lostfert.blogg.se

• FDR FIRESIDE CHATS REAGAN FREE

Lynn Bassanese, deputy director of the Roosevelt Library, recalls that it was not uncommon 25 years ago for family groups to arrive in Hyde Park together and then literally divide into two opposing political camps at the door to the library. It took a public statement from Nancy Reagan to set that controversy to rest: "When our country chooses to honor a great President as Franklin Roosevelt by placing his likeness on our currency, it would be wrong to remove him and replace him with another."Ĭloser to home we have seen a waning of political divisiveness. Yet, the evolution of FDR's reputation did not come easily, nor is it necessarily complete.Ī few years ago, a movement to replace Roosevelt's image on the dime with that of Ronald Reagan seemed to be gathering popular support. The world we live in today is Franklin Roosevelt's world.Īs the nation celebrated the World War II generation's stamina, old animosities between the generations slipped away at the same time, FDR too began to become more iconic than politically contested. Empire and its glories have long since vanished into history. That ghastly world self-destructed before our eyes. It is manifestly not Joseph Stalin's world. Schlesinger, Jr., put it this way at the in a 1998 essay for Time magazine: Take a look at our present world. One of the first historians to chronicle the Roosevelt years, Arthur M. New biographies and scholarly monographs, some quite critical, have been written, and other books have examined, in some cases for the first time, specific aspects of his presidency as well as his private life.Īnd the rekindled interest in those millions of people he led out of the Great Depression and through World War II has sparked renewed interest in his 12 years in the White House and in the impact those years had on the lives we lead today. Roosevelt and his family have been portrayed many times in film and on stage to critical acclaim. The FDR Memorial in Washington has been erected. Since that gathering in Hyde Park in 1982, his home has, of course, been restored.

However, since FDR's centenary-as unlikely as it seemed at the time-his historical significance has become more widely appreciated by the public. Adding to the poignancy of the day's events, on another level, was the rising tide of conservatism in Washington that was challenging Roosevelt's idea of government and the resulting system of federal programs and agencies that had their roots in the New Deal.Īrchivist Robert M.Warner speaks from the portico of the Roosevelt home on the centennial of FDR's birth on January 30, 1982. The celebration in Hyde Park was held against the backdrop of the charred and boarded-up facade of the famed "Big House," whose third floor had been destroyed by a fire the week before. They offered tributes to his New Deal programs, his leadership in World War II, and to the idea that the purpose of government is to safeguard its citizens against widespread dangers beyond their individual control. In early 1982, Roosevelt's family, biographers, admirers, neighbors, and many others gathered at the Roosevelt home and the presidential library he built in Hyde Park, New York, to mark the centennial of his birth. For it was FDR himself who left perhaps his most enduring gift, the Roosevelt Library.

FDR FIRESIDE CHATS REAGAN FREE

For his continuing relevancy is indicative of Roosevelt's success in an area that few recognize today-his insistence on the importance in a free society of the study of history. It is a measure of his greatness that scholars and the public continue to ask new and different questions of the Roosevelt era.Īs we consider FDR's legacy at 125 years, legacy at 125 years, this lasting interest might not be surprising to the man himself. His name is invoked almost daily by citizens, journalists, and elected officials of both parties who find in Roosevelt a touchstone for today's national and international affairs. In the quarter-century since, however, there has been a discernible shift in FDR's relationship with the American people. It was not widely celebrated, except by supporters in New York, who with the election of Ronald Reagan, saw the world of FDR receding into the past. The year 1982 marked Franklin Delano Roosevelt's centenary. Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt return to the White House after FDR was inaugurated for a third term on January 20, 1941.