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FDR’s social policies and management of World War II are examined in “FDR: Part 2” on AMERICAN EXPERIENCE – Sept. 16 at 8 pm
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“FDR: Part 2”
Tuesday, September 16 at 8:00 pm
From the Collection: The Presidents.
The policies and persona of Franklin Delano Roosevelt set the cast of the “modern” presidency. He was unquestionably the most vital figure in the nation, and perhaps the world, during his 13 years in the White House. Engendering both admiration and scorn, FDR exerted unflinching leadership during the most tumultuous period in the nation’s history since the Civil War.
The longest-serving president in U.S. history, and leader through the Great Depression and World War II — two of the nation’s worst crises — FDR is considered by many to be our greatest president. In his early years, as a pampered, sheltered scion of a wealthy family, FDR exhibited no outward signs of greatness. With his cousin Theodore as a role model, however, FDR purposely forged a successful political career for himself, until his devastating paralysis from polio seemed to crush his dreams. With the support of his wife, Eleanor, FDR not only recovered, but remade himself into a strong, optimistic national leader. An aristocrat beloved by “ordinary” citizens and despised by many of his own class as a traitor, FDR, for better or worse, forever changed the American people’s relationship with their government. The governmental “safety net” he created would be his greatest legacy — and the source of ongoing controversy today.
A break down of Part 2:
“The Grandest Job in the World,” focused on the first two terms of Roosevelt’s presidency and explored the central paradox of his presidency: that a man of privilege came to be a hero to a vast and varied coalition of ordinary Americans and a villain to members of his own social class.
The episode moved inside the Oval Office to show FDR’s response to the massive problems posed by the Great Depression, and out to the heartland to document how his programs and personal style–ebullient, risk-taking and surprisingly cunning–restored hope to Americans who had lost hope. This section also looked at how FDR engineered the “splendid deception” that hid the extent of his physical disability from the American people and how his relationship with his wife affected both his personal and political life.
The last section, “The Juggler,” was devoted to the wartime years, using FDR’s remarkable correspondence with Winston Churchill to chart the calculated and even devious path by which the American president maneuvered support for England before he led his country through the greatest war in history. This segment also traced FDR’s management of the war, including his growing personal ties to Churchill and his relationship with Stalin and the Soviet Union, and explored Eleanor’s attempt to convince him to maintain the principles of the New Deal, despite the pressures of war.
Find more information about this documentary here.