he loved franklin roosevelt. he actually survived franklin roosevelt. i think he, i think he thought of franklin roosevelt as his kind of like a naughty nephew that he indulged. but it's a kind of interesting thing. and, of course, in the 1920 roosevelt was the vice presidential nominee. on the democratic ticket, he was a strong supporter of wilson's, of course, by then wilson had become an internationalist as we now think of him, promoting democracy abroad, the 14-point program for the reinvention of europe as a kind of american-style democratic community. um, fdr was a strong supporter of that after the war, after, i mean, after the election which the democrats lost. america lapsed into a kind of isolationism, but franklin roosevelt was very active in the founding of the council on foreign relations in new york which was a gathering of kind of -- actually, it was a kind of republican organization. it was very much dominated by henry stimson and william howard taft and some of the other republican elder statesmen. probably would have had theodore roose

the third revolution, led by franklin roosevelt, ranks i believe with those of washington and lincolnin the profound changes that worked in the lives of so many americans. aimed to fulfil that third ideal of the revolution, fraternity. the roosevelt revolution raised the proletariat into the middle class and we calibrated the material standards by which americans could expect to live. the american experience, the american democratic ideal called for communal, fraternal action to provide for the general welfare. american historical experience always combined individual efforts with neighborly cooperation for the common good. we often think of american development in terms of rugged individualism and indeed individualism was important especially in the earliest days of colonial america. if you word a rugged, tough be personal strong individual you probably died. but think of those days of nineteenth century america. bond -- bar and raising was the neighborly operation. removing huge sums from farmland. there was a rugged individualism that was consistent fraternal cooperation. otherwise

thomas jefferson one and franklin roosevelt and the other there were several presidents jackson rose teddy roosevelt lincoln who had battles of the supreme court where they of the same nature well they were of similar nature in terms of the balance of powers among the branches of government and there has traditionally tended to be a clash between progressive presidents and conservative supreme courts and robert jackson who was roosevelt's attorney general and became as you know justice of the supreme court he wrote a book about this called the struggle for judicial supremacy back nine hundred forty one to describe this is the most persistent rivalry in american history which is that rivalry between progressive presidents and the conservatives work or. the balance of power between the legislative executive branches of the judicial and the third among equals as become the first among equals i want to get into you know what. kind of round this out and what happened in thirty five thirty six thirty seven in then. and wrap back around to what might happen with the obama presidency and what

the research room to distract myself, and i came across a set of finding aids for writing by franklin roosevelt. i never thought of fdr as much of writer, not compared to the doctor roosevelt or woodrow wilson or various world leaders, such as winston churchill or lenin. before i could think more about the question, there came my boxes, and so i put away the thought in the back of my health but fast forward several months. in the meantime, i dropped my dissertation, taken a leave of absence from school and started work at the legal assistance as a law firm. at one point the editor0s a journal, invited know write an article about franklin roosevelt for the journal. i didn't want to use my abandoned disdissertation and had little time for research. so i thought i would take up franklin roosevelt's write to see what he had written before he was president. so i ordered copies of the article from the fining aids of fdr's writings, especially from the 1920s when he was in private life and trying to recover and had used writing as a kind of therapy for himself. when i read the airlines discovered to m

but, also, it's franklin roosevelt that we now think about historically, and that is the franklin rooseveltf the new deal. the fdr memorial in washington heavily concentrates on the depression, it concentrates on his domestic policies, on his conservation, his stewardship of, of national parks and so on, all of which is true. but to the total exclusion of certain other aspects of him. you would never know that the great conservationist was also one of the great dam builders of the 20th century which is somewhat anathema in our time, but fdr thought that was a very logical thing to do, to generate energy and to put people to work. also you would never know that this was a monument to the man who prosecuted the greatest war in american history and very vigorously prosecuted it. and i don't think reluctantly prosecuted it. so one of the -- and i think that's, i mean, obviously, any student of roosevelt will know that, but when you go to the roosevelt memorial in washington, you're only seeing the -- you're, essentially, seeing the 1997 sort of congressionally-approved view of franklin roosevel

one of franklin roosevelt secrets of success was his mastery of the principal medium of the day, radio. roosevelt's fireside chats became legendary as roosevelts way of getting around the largely republican newspaper press of the day, and speaking directly to individuals. ronald reagan a little bit, jfk even more, was the master of television. i do not know if the media, and it is very plural today, can have a master. i will just add one thing at this point on obama. george is right that the american economy is in the worst shape it has been in since the great depression. having said that, barack obama just might get reelected. amazing, given the context of the economy. presidents don't get reelected. historically, there should be an uprising within the democratic party. he should be having to fight off challengers for the nomination. he is not. if i were making but today, i would say obama is a point to win, in part because the republicans cannot figure out who they are, and there is a situation where the only type of candidate they are able to nominate, and this is not simply because

welcome to this keynote session of the eighth annual roosevelt reading festival held at the franklin d. roosevelt presidential library, henry a. wallace visitor and education center. i'm bob clarke the center organizer at the library and it is my great push an honor to introduce our concluding session today, and james macgregor burns, conversations and ratings with james macgregor burns, michael beschloss and susan dunn. because of the special format of the keynote session there will not be a question and answer period. mega-band. i'm certain a wide-ranging discussion between these eminent historians will provide more than enough food for thought today. i would also like to balance the presence of our friends from c-span who are here today. we appreciated as always their support and participation in the roosevelt reading festival and the good work they do in bringing the festival and into the homes that are not able to come to hyde park in person. franklin roosevelt a great collector books and an amateur historian in his own right once wrote that books are always faithful friends and

so franklin roosevelt concluded a lend-lease program. that's what it was called, the lend-lease program. even president roosevelt at the time said in his writings, he considered this probably unconstitutional. but he had to do it to save our country. because it was a crisis. and he acted boldly to do it. now, there was no clear authority for him to do 25, but as i point out, there was no prohibition against him doing that, either. there was no prohibition against explicitly in the constitution to prohibit thomas jefferson from making the louisiana purchase. there was no express prohibition against lincoln signing the amans makes proclamation. there was no express prohibition against franklin roosevelt -- signing the lend-lease deal. so again i point out where meaning is unclear and the 14th amendment the meaning is kind of clear but we do have a court case, perry v. u.s., 1935. read it. read what chief justice hughes said in his opinion. he said quite clearly -- quite clearly that congress has the power to borrow money. that's a good thin

truman inherited the president of what franklin roosevelt was the death in 1945. he won by a very narrow margin in 1948. republicans were so embittered in large part because they had taken the high road on foreign policy. they were so sure they were going to win that they did not want to spoil the realm of foreign policy they were going tread themselves. truman squeaked past. the morning after, republicans made the collective decision that they would destroy the presidency. they went into opposition right across the board. when china went communist in 1949 and when the korean war began, they essentially destroyed truman's presidency. there was no constitutional ban on truman running for election again in 1952, but he was so unpopular that he could not have gotten the nomination even within his own party. he packed up and went back to independence, missouri. this unrelenting competition, unfortunately, sometimes it works. it has worked pretty well against obama. i say this despite the fact that he has done about as well as anybody could have. given what george call

at one point the editor of thedo journal invited me to write an w article about franklin roosevelt for the journal.for t i did not want to use my dissertation, and i was working lawyers hours with very little time for research. as a result i decided i would take up the idea of franklinso t roosevelt ratings to see how what he had written before hetet was president had influenced the new deal. with help from a friend i've w ordered copies of the articlesif from the finding of fdr's ridings. especially those from the 1920', when he had polio and was ine w private life trying to recover d and had used writing as a kind of therapy for himself. when i read the articles i i discovered, to my greatmyre surprise, that fdr had written several pieces on diplomatic relations between the united o states and japan, which heben wanted to t improve. bu he declared the largest stickini point in relations between japan and the united states was the question of japanese immigration. and fdr in the 1920's had added that the exclusion of japanese immigrants from the united states and the discriminatory la

d kl >> the eleanor roosevelt and franklin roosevelt. it was complicated.a bedro he had his go friend living in r better next to him. he had heard girlfriend living next to her in the white house together.gether the american public to know any of this. the fascinating thing about the story is frank thomas girlfriend, turned out to be essential to helping these two figures become the great heroesh of american history that led usr to the great depression and the world wars. it is an essential piece of the stories, extramaritale relationships, and it is an important piece which has been t long ignored.our >> let me take a caller to. he will hear character three a c chapters story. let's hear from my collar in alaban, alabama. one nation under sex. go ahead. >> this is bobby more in auburn onabama. one of your buddies, woody harrelson to put you in that movie. i know that online born plays a big part in his life. how much as a play in yours? >> guest: use the online. >> host: that was his question. that was his question. q >> guest: we have

but unlike franklin roosevelt, they were not so bad that he was free to do what ever he wanted. franklin roosevelt was elected after the country had been in a full-blown depression for two and a half years. and in part because of this, americans generally gave him carte blanche to do whatever he wanted to do. he could do no wrong because things were so bad, they couldn't get worse. obama had in mind that there were some major changes to the american financial system, to the american system of government, but he couldn't undertake the steps to get there because everything that he did it had to be weighed, would it spooked wall street, will this make a finance -- the financial crisis a full blown depression? in fact, the full-blown depression did not occur. and one could argue that, well, with the sort of things, you never know whether it wouldn't or would have. but it did not occur and he ought to to get some credit for the fact that it did not occur. but he is not going to get credit because in american politics, you don't get credit for things that didn't happen. you get credit

but franklin roosevelt also loved a good fight. in april 1938 when things were turning sour for him, "the new york times" reported that the president's dutch was up, referring to his famous temper. the man of charm could also be a ferocious opponent. just remember the campaign speech he gave in 1936 before the 1936 election in madison square garden. referring to the wealthy financial barons and economic royalists, he said: they are unanimous in their hate for me, and i welcome their hatred. can you imagine president obama saying anything that bellicose and confrontational? and in that same speech roosevelt repeated the militant refrain: for all these things we have only just begun to fight. and if there was any doubt about his readiness to fight, to improve working conditions, end child labor, help farmers, homeowners and the unemployed, he repeated a few months later: we gave warnings last november that we had only just begun to fight. did some people really believe we department mean it? -- we didn't mean it? well, i meant it. no

owned -- franklin roosevelt, you're smiling, rick.y was better at sarcasm. with file oh speech, destroyed opponents with sarcasm. this president doesn't to team sow have that gift. >> he has his own rhetorical mode an doesn't need to use sar kitsch. this is the position that 60% to 70% of the american people hold. point to 23-30 poll, and he can talk, again, to the broad center of the american electorate, but he can't do that without putting republicans, extremists in his sights. >> okay. why does he make this simple case that nixon was to his left? that he is not a left wing jer that nixon wanted an employer mandate. all our president got through individual, making the individual american responsible for his own health care costs. a conservative idea. why does he left thet tag him as a socialist and guest away with it over and over again, rick? >> he's letting hills be intim dapted. letting them get inside his head. playing to the beltway elite which treats the tea party as if they're somehow the broad center of the american electora

economic problem it was the trade union movement a socialist a communist parties who forced franklin roosevelt to react for example by creating and filling eleven million federal jobs in the one nine hundred thirty s. because the private sector wasn't doing it that kind of courage pushed from below still is active in europe relative to what we have here and that's why it's so painful here and why the rest of the world worries about the deterioration that continues to plague the u.s. economy but what is there kiro replace capitalism the united states that has clearly found a social democracy and europe are working actually while they're crumbling as we speak. yes there have been problems in that arrangement too no one is arguing that there's a magic bullet a perfect system that's to replace it they have to struggle with the inadequacies in their system in europe just as we do here but you begin with all of these kinds of problems by facing the reality that when the system isn't working for the bulk of the people like in this country a recovery that the masses still waiting to experience then it

. >> franklin roosevelt. he had mild manic systems throughout his life which psychiatrists call hyperthalamic personality and i don't think it is an accident that he came up with all of the things that he did in the new deal. >> stephen: so you are agreeing with me, that the new deal was the work of a madman? (laughter) social security, work progression administration government creating jobs is a mad idea. >> it was a brilliant mad idea. >> stephen: you make him sound like a mad scientist. >> no, you know, one of the things about mania is that it does cause a person to have many different kinds of thoughts, many of which are creative. connections happen because the thoughts are going fast and in different directions in a way that in mentally healthy average people don't happen. >> stephen: let's talk about the current crop of republican candidates running-- (laughter) which of them do you think seems the most creative? (laughter) >> i have to say, you asked just the right question because that's what we shou

small wonder then that he turned to franklin roosevelt as a focus of examination. 971 professor burns won the pulitzer prize and the national book award for his landmark study of fdr, roosevelt soldier of freedom. he is also the author of the acclaimed companion book, roosevelt the lion and the fox. together with another of our guests, susan dunn professor burns also co-authored the three roosevelts, leaders who transformed america and the 2004 biography of george george washington. professor burns' 1978 book "leadership" is still considered the seminal work in the field of leadership studies and the theory of transformational leadership has been the basis for more than 400 doctorow dissertations. what he has written about he is also lived. professor burns served as a combat historian in the pacific theater from 1943 to 1946 and he was awarded the bronze star and four battle stars. user democratic nominee for the first congressional district of massachusetts in 1958 and was also a delegate to four democratic national conventions. a member of the american academy of

the progressive dream is it more woodrow with wilson than franklin roosevelt. >> yes, because wilson was a more theoretical, he gave the theory for which roosevelt would pracce. >> charlie: rooseveltlso was a pragmatist too, was he not. >> sure. >> charlie: that's the argument they make about president obama. >> i know they do. >> charlie: he's a pragmatist. look at the economy not brought about by george bush but b an economicollapse and a sub-prime crises and other things. thereaft you needed the programhich you agreed with. >> no. look, the program as advertised might have been all right. we're going to help by the toxic assets of troucdqb financial institutions. i don't see anywhere in that where they're going to go buy general motors. again, you can't -- >> charlie: was george will presented to see general motors go under. >> absolutely. >> charlie: that's th american way. >> well first of all, general motors did go under in the sense it went through bankruptcy. >> charlie: of course it did. was general motors worth being the way it is if in fact they pay back the money and if i

since franklin roosevelt, no president has been reelected in an economic crisis like this one. >> european shares slumped to their lowest level in almost two years on monday. stocks in carmakers and miners bore the brunt. but the news is not as bad as some thought it would be in germany. here is our correspondent in frankfurt. >> there has not been the crash some people feared at the beginning of the session. but it has been a major sell-off for german shares, the ninth day in a row in negative territory. that is down 5 percent, closing under 6000 points. mainly shares have been hit that are very dependent on exports and growth of the worldwide economy -- car shares and shares of steel makers. traders are very nervous at this moment. they fear the turmoil could continue. >> taking a closer look at the market numbers, pretty much the same story across europe. the dax tumbled and the euro stocks 50 is down. the dow jones is down a big chunk, at 5.5%. the euro is down to $1.4787. one thing that has benefited from the decline is gold. it reached another record high monday, touching over $1,700

had far war economics, almost 20% unemployment, david, the governor of new york at the time, franklin roosevelt, said look what i've done in new york he had a strong social democratic plan in new york. is perry able to say, i created jobs in texas, is that my -- that's my plan to do it again. >> perry will be able to say, i have executive experience this president has been learning on the job, i've been the longest serving governor in the country. here's my record, take a look. >> will that sell? >> if perry is convincing as chief executive, you bet it will sell. one point, i think that obama is hoping that these republicans will punch themselves out. he's been a punching bag in the ways we've described but he's hoping they'll look so extreme so completely over the top, raising their hand to salute things the public doesn't agree. >> you said in the washington 2012 race, they're bunch drunk -- they're punch-drunk already, you saw pawlenty and bachman fighting it out for the second round are they sort of worn out and looking for perry to come in? >> i think perry will shake the race up, we'll se

roosevelt home. inside, a warm living room, a big thick shouldered man sat writing by the fire. franklin d. roosevelt's pencil glided across the pages of yellow legal paper. quote, i am certain that my fellow americans expected that in my presidency, i would address them with a candor and a decision which they present the present situation of our nation and tells. the fire hissed and crackled. the large hand with a stick fingers moved rapidly across the paper and wrote, the people of the united states want direct, vigorous action. they have made me the instrumene instrument of their wishes. he scratched out humble because he realized there was no time for humility. during the next two days, frightening reports continued to reach hyde park. piece by piece, the nations credit structure was becoming paralyzed. crisis was in the air. but it was a strange numbing crisis, striking federally and the western cities and then in the south a thousand miles away. it was worse than an invading army. it was everywhere and nowhere, for it was in the minds of men. it was fear, but at hide bark, the next pre

no president since franklin delano roosevelt has won a second term with the rate more than 7.1%. president obama addressed the jobs report while speaking at navy yard. >> we have to create more jobs than that each month to make up for the more than eight million jobs the recession claimed. what i want our american people and our partners around the world to know is this, we are going to get through this, things are going to get better. we are going to get there together. >> the president then -- >> move quickly on things that will help create jobs right now. extend the payroll credit, extending unemployment insurance to help people get back on their feet. putting construction workers back to work rebuilding america. >> joining me now, "the washington post" columnist and msnbc contributor ezra klein, also jonathan alter, thank you both for joining me tonight. >> hi, lawrence. >> so, 1/10 of 1%. help me be optimistic. >> it ain't much. we need 120,000 to keep up with population. you're not keeping up, we very slightly, not by a measurable amount, but slightly fell behind catching u

our economic advice wasn't learned in history lessons learned from the great depression when franklin roosevelt help poor people get back on their feet again by stimulating the economy and took on employment from over twenty five percent to fourteen percent in just three short years we need to kick the supply side economics hucksters out of congress and out of the media and get back to the basics of economics making sure people have enough money to spend to meet their basic needs and not making sure billionaires have enough money in their swiss bank accounts that's it for the big picture tonight and don't forget democracy begins when you get out there get active ted your it will see them.

meltdown happened why didn't they give money to to homeowners it would have been by this what franklin roosevelt did back in the thirty's. he created because most people had five year mortgages back in the thirty's and they were blowing up he said that's fine we'll create a federal agency will buy your five year mortgages turn him into thirty year mortgages and you can pay them off over time the federal government actually made a profit on that over a forty year period with a lifeline for the unemployed they can say ok unemployment insurance like with virtually all the european countries it lasts as long as you're unemployed it doesn't end at the end of fifty two weeks or ninety nine weeks or whatever it lasts as long as you're unemployed so the unemployed still have money in their pockets to spend on creating that demand which is what stimulates the economy congress could close the corporate tax loopholes that allow companies to ship us jobs overseas by the millions they could get our students out of jail debt and into a job but more importantly to fix the problem for good we need to build a ne

that we should repeal this bill nonsense and go back to the kind of emergency measures that franklin roosevelt talking one nine hundred thirty three when he first came into office without some radical change in policy like that. this system this transatlantic banking system and when the real economy of the united states and europe are in fact doomed and that's fair play out over the immediate weeks and months ahead now how will this play out on ordinary people then you're painting a very bleak picture but how does it affect those who think what i've got nothing to do with trading in the markets i'm just going to get on trying carol when my job in life as usual well there is no life as usual in the united states at this point that it's going to hit europe equally hard as i said the real unemployment and underemployment figure in the united states combined is somewhere around thirty percent by and large most american households all of their savings into homeownership there's no savings in the banks for most americans and we've had a thirty percent collapse and home valuations with no end in sigh

suggests that it's tenuous recovery is no time to practice austerity and the great depression franklin roosevelt's new deal generated growth and reduce the unemployment rate from twenty five percent nine hundred thirty two to less than ten percent nine hundred thirty seven however the deficit hawks of that era persuaded president roosevelt to reverse course prematurely and move toward a balanced budget the result was a severe recession that caused the economy to contract sharply and sent the unemployed and unemployment rates soaring only be much larger worktime spending in the early one nine hundred forty s. produced a full recovery so as president obama fallen into the same trap and embraced us there is there any too soon and at the risk of our economic recovery and if so what needs to be done to put us back on track bob bob joins me now he's the executive director of the industrial union council at the a.f.l.-cio bob welcome back nice to see you again thank you great to have you with wisdom but under better circumstances well it's been going on for two years three years arguably it's and in fact

i judge gannett political figure known as franklin d. roosevelt and he could create a consensus he could get things passed in congress you know we had a majority and that's why it's very different right now because obama is very weak and we have a very disorganized and i would say you intensely selfish congress i mean. it's really is just as much their fault as it is alan greenspan's or bernanke he's. well a couple of things i would say first i would agree with what was just said that the fed caused the current economic troubles by inflating the housing bubble and i also agree that the european central bank even though theoretically they had a good single mandate of price stability these indirect bailouts they're doing are reprehensible but my main point is that franklin delano roosevelt extended and exacerbated and worsened the great depression with all of his spending the higher tax rates more government intervention i mean hoover and roosevelt between them were two terrible presidents that kept the economy in the dumps for a long time now the o

are unwilling and unable to take the steps that need to be done we can't even replicate what franklin roosevelt did the last time we were in a mess like this when he created and filled eleven million jobs when he created social security when he really helped from the bottom we don't have the political forces to make our politicians do it and the wealthy and the corporations don't want it so we're not doing it and our problems get worse so then we're almost out of time and i guess i'm looking for a yes or now do you largely grant blame president obama for that because you mentioned f.d.r. and he was known for a number of executive orders and using his power as president to put people to work back during the great depression so do you blame obama for not doing that. no i don't think he's shown much leadership but he unlike roosevelt doesn't have a powerful labor movement pushing him he doesn't have a strong socialist and communist party as we had in the one nine hundred thirty s. pushing him so his pressure comes from the business community from the wealthy who fund all of our politicians now so

about going or for suggesting or whatever might be inspired by things like hamilton or like franklin roosevelt or teddy roosevelt for that matter you know just busting up some of the too big to fail organization some of those old old ideas that ever actually worked we we have about three minutes left or right. well i think the ideas are inspired really across the board ordinary americans are the ones who are going on and uploading ideas like us that we were hoping they will get five hundred even and thousand ideas you look at our papers we'll probably get thousands of missions and we you know we have more than twenty thousand and i'm sure there's a mix the fundamental i think inspiration is that any one particular thinker is of particular value is a value that the last century but the so called american century was a century that the progressive patriots like you and i one. ok in one thousand nine hundred we didn't have a middle class we didn't have you know black people couldn't vote women couldn't vote children were working in the factories and by it was being trashed and some patriots looke

the new deal and never compromised she pushed this thing through she and eleanor roosevelt franklin roosevelt made it happen and made it work president obama read the woman behind the new deal.