,034
uh, "you have any ideas, any suggestions

1023
00:57:17,036 --> 00:57:18,702
"that'll to help us in the situation

1024
00:57:18,704 --> 00:57:20,037
"we in today?

1025
00:57:20,039 --> 00:57:22,006
I'll be glad to listen to them."

1026
00:57:22,008 --> 00:57:23,674
It's that simple.

1027
00:57:25,610 --> 00:57:28,045
By the spring of 1935, the panic

1028
00:57:28,047 --> 00:57:32,850
that had gripped America on
inauguration day was over,

1029
00:57:32,852 --> 00:57:37,388
and Roosevelt had launched
3 sweeping new programs...

1030
00:57:37,390 --> 00:57:39,456
the national youth administration

1031
00:57:39,458 --> 00:57:41,525
to provide training for young people

1032
00:57:41,527 --> 00:57:43,360
without work;

1033
00:57:43,362 --> 00:57:46,463
the rural electrification administration

1034
00:57:46,465 --> 00:57:49,633
that would light up the
american countryside;

1035
00:57:49,635 --> 00:57:52,302
and the works progress administration,

1036
00:57:52,304 --> 00:57:53,937
that would change the face

1037
00:57:53,939 --> 00:57:57,541
of much of the american landscape.

1038
00:57:57,543 --> 00:58:02,212
It built or rebuilt 2,500 hospitals,

1039
00:58:02,214 --> 00:58:08,819
6,000 public schools,
10,000 airport landing fields,

1040
00:58:08,821 --> 00:58:11,121
and enough miles of roadway

1041
00:58:11,123 --> 00:58:13,757
to pave the continent from coast to coast

1042
00:58:13,759 --> 00:58:17,728
more than 200 times.

1043
00:58:17,730 --> 00:58:19,964
Jobless artists and writers,

1044
00:58:19,966 --> 00:58:25,869
composers and musicians
benefited from the WPA, as well...

1045
00:58:25,871 --> 00:58:28,605
Saul Bellow and Thomas Hart Benton,

1046
00:58:28,607 --> 00:58:31,675
Ralph Ellison and Orson Welles,

1047
00:58:31,677 --> 00:58:34,111
Berenice Abbott and Alan Lomax

1048
00:58:34,113 --> 00:58:37,748
and hundreds of others.

1049
00:58:37,750 --> 00:58:40,617
It turned out nearly a
thousand publications,

1050
00:58:40,619 --> 00:58:44,455
including guides to all 48 states,

1051
00:58:44,457 --> 00:58:48,759
staged plays and performed
symphonies in small towns

1052
00:58:48,761 --> 00:58:52,663
that had never seen a live performance,

1053
00:58:52,665 --> 00:58:54,498
revived the art of mural painting

1054
00:58:54,500 --> 00:58:58,402
on the walls of schools and post offices,

1055
00:58:58,404 --> 00:59:01,972
commissioned photographers
to chronicle the human cost

1056
00:59:01,974 --> 00:59:04,041
of the depression,

1057
00:59:04,043 --> 00:59:07,511
and transcribed the
memories of american slaves

1058
00:59:07,513 --> 00:59:11,382
and collected the folk songs
all kinds of americans sang.

1059
00:59:11,384 --> 00:59:13,283
♪ A northern and a Southern time ♪

1060
00:59:13,285 --> 00:59:14,952
♪ that'll be falling down ♪

1061
00:59:14,954 --> 00:59:17,021
♪ Whoo ♪

1062
00:59:17,023 --> 00:59:20,958
A few timid people

1063
00:59:20,960 --> 00:59:24,061
will try to give you new and strange names

1064
00:59:24,063 --> 00:59:25,896
for what we are doing.

1065
00:59:25,898 --> 00:59:28,565
Sometimes they will call it "fascism"

1066
00:59:28,567 --> 00:59:30,734
and sometimes "communism,"

1067
00:59:30,736 --> 00:59:33,303
and sometimes "socialism,"

1068
00:59:33,305 --> 00:59:35,939
but in so doing, they are trying to make

1069
00:59:35,941 --> 00:59:39,777
very complex something
that is really very simple

1070
00:59:39,779 --> 00:59:41,578
and very practical.

1071
00:59:41,580 --> 00:59:42,980
Roosevelt asserted,

1072
00:59:42,982 --> 00:59:45,115
and the country in this dire straits

1073
00:59:45,117 --> 00:59:47,518
of the depression willingly accepted,

1074
00:59:47,520 --> 00:59:50,320
that the role of the central
government from now on

1075
00:59:50,322 --> 00:59:53,824
would be to secure the material well-being

1076
00:59:53,826 --> 00:59:55,959
of the American people.

1077
00:59:55,961 --> 00:59:58,929
Hitherto from the founding to that point,

1078
00:59:58,931 --> 01:00:01,632
the general american orthodoxy had been

1079
01:00:01,634 --> 01:00:04,301
that our federal government
existed to defend

1080
01:00:04,303 --> 01:00:07,438
the shores, deliver the mails,

1081
01:00:07,440 --> 01:00:09,640
protect rights, and get out of the way.

1082
01:00:09,642 --> 01:00:12,009
Roosevelt had bigger ideas.

1083
01:00:15,447 --> 01:00:17,981
But despite everything he had done,

1084
01:00:17,983 --> 01:00:20,684
the United States was
still in its fifth year

1085
01:00:20,686 --> 01:00:23,020
of depression.

1086
01:00:23,022 --> 01:00:25,456
While 2.5 million americans

1087
01:00:25,458 --> 01:00:26,657
had returned to work,

1088
01:00:26,659 --> 01:00:29,893
another 10 million remained jobless.

1089
01:00:32,564 --> 01:00:37,601
A drought afflicted most of the 48 states.

1090
01:00:37,603 --> 01:00:39,937
In the dust bowl, the topsoil

1091
01:00:39,939 --> 01:00:43,340
of the southern plains
was being blown away,

1092
01:00:43,342 --> 01:00:46,643
and hundreds of thousands of
americans were on the move

1093
01:00:46,645 --> 01:00:50,080
toward California in search of work.

1094
01:00:53,118 --> 01:00:56,520
People everywhere were growing impatient.

1095
01:00:59,357 --> 01:01:00,424
On the right,

1096
01:01:00,426 --> 01:01:02,326
the American Liberty League,

1097
01:01:02,328 --> 01:01:06,397
organized by some of America's
most powerful industrialists,

1098
01:01:06,399 --> 01:01:10,167
charged that the new deal
was only making things worse,

1099
01:01:10,169 --> 01:01:11,568
that Roosevelt had

1100
01:01:11,570 --> 01:01:12,769
become a dictator,

1101
01:01:12,771 --> 01:01:14,905
defying the constitution,

1102
01:01:14,907 --> 01:01:18,942
encouraging "class warfare."

1103
01:01:18,944 --> 01:01:24,014
Their best-known spokesman
was FDR's old ally Al Smith,

1104
01:01:24,016 --> 01:01:27,284
the former Democratic governor of New York.

1105
01:01:27,286 --> 01:01:28,585
The new dealers, he said,

1106
01:01:28,587 --> 01:01:32,623
were hell-bent on socialism.

1107
01:01:32,625 --> 01:01:35,793
"There can only be one capital,"
Smith said,

1108
01:01:35,795 --> 01:01:38,228
"Washington or Moscow.

1109
01:01:38,230 --> 01:01:40,064
"There can be only one flag,

1110
01:01:40,066 --> 01:01:41,765
"the stars and stripes

1111
01:01:41,767 --> 01:01:45,736
or the flag of the godless Soviets."

1112
01:01:45,738 --> 01:01:47,404
Some of Roosevelt's enemies

1113
01:01:47,406 --> 01:01:50,474
called him "that man in the White House,"

1114
01:01:50,476 --> 01:01:54,745
because they could not
bear even to say his name.

1115
01:01:54,747 --> 01:01:57,748
When someone unwisely mentioned FDR

1116
01:01:57,750 --> 01:01:59,883
in the presence of J.P. Morgan,

1117
01:01:59,885 --> 01:02:03,754
whose own father had
earlier done battle with TR,

1118
01:02:03,756 --> 01:02:05,756
Morgan is said to have exploded,

1119
01:02:05,758 --> 01:02:10,127
"goddamn all Roosevelts."

1120
01:02:10,129 --> 01:02:13,330
The people among whom he was brought up,

1121
01:02:13,332 --> 01:02:15,966
an awful lot of them learned to hate him.

1122
01:02:15,968 --> 01:02:17,901
He seemed to be betraying everything that

1123
01:02:17,903 --> 01:02:19,369
they had believed.

1124
01:02:19,371 --> 01:02:22,539
And it just eNRAged people.

1125
01:02:25,878 --> 01:02:27,845
On the left,
socialists and a handful

1126
01:02:27,847 --> 01:02:30,481
of communists took to the streets,

1127
01:02:30,483 --> 01:02:34,184
denouncing Roosevelt as
a captive of capitalism,

1128
01:02:34,186 --> 01:02:39,590
incapable of bringing about real change.

1129
01:02:39,592 --> 01:02:43,093
Other men were peddling other schemes.

1130
01:02:43,095 --> 01:02:47,231
Dr. Francis Townsend,
an elderly California physician,

1131
01:02:47,233 --> 01:02:49,199
promised to grant a monthly pension

1132
01:02:49,201 --> 01:02:51,201
to every worker over 60

1133
01:02:51,203 --> 01:02:54,338
who was willing to retire
and spend the money

1134
01:02:54,340 --> 01:02:57,474
within 30 days.

1135
01:02:57,476 --> 01:03:01,145
Father Charles coughlin,
the Detroit radio priest,

1136
01:03:01,147 --> 01:03:03,647
preached in favor of inflated currency

1137
01:03:03,649 --> 01:03:05,015
and against Wall Street

1138
01:03:05,017 --> 01:03:08,318
and international bankers,

1139
01:03:08,320 --> 01:03:12,856
but the biggest threat to FDR's
reelection chances in 1936

1140
01:03:12,858 --> 01:03:14,825
came from the south.

1141
01:03:14,827 --> 01:03:16,560
There was widespread speculation that

1142
01:03:16,562 --> 01:03:18,829
Senator Huey P. Long,

1143
01:03:18,831 --> 01:03:22,766
the flamboyant, populist,
ex-governor of Louisiana,

1144
01:03:22,768 --> 01:03:27,170
planned to lead a third
party coalition against him.

1145
01:03:27,172 --> 01:03:28,572
We've tried the Republican Party,

1146
01:03:28,574 --> 01:03:30,174
we've tried the Democratic Party,

1147
01:03:30,176 --> 01:03:32,276
then we've gone back and
tried the Republican Party,

1148
01:03:32,278 --> 01:03:35,412
and now we're back trying
the Democratic party,

1149
01:03:35,414 --> 01:03:37,314
and, unfortunately,
whenever we get into power

1150
01:03:37,316 --> 01:03:39,149
with either one of these parties,

1151
01:03:39,151 --> 01:03:42,419
we find that the one
crying need of our people,

1152
01:03:42,421 --> 01:03:44,154
the redistribution of wealth

1153
01:03:44,156 --> 01:03:45,422
so that none will be too poor

1154
01:03:45,424 --> 01:03:47,057
and none will be too rich,

1155
01:03:47,059 --> 01:03:48,559
is always neglected

1156
01:03:48,561 --> 01:03:50,994
by the party that is in power.

1157
01:03:50,996 --> 01:03:53,130
Long called his program

1158
01:03:53,132 --> 01:03:54,598
"share our wealth,"

1159
01:03:54,600 --> 01:03:56,767
and hundreds of thousands of voters

1160
01:03:56,769 --> 01:04:00,437
signed up all across the country.

1161
01:04:00,439 --> 01:04:03,774
Democratic National
Committee chairman Jim Farley

1162
01:04:03,776 --> 01:04:08,712
feared long would start out with at least

1163
01:04:08,714 --> 01:04:10,781
12% of the vote, enough to deny FDR

1164
01:04:10,783 --> 01:04:14,818
several important states.

1165
01:04:14,820 --> 01:04:19,156
Then, on Monday, May 27, 1935,

1166
01:04:19,158 --> 01:04:22,793
things got even worse.

1167
01:04:22,795 --> 01:04:25,462
The United States Supreme Court handed down

1168
01:04:25,464 --> 01:04:28,565
a unanimous decision in a case brought

1169
01:04:28,567 --> 01:04:31,501
by a kosher chicken producer from Brooklyn,

1170
01:04:31,503 --> 01:04:35,305
which invalidated the national
recovery administration

1171
01:04:35,307 --> 01:04:37,741
on the grounds that the NRA had

1172
01:04:37,743 --> 01:04:39,910
unconstitutionally delegated

1173
01:04:39,912 --> 01:04:43,146
legislative power.

1174
01:04:43,148 --> 01:04:47,584
The NRA was already
understood to be a failure.

1175
01:04:47,586 --> 01:04:50,921
It had only raised
prices and lowered wages,

1176
01:04:50,923 --> 01:04:52,689
exactly the opposite of what it was

1177
01:04:52,691 --> 01:04:54,791
supposed to do,

1178
01:04:54,793 --> 01:04:57,394
but the narrow grounds
on which the NRA decision

1179
01:04:57,396 --> 01:05:00,264
was made seemed to suggest that other

1180
01:05:00,266 --> 01:05:06,904
new deal programs might also be swept away.

1181
01:05:06,906 --> 01:05:09,873
From the first moments of our republic on,

1182
01:05:09,875 --> 01:05:13,443
we argued how much the federal government

1183
01:05:13,445 --> 01:05:15,279
is restrained by the doctrine

1184
01:05:15,281 --> 01:05:18,849
of limited, delegated,
and enumerated powers.

1185
01:05:18,851 --> 01:05:21,051
Roosevelt, with that cheerful indifference

1186
01:05:21,053 --> 01:05:25,255
to detail said, "listen,
the preamble stipulates

1187
01:05:25,257 --> 01:05:26,890
"certain things... a more perfect union,

1188
01:05:26,892 --> 01:05:30,193
"provide for the general welfare.

1189
01:05:30,195 --> 01:05:32,996
Implicitly," he said,
"the constitution gives

1190
01:05:32,998 --> 01:05:36,200
"the federal government any power requisite

1191
01:05:36,202 --> 01:05:40,070
for fulfilling the goals
listed in the preamble."

1192
01:05:40,072 --> 01:05:42,072
End of constitutional reflection

1193
01:05:42,074 --> 01:05:45,976
as far as he was concerned.

1194
01:05:45,978 --> 01:05:48,178
The president put a handful of advisors

1195
01:05:48,180 --> 01:05:50,981
to work studying how the powers the court

1196
01:05:50,983 --> 01:05:53,951
had taken away could be restored

1197
01:05:53,953 --> 01:05:56,053
before it was too late.

1198
01:05:58,890 --> 01:06:01,191
In June, just as congressmen were

1199
01:06:01,193 --> 01:06:03,961
preparing to leave town for the summer,

1200
01:06:03,963 --> 01:06:06,997
Roosevelt seized back the initiative,

1201
01:06:06,999 --> 01:06:11,101
calling upon them to enact 5
major pieces of legislation

1202
01:06:11,103 --> 01:06:13,737
by autumn.

1203
01:06:13,739 --> 01:06:16,873
In part to steal a
little of what FDR called

1204
01:06:16,875 --> 01:06:18,842
"Huey's thunder," he proposed

1205
01:06:18,844 --> 01:06:22,546
new taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

1206
01:06:22,548 --> 01:06:25,382
He also wanted the federal reserve system

1207
01:06:25,384 --> 01:06:28,385
strengthened and a new law to break up

1208
01:06:28,387 --> 01:06:31,855
monopolistic holding companies,

1209
01:06:31,857 --> 01:06:36,093
and in the interest of
achieving for ordinary americans

1210
01:06:36,095 --> 01:06:38,195
something of the sense of security

1211
01:06:38,197 --> 01:06:40,664
that had been his since boyhood,

1212
01:06:40,666 --> 01:06:43,800
rew himself something of
the sense behind two bills

1213
01:06:43,802 --> 01:06:45,469
initially championed

1214
01:06:45,471 --> 01:06:51,308
by the Democratic senator from
New York Robert F. Wagner.

1215
01:06:51,310 --> 01:06:55,212
They would turn out to be two
of the most momentous pieces

1216
01:06:55,214 --> 01:06:58,282
of legislation in american history.

1217
01:07:00,885 --> 01:07:03,520
The first, called the Wagner Act,

1218
01:07:03,522 --> 01:07:06,490
created the national labor relations board

1219
01:07:06,492 --> 01:07:10,160
and for the first time
provided a federal guarantee

1220
01:07:10,162 --> 01:07:16,633
of labor's right to organize
and bargain collectively,

1221
01:07:16,635 --> 01:07:20,237
but it was the second,
the Social Security Act,

1222
01:07:20,239 --> 01:07:23,073
that would be the most far-reaching.

1223
01:07:23,075 --> 01:07:26,777
It would provide old-age insurance paid for

1224
01:07:26,779 --> 01:07:31,748
by taxes on employees and their employers,

1225
01:07:31,750 --> 01:07:34,151
share with the states responsibility

1226
01:07:34,153 --> 01:07:37,321
for insuring the unemployed,

1227
01:07:37,323 --> 01:07:41,058
and provide federal aid
to the states to help care

1228
01:07:41,060 --> 01:07:43,493
for dependent mothers and children,

1229
01:07:43,495 --> 01:07:47,431
the handicapped and the blind.

1230
01:07:47,433 --> 01:07:52,703
Social security represents a redefinition

1231
01:07:52,705 --> 01:07:55,138
of the american social contract

1232
01:07:55,140 --> 01:07:59,309
of what we owe each other as a people.

1233
01:07:59,311 --> 01:08:03,146
In old age and should they be widowed,

1234
01:08:03,148 --> 01:08:07,918
they deserved some help
from the government,

1235
01:08:07,920 --> 01:08:11,321
and for that reason, he considered it to be

1236
01:08:11,323 --> 01:08:14,624
the centerpiece of the new deal.

1237
01:08:14,626 --> 01:08:19,129
He put it in through a
regressive payroll tax

1238
01:08:19,131 --> 01:08:21,732
so that it couldn't be taken away,

1239
01:08:21,734 --> 01:08:24,768
so as he said, "no damn politician can ever

1240
01:08:24,770 --> 01:08:27,704
take this away."

1241
01:08:27,706 --> 01:08:30,907
Like all great pieces
of social legislation,

1242
01:08:30,909 --> 01:08:34,478
you've got to start somewhere,

1243
01:08:34,480 --> 01:08:36,680
and the bill just barely cleared committee.

1244
01:08:36,682 --> 01:08:39,116
So he knew that if he did too much

1245
01:08:39,118 --> 01:08:41,318
for the liberals,
he was gonna blow the bill.

1246
01:08:41,320 --> 01:08:42,719
If he did too much for the conservatives,

1247
01:08:42,721 --> 01:08:45,589
then he'd lose his liberal support.

1248
01:08:45,591 --> 01:08:48,592
And it was his political genius to know

1249
01:08:48,594 --> 01:08:52,062
just how much the system could take,

1250
01:08:52,064 --> 01:08:54,264
and people sometimes say now is,
"why can't we

1251
01:08:54,266 --> 01:08:56,767
"have a leader like FDR
who just gets it done

1252
01:08:56,769 --> 01:08:59,002
the way he wants it done?"

1253
01:08:59,004 --> 01:09:01,171
Nothing could be further from the truth.

1254
01:09:01,173 --> 01:09:04,574
It was all compromise,
playing people off each other,

1255
01:09:04,576 --> 01:09:06,109
pushing the system a little here or there,

1256
01:09:06,111 --> 01:09:07,244
putting the foot on the gas,

1257
01:09:07,246 --> 01:09:10,247
then on the brake, back and forth.

1258
01:09:12,717 --> 01:09:16,153
There's an artistry to politics,

1259
01:09:16,155 --> 01:09:17,854
and social security wouldn't exist

1260
01:09:17,856 --> 01:09:22,426
if he hadn't been a
brilliant political artist.

1261
01:09:22,428 --> 01:09:27,531
This law represents also a cornerstone

1262
01:09:27,533 --> 01:09:31,134
in a structure which is being built

1263
01:09:31,136 --> 01:09:33,904
but is by no means complete,

1264
01:09:33,906 --> 01:09:37,474
a structure intended to lessen the force

1265
01:09:37,476 --> 01:09:41,077
of possible future depressions.

1266
01:09:41,079 --> 01:09:42,279
To act as a protection to future...

1267
01:09:42,281 --> 01:09:44,981
1935 saw a sweltering, bruising,

1268
01:09:44,983 --> 01:09:46,450
summer-long struggle

1269
01:09:46,452 --> 01:09:47,884
on Capitol Hill,

1270
01:09:47,886 --> 01:09:50,654
and compromises did reduce the impact

1271
01:09:50,656 --> 01:09:53,023
of some of the legislation,

1272
01:09:53,025 --> 01:09:56,693
but newspapermen called it the
"Second Hundred Days"

1273
01:09:56,695 --> 01:10:00,730
and the beginning of a second new deal.

1274
01:10:00,732 --> 01:10:03,233
Roosevelt's prospects for reelection

1275
01:10:03,235 --> 01:10:07,437
were all but assured.

1276
01:10:07,439 --> 01:10:11,007
And in September, FDR's most serious

1277
01:10:11,009 --> 01:10:14,778
third-party rival huey long was cut down

1278
01:10:14,780 --> 01:10:17,080
by an assassin's bullet.

1279
01:10:22,553 --> 01:10:25,722
September 23, 1935.

1280
01:10:25,724 --> 01:10:29,025
Dear Daisy,

1281
01:10:29,027 --> 01:10:31,695
do you know that you alone have known

1282
01:10:31,697 --> 01:10:35,966
that I was a bit "cast down"
these past weeks?

1283
01:10:35,968 --> 01:10:38,735
I couldn't let anyone else know it,

1284
01:10:38,737 --> 01:10:42,305
but somehow,
I seem to tell you all those things,

1285
01:10:42,307 --> 01:10:44,274
and what I don't happen to tell you,

1286
01:10:44,276 --> 01:10:46,943
you seem to know, anyway!

1287
01:10:46,945 --> 01:10:48,745
That when we open the
building to the public...

1288
01:10:48,747 --> 01:10:50,480
In public, Franklin Roosevelt

1289
01:10:50,482 --> 01:10:54,251
always projected cheerful optimism.

1290
01:10:54,253 --> 01:10:56,920
Even in private, he rarely let anyone know

1291
01:10:56,922 --> 01:11:00,590
how he really felt,

1292
01:11:00,592 --> 01:11:03,994
but beginning in the late summer of 1935,

1293
01:11:03,996 --> 01:11:06,096
he began making an exception

1294
01:11:06,098 --> 01:11:11,234
for his admiring distant
cousin Daisy Suckley.

1295
01:11:11,236 --> 01:11:14,237
One afternoon that month in Hyde Park,

1296
01:11:14,239 --> 01:11:17,741
he took her for a drive
in his hand-controlled car

1297
01:11:17,743 --> 01:11:19,976
to a favorite picnic spot,

1298
01:11:19,978 --> 01:11:23,180
the crest of a forested Ridge
on the Roosevelt property

1299
01:11:23,182 --> 01:11:27,984
he and Daisy named "our hill."

1300
01:11:27,986 --> 01:11:30,220
There, they began what they both called

1301
01:11:30,222 --> 01:11:33,323
their "voyage," confessing to one another

1302
01:11:33,325 --> 01:11:35,358
the loneliness each felt,

1303
01:11:35,360 --> 01:11:38,628
speaking of a special bond of friendship,

1304
01:11:38,630 --> 01:11:41,364
agreeing to share confidences by letter

1305
01:11:41,366 --> 01:11:44,634
and long-distance telephone.

1306
01:11:44,636 --> 01:11:48,071
He even spoke to her of
the pain of his braces,

1307
01:11:48,073 --> 01:11:52,609
something he never mentioned to his wife.

1308
01:11:52,611 --> 01:11:55,178
Daisy Suckley was a great secret.

1309
01:11:55,180 --> 01:11:58,982
He got from her the
kind of total admiration

1310
01:11:58,984 --> 01:12:01,117
that he needed.

1311
01:12:01,119 --> 01:12:05,021
He told her when he was
feeling sort of down.

1312
01:12:05,023 --> 01:12:06,990
He didn't tell anybody else.

1313
01:12:06,992 --> 01:12:09,125
Really an extraordinary relationship,

1314
01:12:09,127 --> 01:12:13,196
which was kept secret even
from his closest aides.

1315
01:12:13,198 --> 01:12:16,700
She was the drab little cousin
who took care of his dog fala...

1316
01:12:16,702 --> 01:12:19,202
that was how she was known in the world,

1317
01:12:19,204 --> 01:12:23,773
but she was in fact,
I think, central to him.

1318
01:12:23,775 --> 01:12:26,843
Franklin addressed her as "M.M."

1319
01:12:26,845 --> 01:12:28,745
For "My Margaret," and carried her letters

1320
01:12:28,747 --> 01:12:31,681
with him wherever he went.

1321
01:12:31,683 --> 01:12:37,821
She sometimes signed her letters "Y.M."...
"Your Margaret."

1322
01:12:37,823 --> 01:12:41,525
They planned together a
stone cottage to be built

1323
01:12:41,527 --> 01:12:44,327
on their hilltop where,
after he had finished

1324
01:12:44,329 --> 01:12:47,564
the traditional two terms,
she began to hope

1325
01:12:47,566 --> 01:12:52,435
she might live with him as
his nurse and companion.

1326
01:12:52,437 --> 01:12:54,004
Dear F.

1327
01:12:54,006 --> 01:12:56,940
Do you mind if I do a
little thinking aloud?

1328
01:12:56,942 --> 01:12:58,642
The subject is friendships and the way

1329
01:12:58,644 --> 01:13:01,578
they start and grow...

1330
01:13:01,580 --> 01:13:04,181
an introduction, a shake of the hand,

1331
01:13:04,183 --> 01:13:06,883
a few casual words to begin...

1332
01:13:06,885 --> 01:13:10,220
and the friendship usually
finds very definite limits

1333
01:13:10,222 --> 01:13:13,423
not so far from the surface.

1334
01:13:13,425 --> 01:13:16,660
On rare occasions, however, it seems to

1335
01:13:16,662 --> 01:13:20,230
start in the deepest depths,

1336
01:13:20,232 --> 01:13:23,200
a never-ending voyage howeof discoverys to

1337
01:13:23,202 --> 01:13:25,035
with never a feeling of fear

1338
01:13:25,037 --> 01:13:27,671
because of the safe and solid ship

1339
01:13:27,673 --> 01:13:29,973
one knows is underfoot.

1340
01:13:32,843 --> 01:13:35,145
Daisy often remained at his side

1341
01:13:35,147 --> 01:13:37,080
throughout his presidency,

1342
01:13:37,082 --> 01:13:40,016
so quiet and unassuming and discreet

1343
01:13:40,018 --> 01:13:42,452
that the president's own secretaries,

1344
01:13:42,454 --> 01:13:44,221
puzzled by her presence,

1345
01:13:44,223 --> 01:13:47,424
dismissed her as "the little mud wren."

1346
01:13:53,297 --> 01:13:58,401
Roosevelt was surrounded
by people all the time,

1347
01:13:58,403 --> 01:14:00,537
and he gave little pieces of himself

1348
01:14:00,539 --> 01:14:03,073
to different people,

1349
01:14:03,075 --> 01:14:09,679
but nobody ever got all of him.

1350
01:14:09,681 --> 01:14:11,314
A fatherly kiss seals...

1351
01:14:11,316 --> 01:14:13,316
No president's family since the time

1352
01:14:13,318 --> 01:14:16,286
of Theodore Roosevelt
had ever received such

1353
01:14:16,288 --> 01:14:19,589
incessant coverage as FDR's,

1354
01:14:19,591 --> 01:14:25,061
though the picture it presented
was always incomplete.

1355
01:14:25,063 --> 01:14:28,465
The public read Eleanor's column
"My Day" that

1356
01:14:28,467 --> 01:14:33,903
appeared 6 times a week in
newspapers all across the country,

1357
01:14:33,905 --> 01:14:35,739
but she made little mention

1358
01:14:35,741 --> 01:14:39,009
of the domestic difficulties
of her 5 children,

1359
01:14:39,011 --> 01:14:44,881
among whom there would
eventually be 19 marriages.

1360
01:14:44,883 --> 01:14:48,485
James served for a time
as his father's assistant

1361
01:14:48,487 --> 01:14:51,488
despite charges that he
was using his position

1362
01:14:51,490 --> 01:14:55,025
to further his own business interests.

1363
01:14:55,027 --> 01:14:58,094
Stress-related ulcers
eventually forced him out

1364
01:14:58,096 --> 01:15:00,797
of the White House.

1365
01:15:00,799 --> 01:15:03,466
Anna, who had married early to get away

1366
01:15:03,468 --> 01:15:05,669
from the tensions within her family,

1367
01:15:05,671 --> 01:15:09,673
left her husband for a newspaperman.

1368
01:15:09,675 --> 01:15:12,876
Elliott,
named for Eleanor's troubled father,

1369
01:15:12,878 --> 01:15:14,611
was troubled, as well.

1370
01:15:14,613 --> 01:15:17,280
He refused to attend college,

1371
01:15:17,282 --> 01:15:19,382
rarely stayed in one place for long,

1372
01:15:19,384 --> 01:15:21,685
used his famous name to get ahead

1373
01:15:21,687 --> 01:15:25,755
in a series of speculative businesses.

1374
01:15:25,757 --> 01:15:30,493
Franklin, Jr., who inherited
his father's looks and charm,

1375
01:15:30,495 --> 01:15:34,931
earned a reputation at
Harvard as a playboy.

1376
01:15:34,933 --> 01:15:38,168
And John,
who had only been 5 when his father

1377
01:15:38,170 --> 01:15:40,437
developed polio and virtually vanished

1378
01:15:40,439 --> 01:15:41,972
from his life,

1379
01:15:41,974 --> 01:15:45,008
did what he could to avoid the spotlight,

1380
01:15:45,010 --> 01:15:47,477
working quietly as a clerk

1381
01:15:47,479 --> 01:15:51,514
at filene's basement in Boston.

1382
01:15:51,516 --> 01:15:53,817
"One of the worst things
in the world is being

1383
01:15:53,819 --> 01:15:57,520
the child of a president," FDR once said.

1384
01:15:57,522 --> 01:16:00,156
"It's a terrible life they lead."

1385
01:16:06,564 --> 01:16:11,000
♪ There's a dark
and a troubled side of life ♪

1386
01:16:11,002 --> 01:16:16,439
♪ but there's a bright and a sunny side,
too ♪

1387
01:16:16,441 --> 01:16:21,945
♪ Though you meet with
the darkness and strife ♪

1388
01:16:21,947 --> 01:16:26,216
♪ the sunny side you also may view ♪

1389
01:16:28,586 --> 01:16:30,220
Every house I visited,

1390
01:16:30,222 --> 01:16:32,422
mill worker or unemployed,

1391
01:16:32,424 --> 01:16:35,125
had a picture of the president.

1392
01:16:35,127 --> 01:16:37,661
These ranged from newspaper clippings

1393
01:16:37,663 --> 01:16:39,729
in destitute homes

1394
01:16:39,731 --> 01:16:45,035
to large colored prints,
framed in gilt cardboard,

1395
01:16:45,037 --> 01:16:47,937
and the feelings of these
people for the president

1396
01:16:47,939 --> 01:16:50,707
is one of the most remarkable phenomena

1397
01:16:50,709 --> 01:16:52,876
I have ever met.

1398
01:16:52,878 --> 01:16:57,213
He is at once god and
their intimate friend.

1399
01:16:57,215 --> 01:16:59,482
He knows them all by name,

1400
01:16:59,484 --> 01:17:02,118
knows their little town and mill,

1401
01:17:02,120 --> 01:17:05,355
their little lives and problems.

1402
01:17:05,357 --> 01:17:08,491
And though everything else fails,
he is there

1403
01:17:08,493 --> 01:17:11,695
and will not let them down.

1404
01:17:11,697 --> 01:17:15,031
Martha Gellhorn.

1405
01:17:15,033 --> 01:17:18,868
There's a poll
taken by a New York radio station

1406
01:17:18,870 --> 01:17:21,538
of "who is the greatest man?"

1407
01:17:21,540 --> 01:17:23,239
And Roosevelt comes out first,

1408
01:17:23,241 --> 01:17:26,843
and God comes a distant second.

1409
01:17:26,845 --> 01:17:30,880
One mill worker in the south says,

1410
01:17:30,882 --> 01:17:35,585
"Roosevelt is the only president
we've ever had who understands

1411
01:17:35,587 --> 01:17:38,254
that my boss is a son of a bitch."

1412
01:17:43,294 --> 01:17:47,030
On the evening of June 27, 1936,

1413
01:17:47,032 --> 01:17:50,300
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
traveled to Philadelphia

1414
01:17:50,302 --> 01:17:52,502
to accept his party's nomination

1415
01:17:52,504 --> 01:17:57,774
for a second term as president
of the United States.

1416
01:17:57,776 --> 01:18:00,643
Once again, the nation was listening.

1417
01:18:00,645 --> 01:18:03,580
As the crowd just,
just indescribable.

1418
01:18:03,582 --> 01:18:06,049
What should have been
the greatest night of his life.

1419
01:18:06,051 --> 01:18:08,151
He went to be renominated in front

1420
01:18:08,153 --> 01:18:12,155
of 100,000 people at Franklin
field in Philadelphia.

1421
01:18:12,157 --> 01:18:14,257
The night shall be filled with music,

1422
01:18:14,259 --> 01:18:15,925
and the sound of the crowd will explode

1423
01:18:15,927 --> 01:18:18,795
like 10,000 hand grenades
that smash against the sky.

1424
01:18:18,797 --> 01:18:20,864
They drove into the stadium.

1425
01:18:20,866 --> 01:18:22,499
People went crazy.

1426
01:18:22,501 --> 01:18:25,168
The bands played.

1427
01:18:25,170 --> 01:18:26,636
Well, he got out of his car

1428
01:18:26,638 --> 01:18:29,372
out of sight of the cameras

1429
01:18:29,374 --> 01:18:33,977
and started toward the
back entrance to the stage.

1430
01:18:33,979 --> 01:18:36,479
His son Jimmy was was carrying his speech

1431
01:18:36,481 --> 01:18:37,781
and holding his father's arm,

1432
01:18:37,783 --> 01:18:40,984
and his bodyguard was on the other side.

1433
01:18:40,986 --> 01:18:44,654
He was moving along and
somehow got jostled.

1434
01:18:44,656 --> 01:18:48,425
The lock on his brace opened,

1435
01:18:48,427 --> 01:18:51,327
and he really started to go to the ground,

1436
01:18:51,329 --> 01:18:53,963
and Jimmy dropped the speech.

1437
01:18:53,965 --> 01:18:55,999
The bodyguard grabbed him

1438
01:18:56,001 --> 01:18:57,367
before he actually hit the ground,

1439
01:18:57,369 --> 01:18:58,835
but the whole... you know, the whole crowd

1440
01:18:58,837 --> 01:19:01,371
back there saw him.

1441
01:19:01,373 --> 01:19:04,941
And he said "Clean me up, goddamn it."

1442
01:19:04,943 --> 01:19:07,210
And they... but they got him cleaned.

1443
01:19:07,212 --> 01:19:09,879
He managed to get onto the stage

1444
01:19:09,881 --> 01:19:14,184
and put his speech back together.

1445
01:19:14,186 --> 01:19:18,221
He said it was the most
frightful 5 minutes of his life.

1446
01:19:18,223 --> 01:19:19,923
He then gave one of the great speeches

1447
01:19:19,925 --> 01:19:23,860
of his administration.

1448
01:19:23,862 --> 01:19:25,462
"I was still mad when I began

1449
01:19:25,464 --> 01:19:28,465
the speech," Roosevelt said later.

1450
01:19:28,467 --> 01:19:30,266
"It wasn't until I reached the line

1451
01:19:30,268 --> 01:19:35,505
"about economic royalists
that I knew I had them,

1452
01:19:35,507 --> 01:19:38,708
and then I gave it to them."

1453
01:19:38,710 --> 01:19:42,312
These economic royalists

1454
01:19:42,314 --> 01:19:46,349
complain that we seek to overthrow

1455
01:19:46,351 --> 01:19:49,786
the institutions of America.

1456
01:19:49,788 --> 01:19:54,424
What they really complain
of is that we seek

1457
01:19:54,426 --> 01:19:58,628
to take away their power.

1458
01:19:58,630 --> 01:20:01,831
Governments can err.

1459
01:20:01,833 --> 01:20:05,568
Presidents do make mistakes,

1460
01:20:05,570 --> 01:20:09,139
but the immortal Dante tells us that

1461
01:20:09,141 --> 01:20:16,246
divine justice weighs the
sins of the cold-blooded

1462
01:20:16,248 --> 01:20:19,549
and the sins of the warm-hearted

1463
01:20:19,551 --> 01:20:21,885
in different scales.

1464
01:20:29,693 --> 01:20:34,964
Better the occasional
faults of a government

1465
01:20:34,966 --> 01:20:38,234
that lives in a spirit of charity

1466
01:20:38,236 --> 01:20:44,207
than the consistent omissions
of a government frozen

1467
01:20:44,209 --> 01:20:48,344
in the ice of its own indifference.

1468
01:20:54,618 --> 01:20:59,989
There is a mysterious
cycle in human events.

1469
01:20:59,991 --> 01:21:05,295
To some generations much is given.

1470
01:21:05,297 --> 01:21:11,000
Of other generations much is expected.

1471
01:21:11,002 --> 01:21:14,337
This generation of americans

1472
01:21:14,339 --> 01:21:18,975
has a rendezvous with destiny.

1473
01:21:28,686 --> 01:21:30,853
Roosevelt's Republican opponent was

1474
01:21:30,855 --> 01:21:35,258
alf Landon,
the able but unassuming governor of Kansas,

1475
01:21:35,260 --> 01:21:36,593
who had once enlisted

1476
01:21:36,595 --> 01:21:42,498
in Theodore Roosevelt's
bull moose crusade in 1912.

1477
01:21:42,500 --> 01:21:45,501
When Landon promised to
retain useful elements

1478
01:21:45,503 --> 01:21:49,305
of the new deal, FDR mocked the Republicans

1479
01:21:49,307 --> 01:21:52,709
for trying to steal Democratic thunder.

1480
01:21:52,711 --> 01:21:55,945
"We believe in social security.

1481
01:21:55,947 --> 01:21:59,449
"We believe work for the unemployed.

1482
01:21:59,451 --> 01:22:02,785
"We believe in saving homes.

1483
01:22:02,787 --> 01:22:06,322
"Cross our hearts and hope to die.

1484
01:22:06,324 --> 01:22:10,627
"We believe in all these things,

1485
01:22:10,629 --> 01:22:13,496
"but we do not like the way

1486
01:22:13,498 --> 01:22:17,734
"the present administration is doing them.

1487
01:22:17,736 --> 01:22:22,505
"Just turn them over to us.

1488
01:22:22,507 --> 01:22:27,911
"We will do all of them,
we will do more of them,

1489
01:22:27,913 --> 01:22:33,483
"we will do them better,
and most important of all,

1490
01:22:33,485 --> 01:22:38,955
the doing of them will not
cost anybody anything."

1491
01:22:44,329 --> 01:22:47,730
Frustrated,
the Republicans changed tactics,

1492
01:22:47,732 --> 01:22:52,869
accusing FDR of being a
socialist in disguise.

1493
01:22:52,871 --> 01:22:56,773
The Oyster Bay Roosevelts
joined the attack.

1494
01:22:56,775 --> 01:22:59,609
Theodore Roosevelt's oldest son Ted

1495
01:22:59,611 --> 01:23:01,544
addressed the president himself

1496
01:23:01,546 --> 01:23:04,147
in a Pennsylvania speech.

1497
01:23:04,149 --> 01:23:06,549
"You have been faithless," he said.

1498
01:23:06,551 --> 01:23:09,185
"You have urged Congress to pass laws

1499
01:23:09,187 --> 01:23:11,688
"you knew were unconstitutional.

1500
01:23:11,690 --> 01:23:13,923
"You have broken your sacred oath

1501
01:23:13,925 --> 01:23:17,026
taken on the Bible."

1502
01:23:17,028 --> 01:23:18,962
Alice Roosevelt longworth,

1503
01:23:18,964 --> 01:23:21,197
Theodore Roosevelt's oldest child,

1504
01:23:21,199 --> 01:23:23,833
went still further.

1505
01:23:23,835 --> 01:23:26,569
Her father had conquered his illness...

1506
01:23:26,571 --> 01:23:29,439
childhood asthma...
and therefore had championed

1507
01:23:29,441 --> 01:23:32,442
the "strenuous life," she said,

1508
01:23:32,444 --> 01:23:34,911
but because Franklin
remained in a wheelchair,

1509
01:23:34,913 --> 01:23:37,046
he had become a "mollycoddle,"

1510
01:23:37,048 --> 01:23:42,151
peddling a "mollycoddle philosophy."

1511
01:23:42,153 --> 01:23:45,421
No one who really knew both men

1512
01:23:45,423 --> 01:23:48,024
could make that contrast.

1513
01:23:48,026 --> 01:23:51,894
No man who has brought himself back

1514
01:23:51,896 --> 01:23:57,300
from what might have been
an entire life of invalidism

1515
01:23:57,302 --> 01:24:02,605
to physical, mental,
and spiritual strength can

1516
01:24:02,607 --> 01:24:07,577
ever be accused of
preaching or exemplifying

1517
01:24:07,579 --> 01:24:10,079
a mollycoddle philosophy.

1518
01:24:14,918 --> 01:24:18,287
Nothing any critic said seemed to matter.

1519
01:24:18,289 --> 01:24:21,090
"The forces of organized
money are unanimous

1520
01:24:21,092 --> 01:24:22,358
in their hatred for me,"

1521
01:24:22,360 --> 01:24:25,094
he told a cheering New York crowd,

1522
01:24:25,096 --> 01:24:28,298
"and I welcome their hatred."

1523
01:24:28,300 --> 01:24:30,266
Wherever FDR went, he asked the crowds

1524
01:24:30,268 --> 01:24:33,670
if they were better off than they had been

1525
01:24:33,672 --> 01:24:36,105
when he took office.

1526
01:24:36,107 --> 01:24:37,307
They were.

1527
01:24:37,309 --> 01:24:40,643
National income had now more than doubled,

1528
01:24:40,645 --> 01:24:45,181
unemployment had nearly been cut in half.

1529
01:24:45,183 --> 01:24:48,318
Voices called out,
"Thank you, Mr. President!"

1530
01:24:48,320 --> 01:24:51,521
And, "you saved my home!"

1531
01:24:51,523 --> 01:24:53,956
Some people bowed their heads in prayer

1532
01:24:53,958 --> 01:24:56,592
as his train rattled past.

1533
01:24:56,594 --> 01:24:59,362
In Denver, someone had scrawled in chalk

1534
01:24:59,364 --> 01:25:03,700
on a boxcar, "Roosevelt is my friend."

1535
01:25:07,572 --> 01:25:09,605
Hick dearest,

1536
01:25:09,607 --> 01:25:11,674
I have never seen on any trip

1537
01:25:11,676 --> 01:25:16,479
such crowds or enthusiasm.

1538
01:25:16,481 --> 01:25:19,882
If they really have all this faith,

1539
01:25:19,884 --> 01:25:23,886
I hope he can do a good job for them.

1540
01:25:23,888 --> 01:25:30,259
I realize more and more
that FDR is a great man,

1541
01:25:30,261 --> 01:25:33,830
and he is nice to me, but as a person,

1542
01:25:33,832 --> 01:25:35,698
I'm a stranger,

1543
01:25:35,700 --> 01:25:41,104
and I don't want to be anything else!

1544
01:25:41,106 --> 01:25:45,541
P.S. How I hate being a show,

1545
01:25:45,543 --> 01:25:48,711
but I'm doing it so nicely!

1546
01:25:53,317 --> 01:25:55,718
On election day,
the Roosevelts voted

1547
01:25:55,720 --> 01:25:58,354
at the Hyde Park town hall.

1548
01:25:58,356 --> 01:25:59,389
Name, please?

1549
01:25:59,391 --> 01:26:02,658
Franklin D. Roosevelt.

1550
01:26:02,660 --> 01:26:04,494
At Springwood on election night,

1551
01:26:04,496 --> 01:26:07,030
as the returns began coming in,

1552
01:26:07,032 --> 01:26:12,502
FDR blew a big smoke ring and murmured,
"wow."

1553
01:26:12,504 --> 01:26:16,506
He would win 60.8% of the popular vote,

1554
01:26:16,508 --> 01:26:20,677
the largest percentage anyone had ever won,

1555
01:26:20,679 --> 01:26:25,782
and this time carried 46 of the 48 states.

1556
01:26:25,784 --> 01:26:29,619
And he carries all but two of the states,

1557
01:26:29,621 --> 01:26:31,154
Maine and Vermont.

1558
01:26:31,156 --> 01:26:33,289
It was long said, "as Maine goes,

1559
01:26:33,291 --> 01:26:35,291
so goes the nation."

1560
01:26:35,293 --> 01:26:37,693
Now it was said, "as Maine goes,

1561
01:26:37,695 --> 01:26:39,896
so goes Vermont."

1562
01:26:39,898 --> 01:26:42,065
The election map of America has

1563
01:26:42,067 --> 01:26:43,699
been transformed.

1564
01:26:48,238 --> 01:26:52,075
FDR had forged a new Democratic Party,

1565
01:26:52,077 --> 01:26:55,078
a Roosevelt coalition that brought together

1566
01:26:55,080 --> 01:26:59,549
Western farmers and
big-city industrial workers,

1567
01:26:59,551 --> 01:27:01,718
immigrants and african-americans

1568
01:27:01,720 --> 01:27:06,389
and the solid south.

1569
01:27:06,391 --> 01:27:09,192
Almost anything seemed possible.

1570
01:27:09,194 --> 01:27:11,260
We love Franklin!

1571
01:27:19,636 --> 01:27:21,337
At his second inaugural,

1572
01:27:21,339 --> 01:27:25,108
held for the first time on January 20,

1573
01:27:25,110 --> 01:27:29,679
Roosevelt promised to
finish the job he'd started.

1574
01:27:29,681 --> 01:27:36,319
I see 1/3 of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad,

1575
01:27:36,321 --> 01:27:37,887
ill-nourished.

1576
01:27:39,124 --> 01:27:41,991
But it is not in despair that I paint

1577
01:27:41,993 --> 01:27:44,327
that picture for you.

1578
01:27:44,329 --> 01:27:47,063
I paint it for you in hope

1579
01:27:47,065 --> 01:27:49,499
because the nation,
seeing and understanding

1580
01:27:49,501 --> 01:27:55,338
the injustice of it,
proposes to paint it out.

1581
01:27:56,840 --> 01:28:00,476
The test of our progress
is not whether we add

1582
01:28:00,478 --> 01:28:05,181
more to the abundance
of those who have much.

1583
01:28:05,183 --> 01:28:08,317
It is whether we provide enough for those

1584
01:28:08,319 --> 01:28:10,987
who have too little.

1585
01:28:17,127 --> 01:28:18,461
The great works program

1586
01:28:18,463 --> 01:28:21,097
has removed a vast army from relief roles.

1587
01:28:21,099 --> 01:28:23,299
It revived lagging industry,
restored morale,

1588
01:28:23,301 --> 01:28:25,168
and renewed courage.

1589
01:28:25,170 --> 01:28:27,470
Roosevelt believed that his reelection

1590
01:28:27,472 --> 01:28:31,974
as president in 1936 had
essentially confirmed

1591
01:28:31,976 --> 01:28:34,544
popular approval of the new deal

1592
01:28:34,546 --> 01:28:37,146
and what he was trying to accomplish.

1593
01:28:37,148 --> 01:28:38,981
The executive branch had spoken,

1594
01:28:38,983 --> 01:28:41,050
the legislative branch had spoken,

1595
01:28:41,052 --> 01:28:42,652
the only branch of the government

1596
01:28:42,654 --> 01:28:46,589
that wasn't getting the
message was the supreme court.

1597
01:28:46,591 --> 01:28:48,591
The Supreme Court had continued

1598
01:28:48,593 --> 01:28:51,060
on its conservative course.

1599
01:28:51,062 --> 01:28:55,164
It had already overturned a
number of new deal statutes,

1600
01:28:55,166 --> 01:28:58,134
the NRA and AAA.

1601
01:28:58,136 --> 01:29:01,104
It seemed only a matter
of time before it moved

1602
01:29:01,106 --> 01:29:03,339
against the national labor relations

1603
01:29:03,341 --> 01:29:06,008
and social security acts,

1604
01:29:06,010 --> 01:29:11,247
and all future reforms seemed
to be in jeopardy, as well.

1605
01:29:11,249 --> 01:29:16,219
Buoyed by his big victory,
Roosevelt determined to act.

1606
01:29:16,221 --> 01:29:18,321
He had been reelected without the help

1607
01:29:18,323 --> 01:29:21,624
of his old friend and
closest advisor Louis Howe,

1608
01:29:21,626 --> 01:29:24,861
who had recently died.

1609
01:29:24,863 --> 01:29:28,498
Howe's political duties had
been taken over by others,

1610
01:29:28,500 --> 01:29:30,900
but no one had replaced him as the man

1611
01:29:30,902 --> 01:29:34,237
who could tell FDR when he was about to be

1612
01:29:34,239 --> 01:29:37,173
a "damned fool."

1613
01:29:37,175 --> 01:29:39,775
Roosevelt genuinely believed

1614
01:29:39,777 --> 01:29:42,712
that in compelling the supreme court

1615
01:29:42,714 --> 01:29:45,314
to pay attention to modern conditions

1616
01:29:45,316 --> 01:29:48,718
he was doing the work of democracy.

1617
01:29:48,720 --> 01:29:50,753
These justices had been in office

1618
01:29:50,755 --> 01:29:53,422
in some cases for decades,

1619
01:29:53,424 --> 01:29:54,624
and they weren't listening to what

1620
01:29:54,626 --> 01:29:59,595
the american people wanted and needed.

1621
01:29:59,597 --> 01:30:00,997
The plan the president sent

1622
01:30:00,999 --> 01:30:04,100
to Capitol Hill without any
warning to the leadership

1623
01:30:04,102 --> 01:30:07,637
stunned enemies and friends alike.

1624
01:30:07,639 --> 01:30:10,673
He asked for the power
to name a new justice

1625
01:30:10,675 --> 01:30:14,777
for every sitting member of
the court who did not resign

1626
01:30:14,779 --> 01:30:18,714
6 months after reaching the age of 70.

1627
01:30:18,716 --> 01:30:20,183
Roosevelt claimed the retirement

1628
01:30:20,185 --> 01:30:26,055
of elderly judges would improve the court's
"efficiency."

1629
01:30:26,057 --> 01:30:30,193
Almost no one believed
that was his real purpose.

1630
01:30:33,063 --> 01:30:36,065
He wasn't honest about it,

1631
01:30:36,067 --> 01:30:39,936
and when the Democrats
on the hill recognized

1632
01:30:39,938 --> 01:30:42,138
that they really weren't
being dealt with straight

1633
01:30:42,140 --> 01:30:45,241
by the White House, then that legislation

1634
01:30:45,243 --> 01:30:47,310
ran into trouble.

1635
01:30:47,312 --> 01:30:49,512
Daisy Suckley asked the president

1636
01:30:49,514 --> 01:30:52,048
to explain the plan during a weekend visit

1637
01:30:52,050 --> 01:30:54,050
to Hyde Park.

1638
01:30:54,052 --> 01:30:56,552
He did his high-minded best.

1639
01:30:56,554 --> 01:30:59,222
When he was finished,
she asked "don't you mean

1640
01:30:59,224 --> 01:31:02,024
that you are packing the court?"

1641
01:31:02,026 --> 01:31:05,795
FDR roared.
"I suppose you're right, Daisy," he s

1642
01:31:05,797 --> 01:31:08,264
"I suppose you're right!"

1643
01:31:08,266 --> 01:31:09,799
President's Roosevelt's

1644
01:31:09,801 --> 01:31:11,901
supreme court bombshell has started

1645
01:31:11,903 --> 01:31:14,203
a telegraphic barrage aimed at Congress

1646
01:31:14,205 --> 01:31:17,740
the like of which hasn't
been seen in years.

1647
01:31:17,742 --> 01:31:21,177
The polls of that
day show that the country was

1648
01:31:21,179 --> 01:31:25,047
evenly divided on the supreme court plan,

1649
01:31:25,049 --> 01:31:28,084
and it seemed highly likely,

1650
01:31:28,086 --> 01:31:30,219
so large were the Democratic majorities

1651
01:31:30,221 --> 01:31:31,621
in both houses of Congress,

1652
01:31:31,623 --> 01:31:34,290
that Roosevelt would have
gotten that plan through

1653
01:31:34,292 --> 01:31:37,059
if the supreme court had gone ahead

1654
01:31:37,061 --> 01:31:39,896
and struck down minimum wage legislation,

1655
01:31:39,898 --> 01:31:42,965
struck down the national
labor relations act,

1656
01:31:42,967 --> 01:31:45,935
and struck down the social security law.

1657
01:31:45,937 --> 01:31:47,904
But then the court itself began

1658
01:31:47,906 --> 01:31:50,940
suddenly to shift, upholding a series

1659
01:31:50,942 --> 01:31:55,911
of laws most observers had
expected it to overturn.

1660
01:31:55,913 --> 01:32:02,018
In the end,
Roosevelt's bill was allowed to die.

1661
01:32:02,020 --> 01:32:04,320
Over the coming years,
the president would be

1662
01:32:04,322 --> 01:32:09,158
given the opportunity to
replace 8 members of the court.

1663
01:32:09,160 --> 01:32:11,494
He may have lost the battle,
Roosevelt said,

1664
01:32:11,496 --> 01:32:14,797
but he had won the war.

1665
01:32:14,799 --> 01:32:17,867
Still, his court-packing plan had made him

1666
01:32:17,869 --> 01:32:21,003
a host of enemies within his own party

1667
01:32:21,005 --> 01:32:22,972
and strengthened a growing

1668
01:32:22,974 --> 01:32:25,474
conservative congressional coalition

1669
01:32:25,476 --> 01:32:28,177
that would make substantive new legislation

1670
01:32:28,179 --> 01:32:32,715
far more difficult to pass.

1671
01:32:32,717 --> 01:32:37,787
In August of 1937,
there was still more trouble.

1672
01:32:37,789 --> 01:32:40,089
The economy had been steadily improving

1673
01:32:40,091 --> 01:32:44,894
since 1933,
so steadily that american output had

1674
01:32:44,896 --> 01:32:49,165
finally outpaced 1929 levels.

1675
01:32:49,167 --> 01:32:52,335
FDR and some of his advisers began to worry

1676
01:32:52,337 --> 01:32:54,604
about inflation.

1677
01:32:56,974 --> 01:32:59,542
In response, the president slashed funds

1678
01:32:59,544 --> 01:33:02,345
for relief and public
works in the interest,

1679
01:33:02,347 --> 01:33:07,984
he said, of balancing the budget.

1680
01:33:07,986 --> 01:33:09,852
There is a serious argument to be made that

1681
01:33:09,854 --> 01:33:11,654
Roosevelt stopped too soon,

1682
01:33:11,656 --> 01:33:15,091
that far from being bold,
he wasn't bold enough

1683
01:33:15,093 --> 01:33:18,027
because the recession within the depression

1684
01:33:18,029 --> 01:33:20,196
that came along in 1937 came

1685
01:33:20,198 --> 01:33:25,301
because they prematurely declared victory.

1686
01:33:25,303 --> 01:33:27,770
The result was a sudden,
precipitous

1687
01:33:27,772 --> 01:33:30,273
economic decline that continued

1688
01:33:30,275 --> 01:33:33,242
for 9 frightening months.

1689
01:33:33,244 --> 01:33:38,080
Republicans called it the
"Roosevelt recession."

1690
01:33:38,082 --> 01:33:40,283
Industrial production fell again

1691
01:33:40,285 --> 01:33:42,752
by more than 1/3.

1692
01:33:42,754 --> 01:33:46,355
So did wages.

1693
01:33:46,357 --> 01:33:48,958
Widespread strikes by workers demanding

1694
01:33:48,960 --> 01:33:54,330
union recognition slowed
factories still further.

1695
01:33:54,332 --> 01:33:57,299
4 million additional americans found

1696
01:33:57,301 --> 01:34:00,136
themselves out of work.

1697
01:34:00,138 --> 01:34:03,072
FDR's own advisers were divided as to what

1698
01:34:03,074 --> 01:34:04,640
he should do.

1699
01:34:04,642 --> 01:34:07,343
Some urged him to continue to hold the line

1700
01:34:07,345 --> 01:34:09,045
on spending.

1701
01:34:09,047 --> 01:34:11,580
Other, more left-leaning new dealers,

1702
01:34:11,582 --> 01:34:14,216
including his wife, wanted him to return

1703
01:34:14,218 --> 01:34:16,786
to the stimulus programs that had seemed

1704
01:34:16,788 --> 01:34:19,989
to be working earlier.

1705
01:34:19,991 --> 01:34:23,092
In the end, FDR sided with the liberals,

1706
01:34:23,094 --> 01:34:26,662
persuading Congress to pump
billions of dollars more

1707
01:34:26,664 --> 01:34:31,634
into public works and public housing.

1708
01:34:31,636 --> 01:34:33,836
The decline halted.

1709
01:34:33,838 --> 01:34:36,806
"We are on our way again," Roosevelt said,

1710
01:34:36,808 --> 01:34:40,609
and he won passage of the
fair labor standards act,

1711
01:34:40,611 --> 01:34:43,846
which for the first time
set federal minimum wages

1712
01:34:43,848 --> 01:34:45,648
and maximum hours.

1713
01:34:45,650 --> 01:34:49,752
I am very glad...

1714
01:34:49,754 --> 01:34:51,587
Meanwhile, the midterm elections

1715
01:34:51,589 --> 01:34:53,389
were approaching.

1716
01:34:53,391 --> 01:34:56,459
Furious at conservative
members of his own party

1717
01:34:56,461 --> 01:34:58,761
who had joined forces with Republicans

1718
01:34:58,763 --> 01:35:02,465
on Capitol Hill to defeat
his court plan and stall

1719
01:35:02,467 --> 01:35:06,402
new deal legislation,
the president barnstormed

1720
01:35:06,404 --> 01:35:08,637
the country, urging voters

1721
01:35:08,639 --> 01:35:11,007
to oust conservative incumbents

1722
01:35:11,009 --> 01:35:15,277
and elect liberal challengers.

1723
01:35:15,279 --> 01:35:18,247
Voters still admired Roosevelt but resented

1724
01:35:18,249 --> 01:35:21,484
his intrusion into local races.

1725
01:35:21,486 --> 01:35:27,056
All but one of his targets
survived his assault.

1726
01:35:27,058 --> 01:35:29,859
As a political blunder,
it was enormous.

1727
01:35:29,861 --> 01:35:34,130
After the election of 1938 and the revival

1728
01:35:34,132 --> 01:35:38,367
of conservative Democrats and Republicans,

1729
01:35:38,369 --> 01:35:41,504
there was not a liberal
legislating majority

1730
01:35:41,506 --> 01:35:47,677
in the Congress of the
United States until 1965.

1731
01:35:47,679 --> 01:35:50,312
Newspapermen began writing that FDR

1732
01:35:50,314 --> 01:35:52,982
was finished as an effective leader,

1733
01:35:52,984 --> 01:35:57,586
a lame duck whose last two
years as president were likely

1734
01:35:57,588 --> 01:36:00,122
to be without real achievement.

1735
01:36:00,124 --> 01:36:02,792
"President Roosevelt could
not run for a third term,"

1736
01:36:02,794 --> 01:36:06,962
one wrote, "even if he so desired."

1737
01:36:14,104 --> 01:36:16,439
September 11, 1938.

1738
01:36:16,441 --> 01:36:20,009
Dear Daisy, the situation in Europe

1739
01:36:20,011 --> 01:36:22,211
is full of world dynamite,

1740
01:36:22,213 --> 01:36:24,146
and I don't dare be off the scene

1741
01:36:24,148 --> 01:36:27,850
because it needs hourly watching.

1742
01:36:27,852 --> 01:36:31,854
Did you hear Hitler on the radio today?

1743
01:36:31,856 --> 01:36:34,423
His shrieks, his histrionics

1744
01:36:34,425 --> 01:36:37,660
and the effect on the huge audience.

1745
01:36:37,662 --> 01:36:39,762
They did not applaud.

1746
01:36:39,764 --> 01:36:42,431
They made noises like animals.

1747
01:37:02,319 --> 01:37:04,253
Adolf Hitler had come to power

1748
01:37:04,255 --> 01:37:07,690
in Germany at almost
precisely the same moment

1749
01:37:07,692 --> 01:37:11,160
Franklin Roosevelt first became president.

1750
01:37:17,167 --> 01:37:19,902
Americans had looked on
with horror as he crushed

1751
01:37:19,904 --> 01:37:23,105
his domestic opposition,

1752
01:37:23,107 --> 01:37:25,474
persecuted German Jews...

1753
01:37:29,813 --> 01:37:33,983
Supported a fascist uprising in Spain...

1754
01:37:41,758 --> 01:37:46,562
Reclaimed the Rhineland
from France in 1936,

1755
01:37:46,564 --> 01:37:52,101
and annexed Austria two years later.

1756
01:37:52,103 --> 01:37:55,604
Americans also deplored the Italian fascist

1757
01:37:55,606 --> 01:38:01,377
Benito Mussolini's brutal
attack on Ethiopia...

1758
01:38:07,551 --> 01:38:10,386
And sympathized with China in her struggle

1759
01:38:10,388 --> 01:38:13,856
against invasion by imperial Japan.

1760
01:38:32,275 --> 01:38:35,411
But most americans saw events overseas

1761
01:38:35,413 --> 01:38:38,914
as none of their business.

1762
01:38:38,916 --> 01:38:42,451
More than one hundred and
116,000 american lives

1763
01:38:42,453 --> 01:38:44,987
had been lost in the great war,

1764
01:38:44,989 --> 01:38:48,691
and few americans thought
it had been worth it.

1765
01:38:48,693 --> 01:38:51,127
In the intervening years,
their representatives

1766
01:38:51,129 --> 01:38:53,796
on Capitol Hill had worked to ensure that

1767
01:38:53,798 --> 01:38:57,266
the United States would
not again become entangled

1768
01:38:57,268 --> 01:39:00,269
in events overseas.

1769
01:39:00,271 --> 01:39:02,638
They shrank the army, kept America out

1770
01:39:02,640 --> 01:39:05,474
of international organizations,

1771
01:39:05,476 --> 01:39:09,678
limited immigration,
and enacted 3 neutrality acts

1772
01:39:09,680 --> 01:39:12,515
barring arms sales to either side

1773
01:39:12,517 --> 01:39:16,018
in any future war.

1774
01:39:17,588 --> 01:39:19,655
Roosevelt was an internationalist

1775
01:39:19,657 --> 01:39:22,358
in an isolationist age,

1776
01:39:22,360 --> 01:39:24,560
and so when he watched
Europe and Asia heading

1777
01:39:24,562 --> 01:39:26,195
toward war in the late 1930s,

1778
01:39:26,197 --> 01:39:28,864
he realized that the United States

1779
01:39:28,866 --> 01:39:31,300
was going to have to get
involved in those conflicts

1780
01:39:31,302 --> 01:39:34,036
sooner or later

1781
01:39:34,038 --> 01:39:37,006
but that if he led America into war,

1782
01:39:37,008 --> 01:39:40,843
if another war became known as
"Roosevelt's war"

1783
01:39:40,845 --> 01:39:43,012
the way the first world war was
"Wilson's war,"

1784
01:39:43,014 --> 01:39:46,248
then he risked undoing all the good

1785
01:39:46,250 --> 01:39:49,418
american participation might have done,

1786
01:39:49,420 --> 01:39:54,323
and so he engaged in a very careful,
very slow,

1787
01:39:54,325 --> 01:39:56,859
but sometimes very duplicitous campaign

1788
01:39:56,861 --> 01:40:01,163
of public education.

1789
01:40:01,165 --> 01:40:03,365
Franklin Roosevelt believed,

1790
01:40:03,367 --> 01:40:06,602
as Theodore Roosevelt had also believed,

1791
01:40:06,604 --> 01:40:09,004
that the United States
had an important role

1792
01:40:09,006 --> 01:40:12,441
to play overseas,

1793
01:40:12,443 --> 01:40:15,144
but he had been consumed
with the economic crisis

1794
01:40:15,146 --> 01:40:17,646
during his first years as president,

1795
01:40:17,648 --> 01:40:21,383
needed the support in Congress
of progressive Republicans,

1796
01:40:21,385 --> 01:40:24,720
who were also implacable isolationists

1797
01:40:24,722 --> 01:40:27,423
and for the most part had
been willing to go along

1798
01:40:27,425 --> 01:40:30,993
with public sentiment.

1799
01:40:30,995 --> 01:40:33,095
"What worries me," he had told a friend

1800
01:40:33,097 --> 01:40:35,764
as the violence increased worldwide,

1801
01:40:35,766 --> 01:40:39,101
"is that public opinion
over here is patting itself

1802
01:40:39,103 --> 01:40:42,238
"on the back every morning, thanking god

1803
01:40:42,240 --> 01:40:45,274
for the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans."

1804
01:40:48,278 --> 01:40:50,679
At first, his efforts at informing

1805
01:40:50,681 --> 01:40:53,215
the american public of the dangers it faced

1806
01:40:53,217 --> 01:40:54,917
did not go well.

1807
01:40:54,919 --> 01:40:57,720
The present reign of terror

1808
01:40:57,722 --> 01:41:00,689
and international lawlessness...

1809
01:41:00,691 --> 01:41:01,857
When the president compared

1810
01:41:01,859 --> 01:41:04,593
fascist aggression to a spreading disease

1811
01:41:04,595 --> 01:41:06,662
that needed to be quarantined,

1812
01:41:06,664 --> 01:41:09,965
pacifists charged Roosevelt
was starting America

1813
01:41:09,967 --> 01:41:13,369
down the slope to war.

1814
01:41:13,371 --> 01:41:17,206
Isolationist congressmen
threatened to impeach him.

1815
01:41:17,208 --> 01:41:21,143
The leaders of his own
party remained silent.

1816
01:41:21,145 --> 01:41:24,113
The president took no action.

1817
01:41:24,115 --> 01:41:26,415
"It is a terrible thing," he told an aide,

1818
01:41:26,417 --> 01:41:29,385
"to look over your shoulder
when you are trying to lead

1819
01:41:29,387 --> 01:41:32,354
and find no one there."

1820
01:41:35,226 --> 01:41:38,627
By September of 1938,
Hitler was demanding to

1821
01:41:38,629 --> 01:41:42,431
annex the german-speaking
portion of Czechoslovakia

1822
01:41:42,433 --> 01:41:44,900
known as the Sudetenland.

1823
01:41:47,904 --> 01:41:50,539
At Munich, at the end of that month,

1824
01:41:50,541 --> 01:41:53,208
the British Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain

1825
01:41:53,210 --> 01:41:56,345
agreed not to oppose him

1826
01:41:56,347 --> 01:41:58,814
in exchange for a promise
of what Chamberlain

1827
01:41:58,816 --> 01:42:01,817
called "peace in our time."

1828
01:42:07,224 --> 01:42:08,924
The newspapers these days

1829
01:42:08,926 --> 01:42:12,661
are becoming more and more painful.

1830
01:42:15,465 --> 01:42:18,968
I was reading my morning
papers on the train

1831
01:42:18,970 --> 01:42:21,670
not so long ago and looked up

1832
01:42:21,672 --> 01:42:25,007
with a feeling of desperation.

1833
01:42:27,344 --> 01:42:30,145
Up and down the car, people were reading,

1834
01:42:30,147 --> 01:42:35,884
yet no one seemed upset.

1835
01:42:35,886 --> 01:42:42,825
To me,
the whole situation seems intolerable.

1836
01:42:42,827 --> 01:42:50,532
We face today a world filled
with suspicion and hatred.

1837
01:42:55,105 --> 01:42:59,008
On the evening of November 9, 1938,

1838
01:42:59,010 --> 01:43:02,811
all over Germany,
Hitler's paramilitary thugs

1839
01:43:02,813 --> 01:43:09,151
looted Jewishj homes, smashed jewish shops,

1840
01:43:09,153 --> 01:43:11,553
it was remembered as Kristallnacht,

1841
01:43:11,555 --> 01:43:14,123
the night of broken glass.

1842
01:43:14,125 --> 01:43:16,191
Scores of Jews died.

1843
01:43:16,193 --> 01:43:19,028
Thousands were imprisoned.

1844
01:43:19,030 --> 01:43:22,498
The rest were required to
pay what the Nazis called

1845
01:43:22,500 --> 01:43:25,067
an "atonement fine" for the damage done

1846
01:43:25,069 --> 01:43:27,102
to their own property

1847
01:43:27,104 --> 01:43:31,874
and then had the rest of
their assets confiscated.

1848
01:43:31,876 --> 01:43:35,444
FDR told a press conference he could
"scarcely believe

1849
01:43:35,446 --> 01:43:41,984
such things could occur in a
20th century civilization."

1850
01:43:41,986 --> 01:43:45,554
He ordered the visas of 15,000 german

1851
01:43:45,556 --> 01:43:48,624
and austrian resident
aliens extended so that

1852
01:43:48,626 --> 01:43:52,394
they would not be forced
to return to Nazi rule,

1853
01:43:52,396 --> 01:43:55,264
and he recalled his ambassador from Berlin,

1854
01:43:55,266 --> 01:44:00,703
something neither Britain
nor France dared do.

1855
01:44:00,705 --> 01:44:04,073
A gallup poll taken early in 1939

1856
01:44:04,075 --> 01:44:07,576
would show that 85% of American protestants

1857
01:44:07,578 --> 01:44:10,112
and 84% of Catholics

1858
01:44:10,114 --> 01:44:15,017
opposed offering sanctuary
to uropean refugees.

1859
01:44:15,019 --> 01:44:21,590
So did more than 1/4 of American Jews.

1860
01:44:21,592 --> 01:44:25,761
What has happened to us in this country?

1861
01:44:25,763 --> 01:44:29,598
If we study our own history,

1862
01:44:29,600 --> 01:44:32,301
we find that we have always been ready

1863
01:44:32,303 --> 01:44:36,038
to receive the unfortunate
from other countries,

1864
01:44:36,040 --> 01:44:39,241
and though this may seem a generous gesture

1865
01:44:39,243 --> 01:44:43,045
on our part, we have profited

1866
01:44:43,047 --> 01:44:47,916
a thousand-fold by what
they have brought us.

1867
01:44:50,854 --> 01:44:54,156
There comes a time in the affairs of men

1868
01:44:54,158 --> 01:44:56,024
when they must prepare to defend

1869
01:44:56,026 --> 01:44:58,027
not their homes alone

1870
01:44:58,029 --> 01:45:02,031
but the tenets of faith and humanity

1871
01:45:02,033 --> 01:45:03,298
on which their churches,

1872
01:45:03,300 --> 01:45:04,900
their governments,

1873
01:45:04,902 --> 01:45:09,505
and their very foundations are set.

1874
01:45:09,507 --> 01:45:11,874
The defense of religion, of democracy,

1875
01:45:11,876 --> 01:45:14,109
and of good faith among nations

1876
01:45:14,111 --> 01:45:17,146
is all the same fight.

1877
01:45:17,148 --> 01:45:21,717
To save one, we must now make up our minds

1878
01:45:21,719 --> 01:45:23,419
to save all.

1879
01:45:28,525 --> 01:45:31,527
In march of 1939, Hitler sent

1880
01:45:31,529 --> 01:45:36,031
his armies into what
remained of Czechoslovakia.

1881
01:45:36,033 --> 01:45:40,235
Poland looked to be next,
and Britain pledged to go

1882
01:45:40,237 --> 01:45:43,038
to war if Germany invaded her.

1883
01:45:46,776 --> 01:45:49,878
Roosevelt begged Congress
to allow arms sales

1884
01:45:49,880 --> 01:45:52,114
to Britain and France.

1885
01:45:52,116 --> 01:45:54,750
The house watered down his proposal,

1886
01:45:54,752 --> 01:45:59,455
and it never even reached the floor.

1887
01:45:59,457 --> 01:46:03,325
That spring,
FDR sent a list of 31 sovereign nations

1888
01:46:03,327 --> 01:46:05,527
to Hitler, asking the dictator to pledge

1889
01:46:05,529 --> 01:46:11,066
that he had no plans to attack any of them.

1890
01:46:11,068 --> 01:46:15,003
Hitler launched a two-hour
tirade of contempt

1891
01:46:15,005 --> 01:46:17,806
directed at Roosevelt.

1892
01:46:52,176 --> 01:46:54,576
It was clear that the Fuehrer of Germany

1893
01:46:54,578 --> 01:46:57,379
believed he had nothing to fear

1894
01:46:57,381 --> 01:47:00,282
from the president of the United States.

1895
01:47:10,160 --> 01:47:15,430
In June of 1939, FDR invited King George VI

1896
01:47:15,432 --> 01:47:17,399
and his wife Elizabeth to visit

1897
01:47:17,401 --> 01:47:20,869
the United States to
foster american sympathy

1898
01:47:20,871 --> 01:47:23,972
for England as she faced the growing threat

1899
01:47:23,974 --> 01:47:27,042
from Nazi Germany.

1900
01:47:27,044 --> 01:47:29,845
The president and Mrs. Roosevelt asked them

1901
01:47:29,847 --> 01:47:34,116
to spend a day in Hyde Park.

1902
01:47:34,118 --> 01:47:36,285
I arrived at St. James Church

1903
01:47:36,287 --> 01:47:40,122
at 10:00, and the doors
did not open until 11:00.

1904
01:47:40,124 --> 01:47:42,958
The king and queen walked out together,

1905
01:47:42,960 --> 01:47:45,194
smiling from side to side

1906
01:47:45,196 --> 01:47:48,864
followed by the Roosevelt ladies and FDR,

1907
01:47:48,866 --> 01:47:51,300
"stumping along," as he put it,

1908
01:47:51,302 --> 01:47:54,803
as fast as he could.

1909
01:47:54,805 --> 01:47:59,274
Then I went along to top
cottage for the picnic.

1910
01:47:59,276 --> 01:48:02,778
One dish of hot dogs
was served on the porch.

1911
01:48:02,780 --> 01:48:05,013
It is said that the king asked

1912
01:48:05,015 --> 01:48:08,016
for a second one!

1913
01:48:08,018 --> 01:48:12,721
After lunch,
there was an interesting Indian program

1914
01:48:12,723 --> 01:48:15,224
organized by Mrs. Roosevelt

1915
01:48:15,226 --> 01:48:21,029
by a man and woman in lovely
full-dress Indian clothes...

1916
01:48:21,031 --> 01:48:23,799
a little long, perhaps.

1917
01:48:31,274 --> 01:48:34,009
There was something

1918
01:48:34,011 --> 01:48:38,146
incredibly moving about this scene...

1919
01:48:38,148 --> 01:48:41,650
river in the evening light,

1920
01:48:41,652 --> 01:48:47,256
the voices of many people
singing this old song...

1921
01:48:48,926 --> 01:48:52,294
The train slowly pulling
out with the young couple

1922
01:48:52,296 --> 01:48:55,898
waving good-bye.

1923
01:48:55,900 --> 01:48:59,801
One thought of the clouds
that hung over them

1924
01:48:59,803 --> 01:49:02,871
and the worries they were going to face

1925
01:49:02,873 --> 01:49:07,543
and turned away from the
scene with a heavy heart.

1926
01:49:17,720 --> 01:49:20,088
If you were to come to this country

1927
01:49:20,090 --> 01:49:23,625
and you were at Laguardia Airport,

1928
01:49:23,627 --> 01:49:25,360
you would be at an airport

1929
01:49:25,362 --> 01:49:31,066
that Roosevelt and the new deal had built,

1930
01:49:31,068 --> 01:49:33,335
and that if you went over
the Triborough Bridge

1931
01:49:33,337 --> 01:49:36,271
and then through the Lincoln Tunnel

1932
01:49:36,273 --> 01:49:39,841
and continued west across the country

1933
01:49:39,843 --> 01:49:45,280
on the Blue Ridge Parkway,
on the Skyline Drive,

1934
01:49:45,282 --> 01:49:49,718
took Chicago's subway,

1935
01:49:49,720 --> 01:49:52,721
went all the way across to the great dams

1936
01:49:52,723 --> 01:49:55,891
of Bonneville and Grand Cooley,

1937
01:49:55,893 --> 01:49:58,293
all of this was done under Roosevelt

1938
01:49:58,295 --> 01:49:59,661
and the new deal,

1939
01:49:59,663 --> 01:50:05,067
and that's our legacy in America today.

1940
01:50:05,069 --> 01:50:07,769
I think what FDR was able to do somehow

1941
01:50:07,771 --> 01:50:11,306
was to make the government,
which is all of us...

1942
01:50:11,308 --> 01:50:12,841
I mean, we think of the government

1943
01:50:12,843 --> 01:50:14,776
as something out there,

1944
01:50:14,778 --> 01:50:17,579
but he saw it as the
collective responsibility

1945
01:50:17,581 --> 01:50:21,650
of the people to people in need.

1946
01:50:21,652 --> 01:50:23,452
He changed the relationship
between government,

1947
01:50:23,454 --> 01:50:26,288
business, and labor forever,

1948
01:50:26,290 --> 01:50:29,525
but those words are just so abstract.

1949
01:50:29,527 --> 01:50:31,593
What he did in those programs was to bring

1950
01:50:31,595 --> 01:50:34,796
the force of the collective
power of the country

1951
01:50:34,798 --> 01:50:36,398
to bear on helping people

1952
01:50:36,400 --> 01:50:38,400
to get through their daily lives.

1953
01:50:41,237 --> 01:50:44,273
Before Franklin Delano Roosevelt,

1954
01:50:44,275 --> 01:50:47,042
there had been no unemployment compensation

1955
01:50:47,044 --> 01:50:49,111
or social security,

1956
01:50:49,113 --> 01:50:51,847
no regulation of the stock market,

1957
01:50:51,849 --> 01:50:54,816
no federal guarantee of bank deposits

1958
01:50:54,818 --> 01:50:57,786
or labor's right to bargain,

1959
01:50:57,788 --> 01:51:02,257
no national minimum wage or maximum hours,

1960
01:51:02,259 --> 01:51:05,294
no federal commitment to high employment,

1961
01:51:05,296 --> 01:51:07,796
and no price supports for farmers

1962
01:51:07,798 --> 01:51:10,032
or federal funds for electric power

1963
01:51:10,034 --> 01:51:12,534
with which to light their homes.

1964
01:51:15,138 --> 01:51:17,940
But for all the new deal's achievements,

1965
01:51:17,942 --> 01:51:22,678
the american economy was
still struggling in 1939.

1966
01:51:22,680 --> 01:51:24,713
Many of those who most needed help

1967
01:51:24,715 --> 01:51:26,782
were still not getting it,

1968
01:51:26,784 --> 01:51:29,051
and Congress was no longer willing

1969
01:51:29,053 --> 01:51:33,922
to follow Roosevelt's lead.

1970
01:51:33,924 --> 01:51:36,425
The president's attention
was already beginning

1971
01:51:36,427 --> 01:51:39,561
to turn away from reform toward readyin

1972
01:51:39,563 --> 01:51:42,331
a reluctant country for the new crisis

1973
01:51:42,333 --> 01:51:46,401
that now threatened to engulf the world,

1974
01:51:46,403 --> 01:51:49,604
and FDR had begun seriously to consider

1975
01:51:49,606 --> 01:51:51,907
doing something no man,

1976
01:51:51,909 --> 01:51:55,644
not even Theodore
Roosevelt had dared to do,

1977
01:51:55,646 --> 01:51:58,947
run for a third consecutive term

1978
01:51:58,949 --> 01:52:02,284
as president of the United States.

1979
01:52:05,321 --> 01:52:08,790
How can we study history?

1980
01:52:08,792 --> 01:52:12,260
How can we live through the things

1981
01:52:12,262 --> 01:52:16,365
that we have lived through
and complacently go on

1982
01:52:16,367 --> 01:52:20,135
allowing the same causes
over and over again

1983
01:52:20,137 --> 01:52:24,406
to put us through these
same horrible experiences.

1984
01:52:27,610 --> 01:52:30,479
Anyone who thinks

1985
01:52:30,481 --> 01:52:36,118
must think of the next war as suicide.

1986
01:52:38,521 --> 01:52:40,155
Eleanor Roosevelt.

1987
01:53:40,550 --> 01:53:42,384
Tomorrow night on "the Roosevelts,"

1988
01:53:42,485 --> 01:53:45,721
FDR begins an unprecedented third term.

1989
01:53:45,822 --> 01:53:48,457
Why is it do certain moments produce

1990
01:53:48,558 --> 01:53:50,525
exactly the right human beings?

1991
01:53:50,627 --> 01:53:51,526
Eleanor campaigns

1992
01:53:51,627 --> 01:53:52,728
for civil rights.

1993
01:53:52,829 --> 01:53:54,162
There was that confidence

1994
01:53:54,263 --> 01:53:56,264
that Mrs. Roosevelt would get it done.

1995
01:53:56,365 --> 01:53:58,300
And America goes to war.

1996
01:53:58,401 --> 01:54:02,003
I ask that the Congress declare

1997
01:54:02,105 --> 01:54:04,773
a state of war.

1998
01:54:04,874 --> 01:54:07,542
"The Roosevelts: An Intimate History"

1999
01:54:07,643 --> 01:54:08,877
tomorrow night.

2000
01:54:10,213 --> 01:54:12,147
Tuesday, September 23 on PBS,

2001
01:54:12,248 --> 01:54:14,749
American masters presents "The Boomers".

2002
01:54:14,851 --> 01:54:16,284
People of my generation

2003
01:54:16,386 --> 01:54:19,254
were in a hurry to be
the first of everything.

2004
01:54:19,355 --> 01:54:20,722
The new theory of consciousness.

2005
01:54:20,823 --> 01:54:21,890
Sex, drugs, and rock and roll.

2006
01:54:21,991 --> 01:54:23,425
I never set out to shock anybody.

2007
01:54:23,526 --> 01:54:24,426
Women's liberation.

2008
01:54:24,527 --> 01:54:25,694
Inventing the personal computer.

2009
01:54:25,795 --> 01:54:27,462
To participate in space flight.

2010
01:54:27,563 --> 01:54:29,431
We thought we could rule the world.

2011
01:54:29,532 --> 01:54:30,732
Anything was possible.

2012
01:54:30,833 --> 01:54:32,067
Meet these and other boomers

2013
01:54:32,168 --> 01:54:33,568
who made the list, "The Boomer List."

2014
01:54:33,669 --> 01:54:35,037
Oh, right, okay.

2015
01:54:35,138 --> 01:54:37,906
On American Masters,
Tuesday, September 23,

2016
01:54:38,007 --> 01:54:39,608
only on PBS.

2017
01:54:41,044 --> 01:54:43,678
To learn more about
the rich history and legacy

2018
01:54:43,680 --> 01:54:47,249
of one of the most influential
families in American history,

2019
01:54:47,251 --> 01:54:51,553
go to PBS.org/theRoosevelts.

2020
01:54:51,555 --> 01:54:53,522
An intimate history"

2021
01:54:53,524 --> 01:54:56,158
is available on Blu-ray and DVD.

2022
01:54:56,160 --> 01:54:58,493
The companion book is also available.

2023
01:54:58,495 --> 01:55:03,965
To order,
visit shoppbs.org or call 1-800-play-pbs.

2024
01:55:03,967 --> 01:55:06,243
Also available for download from iTunes.

2025
01:55:06,244 --> 01:55:11,127
sync and corrected by ninh
www.MY-SUBS.com