In this issue: The Constitution Speaks; Black American's, Civil Rights, and the Roosevelts Exhibit; Mary Churchill's War; FDR's Dutch Fireplace Tiles #FDRtheCollector; Crack the Hobo Code; Roosevelts sail the Amberjack II; Happy 82nd Birthday FDR Library.
When the founding fathers forged the United States of America from the 13 British colonies, Benjamin Franklin was said to have proclaimed the creation of “a Republic...If we can Keep it.” This presentation, by Education Specialist Jeffrey Urbin, highlights some of the key rules, rights and responsibilities necessary for the maintenance of a healthy and successful democracy.
A new special exhibition developed in collaboration with a distinguished committee of scholars that centers on the historical voices of many Black community leaders, wartime service members, and ordinary citizens who engaged the Roosevelt administration directly and who pushed for progress. Within this context, the exhibit examines the political evolution of both Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt regarding racial justice.
Churchill granddaughter Emma Soames, editor of MARY CHURCHILL'S WAR: THE WARTIME DIARIES OF CHURCHILL’S YOUNGEST DAUGHTER, in a witty and fascinating conversation with bestselling author Erik Larson about her mother's wartime diaries.
(Originally broadcast June 8, 2022; 56:15 minutes)
This set of 27 antique Dutch stoneware tiles features marine life, including sea monsters, fish, mer-people, whales, and a seal. These tiles were collected by FDR and arranged according to his plan around the fireplace surround in FDR's Private Study in the FDR Library.
During the Great Depression jobs were hard to come by so many young people in their late teens and early 20s ‘took to the rails’ and traveled from town to town by hopping slow moving trains and doing odd jobs in exchange for a good meal and a safe place to sleep. Because they were always entering new and unfamiliar places with unknown dangers, Hobos developed their own special code to communicate and warn each other of dangers and opportunities.
In June 1933, at the end of his first 100 days in office, President Franklin D. Roosevelt went sailing aboard the Amberjack II with Eleanor Roosevelt, family, and friends from Marion, Massachusetts, to Campobello Island in New Brunswick, Canada.
This film was donated to the FDR Library by the family of Marguerite LeHand.
In this footage you will see: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt (knitting!), John A. Roosevelt, James Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., Marion Dickerman, Mary Dreier, Frances Keller, and Antonia Hatvany.
June 30 is the 82nd anniversary of the Library and the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Perm Exhibit. When President Roosevelt proposed the idea of building a library to house his papers and memorabilia, detractors believed he was simply interested in constructing a monument to himself. Roosevelt, however, viewed the library as a solution to preserve and provide public access to the records of his presidency. His was an attitude of “open government,” believing that the people of the United States were entitled to a better look at how their government was working, even at the executive level.
"Whatever our individual circumstances or opportunities, we are all in it, and our spirit is good... and do not let anyone tell you anything different." FDR, Oct 12, 1942, fireside chat.
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FDR Presidential Library | 4079 Albany Post Road, Hyde Park, NY 12538
