In this issue: FDR and the Supreme Court; Special Exhibit – Black Americans, Civil Rights, and the Roosevelts; The Politics of Celebrity; Carved Wooden Pig #FDRtheCollector; Mrs Roosevelt's Speech to the Sorbonne on the Struggle for Human Rights.
The inside story of how one president forever altered the most powerful legal institution in the country, with consequences that endure today, a conversation with author Cliff Sloan and FDR Library director William Harris.
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.
FDR loved movies and movie stars. He enjoyed their celebrity, too, and as a shrewd politician, he knew their support and their fame could prove beneficial to his Administration. FDR Library Director William Harris highlights evidence of these relationships through a selection of key documents from the Library’s collection.
FDR enjoyed collecting pig figurines and kept this one on his Oval Office desk. A gift from ER, when FDR opened it he reportedly said, “Don’t let Henry see this,” referring to Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace.
"I have come this evening to talk with you on one of the greatest issues of our time—that is the preservation of human freedom. I have chosen to discuss it here in France, at the Sorbonne, because here in this soil the roots of human freedom have long ago struck deep and here they have been richly nourished. It was here the Declaration of the Rights of Man was proclaimed...."
"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
