he met with fdr at the white house. in his diaries he describes the meeting, fdr in his typical way when lindbergh entered the oval study he says my daughter and your wife went to the same finishing school. i bet you know each other. they're about the same age and they had this whole conversation about his wife. fdr wrote, i mean lindbergh wrote i didn't realize till later he was disabled. i think he used the word crippled because when you came in the office franklin which is start talking and change a subject and across his desk. he would never stand up because he couldn'tbe stand up. lindbergh wrote fdr was a great conversationalist and an interestingg person. under certain circumstances he could see how they could be friends,s, but he didn't trust him. then throughout his diary you see them acting angry and angry about fdr's policies as he realized more and moreth he has become the voice of opposition to fdr. now, only one instance where fdr specifically addresses lindbergh and, of course, fdr didn't leave a a diary

angry about fdr, his policies. he realizes more and more that he has become the voice of opposite to fdr. now, only one instances where fdr really specific addresses lindbergh and of course, didn't leave a diary or a journal or, you know, autobiography. so you can only get these information him from the secondary sources. but at a press conference. after one of these speeches that lindbergh had given of the reporters says so, you know, the us army air force is desperately in need of pilots. why you bring lindbergh in to the air force? he had resigned his air force reserve commission and fdr sort of leans back. he often did with his about tell. long story and all reporters like, okay, here we go. and he tells a story about this civil war copper head of letting him i believe it was a, who opposed the war with the south. and he talked about all the appeasers back then and he talked about all people that told george washington, he said, surrender at valley forge because americans were never going to be able win the war

he was fdr ooh -- fdr's congressman and let's just say they hated each other.laughter] with a passion that goes back many years. so many wanted lindbergh to be the republican candidate opposing roosevelt in the 1940 election.. but lindbergh really did not want to hold public office, he wanted to the maintain his independence and even other isolationist groups wanted to drag him in. he said, no, i will simply speak my truth, but i don't want to be entangled in that. so the republicans nominated wendell wilkie, a former democrat. boyish good looks, a shock of unruly hair. he had a real charisma on the campaign trail. he opposed fdr's policies, and he was a very serious contender. aup gallup poll showed that willkie and roosevelt were in a close race, 51 for roosevelt, 49 for willkie which is really within the margin of error, so it was a tight race. that summer of 1940 was a terrible time for winston churchill. germany was bombing london and england every day. there were setbacks for the british army in north africa and, of course, german u-boats were sinking the

fdr gets awoken at 2:50 a.m.e war has begun fireside chat he acknowledged would maintain his neutrality. that does not mean that you have to be neutral it does not mean you need to ignore your conscience. your signaling life in the beginning were his sympathies lay. ten days later charles lindbergh delivered the first of many radio speeches in which he took direct opposition he said quote we are likely a million men several million, the best of american? if we enter fighting for democracy abroad we may end up by losing it here at home. lindbergh also used a popular anti-semitic trope about jews controlling the media. he said quote you represent a small minority of american people but controlled much of the machinery of influence and propaganda. they seize every opportunity to push us closer to the edge. and so began this war of words between the president of the unitedd states and a popular celebrity hero. one of the things that makes lindbergh so effective is he has this mild midwestern accent. he spoke very cle

fdr was reading.and so there ended up being all of these letters that were sent in to yank in response. trimingham letter. and what's really interesting is the army had a strict policy of racial segregation. the entire military did. it was the official viewpoint of many high ranking people that it was not the time to try to integrate forces. it was too much. we needed to just focus the war, so we needed to have complete segregation. well, when you go overseas and fight, war is chaos. you're not going to be enforcing racial segregation, the battlefield. and what happened is a lot of segregated units became integrated units, and they realized that they fight very side by side. and they we have an awful lot in common. and they felt they had one enemy, which, you know, germany or japan, depending on who they were fighting. and they read jim ingham's letter. they just thought, this is ridiculous. like here we are fighting overseas us and we see that we are all fighting against the same thing. and then at h

from fdr. it turns out that fdr had a long-standing relationshipes wih the navy in doing presidential cruises. in fact when the first eight years of hist presidency he spt more shipboard time than many active naval officers averaging almost 50 days a year on a naval vessel. and what he liked about it was he trying to fit in as best as that commander-in-chief can. he likeded to do everything the crew is doing one thing the crew did is a printed a shipboard newspaper that protect gossip. printed where the ship would be going. i would have the entertainment available that night he would have the menu that would be served that day. fdr loved these newspaper so much that if you go to the library and archives his copies of his newspapers are there. he preserved them and brought them home but some even have franklin roosevelt written across the top. so when marshall said would you be okay with us having a military newspaper program, fdr a love that he gave his wholehearted approval. the army create wh

and i think i'm the one here today talking about air rather than fdr. and also a film and television historian. so my topic's a little different than everyone else today, but over the years, i found myself recognizing that eleanor was not a pioneer in print and radio but she's the first woman in the united states to host major public affairs, broadcast television. and that's something nobody about, but quite a big deal today with mrs. aired weekly on nbc 1950 and albert einstein made his first television appearance as. a guest on her show on the premiere that also featured robert oppenheimer after working in europe with the united nations she came back tv with mrs. roosevelt meets the public weekly on nbc 1950 and 51, both of these shows were lead ins to meet the press. a program on which she also appeared many times. she would not have another regularly scheduled television show until 1959, but was able to express views on political candidates and focus more on her own issues. with appearances on popular shows throughout the decade. her speeches for th

book eleanor roosevelt on screen and i think i'm the only one here today talking about er rather than fdr and i'm also a film and television historian so my topic is a little different than everyone else here today, but over the years i found myself recognizing that eleanor was not just a pioneer in radio but she's the first woman in the united states to host major public affairs broadcast televisionle and that's somethig nobody talks about, but quite a big deal. today with mrs. roosevelt aired weekly on nbc in 1950 and albert einstein made first television appearance as guest on her show on the premier that also featured robert oppenheimer. both of these shows were lead-ins to meet the press, program which he appeared many times. she would not have regularly scheduled show till 1959 was able to express view on political candidates and focus more on her own issues with appearances on popular shows throughout the decade. her speeches for 1952, 56, 1960 democratic party conventions were televised earning higher ratings than the speeches of former president truman and she made notable nation

roosevelt, who spoke to her husband and fdr. then said to the budget director, oh hell, let them have the recording. eleanor roosevelt certainly had a soft spot for anything related to the race homesteads, but she and the president also shared a special appreciation for folk music. in 1933, she signaled this interest publicly by attending the white top folk festival in virginia, where she said in a short speech, quote, historically, as well as esthetically, folk song stories and dances are of value. even this tepid statement represented a change from previous. since the roosevelts, perhaps the first white house occupants to show even the slightest interest in folk music. in addition to eleanor's love of square dancing, she said fdr was particularly of american folk tunes, and he often invited string bands to warm springs as. alan lomax later told it, quote, he fell in love with all of the old, and they used to get drunk together, moonshine. and he loved fiddle tunes. you're probably familiar. that very famous photograph of of, f

the sun a good friend eleanor fdr secretary of the treasury.onthly just before the owner's staff in 1962. once again she attracted some the most cultural of the error areaincluding ralph bunch, henry kissinger, luis, edward r murrow, julius, burchard russell, at least stevenson, paul tillich and john f. kennedy as senator and president. she despised jfk's father had to bege convinced the younger of te kennedys. some of her anti- candidate remarks were unfortunatelyly incorporated into television commercials for republican richard nixon. for home she also had little respect. eleanor roosevelt spoke with authority. yet she had a kind grandmotherly appearance and delivery as she aged television commentators and guests often behave deferential to her personages resisting the sexualization that plague most women at the time. although she hadto consistent vy few confronted want to be that medium regular provided an effective platform for her liberal voice during the eisenhower years and beyond. because of her status as a larger-than-life figure both

books include god bless america the surprising history of an iconic song and a chance to harmonize how fdr's hidden music unit sought to save america from the great depression. she has published articles in york "new york times," slate, humanities and other outlets and has written and produced audio stories for kate l a w public media. sheryl has received research and writing support from the national endowment for the humanities, the click center of the libra congress, southern association for women's historians, franklin eleanor roosevelt institute, american musicological society, association for recorded sound collections, music library association and society for american music. sheryl has earned her phd in music with an ethnomusicology focus from harvard and a ba in music from oberlin. originally from the san francisco bay area she currently lives with her family in berkeley, california. please welcome, help me welcome sheryl kaskowitz. [applause] thank you so i it is y to be back at the library. i came here twice to do research and. i was looking back in my files, 12 collections was wh

he said so to a friend, and it was an open secret in washington that fdr could die at any time. truman used to say to whomever would listen that he did not want a path to the presidency for himself to run through the back door of the white house. and so, all in all, this meant that roosevelt's death was was expected. it was expected. and so on. the late afternoon of april 12th, 1945, i'm. 1945, when truman accepted a phone call and was told to get to the white house immediately, he knew his ascent to power was anything but accidental. when he set down the phone and talked to the people in the room at the time, his words were jesus christ and general jackson. and why did he put those together? i'm not sure he knew that the president passed away. of course, there never would have been an ascent to power for truman if fdr had not in miserable health selected truman to be his running mate at the democratic national convention in july of 1944. and there in, as you'll see in my book, there lies a tangled tale of chaos and duplicity, intentionally orchestrated by fdr. he had already he

but then fd, r -- fdr reneged, changed his mind.gave in to the chose of the big city democratic -- the choice ofem the big city democratic bosses. and f so from his train, from rs relate's train the ,000 miles to the west on san diego on the opening day of the convention, roosevelt chose truman if x. truman had told everyone, including his wife -- which is important -- including his wife that he would nebraska accept -- he would never accept. but he did. and so a few weeks after the closeat of that a democratic convention in 1944, a hot, humid day in august 1944, fdr invited the presidential oria the nomin, harry n truman, the nominee, toa lunch and a photo op at the white house. truman wrote about it to the his wife, bess, and he said we dined in the backyard of the white house, he called it the backyard, the south lawn. under a tree planted by old andy jackson. he loved jackson. and there's a famous photograph that shows roosevelt and truman sitting at this round table under the jackson'. if -- the jackson tree. and they'd taken o

he is spoken at the fdr presidential library in the past. at the john f. kennedy library and also determine presidential libraries. as well as grants cottage national baseball hall of fame and museum in various institutions universities across the country. here lives in new york state and here to talk with us about his recent book. >> thank you. i think the first question is first offered thanks to all the great people here for having me. it's an honor to be here everyone is so nice. it's an event i look forward to even when i am not speaking i show up as a spectator, that is how much i like it. why write a book like this if you are a presidential historian and such? before that i was doing in baseball history and in the book gangster.ld underground figure in a few years ago a couple years ago i got a call from somebody i had been doing one of these things on cable tv we argue about the events of the day. i says hey it, and do a radio show about broadway would you come on and talk aboutbo arnoldn broadway in time square? i said yes i can. because right aft

roosevelt and fdr said, let them have their recording machine.d the president shared an appreciation for folk music in 1933 signaled this publicly attending the festival in virginia and said in a short speech, historically as well as aesthetically, the folk song stories are of value. even this tepid statement was a change from the previous, since the roosevelts were those in the white house who loved the music. and he was fond of it and invited them. he fell in love with the old fiddlers and got dunk on moonshine and folk tunes. and you're probably familiar with the photograph fdr warm springs, the little white house sitting with a string band. so the roosevelts brought it in as well. with the virginia reel and the new deal went beyond the roosevelts, vice-president john garner and advisor tommy corcoran entertained the president by playing traditional tunes together. and other high up members of the administration including the secretaries of the interior, agriculture and the treasury were all known for folk music which rang out all over washing

fdr is a big part of the deadlock. the democrats had the majority. in the legislature, which was unusual at the time and a deal is made eventually putting another democrat in in the meantime he you know creates gets a lot enmity from him a hall but then i think he's well he's a -- politician and he realizes if you're going to, you know, not move to wyoming or somewhere, you you better make your peace with tammany hall. and so by time of the 1920 convention, sinn and he's already been a member of the wilson administration and he's learning the ropes more and more and he's also picked up a guy named louis howe who's going to say, cool it, franklin, you know, you know, don't, don't shoot all your ammunition here. you know, you've got to live to fight another day. he's palling around with al smith at the 1920 convention. at some point, he gives him a vote or two. and smith become he's really at that point becomes a protege of smith smith builds him up at the 1924 convention. at the 1928 convention, makes him the governor really and when tammany dedicates

the delegates all knew how sick fdr was. they knew without question they were choosing the next president of the united states. and that is really stayed with me. that is a good point. he wask. white but he was blacke was a descendent of slaves. i think one of the presidents of the united states sired some of his ancestors. i was actually white. he was in new york city and passed his white upper new york society. but he was the head of this committee and the legendary character. >> i grew up in the hudson valley. i am a member of the truman librarym institute. i am a fan of harry truman. i up to chapter 11 on your book and i have enjoyed every page. but i do have a question for you a quick visit equivalent? >> it's an open question. back when eddie jacobson visited truman those two times. in your book you mentioned margaret truman pooh-poohed it and said eddie was like hundreds of other people that harry truman knew. however i don't think harriet would have admitted hundreds of other people but i wanted to see him. i wanted

and on behalf of the fdr presidential library museum. i'd like to welcome you all to 20th anniversary i would like to welcome you all to the 20thg anniversary of the rows of reading festival. fdr planned from liber to become the premier research institution for the study of the entire roosevelt era, at the library research room is consistently one of the busiest of all presidential libraries. this year's group of authors reflect a wide variety of research done here, and in this similar institutions throughout the country. so let me quicklyly go through e lay of the land here. we are going to talk for about 30-40 minutes or so and then the would be some timee to do questions and answers. we are in the c-span room so if you're going to ask a the quen we need you to come up to the microphone you don't ask a question until you getet to the microphone, asked the question and then the author will respond. we want to make sure we get the question on audio. and it is my pleasure to introduce our next author, david pietrusza, the author of many b

of course, there never would have been an ascent to power to truman if fdr had not in miserable health selected truman to be his running mate at the democratic national convention in july of 1944. and therein, as you'll see in my book, there lies a tangled tale of chaos and duplicity intentionally orchestrated by fdr. he had already promised two individuals, didn't know this between themselves, two individuals to the vice-presidency. wallace, lef henry wallace, the current vice-president and timmy roosevelt, probably the most qualified-- burns, thank you, i say roosevelt. byrnes. i have a scholar here in the audience. timmy byrnes, probably the most qualified and sometimes called the assistant vice-president, but then fdr reneged and changed his mind and he gave into the choice of the big city democratic bosses. and so, from his train from roosevelt's train 2000 miles to the west in san diego on the opening day of the convention, roosevelt chose truman. and truman had told everyone, including his wife, which is important, including his wife that he would never accept, but he did. and s