This was home. This was where his heart always was. And he once said to his friends and neighbors my heart has always been here it always will be. And it was. This is where he drew strength and happiness throughout his life. Franklin roosevelt the 32nd president of the United States was born in raised in this house. And he was a buried here on the estate as well. Roosevelt originally had a different estate. A little bit down the road from this property. And the house burnt to the ground in 1865. And then his father James Roosevelt purchased this property. To be their new home. In the Hudson Valley. Fdr parents were james and sarah. And mr. James roosevelt had a wife before sarah. Her name was rebecca. And she passed away in 1876. Four years later he married sarah. Mr. James roosevelt when he married sarah was 52 years old. And she was only 26. So she was half his age. And james and sarah only had the one child. Franklin. When mr. James roosevelt bought this property in 1867, it was a 17 room farmhouse. It was about 110 acres of land. Several out buildings for which he paid 40,000. Which today is the price of an expensive car. Back in the day it was a nice amount of money. The house however was in larged by fdr in 1915. Because by then he had a growing family. And he had decided as early as 1907, 25 years before he achieved it that he was going to become president of the United States. And so he want ld a grander home for a future president. Once he became active in politics quite often events would be held here. Like when he announced his intention to run for vice president. Of the United States. It was that big announcement was held here. Quite often he would bring once he was president visiting foreign dignitaries to the house. Especially during a war years. He felt it was a place where they could get away from the pressures of wartime in europe. So he loved doing that. He was proud of this house. Once he had enlarged it. And many times his Political Associates would come here and talk about political strategy and so forth. So it was many times the center of his political life. So id like you to show you the Beautiful Library living room. Which i call the heart of the house. That he added when the house was enlarged. This was set up so that theres a glass floor here. So people can see the actual ramp that he himself used to go doup the few steps into the Library Living room. So this is the original ramp he used every time he was here. To be able to get into one of his favorite rooms in the house. The Library Living room was a room that fdr dreamed about adding onto the home when he enlarged it in 1915. As a young man he had gone on a trip to europe and had been in a house like this in england. And had seen a room like this which he admired greatly and decided that one day if he did change the house here that he would have a room like the one he admired so much. This room was used for entertaining. When the king and queen were to come here in june of 1939, he wanted to serve before dinner drinks in the room. And his mother said that was okay. Except she didnt think before dinner cocktails were appropriate to serve the king and queen. She said tea was proper. When they got here, he said to the king my mother said the proper british drink to serve you would be tea. We have cocktails available. And the king replied my mother would have said the same thing. But i think ill have a cocktail. Thats what he had. In this room youll notice a couple of governors chairs. He was governor of new york state. From 1928 to 30. And 1930 to 32. Back then it was a two year term. And as he left the governors ship these chairs were given to him. As gifts. And according to to his wife when they visited here he would always sit on the chair on the left. His mother used the one on the right. And she sat where ever. Because this was as i mentioned earlier sarahs home. Very much so. Over the mantle is a portrait of his great great grandfather. Isaac. He started the Sugar Refinery business in new york city. He was also a member of the congress that ratified the constitution of the United States. So very early on in this Nation History there was a roosevelt in public service. And of course it was very inspiring to fdr growing up. Youll notice his wheelchair here. The wheelchair was something he designed himself. Kitchen chair legs cut off wheels put on it. Had e loved this wheelchair because when he sat in it and put a blanket over his legs you could barely tell it was a wheelchair. He never used to sit it for any long period of time. It was used to get from room to room. When he would come into the room for example he would get off that chair onto that chair next to the desk. And thats where he would spend his time. So he contracted polio at age 39. In the year 1921. They think he picked up the polio virus at a Boy Scout Camp he was speaking at. That summer. Which is just south of us here. They hi that because several children who attended that camp also came down with polio. So he was speaking to the boys there and spent time at the camp. And then he went to camp island which was the roosevelt summer home off the coast of maine. And a few days after arriving he didnt feel well. He was aching and tired. He thought he was coming down with a minor bug. He decided to go to bed early. He walked up the steps to the second flr. That was the last time he would walk unaided again. He woke up the next morning he could barely stand. Within a couple days he couldnt stand at all. You can imagine how devastating that must have been. He didnt know what he had. A permanent condition. For the first time in his life he knew what fear and despair were. What loss was. He had lost the use of his legs. Until that time he had the charmed loif life. A wonderful home and family. A comfortable lifestyle. But after that, he would understand what people during the Great Depression were feeling when they had lost everything. Their homes and jobs. Life savings. He would understand those feelings of loss and despair. In fact his wife was once asked did the polio affect your husband mentally . And she said yes it did. Because its only when someone who had has gone through the suffering they can understand and relate to the problems of mankind. After the polio he certainly could understand that. He came back here to his home after spending a lot of time in the hospital. And the city. Hoping that if he did enough physical therapy he could get back the use of his legs. One of the ways he tried to exercise his legs if he could was to walk. Using the braces on his legs which weighed about seven pound each. And crutches. From here down to the entrance road. Down to route nip nine. Which was quite a walk. He never made it all the way down. It was quite an effort. It was dragging that 14 pound of steel on him. In later years he found a place in warm springs, georgia. Someone told him about the mineral waters in warm springs that perhaps would help him with his legs. And so he tried that treatment. And for a number of years he yoused to go regularly to warm springs. And would spend quite a bit of time there. He always hoped that would perhaps eventually help him. But he was never able to walk again after the polio. However he was always trying to find a cure for polio. And it was fdr who was president of the United States at the time when the march of dimes started. Where money was raised to try to get Research Going for polio. And that is why today you have the fdr face on the dime. Because that was the way they were trying to raise funds to try to find the cure to end this horrible illness. Down the hall way leading into the north wing of the house. Just after the hall way is the study that he used in this house. And this is a really interesting room. Theres a will the of history here. Because this is where fdr would meet with heads of state. That came to visit here. And its really i would say the most historic room in the house. Because this is where fdr and Prime Minister churchill initialled a document called the hide park aid memoir. The document that talked about the atomic bomb. Future uses of the atomic bomb. Possible use against the japanese. And also keeping the development of the atomic bomb secret from the russians. But it was also a fun room because this is where fdr loved to have cocktails normally. Before dinner. He loved to call the cocktail hour the childrens hour. Based on the henry wads worth poem. The childrens hour where he could bring people together to relax and have fun. And talk about his different little stories that he enjoyed telling. And where he would mix the cocktails himself. Another thing he could do independently which he loved. A time when he could relax and be the person. Not necessarily the president of the United States. So after the polio, certainly this house posed a bit of a challenge for Franklin Roosevelt. There were a lot of steps here. We talk about the ramp going down into the Library Living room. But theres a big set of stairs here. And to get up the stairs would have been difficult unless he was crawling up the steps. On a regular basis. But there was actually a lift here. And it had been put in prior to fdr contracting polio. It was a trunk elevator. That was used for steamer trunks. Because the roosevelts as people in the social class would do would go off on trips to europe. And had the big huge steamer trunks filled with clothes. It was difficult to move them up and down. Thats why they installed this lift. And it was actually a hand operated lift. Kind of like a dumb weighter type thing. When he contracted polio it would have been a great way to get from floor to floor. Now this suggestion was that perhaps he should have it motorized. But he didnt want to have it motorized because the man who said theres nothing to fear but fear itself had a really fear of fire. And was worried that if there was ever motorized lift put in here and there was a fire in the house he couldnt die trying to escape. So he felt that this would be a much safer way to operate. And he loved it. Because it gave him a real feeling of independence. His fear of fire came early on in his life. Because when he was a little boy he was about two and a half years old. He and his mother had gone to the his mothers family estate. In new york. For a party. And while they were there, his aunt laura was getting ready for the party and she was using a curling iron. That was heated over an alcohol lamp. She knocked it over. The flames caught her clothes on fire. She ran screaming out of the house. And she died as a result of the fire. On her clothes. And so he remembered that. And also as a little boy there was a small fire here in the house. Which he and his dad put out. The dining room area. So it was something that remained with him throughout his life. This fear that there was going to be an awful fire in here. He and his mother were very close. Actually he was close to his dad as well. His father died when he was 18 years old. So his mother became the main person in his life. El nor and Sarah Roosevelt had an interesting relationship over time. When she and fdr were firs fis married. She looked upon sarah as the mother she never had. And so they were i would say pretty close in the beginning. And sarah kind of helped her with running of the household. Because she had no idea how to run a household or raise very g. So she kind of took over and then when Eleanor Roosevelt became more independent, she kind of wanted to take over the running of her own household. So there were two strong women here trying to kind of take control. So it led to some glitches in their relationship. You have to remember that Eleanor Roosevelt was pretty much living in her motherinlaws home, it was not her home. Eleanor roosevelt had a very loving relationship with her father elliot roosevelt, who was Theodore Roosevelts younger brother, but she didnt have such a Good Relationship with her mother. Her mother was a very beautiful woman. Felt that Eleanor Roosevelt wasnt pretty enough as a little girl. She made fun of her. And so Eleanor Roosevelt was pretty much alienated from her mother. Both her parents died by the time Eleanor Roosevelt was 10 years old. So she really didnt have a good example of being a good mom. So thats why when she had her own children it was a little bit difficult for her to adjust to motherhood. They had actually six children. Many times its only mentioned that they had five because one child died as an infant of about 8 months of age. All the rest grew to adults, but Eleanor Roosevelt lost a child and it was devastating for her. Were on the second floor of the roosevelt home and on the righthand side are pretty much guest rooms and on the lefthand side are family rooms. And when this house was enlarged, they had to put in an extra long hallway here because they added this wing which is over the Library Living room of the house. And this wing we will be looking at momentarily was meant to be a suite of rooms for franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt to use but at one point his mother sarah moved into that section with them. We are in the bedroom of franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. Once fdr contracted polio, according to Eleanor Roosevelt, she moved into the room next door, which was originally kind of like a dressing room, sitting room for this section of the house for her. And she did this because once he had polio, he really needed a man servant to get him out of bed, dressed, undressed and so forth. For her, for privacy reasons, she said she needed to move next door. Historians speculate that Eleanor Roosevelt moved into the next room after she discovered that fdr had a relationship with her social secretary lucy mercer. And she felt that she did not want to be in the same room with him so she moved next door. Youll notice that next to the bed there are a couple of phones. There is one on the little table next to the bed and then there is the one on the wall. The one on the wall is really an important phone because that was the direct line to the white house. So fdr could pick up that phone and he would get the white house telephone operator, luis hackmeister or hackie as they called her, whenever he needed to. It was right in reach. Which was great. In this room there was a little chair that his little famous scotty dog fala used to sleep on. That was his special spot in this big room. It was a room in the mornings fdr quite often would meet with his staff. He used to spend some time in bed looking at the papers first and then he would have a quick meeting with any members of his cabinet or staff that he needed to. It was very convenient for him. Thats why there are some chairs in here so that they can sit and talk to the president right here. This room has a wonderful view of the hudson river, and that was very important to fdr. He loved the hudson river. It was one of the best things about the Hudson Valley for him, this beautiful river that ran behind his house where he learned to sail a boat as a little boy. By the time he was 8 years old, he could sail a boat on the hudson river. So any time spent on boats or ships was wonderful to him. And, in fact, he used to say that his favorite job next to being the president of the United States was when he was assistant secretary of the navy under president Woodrow Wilson because it gave him a lot of opportunity to spend time on ships. And, in fact, even in this room he has something that is navalrelated because up above the doorway here is the commission that made him assistant secretary of the navy sign by president Woodrow Wilson. So below the commission making fdr assistant secretary of the navy is a doorway which led into Eleanor Roosevelts bedroom. So we moved into Eleanor Roosevelts room and it is very small. There is not much in here because Eleanor Roosevelt eventually had her own little retreat which was on the eastern end of the roosevelt estate. It was a place that fdr built for her on land he owned. And after that point in there life, which happened around 1926, she began to use that more and more often. Whenever she came to hyde park without fdr, shed spend the days and nights there. If she came to hyde park with fdr, shed spend days there. Nights might be spent back here. But to her that was finally her own home in hyde park. She really never felt at home in this house. This was her motherinlaws house. She used to say for 40 years she was just a visitor here. She loved that little Stone Cottage at valukill which she shared with a couple of her political mentors. And later on she had a building originally built as a furniture factory converted into a retreat for herself. That was really the place that she loved to be more than any other place here in hyde park. So at the end of this hallway is a cute little painting of fdr as a little boy. He had long hair until he was about 5 years old. And his mother loved his long hair on him. They say she cried when they cut his hair short, but its just the cutest little thing that a lot of visitors see and they are wondering who that little girl is. Well, its not a little girl, it was fdr as a little boy. Well, in this wing of the house there is Franklin Roosevelts bedroom, Eleanor Roosevelts bedroom and Sarah Roosevelts bedroom and theyre all connected by doors. So they could walk into any of the rooms whenever they wanted just by opening a door. When Sarah Roosevelt built a townhouse for franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt as a christmas gift, she had it built in 1906 in new york city. That place had connecting doors from one apartment to the next. Because Sarah Roosevelt built that building as a duplex. She would live in half of it and franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt lived in the other half. And there were connecting doors on various levels so that sarah could pop into their section whenever she wanted to unannounced, which made Eleanor Roosevelt not happy. She wrote about this townhouse and you can kind of read between the lines. Where she just mentioned that, you know, it wasnt a great thing where sarah was living right next to them and she decorated their part of the townhouse and so forth. And i would imagine that she was not happy to be in a wing of this house where sarah could also open the doorway from her bedroom into Eleanor Roosevelts bedroom or early on franklin and Eleanor Roosevelts shared bedroom whenever she wanted to. When she moved into this section of the house, she moved all the furniture out of the room where Franklin Roosevelt was born into this room. And then the birth room as we call it was then used as a guest room. So this then became in essence the master bedroom to the house. And then after sarah died, she had left a note that she wanted to have the birth room furniture put back into the room where fdr was born because she knew fdr planned to turn this place over to the National Park service and have it open to the public and she wanted the room to appear as it was when he was born in it. So this then became more of a guest bedroom after that point. Sarah roosevelt passed away in september of 1941. And they say that right after she died a giant oak tree fell over on the property. Its almost a symbolism of shes gone and, boom, thats kind of the end of a very important part of the story of this estate, sarahs life here. After sarah died, it was hard forred if tore come back here because his mom would always be at the front door, on the front porch greeting him when she came up the steps. I mean, it was devastating for him. He was so close to his mother that for him, something really important went out of his life. So as much as he loved this house, when he came back here he felt that loss, the emptiness of this house without sarahs very strong presence in it. Franklin roosevelt died in april of 1945. And she died in september of 41. So she was really around for most of his life. It was a terrific loss when she passed away. Fdr loved this home from the time he was born here until the time that he died. He loved it so much that he wanted the American People and the people throughout the world to come here and understand what it meant for him to be born and raised here and what influenced him when he was growing up and how it perhaps translated into some of the things he did as president of the United States. He gave this house to the american public. He made arrangements while he was president to have this given to the National Park service eventually. So it was his hope and dream that people would come here and learn about him as a person and as president of the United States. Valkill is the only home first lady Eleanor Roosevelt ever owned by herself. National park ranger tours the home and explains Eleanor Roosevelts political contributions. Certainly this