it was his vision for the mountain that made roosevelt come to the for. because roosevelt is the only person to have actually visited south dakota on the mountain. neither of the other presidents did so. he admired him greatly and roosevelt spent three years inside ranching. and getting up to other hijinx as we saw. that's what puts roosevelt on there. but when the mountain was being carved in 1931, roosevelt was very much the junior partner among the presidential greats. in fact, most people didn't see roosevelt as among the gratsz of washington, lincoln and jefferson. in the 1920s and 30s, there was an effort to memorialize theodore roosevelt on the washington maul. for it's the place thomas jefferson is memorialized there. that was originally slated for theodore roosevelt. but the american people and congress didn't think he measured up to the other greats like washington and lincoln. and so, jefferson got the spot. but roosevelt has great memorials around the united states. it's now in d.c. in the title basin. but in the potomac, is 88 acres of great w

it was his vision for the mountain that really made roosevelt come to the four. that's because roosevelt is the only person to have actually visited south dakota that is on that mountain. none of the other three presidents did so norbeck admired him greatly and he wanted him there because roosevelt had spent three years in north dakota as we saw there in medora three years ranching and getting up to other hijinks as we saw. so that's what puts roosevelt on there, but when the mountain was being carved in 1931 roosevelt was very much the junior partner amongst those presidential grades. in fact, most people didn't see roosevelt as among the greats of washington lincoln and jefferson. how do i know that well? in the 1920s and 1930s there was an effort to memorialize theodore roosevelt on the national mall. they wanted to put roosevelt in a sacred space in washington dc. in fact, it's a place where thomas jefferson is memorialized today the title base. that area was originally slated for theodore roosevelt. but congress people in the american public just didn't think

so that's what puts roosevelt on there. but the mountain was being carved in 1931, roosevelt was very much the junior partner amongst those presidential greats. in fact, most people didn't see roosevelt as among the greats of washington, lincoln and jefferson. how do i know that? well, in 1920s and 1930s, there was an effort to memorialize theodore roosevelt on the national mall. they wanted to put roosevelt in a sacred space in washington, d.c. it's the place where thomas jefferson is memorialized today. the tidal basin. it was slated for theodore roosevelt. but congress people and the american public just didn't think that he measured up to the other greats like washington and lincoln. and so jefferson got the spot. but roosevelt had some great memorials and monuments all over the united states. and also beyond internationally. jefferson's memorial is now in d.c. in the tidal basin, but roosevelt's site is in the potomac. it's 88 acres of great wildlife trails in the nation's capital. and there's his memory everywhere. in new yor

the draw. franklin roosevelt elected in 1932. during that first four-year term got zero, as you mentioned, paul. he had a super majority in the house and senate and there was an attack of legislation. the tort bid, the volunteerism of the hoover era was replaced by the new deal and it ran into a supreme court road block. not only did roosevelt have no chance to appoint justices but the nine that were there struck down major reform, relief laws. this is a quick laundry list. the natural incesteral recovery act, railroad retirement act, the tax component of the agricultural adjustment act, amendments to the bankruptcy law and a state minimum wage law. so, roosevelt was the popular, powerful and democratically responsive president. and the supreme court was a tremendous obstacle. so, re-elected overwhelmingly in 1936, he decided to use this on the supreme court problem. >> what was his strategy? >> he took it very personally. he had this dream that the supreme court would cooperate with him in getting his programs through. now, maybe

especially the way roosevelt spun it out. he claimed in the announcement that justices were so far behind on their work, there was a pile of unaddressed certiorari opinions which is, of course, jargon and wasn't true. he also claimed that justices no longer had their fastball, and that was a hard thing to claim about louis brandeis. and so that sort of spin hit a wall of hostility. and it immediately became controversial. now, roosevelt did try to recalibrate, and robert jackson was one of the people who told them you need to start telling the truth about this. it's not about age, it's not about backlog, it's about interpretations that particularly the foremost conservative jobs have poured into the constitution. they've read congress' power to regulate interstate commerce, you know, too narrowly. and they've read states' powers to protect social welfare and use their police powers much too restrictively. this is about the court putting itself and its political preferences in the place of the proper understanding of the consti

roosevelts. i'm paul sparrow, the director of the franklin roosevelt presidential library in hyde park, new york, and we're recording this story on september 17th which is constitution day. what better way to celebrate constitution day than to talk about the supreme court with two outstanding experts on the subject. no president had a more significant impact on the supreme court than the, the dr -- fdr. he appointed eight9 justices during his administration. he helped change american democracy. he got to appoint no justices during his first term. the role of the supreme court has changed over the years and certainly plays a central role in our political process. but headache no mistakes -- make no mistakes, the court has always been political. joining he today is john -- at st. johns university and fellow at the robert h. jackson center. he's the biographer of justice -- [inaudible] and editor of jackson's acclaimed 2003 posthumous book, quote, that >> the last new memoir ralph blumenthal, ldistinguished member and colleague in new york, a new york times reporter and continues to be a contributor

it was not popular from the beginning. rooseveltught it might being which is why he embarked on it but he started losing his natural allies from the beginning of my right on that? >> some of that is archived. you can measure page by page the public reaction and much of it was very critical. ultimately the senate committee report on the president does pull back and there's another version that would've expanded the courts buy two seats i think he well would've won if that would've been pushed through to a vote who was a senator from arkansas who would get it over the finish line. one of the two seats for an appointment. roosevelt was making nice with every member of congress early that summer. and robinson drop dead after the fourth of july one more justice announced he was -- so at that point none of it is worth any more trouble. we can live with nine and you see the dominoes. hugo block is appointed august, and he released an ex tier, douglas the next year, frank murphy the next year, robert jackson and james burn, the next year. r

what was the quality of eisenhower that made roosevelt choose him first for the his inveighs of south africa -- invasion. what was it about eisenhower that really attracted fdrsome. >> i think it makes sense to point out that eisenhower had an amazing relationship with general fox connor. and fox connor took him you should his wing and help -- under his wing and helped him develop some of his military lessons or his military knowledge. fox connor mentioned eisenhower to general marshall, and general marshall introduced eisenhower to fdr as well. >> marshall was the chief of staff and, of course, the point when roosevelt had to choose a leader for the d-day invasion, it ended up being eisenhower, so they had a complicated relationship. >> but i don't think that, the dr felt he could do without marshall in washington at that time. and marshall was an incredible administrator and sowning board for fdr -- sounding board. >> one of the first really important meetings between the two of them took place in casablanca after the north africa invasion. and it was a difficult time for eisenhower

churchill gave the model to president roosevelt and the roosevelt presidential library then transferred it to the eisenhower president equal library. so we are still very proud to share this with our public. thank you. i think that the table, the planning table is one of those objects where you realize the history that happened right there, that men sitting around, the decisions they were making, tens of thousands of lives hanging in the balance and that is eisenhower would handwrite on note saying if anything goes wrong it's my fault, it is so dramatic. >> and you know that he wrote the wrong date on that piece of paper. he wrote july 5th. no one really knows why. we don't know if it was nerves or -- we just don't know. but to see that piece of paper, to see that graphite on the paper and know that it was written by his hand, from his heart, it's an incredibly powerful piece of paper. >> what is your favorite part of this new exhibit. >> i think for me, the most important piece of our development is to share this story with a new group of people who don't have a personal connection to

because of the connection to president roosevelt and all of the activities that he pursued features many titles by roosevelt and then we have books hot off the press, brand-new releases and bestsellers. >> coming in from the book signing as well with her new book, are the crowds turning out for these, are you getting the word out? >> the biggest challenge that we had was the number of people that have come in here. we are still in our soft opening. our soft opening has been about four or five days and we can't keep our front door closed. people are coming in. while the carpenter was building the shelves he told me the biggest complaint was people were coming into a construction zone asking to buy books that hadn't even been delivered yet, so the response has been crazy. there was a line outside of the door the first morning that we were open, and the addition of adam schiff and nelson and newt gingrich is attracting folks not only locally but to the online presence so we have a website and that's been a constant flow of activity as

end of the day that was the litmus test. roosevelt said if everyone can get along with senator truman, he can be on the ticket because he didn't oppose my judicial reform plan. truman, when he becomes president so suddenly, uses this first nomination as a chance to seek some political unity, not just in washington but in america as a whole, because americans then were allowed to openly say there should be a republican or a democratic nominee to the court. >> thank you. one of the things i really like about the book is the truman court story is great, but then there's also these little bits of history that are dropped in, sometimes relevant, sometimes sidebars. but how much has changed and how much hasn't changed, and one of the things that comes to mind with burton was, you write in the book that truman and burton shared a belief that the government should protect americans from subversive threats even at the expense of their individual liberties. and it strikes me, was that a common thing at the time for a democrat and a republican t

the civil war. that was a precursor to this whole thing. so you have to look at roosevelt was planning for a piece at the end of the war. he travel you all to is all about that when he goes to y'all to i'm sorry when he goes to ron. in his last international summit, he's looking for a piece that will go beyond the un was always history in the united nations. that was his dream. he wanted a real united nations. and he wanted the united states with china, with britain, with russia, and with france to be the 5 powers that would be let say, the dominant powers in that arrangement, not one power that would be above it. all. kennedy did the same for he said, we don't want to pax americana, enforced by american weapons of war, in his peace speech, should bear university in june, 16th read the important speech, puts him right in line with, with roosevelt. i think they're very close. and i think the roosevelt inspired him in many ways, all the shunt. thank you. and jeff came and visited through the looking glass is out now on demand and will be in selected him as this friday that s

i mean, you have the roosevelt administration, which is very liberal and compared to the conservative ones of eisenhower and then truman that our cold could become cold war administration. if you bring back jack kennedy who's, who has a vision to see a peaceful world of coexistence with the soviet union, he signed a nuclear piece piece and is nowhere test ban treaty. if he saw a world that could possibly moved away from this tension strategic tension that the united states had created after world war 2. that there was a lot of money involved. huge amount of money going into this. it from a $900.00 fifties, on eisenhower built it up tremendous nuclear program as well as military industrial complex, which he warned us about the people who attached themselves to the military. for the purposes of money, kennedy saw through this and wanted to end, did he want to go back towards that time when roosevelt had been president, when there had been a sort of what they call a new deal liberalism really was aiming for. and that was, it was a danger, the republicans, the conservatives in our country

the following month the king and queen meet with the roosevelt's at hyde park. e tries to claim loudly that he's the one that had organized this, but it had actually been in the offering is since 1936 when george the sixth became king. there was a special envoy to the coronation t asking him to pleae come to america and it was at this point that roosevelt warns the king that if he wants to know about american foreign policy he should not be asking joe kennedy. joe is now desperate. he believes there will be a war. he has to tell-- talk people out of letting hitler-- just let hitler have his head and he will be fine so effectively what happens is he asked charles lindbergh to please write a big report about how futile it will be to go to war against germany in this report is circulated throughout american embassies in the state department and, of course, it gives the president a heads up as to what lindbergh is going to be doing if war comes in he comes back to america and certainly he became the spokesman for the american first committee whose motto is make ameri

when george the sixth became king. rooseveltd a special envoy to the coronation to ask him to please come to america and it's at this point roosevelt warned thinking that if he wants to know about american foreign policy should be asking kennedy. joe is now desperate. he believes there's going to be a war but that he's got to talk people out of going. but just like hitler hasn't said e'he'll be fine so technically what happens is the asks charles lindbergh to please write, a report about how futile it's going to be to go to war against germany and this report circulates throughout the american embassy and state department and of course it gives the president and heads up as to what lindbergh is going to be doing if war comes and he comes back to america. and certainly he became the spokesman for the america first committee. his father was make america great again and as you can see he and roosevelt were not on good terms.no august 1939. the thing that churchill had feared the most happens. the molotov pact happens and that guara

go back to the end of the roosevelt administration. what was happening on the court that made this a special circumstance? >> on like truman nominees to the court, they are well known by many americans certain certainly anyone who suffer there with your law school. as a profound jurors in the joints and pillars of the west. they did not like each other. perhaps, they did not get along. they agreed on media policy but not in too much else. it is also a matter fact they personally came to dislike each other and areas really had to work closely together without the semblance that justices have now. they had clerks but not what we had today. they had to work more closely together. and suspect this the supreme court ended up with a few justices think that justice wanted to be president himself. therefore is perhaps skewing his vote had to be the finest writer ever on the supreme court. he slowed his writing ability intact. and he wanted to be president jackson just wants to beat chief justice. there's all these interesting battles happening

and all of the workmen had been promised a raise braided the assistant secretary of the navy, eleanor roosevelt was angry because everybody walked out and joked one of the most important shipyards on the eastern seaboard and he and charles schwab, in charge of the shipyard had to personally get the men back to work and joe was put to the lesser function until the war was over and after the war he went to a small stockbroker in boston. he liked the idea of making money so after couple of years there, he went into wall street really into his own and by 25, he made his first million. and his children and the money went into the trust is in 1925, he bought his house in new york and then set about making a second portion. becausetu he heard you're goingo make talkies in california, los angeles and he thought this is the thing for me and i know what is going to do but instead of actually making his money out of his movie, and louis christie who owned it eileen's department store in boston, backed into by a very small film distribution dcompany called the booking offices of america. and joe began his

number three, and you can see the scores pretty quickly drop off that point in roosevelt is for - five and six and jefferson is seven and eisenhower is eight and wilson is nine and reagan is ten for the parents of ronald reagan at the very foundry of greatness. and finally conducting a survey in 2014, 162 members of the american political science association president and executive politics include me. i participated in the survey. i cannot tell you that much about it and partly because i entered it has not been published as far as i can tell they had to pick stories and washington post and so forth about the research and e-mailed all of the participants in the study the final rankings but i do not really remember what it was like. i remember it took me a long time like 45 minutes to one hour and also i remember being surprised by some of the decisions i made for instance i found myself a lot more positive for barack obama than i thought it would be when i was challenged to think about him on individual dimensions and satisfied of a global judgment of his performance. som

after the election, they began to view roosevelt in the same night as other totalitarian leaders. ing to my student about this, roosevelt has become such a revered person in american history mostly because of world war ii, that americans don't realize how much those who hated roosevelt in the '30s despised him, just couldn't stand him. >> watch this program and thousands more at c-span.org/history. >> now, please join me welcoming a co-host from the new england society american ancestors. the red of education and on-line programs that they have. welcome. >> thank you, kristin.

and two housing reform women who took important positions in the roosevelt administration, wrote the housing act, and they really believed in public housing. so that legacy and the effects, especially on african-americans, it is a big theme i push in the book. i was drawn into policy because of concern about civil rights from my left-wing days and i have transferred that into how housing policy has had really bad effects on the wealth accumulation of black americans. and the urban renewal effects on healthy black neighborhoods that were destroyed. and then i move on to jane jacobs and her understanding that these planned towers in the park were bad for many reasons, and even though many consider her a hero, i do not think we have taken in her lessons as well is we should. then i move on to the ways in which we can do what i call on reform housing. let the small houses on small lots go back into our lives. it will not be easy. we have to convince all the local planning boards that we need places for the young adults to live in places where they grew up. it would require changes in zon

flip over the winter call time for roosevelt which is aimed primarily because the one thing that rooseveltd trouble with in america they hated him and thought he had communistic tendencies. and any otheren person that kennedy gets involved is the bishop but it is pivotal because he was effectively the translator for the pope that kennedy is just to the left so he wants to come to america but he wants to meet with the president because he wants to build the relationship with catholic wrong. it is a dream of his. and essentially what happens is spellman says that until such time that he is reelected and there was a lot between joe and all the others but fortunately pacelli went to see him the day after the election and this picture is at hyde park. but he becomes quite chummy and then is basically the architect but he's also the architect of the vatican. but the thing that he didn't understand about the position instance 1929 the vatican had agreed to stay out of politics. period. and then created the vatican city and as they know what as the vatican and those with the fascist countries incl

the policy it seems to be there, but ultimately the personality gets in the way. >> roosevelt? say it was both he smoked, he drank, he was divorced to his spouses and all the things cause problems. he is also particular policy in a global context. without them there would not have been as much fear of roosevelt or hatred. interesting, interesting. and abraham lincoln? >> yes the southerners did make a lot of fun of lincoln for being a person who chopped wood. it did to the northern masses. i would say it's far more policy. in here i'll take the opportunity to address one of the questions about race. was lincoln hated because the criticism of them was racist? : : : so i think that connection between racism resettlement and policies takes us to the lincoln administration and reconstruction and gets redirected in the 20 century when it comes to people like johnson and nixon. >> i would say i'm going to offer a third option. jefferson not necessary policy that politics put himself forward as embodying his sword of small d democratic politics so he was needed in a sense for that comb

after the election they began to view roosevelt in the same light as other totalitarian leaders. evelt has become such a revered person in american history mostly because of world war ii that americans don't realize how much those who hated roosevelt in the '30s really truly despised him, just couldn't stand him. and i saw this in letters written to roosevelt and letters shared among various americans. but what they thought was consolidating power in the executive branch. but they also saw him essentially controlling congress. and if you add to that his efforts to pack the supreme court, this looks like somebody who's a fascist, this looks like somebody like hitler and mussolini had all done. and he ran for three terms. this further reinforced that hitler is not just a regular american president -- sorry, roosevelt is not just a regular american president, but that roosevelt is up to something far more sinister. and this framed the way they understood what he was doing and more broadly new deal liberalism. they looked at specific programs and became particularly concerned that tho

on the first set of a belt at the democratic national convention roosevelt received 666, 666 votes. t read that the fundamentalist magazine if it is too good to be true that could not be true. i went to the records and sure enough that was absolute the case. this already set fundamentalist on edge believing there's something weird going on here that's roosevelt with the antichrist. after the election they began to view roosevelt as other totalitarian leaders. and i've talked to my students about this roosevelt because such a weird person both because of world war ii but americans don't realize how much those who hated roosevelt in the 30s really truly despised him, could not stand him. when i saw letters written to roosevelt and letters shared among various american citizens. what they saw was a cell roosevelt consolidating power office in the executive branch. they also saw a controlling congress. if you add to that his efforts to pack the supreme court this looks like someone who is a fascist, trying to do exactly what solon, franco, mussolini and hitler had all done. then in 1940

campaigning two months before the 1932 presidential outcome franklin roosevelt famously lamed the depression spreading missouri on men like samuel ansell and blamed federal electrocution of federal companies. the president said it are transforming the government's world war i power investment in muscle shoals alabama into the tennessee valley authority was among the first of the new deals prodigious 100 days accomplishments. david lowenthal to tva democracy on the march the new deal classic describe tva is the nations greatest peacetime marvel. but tva legislation was completely silent in the regional role of willkie's company in this changed our environment. no conditions for monetary compensation or outright purchase. will these commonsense before -- newspaper and magazine. asked how this business could be expected to compete with the federal entity whose product was written by the public treasury and elect tri-city yardstick was set by policy considerations instead of market forces. he insisted that tva success could they accomplished far more economically in partnership with private ente

yet, when the advantageous change as the national economy barely staggered back of the so-called roosevelt recession, the administration's near catastrophic abandonment compiling for the balanced budgets. 15 million remain unemployed, public consternation over the president's blatant ability to intimidate the supreme court persisted. keen legislation stumbled to passage or even went to diety. hence, a republican's wake awakened and their stunning midterm 1938 congressional and statehouse successes narrow consensus prevailed. among a small group of eastern reformers, however, a scenario emerged, script in new gop victories scenario for the 1948 election. then defined as surprise candidates unfettered by shock one partisan dog ma and politically ambidextrous enough to make the reforms of the left palatable and the right credible to the left. dust off stage were the parties next presidential prospects, a pool of predictable unexciting possibilities. none of which fit the bill. rigidly isolationist, vandenberg another fierce midwestern isolationist and champion slayer of new deal legislation.

. >> dawn, thank you very much for joining us today the here at home with the roosevelts, and i can't w for you. >> masse mckinley, you are here because you worked of the organization and descendants of two presidents. tell me your family story. >> i'm related on my too ternal side to grover cleveland who is the 42nd and 44th president. and my father's side to william mckinley, i'm the great, great nephew of mckinley and great grandson of grover cleveland. my parents married and the two became one. >> were your parents aware of their lineage when they married? >> had no clue. my father was a long-time history professor at uta and during the course of time at the breakfast table we talked about presidential politics and we talked about precedential descendants and i learned so much about the conversations with him. >> the two are very different? >> they are. >> let's start with mckinley, what do you want people to know since you studied some of his legacy and life. what's the most important thing to neglect about william mckinley? >> everybody remember that is he was assassinated in bu