About that he outlived the bas tarta which allowed him to have the last word in. Cheap quotes, some of kind of hoovers understanding of what happened. The first where he said that a foolish individual only hurts themselves. Whereas a foolish government hurts both the wise and the foolish. And the other is blessed are the children for they shall inherit the national debt. Tom, you do a fantastic debt at the hoover president ial library in west branch, iowa, and you do a fantastic job preserving and protecting that legacy and those records. President ial libraries, we may have president s and different politic political philosophies but support each other and thank you for joining us today, tom. Thank you, palm. Youre watching American History tv. Every weekend on cspan3 explore our nations past. Cspan3, created by americas Cable Television companies as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. Weeknights this month we feature American History tv programs as a preview whats available every weekend on cspan3. Tonight a look at programs from the kansas city public library. In kansas city, missouri, we begin with a talk about the life of hollywood artist millicent patrick, author and filmmaker Mallory Omeara discusses the lady from the black lagoon. Watch tonight beginning at 8 00 wm eastern. Enjoy American History tv this week and every weekend on cspan3. Have you watched lectures in history lately . Every saturday, 8 00 p. M. Eastern on American History tv on cspan3 go inside a Different College classroom and hear topics ranging from the american revolution, civil rights and u. S. President s to 9 11. Thanks for your patience and for logging in to class. With most College Campuses closed due to impact of the coronavirus, watch professors transfer teaching to a virtual setting to engage with their students. Gorbachev did most of the work to change the soviet union, but reagan met him half way, reagan encouraged him. Reagan supported him. Freedom of the press, well get to later, madison calmed it freedom of the use of the press and it is indeed preem to print things and publish things. Not a freedom for what we refer to institutionally as the press. Legends in history on cspan3 after saturday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern and also available as a podcast. Find it where you listen to podcasts. Hello. Welcome to another edition of at home with the roosevelts. Im paul sparrow, director of the president s Library Museum in hyde park, new york, today well talk about the relationship between two of the most important, political families, in American History during the 20th century. The roses vets aosevelts and th. Paul good to be with you. Alan price here. Thank you for joining me today, alan. One. Most interesting and complicated relationships, mulgty generational relationships. Two family that are really dynasties in the way they impacted american political life. And theres a component of this that a lot of people dont really understand. Not only was there a relationship between Franklin Roosevelt and Joseph Kennedy, but there was a very incredible relationship between Eleanor Roosevelts and john f. Kennedy, and so i think well start with the beginning, which is the relationship between Franklin Roosevelt and joe kennedy. Joseph kennedy made most of his money in the 20s in the stock market. And when Franklin Roosevelt became president one of the things he did, appointed Joseph Kennedy as head of the securities and exchange commission, which was sort of as he said, putting the fox in charge of the henhouse. Then this created a relationship between the two of them in which joe kennedy really became a very close confidant of fdr, and he got, ambassador too court of st. James. Yes. Want to talk how he managed that posting in london right before the war . Well it is an interesting time. I almost want to go back just a tiny bit before that. As you can imagine, when young people are in the age where theyre graduating from high school, whoever is the president in that moment, i think, has a profound impact on them and shapes their view of the presidency. And fdr is the president as jfk comes of age and through his young adulthood, and i think much of his vision of what is leadership and what is the nation is very much informed by fdr. And so i think thats a big part of it. Clearly through his father joseph and the posting at the court of saint james he has direct connection to what that service might look like. There is a moment when, when the german uboat sinks the first uk ship and jfk is asked by his father to look after the surviving u. S. Passengers and their families in that transition. So he actually gets a little bit of responsibility in that moment. And so i think it informs his notion of Public Service. Ultimately he goes and signs up to go to war. Ultimately finally being accepted into the navy, with his fathers help a little bit, and i think to go to war under a president , the only president youve really been conscious of as an adult, cant help but impact your sense of what is leadership in the future. And because john f. Kennedy was in england in this period immediately prior to the war with his father as ambassador, he wrote a book about it. You want to talk about that book just a second . Sure. Knicks to being in england and from there touring through different parts of europe, he observes ultimately the leadup to world war ii, and some of that was intentional in terms of his research for his thesis at harvard and umt mittly turns it into a book why england slept. I dont flow it pays much attention to his fathers role in that but he looks at what is the buildup to later, i think informs his view of the cold war, and how do you respond . So its an interesting time. Interestingly, that book, john f. Kennedy gave copy of the book to Franklin Roosevelt, and jfk signed it, and Franklin Roosevelt signed it. So we have an fdr collection of rare books and other things, and thats one of our most precious possessions is the, slapped with both jfk and roosevelts signatures in it. May not know this story. One of my favorite anecdotes. In 1940 when kennedy came back from europe he came to visit the fdr library under construction. Hadnt been open but under construction and he left a gift for fdr. Really . And we have the note that, the thank you, copy of the thank you note fdr wrote to jfk, and its sort of a skripaled note thats a little hard to read but it appears to say, thank you for the machine gun and goggles. Oh, really . Which everyone was sort of like, can you imagine . John f. Kennedy dropping off a machine gun at the president s library with guards and actually what it says was marine gun, which was a speargun for fishing, because he knew fdr loved to go fishing and loved to be in water and the goggles were like swimming goggles. Oh. Weve never been able to find of whatted to the spear gun or the goggles but sort of goes to the relationship the two families had. They were close. They were. They were, there say the of intersecti a lot of intersections through the year, no question. And obviously the continuing conversation between jfk and eleanor is also significant in jfks rise. Yeah. The period when, right before the United States get into the war, when Joseph Kennedy is ambassador, he starts really siding with germany, and hes telling roosevelt that anybody who will listen he doesnt think england will survive and that America Needs to find a way to get peace with germany creating a friction between him and the president , and also i believe a little friction between him and his sons. Yes. I think its a good bit of friction, and as you can imagine, inside the kennedy family. To, to go against your father would have been a tough road to go. Yeah. Well, Joseph Kennedy almost ran against fdr in 140. It wasnt clear fda was going to run. 1940. An unprecedented third term and at that point kennedy felt he had something to offer, not to mention significant funds to support his candidacy, but fdr kept him in england just long enough to prevent him from running and brought him back and they parted ways. Eventually became quite nasty between of two of them. Fdr served long enough a lot of people at least thought about running against him. Very true. But then, you know, when war broke out, john f. Kennedy joined the navy. Yes. Talk a little about that. How that experience influenced his presidency, and influenced his view of fdr as commander in chief . Well, and a lot of people recognize today the exceptional circumstances of his joining the navy. He overcame a lot of physical disabilities. He was disqualified for Naval Service due to lower back injuries, which had gone back a long time, and he had a number of other maladies. His father joked about him if a ma quikeet mosquito bit jfk he die, seemed to be sick with a lot of maladies, but he did want to join the navy even though originally rejected or disqualified. Appealed to his father to intervene on his behalf and in conversation with a lead naval person, office of naval operations, i believe it was, he was initially assigned to a desk job. President kennedy didnt want a desk job. He wanted to go to the front and then he was given a command of pt boats in the pacific theater. So certainly all of those operations very much informed his sense of Public Service, and his, deepened his appreciation for democracy. And knew that democracy was under assault from a world that did not believe in that kind of freedom. He said even in his debates with candidate nixon and the famous televised debate, his address to the nation at that point is, you know, can america live can the world live half free and half slave . Actually referred to lincoln in that speech, although lincoln was talking about a literal slavery domestically and kennedy was referring to democracy versus communism. Its an interesting take on the world, and i think in large part that is grounded by his service in world war ii. There was another incident during world war ii i think had enormous influence on john f. Kennedy. The death of his older brother joseph. Yes. Joseph was quite a hero. Yes. And according to the Family Dynamics of that time, his older brother was to be the one who went into politics, and jfk was to play a supporting role and when his older brother passes away, unfortunately, you know, in a bombing run in which the bombs went off prematurely before they were discharged from the plane, his father joseph turned to him as it was now his turn to lead the family into politics, which was an interesting identity shift for him. I think much of his younger life he gets away with being friendly and wellliked but not all that serious a student, not all that serious a player in the world, and its only through seeing the war develop and then, you know, his last couple of years at harvard focusing on his studies and certainly his Naval Service, he becomes just a much more serious person in understanding how the world works. So when world war ii ends, fdr has died. Dies in april, and the world changes, and we enter into a new phase in relationship between the roosevelts and kennedys. Primary relationship between Eleanor Roosevelt, arguably the most powerful woman in america, certainly one of the most famous women in the world and a major force within the democratic party. Their political careers start to intersect. And it really happens when kennedy become as senator and eleanor has very different political views than he does. You want to talk how that evolved . Sure. I think, correct me if im off on this. I think a large bit of the early schism revolves around senator mccarthy. And senator mccarthys relationship with the kennedys, and even when the senate votes to censor mccarthy and kennedy had a speech ready to support that censure but was in the hospital and unable to deliver that speech. I think because hes not able to publicly distance himself from mccarthy when others are, i think eleanor infers from that, and the ongoing family relations between the mccarthys and the kennedys, that he may not be as strong a candidate and may not share the same values that she shares, and i believe engages in some public criticism of kennedy as maybe not being the right candidate. And kennedy, i think, wisely does not engage in a public battle with Eleanor Roosevelt. I think he would not win that battle, but just very privately writes her and asks her to consider the facts and be open to meeting with him. And its only in the inperson conversations that his genuine curiosity, his willingness to learn and his patriotism come through to her in a way that she can support him, but i can appreciate given what she knew at the time and her greater familiarity with stephenson why it was difficult to wrap her mind around kennedy. I think Bobby Kennedy the roam as one of the counsels to the Senate Committee mccarthy was leading certainly tarnished jfk in her eyes as well. Guilt by association there. Yes. Right. No question that she was an Adeline Stephenson supporter, very strong on civil rights. Didnt feel the kennedys were Strong Enough in supporting sieves rights either in the senate or later and i think really held a grudge, to be honest. I love Eleanor Roosevelt, but she could hold a grudge, against his father, joe. I mean, she still resented the fact he had criticized fdr during the war and had supported germany over england and i think she never fully let go of that ax she liked to grind. Right. But i do think a wonderful moment to their relationship and if you come here to visit eleanors home up in valkill, pictures are on the wall after the convention when kennedy gets the democratic nomination. He knows he has to win her over. And he goes to visit her up in valkill. We have some of those photos in our library as well. Yes. He has to go inperson to valkill to meet with her. Again, shes enamored and a big supporter of Adeline Stephenson as being a very bright and capable candidate and shes worried not only about kennedys relationship with mccarthy but his overall, his age and inexperience. She doesnt think hes got a Strong Enough record to run on. And its only inperson that hes able to convince her. I think thats true to who kennedy was throughout his life. Theres so much evidence of once people met him, he was the one voted most likely to succeed. He won people over. He had a smile that was completely disarming and charming, and i think that theres no amount of correspondence thats going to convey that. It has to be done in person. Although Eleanor Roosevelt had ob jexzs to jack kennedy, she hated richard nixon. When it came down to picking one of those, that was an easy choice for her. Yes. One of my favorite letters ever written is the letter she wrote to jfk the day after the first televised debate between nixon ands jfk. And its classic Eleanor Roosevelt and its passive aggressive, compliment criticism. One of the the sort of tone of the letter is, you know, i was watching the debate last night with some friends, and although i thought you did very well i thought i would share some of their comments with you. And she interesting side note here. One of the people she was watching the debate with was lloyd benson. Oh, really . Remembering many years later a famous reference be in a Vice President ial debate, i knew john kennedy and youre not john kennedy. Came across too confident. He needed to include the audience more in his answers. I think you might agree with me if, dot, dot, dot. Top her credit, campaigned for him quite vigorously and did what needed done for the democrats to win. At that point felt it was vitally important. She had had repeated runins with eisenhower. Completely disagreeing with his policies and really felt it was important for a democrat to get in and hoped obviously to resurrect some of the new deal policies she had supported so strongly when her husband was president. But then you get into once kennedy gets elected, first thing he does, appoints Eleanor Roosevelt. Yes. Yes. Its fascinating. I think not just for that campaign but for president ial campaignings at large. Its always and interesting challenge, particularly when kennedy is trying to frame himself as standing up for a new generation. Right . We have, we have new ideas and a new energy and youre trying to be new, new, new, and at the same time he knows full well that if he doesnt win over the establishment, hes going nowhere. So he has to get eleanors support while at the same time creating an image of really just trying to get out young voters, and i think thats fascinating. But he has i think, a really good sense of history, but some new ideas and some new energy and one of the things he gets from fdr is the importance of, ill call it innovation in leadership 3 and fdr did some really innovative things, when i think about, you know, just going off on retreat. Not talk to anybody and come back with a lend lease idea. Just turns the war. And i think president kennedy knew that you needed to take time to think about the bigger picture, and you needed to commit resources behind an idea or it wont go anywhere. Not just money, its Political Capital and you have to build up that Political Capital first. So he pays very close attention to those relationships, including, i was intrigued to learn on our day of infamy, november 22, 1963, on the assassination of president kennedy, earlier that morning he called to express birthday wishes to john nance garner. Right . Fdrs first vp, i believe is turning 93 or 95, something in that range, and, you know, a real student of history and a real a person who really pays attention to relationships. Does those personal touches throughout. In addition to being a good you know, largescale retail politician, those personal touches to individuals, i think, made a huge difference throughout his career and im sure el had no affection for john nantz garner. No. Wasnt a huge fan, but whats interesting is that despite all the work Eleanor Roosevelt had done with the united nations, years of work with the united nations, jfk puts her in charge of well, puts her on commission to run the status of women, understanding at this moment in time, you know, this idea of equality for women and including more women into the political establishment, to stop some of the discrimination that was being leveled against women in all industries, and very interesting he would appoint her in that role, because i think it went to one of her passions, which was, she had fought for jen gender equality her whole entire life. A brilliant pick and i think Eleanor Roosevelt did a brilliant job with it. I think the subject the subject came up repeatedly in his press conferences. He may not have appointed as many women to Senior Leadership roles as we would expect to see today, but the level to which he did involve women in his administration was somewhat of a breakthrough for his time and certainly the appearance of women journalists in the press pools that he interacted with and many called him to account for what are you going to do to continue your Campaign Pledge of equal rights for women . And equal pay for women . And equal roles and all of that. And i know i think you know, i think by todays standard we would say, could have should, have, would have done more, but for those times, i think that he did some amazing things. So Eleanor Roosevelt dies in november 1962. And jfk comes back up to hyde park along with harry truman and every Major Political figure in america to pay his respects at her funeral. And i think there is a true, since sa sincerity to the passage of this great woman and his acknowledgement in her role in creation and establishment of the democratic party, but also think its an honor he felt she had earned. I cant find words that accurately capture eleanors significance to the democratic party, to the nation, and to president kennedys ascension to the presidency. She paves the way, and influences so many people. Obviously you cant have fdrs support, he is long gone, but eleanor is able to bridge that gap. Well, well end with the thought about the fact that both of these men, jfk and fdr essentially gave their lives in duty to the country. I think in both cases, their death in office created a resonance with the American People that has stayed with us all of these years. And i think that there is a, something missing in todays politics in that both of these people truly beled