Life. There is a component of this that a lot of people do not understand. Not only is there a relationship between Franklin Roosevelt and Joseph Kennedy, but a relationship between Eleanor Roosevelt and john f. Kennedy. We will start with the beginning, which is the relationship between Franklin Roosevelt and joe kennedy. Joe kennedy made most of his money in the 1920s in the stock markets. Kennedy asppointed the head of the Security Exchange commission. Some said that was putting the fox in charge of the henhouse. This created a relationship in which joe kennedy really became a very close confidant of fdr. He became ambassador to the court of st. James. You want to talk about how he managed that posting in london right before the war . It is an interesting time. I almost want to go back a tiny bit before that. As you could imagine, when young people are in the age where they are graduating from high school, whoever is the president in that moment has a profound impact on them. Shapes their view of the presidency. Fdr is the president as jfk comes of age. I think much of his vision of what is leadership and what is the nation is informed by fdr. I think that is a big part of it. Clearly, through his father and the posting at the court of st. James, he has direct connection to what that service might look like. There is a moment when the german uboat sank the first u. K. Ship, jfk is asked by his father to look after the surviving u. S. Passengers and their families in that transition. He gets a little bit of responsibility in that moment. I think it informs his notion of Public Service. Ultimately, he goes and signs up to go to war. Finally being accepted into the navy with his fathers help. To go to war under a president , the only president you have been conscious of as undeveloped, cant help but accentuate what leadership is. Paul because john f. Kennedy was in england immediately prior to the war, he wrote a book about it. Wants to talk about that book . In addition to being in england and from there touring through different parts of europe, he observes the lead up to world war ii. Some of that was intentional and in terms of his research for his thesis at harvard. He ultimately turns that into a book, why england slept. I dont know that it pays that much attention to his fathers at what ise looks the buildup, later it informs his view of the cold war and how do you respond . It is an interesting time. Paul interestingly, that book, john kennedy gave a copy of it to Franklin Roosevelt. Jfk signed it and Franklin Roosevelt signed it. Fdr collected rare books. That is one of most precious possessions. Both jfk and roosevelt signatures. You may not know the story. It is one of my favorite anecdotes. In 1940, when kennedy came back from europe, he came to visit the fdr library which was under construction at the time. He left a gift. We have the copy of the thank you note that fdr wrote to jfk. Isis a scribbled note so it hard to read but it appears to say, thank you for the machine gun and goggles. Can you imagine john f. Kennedy dropping off a machine gun at the president ial library . Actually what it said was marine , gun. It was a spear gun for fishing. He knew fdr loved to go fishing and the goggles were swimming goggles. We have never been able to find what happened to the spear gun or the goggles. It doesnt sort of go to the relationship that the two theyies had, they were were. There were a lot of interactions throughout the years. The relationship between jfk and eleanor is also significant. Paul the period right before the u. S. Gets into the war, Joseph Kennedy is the ambassador, he starts siding with germany. He is telling roosevelt and anyone who will listen that he does not think england will survive. Friction between him and the president at a little bit between him and his sons. A good bit of friction. Imagine, inside the kennedy family, to go against your father would have been a tough road. Paul Joseph Kennedy almost ran against fdr in 1940. It was not clear that fdr was going to run. It was an unprecedented third term. Kennedy felt he had something to offer, not to mention significant funds to support his candidacy. Fdr kept him in england just long enough to prevent him from running. It became quite nasty between the two of them. Fdr served long enough that a lot of people started thinking of running against him. Paul very true. When war broke out, john f. Kennedy joined the navy. Talk a little about that, how that experience influenced his presidency and is view of fdr as commanderinchief. A lot of people recognize the exceptional circumstances of him 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 that if a mosquito bit him, the mosquito would die. But he did want to join the navy. Even though he was initially rejected or disqualified, he appealed to his father to intervene on his behalf and in elite naval with an person, office of naval , he was initially assigned to a desk job. He wanted to go to the front, then he was given a command of pt boats. All of those operations very much informed his sense of Public Service and deepened his appreciation for democracy. He knew that democracy was under assault from a world that did did not believe in that kind of freedom. He said even in his debates with candidate nixon, his address to the nation at that point is, can america live half free and have slave . He referred to lincoln in that speech. Although lincoln was talking andt a that are all slavery kennedy was referring to democracy versus communism, but it is an interesting take on the world. In large part, it is grounded in his service in world war ii. Paul there was another incident during world war ii i think had enormous influence on john f. Kennedy. The death of his older brother, joseph. Joseph was quite a hero. According to the Family Dynamics of that time, his older brother was to be the one who went into politics. Jfk was the to play a supportive role. When his older brother passes away, unfortunately, in a bombing run in which the bombs went off prematurely, his father joseph turned to him. It was now his term his turn to lead the family into politics which was an interesting identity shift for him. Much of his younger life, he gets away with being friendly and wellliked but not all that serious a student and not all that serious a player in the world. It is only through seeing the war develop, then his last couple of years at harvard, focusing on his studies, and his Naval Service, he becomes a much more serious person in understanding how the world works. Paul when world war ii ends, fdr has died. Dies in april. The world changes. We enter into a new phase of this relationship between the kennedys and roosevelts. Now the primary relationship is between Eleanor Roosevelt, who is arguably the most powerful woman in america, certainly one of the most famous women in the world and a major influence on the democratic party. Their political careers start to intersect. It really happens when kennedy becomes a senator. Eleanor has very different political views. Did you want to talk about how that evolve . You can correct me if i am off on this. A big part of the early schism revolved around senator mccarthy. Senator mccarthys relationship with the kennedys. Even when the senate votes to censor mccarthy and kennedy had a speech ready to support that, but he was in the hospital and unable to deliver that speech. Because he is not able to publicly distance himself from mccarthy when others are, i think eleanor refers from that and the family relations between the mccarthys and kennedys that he may not be as strong of a candidate and not share the same values that she shares. She engages in some public criticism of kennedy as maybe not being the right candidate. Kennedy wisely does not engage in a public battle with Eleanor Roosevelt. He would not win that battle. But he privately writes her and asks her to consider the facts and be open to meeting with him. It is only in the in person conversations that his curiosity and his willingness to learn and his patriotism come through. In a way she can support him. I can appreciate, given what she knew at the time and her familiarity with Adlai Stevenson why it was difficult for her to wrap her mind around kennedy. Paul Bobby Kennedys role as one of the council to the Committee Mccarthy was leading tarnished jfk in her eyes as well, guilt by association. There is no question she was , strong on civil rights. I think she really held a grudge. I love her, but she could hold a grudge. She still resented the fact that he had criticized fdr during the war. I think she never fully let go of that. I do think it is a wonderful moment in their relationship. He comes here to visit her home. They have pictures on the wall. After that convention, when kennedy gets the democratic nomination, he knows he has to win her over. He goes to visit her. We have some of those photos in our library as well. He has to go in person to meet with her. She is a big supporter of Adlai Stevenson. A very capable candidate. She is worried not only about kennedys relationship with mccarthy but his age and inexperience. She does not think he has a Strong Enough record to run on. It is only in person that he is able to convince her. I think that is true to who kennedy was throughout his life. There is 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. There is no amount of correspondence that will convey that it has to be done in , person. Paul Eleanor Roosevelt had some objections to jack kennedy, but she hated richard nixon. [laughter] when it came down to picking one of those, that was an easy choice. One of my favorites letter she ever wrote was to jfk that day after the first televised debate between nixon and jfk. It is classic Eleanor Roosevelt. It is passiveaggressive, compliments, criticism. The tone of the letter is, 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. Interesting side note, one of the people she was watching the debate with was lloyd benson. Many years later, he made the reference, i know john kennedy. She said he came across as too confident. He needed to include the audience more in his answers. You might agree with me, but it is a classic letter. To her credit, she campaigned for him quite vigorously. She did what she thought thought needed to be done for the democrats to win. She thought it was vitally important. She had had repeated runins with eisenhower and completely disagreed with his policies and thought it was important for a democrat to get in. To resurrect some of the new deal policies that she had supported so strongly. Once kennedy gets elected, the first thing he does is appoint Eleanor Roosevelt. Yes, it is fascinating. Not just for that campaign, but for president ial campaigns at large. Particularly when kennedy is trying to frame himself is standing up for a new generation. We have new ideas, a new energy. He is trying to be new and at the same time, he knows full well that if he does not win over the establishment, he is going nowhere. He has to get eleanors support. At the same time, creating this image of trying to get out young voters. I think that is fascinating. He had a really good sense of history. But some new ideas and energy. One of the things he gets from fdr is the importance of innovation and leadership. Fdr did some innovative things. When i think about im going to go off on retreat and not talk to anybody and come back with this lend lease idea. That turns the war. President kennedy knew that you needed to take time to think about the bigger picture. You need to commit resources eidea, it is not just money, it is Political Capital and you have to build up that Political Capital first. He pays very close attention to those relationships. I was intrigued to learn, on our day of infamy, november 20 second, 1963, the assassination, earlier that morning, he called to express birthday wishes to fdrs first vice president. Who i believe was turning 93 or 95. A real student of history and a person who really pays attention to relationships, does those personal touches. In addition to being a good, largescale, retail politician. Those personal touches made a huge difference throughout his career. Im sure eleanor had no affection. Paul she was not a huge fan. Jfk puts her on a commission on the status of women. Understanding that at this moment in time, this idea of the equality for women and including more women in the political establishment to stop some of the discrimination that was being leveled against women. It is interesting he would appoint her in that role. I think it went to one of her passions, which was she had fought for gender equality her whole adult life. It was a brilliant pick and eleanor did a great job with it. The subject came up repeatedly in his press conferences, he may not have appointed as many women to leadership roles as we would expect to see today, but the level to which he did involve women in his administration was a breakthrough for his time and the appearance of women journalists in the press pools that he interacted with and many of them called him to account for, what are you going to do to continue your Campaign Pledge on equal rights for women . Equal pay for women . Equal roles . All that. By todays standards, he could have done more. But for those times, i think he did some amazing things. Paul Eleanor Roosevelt dies in november 1962. Jfk comes back to hyde park. Along with harry truman in every Major Political figure in america to pay respects at her funeral. I think there is a true sincerity at that moment to the passage of this great woman. I also think it is an honor that 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. He could not have fdr support at that point, fdr is long gone. But eleanor is able to bridge that gap. Paul we will end with the thought that both of these men gave their lives in duty to the country. In both cases, their death in office created a residence with the American People that has stayed without all these years. I think there is something missing in todays politics. Both of these people truly believed in Public Service. They had been raised with a sense that they had a duty and responsibility to serve the American People. They both did in extraordinary ways. I think john f. Kennedys inaugural address remains one of the greatest speeches of all time. I have to agree and i have to say, fdr and the events of his time as president shaped the nation, shaped that generation. In profound ways. President kennedy, even nixon is only three years older than kennedy and later, president Herbert Walker bush is only six years older than kennedy. World war ii shapes them and so many other kennedy siblings serve in the war either in the military or in civilian roles. I think president kennedy would have encouraged us, were he alive today, to always value Public Service and consider it in its many forms. As a way to make the world that around us. Paul that is a great place to end todays conversation. Thank you for joining us. You do a great job up there. I hope you have a great year. Always great to talk. I look forward to visiting hyde park again. Paul that is it for today. We hope to see you again in the future. [bird chirping] is American History tv, featuring interviews, films, and visits to college classrooms, museums, and historic places, exploring our past every weekend on cspan3. 75 years ago on august 15, 1945, victory over japan day marked the end of world war ii. Tonight, three films about the state of affairs at home and abroad in the years immediately after the war. Here is a preview. The new japan has many problems. We are anxious to assist. Expert knowledge on a subject as Public Health is vital in putting japan on its own feet. Under american supervision, a case of typhoid fever is cared for. The home is disinfected. To aatient is removed hospital for contagious diseases. Aree numbers of people introduced to methods of preventing disease. The government of japan had neglected most standard inoculations. There is faith in ddt. Many japanese call it a skin tonic. These methods of control are setting a pattern for the future of japans average citizen. What is most noticeable in japan today are the shortages in the simple necessities of life. A housewife must wait online, food is scarce, a ration is the enough to provide a working members of the family with enough food. A considerable supply of food has come from america. The government is trying to find methods of distribution to prevent food from being hoarded and prevent its flow into the black market. Thate german leaders knew aggression abroad without discipline at home, therefore, the time had come for the republic to be eliminated. They needed a tool with which to appeal to the germans passion for superiority and conquest. Annex corporal of the german army with a fanatic gleam in his eye and power to arouse a mob. Preaching the same doctrine of his predecessors, the old doctrine that had never failed to arouse the german people be ready people. Jobless, uneducated, cowardly, gathered, hitler misfits with like himself, obsessed with grievances, people who were not as prominent as they thought they should be, people with inferiority complexes who wanted to shout with the crowd, people who wanted power but were too lazy to work for its, anxious to be dope ab addicts, ddicts, perverts, those germans who are liberally minded regarded hitler as a joke or nuisance. What the country needs is more golden rule and less rule of gold. Did my tennis like rent control . Why dont you ask them . My name is catherine. Husband works in the post office. I guess he is what you would call a salaried man. There is a lot to be said for being a salaried man but most of us never get rich at it. What about rent schedule . I dont know much about it, except we will pay 39 a bottle 39 a month before the war and we are still paying it. We could not pay any more. Learn more about the person on the postwar world American History tv. Next on lectures in history, a professor talks about the mid19th Century Court case of a female slave who killed her master repeated sexual assaults. The class discusses what options she may have had and the involvement of her fellow slaves and her masters white neighbors in her court case. At 9 25, the anniversary of a ship speaking thinking. And then the state of affairs in the u. S. And abroad in the years immediately after world war ii. Prof. Jones today we will continue the discussion we were having that we began a couple weeks ago, talking about the history of slavery, and in particular, the experiences of enslaved women. We already had a chance to look at the case of harriet jacobs, one of the best remembered of the slave narratives. There, jacobs introduced us, if you will, to that dimension of slavery that is exemplified, and we might say central to the
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