it takes a tremendous toll on fdr. they don't resolve some of the issues such as what's going to happen with eastern europe. they do resolve some of the bigger issues the united nations opiates agreed to join the united nations in the coming to war against japan. however, his health does not recover next slide, please. he goes when he returns home, he goes down to warm springs to try to recover because the first meeting of the united nations will be at the end of april this photograph was taken on april 11th. he died the next day at april 12th in warm springs. now unfortunately one of the people who was with him in warm springs was lucy mercer who had married a man named rutherford who had died recently so lucy was there and when eleanor came down the next stage the body franklin's cousin told her told her that lucy had been there. so eleanor lost her job her husband and found out that he had been seeing his former mistress all on the same day and yet she put together an extraordinarily public face that information did

>> fdr idolized teddy roosevelt. mirrored his career like teddy roosevelt, he ran for state raja slater. like teddy roosevelt he was assistant secretary of the navy. like teddy roosevelt he was governor of new york. and then of course the idea of being a wartime president, you know, he had studied teddy's feelings about creating the great white navy, projecting american force overseas. teddy roosevelt was a tremendous influence over him. politically teddy roosevelt was a colossal -- he tried to expand the american empire. fdr felt very strongly that all of those colonies needed to be free. >> i want to remind folks that they can put their questions in the chat. got a couple, got some here that are cute up. we want to welcome folks from around the country. fdr lovers from coast to coast as you can imagine. as far away from california, omaha, nebraska. houston, palm beach, a course it's a little chilly in d.c. today i would like to be in palm beach. massachusetts, new jersey, vermont, a lot of folks from the d.c. area.

fdr was quite a lady's man. there were a number of ladies that fell for fdr over the years francis perkins relationship with him was somewhat different when she met him they were both young. he was in the new york senate. she was a young labor activist in new york. and she remembered seeing him on the steps of a state office building before he become disabled before he was handicapped and she noticed how he stood very erect. he was a very handsome man and he had a way of holding his head back like this and someone was asking questions and he was answering the questions like this and she said, you know, it seemed like he just had his nose in the air. he seemed, you know, very snooty in those early years, but she noticed there was a huge change that occurred to him after his terrible disability. some people think it was polio others think maybe he it might have been some kind of other neurological disease that he had. there's been some dispute about that. but the fact is he had a very terrible disability that came

fdr, when fdr died flags in moscow were hung at half staff. it was a world shaking event. people just could not believe it. of course, you know it is tragic, as well. obviously death is always tragic. he was only 63 years old. he was carrying the burdens of the world. he was obviously stricken with polio that had to affect him healthwise including his circulation. he was a good eater but he did not eat healthy. fives what eleanor call ed>> create a lot of butter and bread and fatty foods, things like that. he had his five seas. every day at 5:00 he would make himself a manhattan or an old-fashioned those were his favorite drinks. he was, not drinking heavily, but enough to cause damage. he smoked to the three packs of -- a day, he would filter his luckies. that's death on a wheel. and all the burdens of the government, and the war, he had four sons in the military. all in combat. all in danger zones. he's got a wife who, wasn't henpecking him but, i have great admiration for eleanor roosevelt. i think she obviously modernized the office of the first lady, but she was obvio

he said that meeting fdr was like opening a bottle of champagne. he said that fdr was great britain's best friend. they were they were very very good. they got along he came to visit dr. several times during the war in the white house. they got along very well stalin was an outlier because of politics and because of his personal behavior, you know the way he behaved yalta and at potsdam was it was obviously off putting to both fdr and truman but fdr did allow stalin to gobble up parts of eastern europe and the warsaw pact countries at yalta yalta was interesting. i always wondered why they went along y'all too was a was a falling down vacation home for the russian sars. and when the communists came to power they let it fall under ruin, but they chose it as the side of this important meeting which you decide what to do with the world after world war two. how do we divide the world? how do we handle the world? how do we manage the world? you know, they had this arrogant they could really run, you know, country that country or whatever, but you also h

right he votes for fdr four times. but he had in his head a picture of what america was like before the new deal. again, it's about the the practice rather than the theory for him. dixon, illinois was america as it should be and that life. he lived by the rock river was how should live everything there. and that was it that was in his bones. few other things he had he was always very much oriented toward the future and i think this is something he picked up from fdr. if you look at fdr speeches and then you look at reagan speeches including reagan's famous address in support of very cold water in the last week of the campaign in 1964 time for choosing. reagan is picking up fdr's ticks rendezvous with destiny. you and i fdr loved that on radio you and i and reagan does the same thing. it's it's not it's you and me we're talking we're having a conversation. and that kind of orientation toward the future is unusual suffice it to say for a conservative. yes as a conservative. i'm looking to the past but here's ronald reaga

and when fdr became president, he tried it, out he had asthma. and it was a deployment out there, so he didn't like it. his doctor said, get a place that's a little higher elevation. so he asked the national park service to select three different sites as options. one was back in the, it was 30,000 feet out toward the blue ridge. two others were in maryland, and when was the side that was eventually selected to be shangri-la. so he took a small market up there, three on mike vehicles, and decided he liked it. it had been built in the 1930s, about ten works prior, by the works progress administration so it has some room to rudimentary government buildings on the site. they were functional. and so he decided this would work. and so they decided that this would be shangri-la. the name shangri-la had been a very popular british novelist by the names of james feldman, who wrote a book in 1933, called lost horizon, and shangri-la was the himalayan paradise that was talked about in that book. and so, that name was adopted. and they moved in, and on july

banks, you know and provide opportunity for entrepreneurs and others who may not know somebody and fdr to build like a social infrastructure to provide an opportunity for those who who work for it. so that's the kind of of economics i think in capitalism that that this generation would want to see practice and i think by the way, i think by the way, we're seeing some of that frankly in the current administration around the social infrastructure that conversation is very much part of of the new neopolitics. and i know that gen z was a big part of pushing that agenda on to biden's plate in the 2020 election and you wrote in the book about the ways he brought generations the activists and their economic interests into his campaign. i've got another question about a myth or fact about generation gen z that you you didn't cover in the book but in the new york times a couple weeks ago there was an editorial about the the idea of cancel culture and we've seen similar takes on this, you know over the past few years this idea that young people are not tolerant as previous generations were of op

out >> lbj and his big majorities, fdr, i don't know if fdr overcame any filibusters. a turn of the filibuster was used all that often in the 1930s. but if you look at the senate majorities during the new deal years, you're wondering, how did fdr get this program through? 65, 70, sometimes 75 democratic senators. now, some of the new deal programs had to be amended, unfortunately, to get them passed. black people were excluded from some of them. >> not specifically, but -- >> that's right. >> it was domestic workers, agricultural workers who are most likely. the wag no, the national labor -- which is how the government recognized unions when workers wanted it. and the social security. >> would you say the new deal is really the greatest moment in democratic party's history? >> probably because it's the moment when the democratic party is more powerful, is really the majority party and no one really doubts it. it's also able to get in the major bills to create limited, but the welfare state we have. >> moral capitalism. >> yes, in that sense. some people say well, roose

this is not to say that all americans were enamored of fdr. they were not. in fact, he had been attacked already by opponents on the left hand on the right, by both liberals and by conservatives. perhaps the most far reaching of the [inaudible] aisle talk to you about three of them, far-reaching alternatives to roosevelt by his opponents. first one was a plan developed by a california doctor by the name of. the story goes that he was led to come up with some program to help you proficient [inaudible] looking out of his one day and seen women rummaging through the garbage cans for something to eat. but went over motivated, he came up with a plan that was simplistic in his design, that is, they townsend would provide every person over 60 years of age a pension of $200 per month, with the requirement that they had to spend it all in one month, the idea being that the pump would be prompted by this forced introduction of this amount of money into the economy [inaudible] . well, the question he never seriously answered was [inaudible] coming from? in any case, it

lbj and his big majorities fdr. i don't know if fdr had to overcome any filibusters. i don't know if the filibuster was used all that often in the 1930s, but when you look at the senate majorities during the new deal years and you wondering how did fdr get this program through 65 70 sometimes 75 democratic senators now some of those new deal programs had to be amended unfortunately to to get them past black people were excluded from some of them not specifically but yeah, it's right it was but it was a domestic workers. yes. i'm culture workers. that's right who are most of the both from the wagner act the national labor relations act, which held the government helped recognize unions when workers wanted it and the social security too everybody except those people. yeah. that's right. would you say the new deal is really the the greatest moment in the democratic party probably because it's the moment when democratic party is more powerful is really the majority party and nobody really doubts it and also is able to get in the major bills to create kind of limited but r

fdr had taped. truman tried it a couple times but he didn't want anything more to do with it. after april of 1945 he did not touch it. dwight eisenhower taped a little bit. four or five hours or so. real idiosyncratic. it is hard to get a good sense of why he taped, when he did. the best we can determine is it seem to be conversations that might have been sensitive, that he wanted a record of. but the golden age of taping really begins with jfk. kennedy begins taping in the summer of 1962. that last right through till november of 1963. about 260 hours of material. that is both telephone tape, and media tape. the vast majority is meeting tape. lyndon johnson carried on the tradition of taping. johnson, who had also taped while he was vice president, began taping from the very moment that he became president. we have 800 hours of lbj cereal. 670 of them on the telephone, and about 150 of them being meeting tapes. but it is richard nixon who wins the award for the greatest taping scheme that we have se

fdr was auoin to supposed to guarantee. fdr was going to do — supposed to guarantee.y the founders had expected a word. think it means the mid—term elections _ think it means the mid—term elections this— think it means the mid—term elections this year? - think it means the mid—term elections this year? of- think it means the mid—termi elections this year? of course the democrats _ elections this year? of course the democrats who _ elections this year? of course the democrats who are - elections this year? of course the democrats who are by - elections this year? of course| the democrats who are by and large — the democrats who are by and large in — the democrats who are by and large in favour— the democrats who are by and large in favour of _ the democrats who are by and large in favour of preserving . large in favour of preserving abortion— large in favour of preserving abortion rights— large in favour of preserving abortion rights are - large in favour of preserving abortion rights are going - large in favour of preserving abortion rights are going to| abortion righ

an fdr's aids really that that fdr had taped truman tried it a couple times, but but he didn't want anything more to do with it. and so really after april of 1945. he didn't touch it. so i'd eisenhower taped a little bit four or five hours or so really idiosyncratic. it's hard to get a a good sense of rhyme or reasons to why he taped when he did the best we can determine is that it seemed to be conversations that might have been sensitive that he wanted a record of but the golden age of taping really begins with jfk and kennedy begins taping in the summer of 1962 and that lasts right through into november of 1963 about 260 hours of material. that is both telephone tape and meeting tape the vast majority of those are meeting tapes. lyndon johnson carried on the tradition of taping johnson who had also taped while he was vice president began taping from the very moment that he became president and we have 800 hours of lbj material about 650 of them on the telephone and about a hundred and fifty of them being meeting tapes, but it's richard nixon who wins the award for the greatest tap

when fdr said we have to build the arsenal of democracy, we need our young men to go out and serve, and we need our women and our moms to come into the factories, who stepped up? it was ohio. ohioans. we did. when president kennedy said we've got to go to the moon in this decade, a challenge that was outrageous, who stepped up? ohioans who were the astronauts. ohioans who built the rockets and the component parts. ohio. we did. and right now we are coming out of the pandemic, or coming out of the great economic collapse. there is a war. the issues of freedom are all across the globe. here at home, just today, we saw an issue of freedom. average people working their rear ends off, trying to make ends meet, fighting, biting, scratching, clawing. it is about economic freedom for them. climbing to the top, enough money to have a vacation, enough money to pay the bills. that is economic freedom. that's what this campaign is about. i told people i'm not here to get enough fight. i'm not going to win on election day and tried to punish 50% of the people living in this state or in this country.

fdr was in a white house correspondents dinner march 1941 and he said, these plain people, civilianseo as well as soldiers andvi sailors and airmen, women and girls as well as men and boys, they are fighting in the front line of civilization at this moment,fr and they are holdingt, that line with fortitude. he said, the british people need ships from america, they will getsh ships. they need wplanes, from americ they will get planes. they need tanks, and guns and ammunition and supplies of all kinds from america, they will get tanks and guns and ammunition and supplies of all kinds and he said it to deafening applause at the white house correspondentsde dinner t spring ofen 1941. that was the lend-lease act in 1941. that wasle fdr fighting against the nazis in 1941 and how he explained to the press what it would mean. to sign the lend-lease act to empower our allies to fight with everything that they had but everything that we had to push germany back. that was lend-lease. that's the only thing lend-lease has ever been. this year, they literally just updated the language of lend-lease

ahead of such consensus as washington, and fdr. well, no. on the other side of that divide, there was, for a personal example, a time when i was going to talk about kennedy. i was discussing the topic with one of my colleagues. and she said, with some indignation, can you tell me one single thing he did? i knew i was not going to win that argument, i would not pursue it with her. but i think the point is, opinions i have encountered very dramatically, both in his own times and since his death. now, the fundamental complaint, criticism of kennedy has always been matt's presidency was more a matter of style than substance. the glow of camel, and his personal term blended the public to the absence of any significant achievements. well, as to style, he did have that. handsome, energetic, enthusiastic, charming, witty. in short, charismatic, a word, the probably the first time i heard that word used was by robert kennedy, it seemed almost synonymous with him, charismatic. he seemed to epitomize, and they often also applied to his personality, big

fdr wins his fourth term in 1944, right? he dive 82 days into his presidency. the question becomes, the way until 1953 to have a conversation about term limits knowing that you will not get an fdr someone who could stand for three or four years until after the 1953 constitution? it's an interesting question about timing. and then i have this fascinating conversation about ratification. ratification is one of my draw is, i love talking about ratification them. when you think about the 1787 constitution article seven is simple but says this, ratification of the commission of nine states shall be sufficient for the establishment of this constitution. here is the important part -- between the states so ratifying the same. right? so, if you think about periodic constitutional conventions, how do you resolve that issue? when i argue is in 1825, 1863, 1903, those i argue that the convention delegates would not have asked for unanimous ratification. but in 1953 they would be ready for unanimous ratification. it's interesting to me when you think about ratification, sur

and fdr in the united states thought that chaplain's speech. it's at the end of the great dictator where chaplain himself is talking really more than the character that he plays is a is a key moment in terms of thinking about a better world and during his 1941 inauguration. this was for his third term fdr wanted that speech as part of the inauguration day festivities. and so chaplain repeated it. the political orientation of chaplain like the travels of the little tramp. we're often more about the journey than the destination. efforts by scholars by film critics and even by fbi director j edgar hoover to place chaplain into an intellectual box. we're never all that convincing. opposition to what was seen as the communist messaging of chaplain and his immoral personal lifestyle were relatively widespread among conservative americans in the years after world war two. hoover of course had a vendetta against champlin who had never liked. and went to various friendly media outlets to try to encourage them to write a great deal about the controversia

you have mary mcleod bethune vice president of the naacp on fdr's black cabinet. she likely would have been there this 1953 constitutional convention is first to welcome women, right? it was unlikely that women would have been invited to 1903. so in 1953, they get invited to and they come well represented in my story some of the arguments that they would have you you can imagine i have this interesting story about thurgood marshall being frustrated with the equal protection clause not being because of course, this is the the convention would have met before he argues for the second time, right? remember 1952 and then he argus brown versus board of education and then the supreme court asks them to re-argue in 1953, but not till december. the 1953 constitutional convention starts in may. i have him frustrated that the equal protection clause is not holding its weight. what are we going to do about that? one of the art one of the interesting debates would have been term limits for presidents and president in 1953. imagine. yes, it becomes an amendment to our 1787 con