PBS American Experience - FDR: Parts 1-4of4 (1994.PDTV.SoS)

Originally aired: 1994.10.11

Born: January 30, 1882; Hyde Park, New York... Franklin Delano Roosevelt was found to have been related, by blood or through marriage, to eleven former presidents. The policies and persona of Franklin 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...Died April 12, 1945.

Part 1: \'The Center of the World\' explores Roosevelt\'s family background and education looking for clues as to how the coddled child of rich parents managed to climb the ladder to political success. It follows him from his very first run for political office as New York state senator through his years in Washington as assistant secretary of the navy, as he pursues one goal — the highest office in the land. This segment also tells the story of FDR\'s courtship of his distant cousin, Eleanor Roosevelt, and their troubled marriage, including FDR\'s affair with Eleanor\'s social secretary, Lucy Mercer. The affair, which nearly ended the marriage, encouraged Eleanor to embrace a life of her own and become politically active.

Part 2: \'Fear Itself\' begins with Roosevelt\'s bout with polio at age 39 and follows his relentless struggle to rehabilitate his body and his seemingly moribund political career and to teach himself to appear to walk. It also paints a portrait of Eleanor Roosevelt as she makes a life of her own, developing her own political skills while keeping her husband\'s name before the public through her involvement in reform causes. By the close of the program, a remarkable sequence of events leads FDR back from despair to win his party\'s nomination as president of the United States. Catapulted into the White House, a man who could not walk begins to lead a country crippled by the Great Depression. The series includes archival film, home movies and audio clips; newly-filmed footage of significant landmarks in FDR\'s life; an album of family photographs; and interviews with family members, friends and witnesses to history.

Part 3: \'The Grandest Job in the World\' focuses 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 moves 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 looks 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.

Part 4: \'The Juggler\' is 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 traces FDR\'s management of the war, including his growing personal ties to Churchill and his relationship with Stalin and the Soviet Union, and explores Eleanor\'s attempt to convince him to maintain the principles of the New Deal, despite the pressures of war.

more info: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/presidents/32_f_roosevelt
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==Parts 1-2==
Runtime: 1:44:52
Source: PDTV OTA
Encoding: xvid.640x480.1563kbps.mp3.160.vbr
File Size: 1.25GB

==Parts 3-4==
Runtime: 2:20:17
Source: PDTV OTA
Encoding: xvid.640x480.1550kbps.mp3.160.vbr
File Size: 1.65GB

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