and young nurses recruited out of nursing school who signed up through the army student nurse program, the rotc for nurses, and most signed up for those educational benefits. again, it's a whole range of motivation. men who were nurses signed up because if they were drafted. the army would decide they would be good infantry men opposed to nurses. the draft explains men's motivation, but women were different. >> to watch this program, go to booktive.org. type the title or author's name at the top left of the screen, and click search. jean smith recounts the public and private life of franklin roosevelt incoming the battles with polio and the american economy. franklin roosevelt was elected to a 4th presidential term on

november 7, 18944. the program is in new york and it's 50 minutes. >> joining me now to start the session in which we meet jean edward smith, the newest biographyer of fdr, and we're delighted to have a new biography, a single volume biography that makes it accessible for everybody to have the story in one, not exactly small, but one very, very complete volume, and jean was telling me he thinks this is his 25th visit to the roosevelt library. it's a silver anniversary for him in ways, and that's fabulous to have him here on that kind of occasion. i'll read a brief introduction to the book, and then to him,

and then turn it over to him. in this volume, he combines contemporary scholarship with primary source material to provide a narrative of one of america's greatest presidents. we see how roosevelt's restless energy, fierce intellect and ability to project grace permitted him to master countless challenges throughout his life including, of course, his battles with polio and physical disability. smith tacklings roosevelt's shortcomings as well as his triumphs, and in so doing, gives us the clearest picture yet of how this aristocrat who never had to depend on a paycheck came to be the common man and woman's president. that's a wonderful, wonderful story that always deserved to be looked at and retold for all of us. . gene is a well-known biographyer

of 12 books including in addition to fdr, grant, which was a 2002 pulitzer prize finalist, and a new york times notable book. he's written john marshall, definer of a nation, also a "new york times" notable book, and clay, an american life, also a notable book of the "new york times". he's a graduate of princeton and columbia university, and taught at the university of toronto for 35 years. before joining the faculty at marshall university in huntington, west virginia where appropriately enough he is the john marshall professor of political science. it is with great science to welcome gene edward -- jean edward smith. [applause] >> thank you very much. it's a pleasure to speak at the

frankly d. roosevelt library and as cynthia mentioned, i think this is my 25th visit back to the library. my first time here as a speaker, and i'm honored. my remarks today might be entitled, franklin d. roosevelt, liberalism without apology. if there's a subtitle, it would be a nuance look add fdr60 years afterward. i intend to be provocative. for more than a generation, americans have been told that government is the problem, not the solution. on college campuses and think tanks across the country, libertarian scholars got the urge to remove government from our lives. this thinking has led to the privatization of vital

government functions, the appointment to regulatory commissions, of members at odds with the regulations they are sworn to enforce, and the surrender of the government's management of military operations to profit seeking contractors. a look back at franklin d. roosevelt's time reveals how differently americans once viewed government's role, how much more optimistic they were, and how much they trusted the president. in the course of speaking about fdr, i'll take issue with the sunrise of romantism that engulfed them. after 1919, this was not a marriage in the conventional sense. it was a partnership. franklin and eel nor were strong-leftwilled people who

cared for each other's happiness, but recognized their inability to provide for it. there was little affection, but little warned. jb west, head of the domestic staff at the white house, said that in the 12 years the roosevelts were there, the president and eleanor were never once alone in the same room together. i will also take issue with the idea that has gained transparency lately, that the white house contempted to seal the idea that fdr was paralyzed. it minimized it, and photographers didn't take pictures of him being carried about, but my goodness, we all knew he was paralyzed and couldn't walk. why do you think we brought dimes on his birthday? it was to assist the march of

dimes and polio victims. he didn't focus on his disability because it seemed irrelevant. roosevelt's energy and decisiveness made you forget that he was crippled. i'll also take issue with the conspiracy theorists who contend that roosevelt was come police sit on the attack of pearl harbor. there's just as much evidence to link him to tie george w. bush to 9/11. roosevelt was controversial. i don't avoid controversy in the book. even if i wanted to, i don't think i could. roosevelt was a giant, immense in his flaws as well as his gifts, but a giant nevertheless. before talking about roosevelt, if i may, let me say a few words about writing biographies.

one of my college classmates, a famous held writer -- hollywood writer, said writing is like laying pipe, you do it one section at a time. writing is a matter of discipline. i write 7 days a week. i write in long hand on yellow tablets. i get to the office a little before 8 and i stay a little before 1. seven days a week. i write a page or two a day, sometimes i do four or five, but i always stop before one o'clock. it's a matter of pace and consistency. i never suffered writer's block because i know what i want to say the following day. i write each biography cron chronologically. before i begin, i arbitrarily decide how many chapters there will be. grant had 20. fdr has 26.

i research each chapter separately. i treat each one like a term paper. i write it. i finish it. i put it aside and go on to the next one. each chapter takes about two months, and i do not research the entire book beforehand. again, i do a chapter by chapter. any number of people have asked why write a biography of fdr? is there anything left to say? i think that misses the point. a biography is not a ph.d. dissertation or an article in a scholarly journal. it's purpose is not to provide startling new discoveries and bring new facts to light. a biography is a portrait, and any portrait is going to vary based on the skill of the portrait painter and his or her proceedings. a professor of mine said smith,

political science is history well-taught. well, i like to think that biography is history made personal. after 11 books and three biographies, i finally felt qualified to tackle fdr. three presidents dominate american history, george washington who founded the country, abraham lincoln who preserved it, and franklin roosevelt who rescued it from collapse and then led it to victory in the greatest war of all time. elected for an unprecedented four terms, roosevelt proved to be the most gifted american statesman of the 20th century. when he took office in 1933, one-third of the nation was unemployed. agriculturally destitute,

factories idle, businesses closing their doors, the banking system teetered on the brink of collapse, violence lay just beneath the surface. roosevelt seized the opportunity and had a inaugural address that few will forget, restored the banks, and initiated a flurry of legislative proposals to put the country back on its feet. banks were quickly reopened, weak ones consolidated, and despite prize for nationalization, the banks system was saved. roosevelt had no master plan for recovery, but responded pragmatically. some initiatives such as a civilian conservation corp., the ccc that employed young men to reclaim the nation's natural resources was roosevelt's idea

himself. others such as the national industrial recovery act were congressional inspired. for the first time in american history, government became on active participant in the economic life of the country. after saving the banks, roosevelt turned to agriculture. in iowa, a bushel of corn sold for less than a package of chewing gum. in mississippi cotton sold for less than five cents a pound. 46% of the nation's farms faced foreclosure. the new deal responded acreage allotments, price supports, and the farm credit administration, farm mortgages were refinanced, production credit provided at low interest rates. a network of county agents established under the agriculture adjustment act,

brought soil testing to every county in the country. the urban housing market was in disarray. almost half of the nation's home owners could not make their mortgage payments, and new home construction was at a standstill. roosevelt responded with the homeowner's loan corporation. mortgages were refinanced. disstressed home owners got money for taxes and repayers, and new loan cry criteria, longer periods, low interest rates made home ownership widely affordable again for the first time in american history. the glass banking act passed in 1933 authorizing the federal reserve to set interest rates and establish the federal deposit insurance corporation to ensure individual bank deposits. no measure has had a greater impact on american lives or

provided greater security for the average citizen than the federal government's guarantee of bank deposits. the tennessee valley authority also established in 1933 brought cheep electric power, economic development to one the greatest poverty stricken areas in the country. rural lekification which we take for granted today was unknown when roosevelt took office. only 10% of america's farms had electricity, and mississippi was less than 1 pcts. the rural commission established by executive order in 1935 brought electric power to the countryside, aided by the construction of massive hydroelectric projects not only in the tennessee valley water shed, but on the columbia, colorado, and the missouri as well. to combat fraud in the security's industry, roosevelt oversaw the passage of the truth

and securities act, and then in 1934 established the securities and exchange commission as its first head. he chose joseph p. kennedy, send a chase to catch a thief he joked. he established laws with labor rights to bargain collectively and the federal government to regulate hours and set minimum wages. an alphabet soup of public work agencies, the cwa, pwa, not only provided jobs, but restored the nation's neglected infrastructure. between 1933 and 1937, federal government constructed more than half a million miles of highways, 5900 schools, 2500 hospitals, 8,000 parks, 13,000

playgrounds, and 1,000 regional airports. cultural projects employed and stimulated a generation of artists and writers including such luminaries as jackson poll pollock and richard wright. roosevelt saw social security enagented in 1935 as a centerpiece of the new deal. if our federal government was established to promote the general welfares that fdr, it is our plain duty to provide for that security upon which welfare depends. for the first time, government assumed responsibility for unemployment compensation, old age and survivor benefits, as well as aid to dependent children and the handicap. at fdr's insistence, social security was self-funded

supported by cricks paid jointly by employers and employees. americans really don't quite appreciate the fact that in most other industrial countries, government itself provides the major funding for pension plans. those payroll taxes are in there, said roosevelt, so that no politician can ever scrap my social security program. roosevelt restored the country's confidence. he revolutionized the art of political campaigning, revitalized the democratic party, and created a new national majority that included those previously cast aside. his fireside chats brought the presidency into every living room in the country. he gave hope to millions who had

lost it. what may be more remarkable, he did this while paralyzed from the waist down. for the last 23 years of his life, franklin roosevelt could not stand unassisted. now, the riddle really for a biographyer is to explain how this hudson river aristocrat, a son of privilege who never depended on a paycheck became the champion of the common man. the answer most frequently suggested is that the misfortune of polio changed roosevelt. by conquering adversity, he gained new insight into the nature of suffering, and found new sources of strength within himself. that's undoubtedly true, but it really doesn't go far enough i

think. roosevelt's efforts to recover took him every year to warm springs georgia. year after year in warm springs, he was exposed to the brutal reality of rural poverty. all around him he saw hard working people, ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished. roosevelt's patrician instipghted rebelled, and began to form late the -- formulate the ideas of the new deal. when the depression hit, he was the first chief executive to take extensive relief efforts. modern society acting through its government, said roosevelt, owes a definite obligation to prevent the starvation or want of any fellow men and women who try to maintain themselves, but cannot. a social conservative by

instinct and upbringing, roosevelt did more to alter the relationship between ordinary citizens and their government than any other american. he shaped our notion of the modern presidency. in that sense, roosevelt was a natural. he was not especially gifted in any other field except politics, but in politics, he had no evil. roosevelt knew the democratic party better than anyone and could draw a line on the map from the east coast to the west coast and name every county the line intersected, knew the democratic chairman in that county, and one or two office holders as well. he kept a close watch on parties. his appointments were calculated not only to award, but also to co-op. fdr's administrative style is a

legendary mixture of straightforward delegation, flowchart responsibility, and cunning. he was called a lion and a fox. francis perkins, his long term secretary of labor, said roosevelt was the most complicated human being i every met. he kept major decisions in his own hands, played his cards close to his chest, and enjoyed the consternation of his appoints when his -- opponents when his moves were revealed. i'm a juggler he said. i never let my left hand know what my right hand is doing. occasionally he overreached. his wrong-headed 1937 court scheme boom ranged badly and his intervention in the democratic primaries in 1938 was a

catastrophe. he made mistakes. some were enormous in their effect such as his 1937 decision to curtail federal expenditures, precipitating the roosevelt recession of 1938-39. the forced evacuation of japanese americans near their homes after pearl harbor was an inexcusable example of executive overreach. roosevelt expected cabinet officers to run their shows, but he didn't hesitate to reach down if an issue interested him. he handled the nation's diplomacy largely through under secretary sumner wells. the navy he initially ran through chief of naval

operations, admiral w. des moines lahey, when he decided to replace douglas mcarthur as chief of staff in 1934 and sent mcarthur on an inspection visit to hawaii and announced his replacement while the general was en route. he is unshakable optimism transcended to everyone he met. after harding and coolidge and hoover, he seemed like a fresh of breath air in the white house. his self- assurance was what the country needed with the possible exception of ronald reagan who voted for fdr four times, no president has been more is a rein in the conviction regardless of what happened, everything would come out all right. take a method and try it, he

once said. if it fails, admit it and try another, but above all, try something. as commander in chief, he was better prepared than any president before him with the except exception of washington and grant. he was the number two man in the navy department, understood how the services operated, did not hesitate to assert presidential authority. when war clouds gathered in 1939, he passed over the army's senior leadership to name george c marshall chief of staff. as the situation grew tense in 1940, he reached out to the republican party and named henry l. stenson secretary of war, and frank knox of the daily news secretary of the navy. when war came, he turned to admiral earnest j. king to fight the fleet and recalled admiral

lehey to be his own chief of staff. roosevelt nudged the nation towards a war footing. he was determined not to get too far in front of public opinion, but at the same time, to push the united states towards involvement. i have been struck, king george vi wrote to roosevelt, by the way you led public opinion by allowing it to get ahead of you. roosevelt and king were quite close and quite friendly, and i might pause to say, roosevelt generally enjoyed associating with royalty. he called them george and i less beth, and they -- elizabeth, and they also called him mr. president. [laughter] he defies the idea to provide aid for embezzled britain. let me pause there for a moment to say this was roosevelt's idea. he came up with it personally on

the uss houston in response to a letter from churchhill, there was pure -- this was pure roosevelt, it's not from the democracy. it was probably in violation of the constitution and certainly contrary to statute provided 50 seaworthy destroyers to great britain for base rights in the western hemisphere. he didn't connive with the japanese in the attack on pearl harbor. he did not pay as much attention as he should have to the deteriorating stitchings in the pacific -- situation in the pacific and allowed subordinates too much leeway and missed a meeting with the japanese prime minister. it did not expect the attack to come at pearl harbor which the

military believed was inpregnable. fdr can be criticized on a number of issues. he ignored segregation or rush to assist the victims of fascism or admit them to american shores. he coup cavalier about the protection of civil liberties in wartime, but there's absolutely no ed he was come in the pearl harbor. as in 1933, he was restoring the nation's confidence. under fdr's hands on direction, they were the arsenal of democracy. britain was saved from defeat. soviet yet union was provided the material they required, and by 1943, american armed forces had taken the offensive. roosevelt's wartime diplomacy paveed the way for the axes of

powers and an establishment of order based on the rule of law. his relations with churchhill and stalin suggests statesmenship at its finist. on the other hand, his streement of charles was interesting and continues relations, and it would be fair to say that fdr did not fully comprehend the difficulties that would arise with communism or aware of the sea change that was at work in china. the united states was a third-rate military power when the war began. it was the most powerful nation in the world when world war ii ended. roosevelt's personal life has been obscured by his accomplishments. the children's hour at every evening making martinis for his guest, and john gunther, said he

mixed terrible martinis. he used substandard gin or veer mute. the poker games with cabinet cronies, the weekly poe potamic and relations with family and friends demands extended treatment. he enjoyed life to the full, and is unquenchable optimism never faded. not to be overlooked i think, are the four women who played crucial roles in fdr's life. his mother sarah, lucy merser, the woman he loved, lahan, the woman who loved him, and his

wife eleanor. after eleanor discovered his affair with lucy in 1918, their relationship became more professional than personal. it was an armed truce in the words of their son james. they remained together for a variety of reasons, and eleanor was a national personality in her own right, but her impact on the president's life was ten sensual. they moved in different circle with a separate entourage, and only at formal levels did their paths intersect. i say this as an admirer of [applause] roosevelt. she's cannonnized because of what she stood for, but she was a political liability for the president. fdr did not need reenforcement

among liberal and minority voters where eleanor was highly regarded. he needed the votes of the white south and the middle west and the great plains where for many she was an advocate. eleanor roosevelt is a truly great american because she was her own person, but really she did not flourish until after the president's death. the most important figure in the president's life was his mother, sarah. as an only child, franklin grew to maturity in the warmth and security of single-minded paternal devotion. sarah shaped him, supported him, transmitted to him the unshakable optimism that characterized his presidential leadership. seven of sarah's ancestors arrived on the mayflower. if you consider that only 52 of those who arrived on the

mayflower survived, that's an enormous percentage. unlike the cautious hudson roosevelts, these were sea captains and risk takers. her father made a making in the tea trade and a larger fortune in the 1860s in the opium business. sarah lived two years in china, educated in france and germany, and was courted by new york's most ill gibel bachelors including the famous architect, stanford wright. she molded fdr in that tradition. my son is a not a roosevelt at all. she supported him generously, bestowed on him a townhouse that

she staffed and furnished, remodeled the estate here to accommodate her son's political ambitions, and when franklin thought of leaving eleanor in 1918, intervened decisively to keep the couple together. sarah's wealth freed franklin from the necessity of earning a living, and allowed him the luxury of pursuing a political career unencumbered by financial worry. nothing set eleanor everything seemed to disturb the deep and underlying affection they had for each other. like sarah, not been given her due. every man who ever knew her fell in love with her. jon daniels, and lucy was everything eleanor was not. beautiful, warm, affectionate, and gave franklin the attention

that he craved. lucy's mother was described by the washington mirror as the most beautiful woman in washington society. her father, founder of the chevy chase country club and a descend daunt of carl karlton and signer of the declaration of independence. the family fell on hard times, and lucy was working as a secretary when franklin met her in 1914. their relationship formed slowly and in 1917, they were an item of gossip in washington. the daughter of tr and eleanor's cousin and the made of honor at eleanor's wedding encouraged the romance between franklin and lucy and sometimes invited the pair for dinner. franklin deserved a good time she said. he was married to eleanor.

after the affair broke in 1918, lucy and franklin remained close throughout the president's life. she attended each of his inaugurals in a limousine provided by the secret service, met with fdr often in the 1940s, and with was him the day he died in warm springs. missy lahan quietly confident attractive young woman, joined roosevelt's team in 1923 in the 1920 election. she remained at his side until she suffered a stroke in june of 1941. she was not only his personal secretary, but his constant companion, a surrogate for eleanor and lucy. when he cruised off the florida

coast for months at a time to regain his health, it was missy, not eleanor who accompanied him. it was missy who went with him to warm springs, missy who presided over his office, and missy who served as his hostess when fdr entertained. neither eleanor or sarah objected to the arrangement. roosevelt's friends took it in stride. missy was deeply in love with fdr, and the president, if not in love, preferred her company to all others. she died without knowing that the president made her the ben fish rare of one-half of his estate in his will in gratitude for her commitment. 60 years after his death, it's really high time that roosevelt be revisited. the great depression, the new deal, the second second world

war, they are fading memories, the extent to which the united states was threatened is scarcely remembered. the national sacrifice, all but forgotten, all the more reason, i think, we recall this cheerful man who could not walk, stand, unassisted, yet who serenely and confidently guided the nation into a peaceful and prosperous future. he looked at himself from his wheelchair to lift this nation from its knees. thank you very much. i'll take questions. [applause] i can't take credit for the last lines. those were from a keynote address in the democratic convention in 1986.

please. >> i'm curious about why you left out hirojima. i know truman is blamed for it, but it was already in the works. >> the question is why did i leave out hirojima. when the president died in april of 1945, the bomb was not yet operateble. he at albert einstein's suggestion, had the united states pursue the development of the atomic bomb believing the germans were at work on it again. that decision to use it was made far after mr. roosevelt. this was president trueman's decision simply to explain mr. tru man's decision, the military told him, the joint chiefs of staff, that to invade japan would cause 1 million

american lives, and in that context, he authorized the use of the bomb. to ask where the president roosevelt would have done that bearing many mind he didn't have the bomb when he died. to ask whether the president would have done that, it's an iffy questions, and with iffy questions, i invoke a rule. many of you here in the room remember that he was a first base pmen to the washington senators in the 1930s, and he was enormous at first base, hit a long ball, but was absolutely immobile. he was so big, he couldn't run, but every year he led the american league in fielding. he said, how can you possibly lead the american league in fielding? he said it's simple. if you don't touch the ball, you don't make an error.

[laughter] on if y questions, if you can't touch it, you can't get it wrong. [laughter] yes, sir. >> two questions. i enjoyed your talk immensely by the way, and i'm looking forward to reading the book. i've been wracking my brains how long did it take you to write the book because if you said you wrote two or three pages a day, you finished the book in less than an year, and i don't know if that's possible. i'm curious how long it took you to write the book because i know these things take a long time. my second question is you mentioned the assets and littles of roosevelt and why was nothing said about the holocaust? >> i'll answer the first question first. there's two answers. i could say it's taken me 75 years to write it because i'm 75 years old, and i was born three weeks before the president was legislated, and -- elected, and i've been with him

for that length of time. actually, i began to write it after grant was published in 2002, and although i write two pages a day, that's two pages of yellow tablets, and i think that the man mew script when i sent it in was about 1400 pages, so it's condensed when printed, so it took me three and a half years to do the actual writing. i write one chapter at a time, takes me two months to do each chapter because there's a lot of revision and revision. i don't always think that gosh, the first pages of each chapter are better than the last because they are revised frequently. as for the holocaust, i didn't say anything in my presentation. i eluded to the fact he didn't do perhaps as much as could be done to the victims of fascisms,

but roosevelt was concerned about the fate of the injuryish people in europe. he was hemmed in by the national origins act of 1924. those were the days when presidents tended to observe statutes very carefully, and the national origins act of 1924 limited immigration to 3,000 people a year proportionat to the people in the country living here that gave the british isles a good percentage and those quo toes could not be transferred from one country to another. that was a serious problem. secondly, the act required before anyone be admitted, they had to prove that they would not be a liability. they had to bring sufficient funds with them to support

themselves until they could find work or whatever. you could not leave germany. if you wanted to, german, the nazi regime con my skated the assets of those people wanting to leave. even if the quota was available, it would have been very difficult or impossible to be admit because they could not prove to support themselves. what the president did was eventually to permit people in the united states to sponsor people who wanted to immigrate and take financial responsibility for them, but i think that most important answer is that roosevelt believed that the most effective way to help european jury was to defeat hitler as quickly as possible, and i think he and certainly the war department, general eisenhower, secretary mccoy took that view as well that

everything should be done to defeat the germans as quickly as possible, and that was the best way to save european jury. the hands were tightly bopped by the national origins act of 1924 which he really had nothing to do. yes, sir? >> you mentioned that most people knew that he was paralyzed because of the march of dimes. when he was running for president in 1932, they covered so much of his paralyzingness, did the people really know at that point or that he just had a limp? >> i was only three weeks old at that time, and my memory is not as good as it might be. i think that -- i believe that it was well-known, and the photograph everies voluntarily would not take pictures of him, and if someone did, they exposed the

negatives and destroyed the negatives. the reason was it seemed immaterial. roosevelt was so vigorous and dissicive. the fact he was crippled seem immaterial. when he was elected governor in 1928, newsesmen in albany didn't take pictures because they felt it didn't give an accurate depiction of his courage and stamina and ability, so it was, it was not a coffer up -- cover up. people knew it, but they thought it was simply irrelevant. in the back, yes, sir? >> i'm curious to find out your thoughts about roosevelt's likes or dislikes about mcarthur. >> i'm sure you are familiar with the old story that after

the bonus marchs were driven out of washington in 1932, the president in conversation with tugwell here in albany looking at the newspapers the next day referred to mcarthur as the second most dangerous man in the country as i recall the story, the first one being the governor of louisiana, senator long at that time. roosevelt and mrk arthur were -- mcarthur were both prime donnas. their mothers raised both of them. mrs. mcarthur spent four years at west point. i think people don't realize sarah was in boston when fdr was in harvard law school.

roosevelt respected mcarthur's political ability, but to answer the question directly, roosevelt was sufficiently concerned with his ability that when he replaced him as chief as staff, he waited until he was out of town in the great plains when the announcement was made, but in 1940 and 41, mcarthur retired from the army in 35, and then became head of the philippine army, but was not in the u.s. army at that time. when it looked like there was war in the pacific, roosevelt insisted mcarthur given active duty and given command again after foot dragging in the war department who preferred not to have him. it was president roosevelt who insisted he be recalled. they were prima donnas who

recognized each other's abilities. towards the middle of the war there was a question whether the philippines should be bypassed. roosevelt mediated or not mediated, but handle that dispute and came down on mcarthur's side. i think there was a clear respect for each other, and much like the president's respect for huey long. yes, sir? yes, sir? >> yeah, i was wondering how important you think the progressive era is to fdr, and whether biographyers generally pay enough attention to his early career? >> certainly. i didn't mention the formative effect of thee dore on --

tho, eodore on ruse thelt. fdr idolized theodore and it was because the ideas of the progressive era that roosevelt add a young man in practicing law and in the first campaigns for the state senate in 1910 and 12 thoroughly embraced the progressive ideas. i think it had a very diplomacy ceasive -- decisive effect on him. i didn't mention because as mentioned earlier when you try to condense fdr's career into one small volume, you get restricted. >> one more question. >> one more? yes, please. >> i found your talk immensely

interesting and intelligent and the best talk i've heard so far. i've heard a number of talks. you missed out on daisy and fal falla and they were important to him. >> i did, i did. one the greatest campaign speeches of all time is his speech in 1944 when people thought that roosevelt really had lost it and was over the hill, and then came back with a defense who resented the public and criticism, and i did not mention daisy, and again, you know, there were -- roosevelt enjoyed the company of women, and there was nothing al tier your in that, but just enjoyed being around women, and daisy was certainly one of those who made him feel important, i think, and who --

yes, sir, please? >> i owe my existence here to franklin roosevelt. my father worked for franklin in eleanor when he was governor of new york. he was an italian who had been in the italian maritime academy and was a chef, and had done several trips and landed in new york, hopped ship, and worked for jimmy walker who was the mayor of new york and had a speak easy, and he worked for jimmy as a wait tore and frank lynn and eleanor as a day chef. he was an illegal immigrant, and the move ya wanted him. he told fdr, and fdr arranged for him to be put at west point as a chef and arranged for his

citizenship and eventually met my mother, and i wouldn't be here other than franklin roosevelt. >> thank you very much. [applause] thank you. >> this program was part of the 2007 roosevelt reading festival. for more information about the annual festival, visit fdrlib brair.marist.edu. here's a portion of one of our programs. >> thomas, what do you think about hip-hop now? >> sunk to new lows. [laughter] the inspiration for this book started thinking about -- >> sunk to new lows, he said. wow. >> i do. i started writing this book, well, i wrote in 2007, and i believe the dominant artists at the time, not the soul art is,

but the artists who were really driving the media coverage of the genera and really setting the culture tone were soldier boy, and if you believe that to even like the so-called gangster rappers of the early 90s like jay-z is such a decline. >> you're cool with biggie? i have a lot of problems with him, but there's more complexity than what you see now. i'm interested in watching a guy like drake, but i don't think that, you know, one artist guides an entire culture. >> so you say it sank to new lows. explain to me why you feel that way. i mean, these are street poets, okay? why do you feel that they sunk to new lows if they are expressing their reality? >> well, it's debatable if they are expressing their reality.

a lot of them are simply propagating some of the worst stereo types about black people that ever existed. >> but -- [applause] >> okay. but if that's they're reality, should they be silent? >> it's not their realities. some of them -- >> there's a movie about biggie, and we can see he rapped about his reality in the streets. >> no, he was a guy who observed some other people's realities more than his own. i've lived in the fort green area of brooke lin for a few year, and the part of clinton hill that biggie comes from is nice to the parts of the rural south where a lot of -- it's nicer than what james grew up and more nice than the environment my father grew up in. >> the guy was a drug dealer. >> yeah, he made a choice.

i grew up in the suburbed with guys who sold drugs. his mother was a schoolteacher and he didn't have to deal drugs. >> that was his choice. >> it was, exactly. >> what is good hip hop to you? >> well, i want to be clear about this. my book is not about music. it's not a critique about the miter of hip hop. >> losing my cool, how a father's love and 15,000 books beat hip-hop culture. >> it's about a system of value that the music doesn't create, but it provides an echo chamber and magnifies often and glorifies and romantics these ideas. a lot of critics have trouble with this music and inferior to jazz. that's not my argument whatsoever. i'm trying to attack ideas in

cultural values and critique them and talk about what i really see as the secular religion of hip-hop which it's a way of living and a way of greeting someone in the street, reaching for a cup of water, dismissing ideas that are not real. i'm not talking about an artist like andre3,000 as ability, because he does. i don't need to critique the culture if the music was trash, but the reason the culture is seductive because the music and culture is pleasing in a lot of ways. >> that's the history of african-american music in a sense. >> not really. if you listen to a love supreme by john culture, there's no similarities in that and something like the burr print, you know. >> right. [applause]

>> so, i'm a john cold train fan. >> me too. >> i am. i am. i want to go back to my question which i want you to answer directly. what would be good hip-hop? >> well, i can -- we could spend the rest of the -- >> no. what would be good hip-hop since you're saying -- >> good hip-hop music is reasonable doubt by jay-does, ready to die by biggie smalls. now is the concept and message involved in the great music poisen? yeah, it is. if you try to live your life the way jay-z says to, it will end disastrously for you. you will not fly in a private jet most likely. [laughter] [applause] to watch this program in its entirety, go to booktv.org. type the title or the author's name at the top left of the

screen and click search. he examines the legal challenges by both sides throughout the recount process and the announcement of al franken as the winner by 312 votes at of votes cast. he gives this talk in min

minneapolis. >> thanks to my friends for coming to the university of minnesota bookstore and thanks for c-span for being here. it's an honor. here i go. ..