Direct for of the f. D. R. Library, what is this room and what kind of history was made here . This room is totally unique and only room used by a sitting president at a president ial library. When he first started construction on the library, he assumed he would leave office at the end of 1940. But because of the rising tensions in europe, the Democratic Party nominated him for a third term and he was legitimated. When this was opened in 1941. He was still president of the United States. This was the northern oval office. And he was up here on many occasions. Churchillined winston and had a lot of his meetings and Radio Broadcasts from here. Two of his fireside chats and Radio Broadcasts came from this room and he conducted the war in europe and in the pacific from this room. Say four 35 30, you were done here, do you remember which ones . There are two fireside chats and Radio Broadcasts like on election nights. He did two Christmas Eve broadcasts. The september 7, 1942 and december of 1943, the Christmas Eve broadcast he did from here. Very, very interesting broadcast, because he just returned from cairo and met with churchill and stalin and talk about the conference and the first time the big three had gotten together. He came here to rest and recoupe rate. So that was a very important night and communicating to america what the war met and the scope of this global battle and talking about the russia front and what was happening and how the americanbritish forces were putting pressure on nazi germany and it was a period there was a turning point in the war. Prior to that, 1942 and 1943, the allies struggled, the nazis and japanese won victory after victory. The sense of the tide had turned. And with the big three meeting, this was an Important Role to communicate there was going to be an end to this terrible conflict and had a vision that the United Nations was going to come together and create a body for governing world peace as he hoped the league of nations would and the United Nations would be an Important Organization moving forward. Whats the story of that portrait. Franklin roosevelt didnt have a home up here. They would live at his mothers house and had a study. His 1933 to 1941, that was office when he came to hyde park. She loved that. The political leaders would come to her home and she enjoyed that. When he decided he was going to donate the prop property to the federal government, he had a big signing and signed the deed over to the federal government only that they didnt own the property. And the property belonged to sarah. They had to fly over the deed so they could sign it over to the federal government. During the leadup, sarah wanted to create Something Special and had this portrait commissioned and gave it to him so she could look over his shoulder. The story of their relationship, how close were they, she went to college with him and upstairs in the home, didnt she have a bedroom right next to him . On the home, there is a three bedrooms and eleanor slept in after franklin came down with polio. But they had an extraordinary relationship and she is maligned as being a controlling figure but she was inspirational. But the grandchildren adored her. She devoted her life to franklin. Very difficult childbirth. And doctors told her she couldnt have another child. James roosevelt had had a child through a previous marriage and they had this household and growing up, f. D. R. Had everything wanted. They traveled the world and went to europe every year. He had sail boats and everything his heart could desire. They had a home in new york and here and a home on the border between canada and maine. They were a close family. And she wanted to make sure he had everything he could have. One of the most amusing stories that franklin was successful because he was a delano and not a roosevelt. Ey were successful. Maritime her father made and lost fortunes. Sarah went to china when she what and sailed to china on a clipper ship that her family owned. She was a very successful woman and understood the world. She gave him strength and selfconfidence and throughout their relationship, right up until 1941 when she died, she remained a strength of source and he turned to her when he needed someone to believe in him. That is the essence of it. There was conflicts between eleanor and sarah because sarah played a dominant role. It was their home and built the house for the two of them. In new york, it was a due flex and she put doors on every floor so she could go back and forth. She was definitely a strong presence and also a very strong support. How long did she spend at harvard . She was in boston for part of the time. I think that is sometimes overplayed. But there was no question that she felt like she needed to be around for him. Franklin was not a great student. He did what he needed to do. He was involved in the school newspaper. And he would say he was a journalist, too, and would have his press conferences at the harvard crimson. But he was very independent from her. Whats more interesting is that after he graduated when he met eleanor and fell in love with eleanor was that he told sarah they wanted to get married and she was not a fan of this idea at all. She told him he had to wait a year before they announced it. And she did everything she could to distract him. By the end of the year, franklin, they were committed and they got married in 1905. And it was at that point, the conflicts between eleanor and sarah began to evolve. Eleanor became a mother and raised five children. There were differences of how you should mother. And as eleanor became more politicalallyally more active, she had a life outside the family. There was a changing of role of women and particularly eleanors Political Awareness with the Womens Movement and became an active political participant, not just a minute. We are standing in the study that f. D. R. Used. Where is the library in relationship to new york city and how is it for people to get here . Hyde park pass two hours north of new york city right on the hudson reason. There are a number of leading lived here, the asters and the vanderbilts and there were a number of important families because it was americas main street particularly in the colonial area. It was moving goods up and down the river into new york, which was a major seaport and a hub. This bass a very important area. It became very easy, hour and a half to get from new york up into this area. There is a train station in hyde park and there was a siting that they could essentially store his president ial car when he would come up. It was easy to get from washington to here or new york to here. The family had apartments in new york throughout his entire life and so they went back and forth quite frequently. But it was easy to get here. And as frankly matured as president , particularly during the war years, he had two escapes, he had warm springs, georgia, which was the Rehabilitation Center for polio and there was hyde park. He could come here and really feel like this was his home, he could relax and walk in the woods, having his friends over, being with his books and stamps. This was a place he was really comfortable. How did paul sparrow get here . I was involved with the television and i was familiar with museums. And i spent 16 years there and how do we tell history in new and different ways . When the opportunity came i was a client of the National Archives. I loved the National Archives and one of americas great treasures. When the opportunity to become the director, this was a dream job. Something i dreamed off. Im a story teller. People can argue that i feel that Franklin Roosevelt the most important president and so lincoln helped end the civil war. George washington helped create democracy, he served eight years. And roosevelt served 12 years. And he was the leader that transcended in some ways what a political leader. I changed the way the federal government sbrling acted with its citizens. When he became president , america was in its most dire state. Unemployed. And people were dying in the streets. And roosevelt came in and said this is not right. This is a government by the people, for the people and find ways to help them keep their homes and provide for their farms and improve the environment and faced one of the great environmental disasters because of terrible land practices in the midwest. Terrible dust bowl and he understood that you had to stop that for the farmers to be successful, you had to stop the erosion of soil. The conservation corps planted two billion trees from texas to canada. And those winds stop and prevented further erosion and transplanted the landscape. He created a safety net for americans losing their jobs and homes and changed everything that has happened since then. We could argue about the policies and how is he going to pay for these . There was a fundamental change in the relationship between federal government and americans. Where did you grow up . I grow up . Long island. I went to u. C. C. Santa cruise. Cruz. A santa but i did come up as a story teller. All of my work in television really was finding stories and finding the best way. What kind of documentaries did you do . It was about elephant fields in california. Santa crust is one of the breeding areas. And i did a documentary field and i was originally hired to do the sound recording and on my first day of shooting, we were standing on the beach and the camera man was running down the beach. I said where are you going . I turn around there is a bull elephant ready to kill me and i went charging off the beach to get away from him and this is my first exposure. This is an interesting job. What did you do in television . I started out as editor and produceer and executive producer. I worked in San Francisco and then in washington. One of my interesting exploits as on americas most wanted. I helped catch criminals which was a fascinating way to communicate with people. It was an interactive. And people would call us and people would go out and arrest them. It shows you there was a realtime phenomenon that could happen with television. We helped return 35 missing children. 10 people off the f. B. I. s most wanted list. How long have you been been director here. Who owns it . Who do you answer to . The library is part of the National Archives. There are 13 president ial libraries and this was the First Federal president ial library. I worked for the archiffist of the United States. There are 30 people who work here in the editorial and functioning side. And we have an Important Role to play in this community. We have a visitor central. We do a lot of programming and try to make this program available. We are inside the National Park. Fdr put to organizations in charge of the same thing. He gave the property to the National Park service, but the library to the National Archives. Top cottage was a small cottage that Franklin Roosevelt built in 1940 where he was going to retire to. It is one of the first homes that was fully wheelchair accessible. There are no thresholds on the door. All the door handles and windows are low. He really wanted to live there when he left the white house. These are all part of the National Park complex and what we think of as the Roosevelt Legacy here in hyde park. Brian how many square feet devoted to exhibits, and did you have a foundation . What does it cost to run all of this . Is about 12,000 square feet of space. We used some of the sword space some of the Storage Space were to keep things that arent on display at but glass walls up so the public can see things like part of the Art Collection and fdrs car that he drove the king and queen of england around and. They had special hand controls made by ford that allowed him to drive even though he was paralyzed. , he hashis ship models an extraordinary ship model collection. It really helps people see behind the scenes into some of the storage we have. There is a foundation, the roosevelt institute, our 501 c 3 partner. Government federal has structured president ial Library Systems is the government will pay for the preservation and storage of the actual records, the archives themselves, and the materials associated with the president ial library. They will pay for the staff to maintain that, but not for things like education programs, new exhibits, technology, educational outreach. We need private money to be able to do those things. The model that was created by Franklin Roosevelt was that all the money to build the building was raised privately, and everything he owned was donated to the federal government. The federal government agreed that they would manage it and preserve it. One of the things that i think this generation in particular people have a hard time with his timeframe. The National Archives has to think on a timeframe of hundreds of years. If you think about our great founding charters, the declaration of independence, the constitution, the emancipation proclamation, these documents are hundreds of years old. We have to be thinking in terms 100 yearsr historians from now are going to be able to do to look and understand the Roosevelt Administration or other president ial libraries. You have to look at a time frame where you are balancing the delicate preservation of these pieces of paper, the books, the architect thats the artifacts with the need the artifacts with the need to share them with the people. For the American People to come to hyde park to study him, to see his collections. He knew that if these papers were just in some Federal Building in washington, d. C. , people who came to study him wouldnt really understand who he was. His character was formed by being here in hyde park. Brian what does it cost to run this whole thing . I can give you a number because the way the federal government works, there are five different budgets for security and maintenance and staffing, and the institute contributes money. I would say the overall cost is somewhere in the seven to 9 million range when you add it all up. Brian how many visitors . Almost 200,000 last year. We were very lucky. In 2014, the great documentary filmmaker ken burns did a wonderful series for Public Television called the roosevelts, an intimate portrait. It was a fantastic series. It really raised Public Interest in the roosevelts. We saw. Attendance starting to climb at that point i have attendance starting to climb at that point. I have been here less than two years. A new public exhibit opened in 2013. The narrative that we tell in our permanent exhibit was 13 years in the making. They put together a group of totorians and 2000 completely rethink what the president ial library should be. How do we tell that story . How do we be honest . How do we admit his failures and celebrate his successes . The entire exhibit was reconceived. It really is, i think, one of the most accessible president ial libraries. Enough time has passed where we can honestly deal with things like the japanese internment. Our temporary exhibit right now is images of internment. It features 200 photographs taken by Dorothea Lange and ethel adams that documents the process of japanese americans, many of whom were american citizens, of those incarcerated. Their Constitutional Rights were violated by a man who i and many others think was one of our greatest champions of civil rights. Of because of the hysteria the time and the pressure of the war, because of the nature of the japanese surprise attack on pearl harbor, these people were singled out and put in these camps. By looking at that narrative, at that story, we can examine the inner workings of the Roosevelt Administration, but more importantly put a lesson out there for people. Here is what happened. Why did it happen . How can we prevent it from happening . In the 1980s, a federal commission determined that the federal government should apologize. Ronald reagan sent letters to every surviving member of the cant, and a restitution payment was made. By having the ability to be academically honest, to be intellectually rigorous and the way we are investigating this legacy, we have given great creek. We are saying given great credence. He made Great Strides in changing our politics. Brian in this room there are a lot of books. In this library there are a tremendous number of books. How many books did sbr did fdr have in his collection . There were 22,000 books in his personal collection. We have about 50,000 books here total in the library, many of which were acquired after he died, and our research or reference books about roosevelt. Every book in here was selected by fdr to be in this room. It was almost identical that the way it was on the day fdr died. Nothing has changed. Some furniture was moved, but this is basically as it was on the day fronting roosevelt died. He served quite for years in this room as it is. The books are fascinating. He has an entire bookshelf of all the Winston Churchill looks. That was one of the most extraordinary friendships in American History between two leaders. Every country joe would come up with a new book every time churchill would come out with a new book, he would send it over to fdr to look at. He would write little notes. Winston churchill inscribed one book a fresh egg from a faithful and. He loved a faithful hen. He loves sharing those things. He also had several kindling g books. Several kiplin he has one by robert louis stevenson. When you open the cover, there is a little watercolor included the front page, with Robert Louis Stevensons signature. He has certain areas he was particularly interested in his books. Naval history, he has a worldclass collection of naval history books. He collected ship locks, firstperson manuscripts. He loved books by people written on ships that did interesting circumnavigating the globe or scientific expeditions or fighting major battles. If there is one book in his collection that had the biggest impact on his presidency, it is called the influence of seapower on World History. He has three volumes of it. What was his older brothers, one was given to him by his uncle fred. This book was influential and how the russians develop their navy in world war i, how the japanese did in the russian japanese war, and in world war ii. It was upheld how large naval fleets can influence military conflict. He very influential was the assistant secretary of the navy in world war i, and about how he helped rebuild the navy to prepare for world war ii. He gives you insight into things he was interested in. You can tell that he was almost insatiably curious. Brian was the story with the English Version of mein kampf . The First Edition was published in this Company Called my battle. Spoke frenchd and and german fluently. He understood the message header was getting to his people. Thinking to power at exactly the same time thats the message hiller was getting too the message hitler was getting to his people. They came to power and exactly the same time. Almost all of the vicious antisemitism had been taken out of english translation. That is typical of how he was giving up with what was going on in the world. He had a very cosmopolitan view of international politics. He was able to discern exactly what was really being said versus what was being it to the to the being fed people. Brian where do you keep the books . They are kept in a special room designed by fdr himself. In the big renovation and restoration in 2013, all the upper archive storage rooms where the documents are kept was updated. It still has the original bookshelves, the extra wide aisles where he could get up and down in his wheelchair. It has some of the original clamshell cases that he would put his speeches and documents and so he can keep them on his left in his wheelchair and look at the. He really intended look at that. Work and intended to use this as a repository for his material after he left the white house. The book stacks are fdrs books, and on the other side are all the books that were acquired either after he died or might have belonged to other family members. He started collecting as a child and actually created a little stamp which he would put in the books that were his. It had a roosevelt crest on it. When he got the book, he would sign his name, write the date. Sometimes he would write the location where he got it. Then occasionally in some books he would write little notes and it. Notes notes in it. He was an avid reader of detective novels. One of the books is called the starspangled banner version the starspangled virgin, he wrote a little note to these pages that is a description of a motorcade going through, and the protagonists is on the side of the road. When he realizes who goes by, he roosevelt. Mr. Hes arguably the biggest man the world the busiest man the world, and yet he has time to read these oaks and make read these books and make notes on a reference that h a reference to a trip he made. A number of the levels were family bibles. A lot of them were in dutch. He collected books, and bibles were one of the areas that he collected it. For her 500 books about religion, about every kind of religion. A lot of them about christianity, but many about others as well. He had this whole collection of bibles. Bibles on display here is a dutch bible from 1650, the family bible. It was used all four times during his inaugurations. , and itvery large book reflects his belief that family is important. He was not a traditionally devout christian, yet he used references in the bible in his speeches all the time. Used them as a way of making a point. Bible was very effective in providing advice on how people should act. How do you convince people to do the right thing . He thought the bible was very effective in doing that, which is why he quotes it all the time. He had a sermon like quality to many of his most important and powerful speeches. If you look at the dday prayer which was put out on june 6, 1944, a point at which he did not know whether the greatest military assault in World History was going to be a success or failure. It is a very personal prayer and it reflects his belief that we are at a critical moment in World History, and his believe in the American People comes through in that prayer. Sons, pridegod, our our nations mother guy pride in our nation, this day have set up on a mission to set free a suffering humanity. Give strength to their arms, stop this to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith. They will need that blessings thy blessings. The road will be long and hard, strong. Enemy is a success may not come with rushing speed. Grace andat by thy the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph. , the 21,000o you his grade, separate school time, college time . Use the library of congress organizational system, so they are organized by subject matter. Ofa whole bookshelf full history books about new york state, dutchess county, the hudson river, hyde park, other towns. We are in dutchess county, new york. He was very interested. He actually had the document, the deed of sale for hyde park for 1689 20 dutch settlers and the native americans who lived 41699 for 1689 when the dutch settlers and the native americans who lived here. He had a collection of all his speeches, which were bound. He would often give them as christmas presents, even to his wife. Merry christmas, here is my speeches. He had this enormous collection of Natural History books. He was a birder from a very early age. He would collect and stuff a great number of birds. He has an eight volume set of the birds of america and other history books. He was deeply interested in how nature worked. Implanted almost 250,000 trees on this property alone in hyde park. He described himself as a tree grower. He thought of himself as a tree grower. Its a very funny story, during world war ii he had a Christmas Tree farm. They would sell Christmas Trees. West of churchill came famously and spent christmas at the white house after pearl harbor in 1941. They dont really have the same tradition in england of these ornamented Christmas Trees. They watched the lighting of the Christmas Tree at the white house. The next year, fdr has a Christmas Tree ship to him at 10 downing street because he wanted Winston Churchill to have one. Brian can a public walkthrough where his private papers are . Private books . 2 there is a caller there is a there is a glass door regency into it, but like many of these, because of the security involved in preserving and protecting these books, the public is not allowed to go in. Brian for the rules about people touching these books . Does anybody get to read the . We have a Public Research room here open to the public. You could go into the research room, ask for certain documents were speeches or books. Over time, certain documents ome fragile or so valuable like the pearl harbor speech. If someone wants to come in and see the original draft, we have to bring out a reproduction because that speech is both fragile and priceless. Material wes, some create reproductions which we share with the public. Other times we will bring a box out to you and you said the desk and look at the material. Many of the books are available for people to come and look at in the reference room. They cant take them home, but they can look at the. There are some books that have become so valuable or fragile that they cant be checked out. If they are shown to a historian or a scholar or archivist who is holding or preserving the book, we have to think in terms of hundreds of years. We want these materials to be available three generations from now. So the preservation has to balance with the accessibility. One of the guiding strategies for the National Archives is called make access have. Theres a whole digitization happen digitization process happening where we want to make these documents is widely accessible as possible. Not everyone can come to hyde park. The old model that you create an archive, people come to you and you show the things, doesnt work as well as our motto in our modern world. Brian how much is Available Online right now . We have about one million documents Available Online on our platform. Brian how many documents do you have . There are 90 million pages of documents here. That does not include the books. About one million of them are online. All of the speeches are online. It was supported by at t. Been allowed they allowed all of us to digitize all is speeches. Sometimes you might have six or seven or eight different drafts of a major speech. You can see all the drafts with all of his handwritten comments and the notes from his advisers and other people. You can actually go back and watch the evolution of these speeches. Everyone knows in his first inaugural address, the most famous line, one of the most famous in president ial or authority, is open to the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. That was not in there until the seventh draft. There is no question that it was a seminal moment in that opening part of the speech, yet it came as they were involving that speech, trying to craft a message. What did he want to say to the American People . What was that they needed to hear at that moment . When you study a lot of his speeches and listen to his Radio Broadcasts, particularly the fireside chats, you realize he transformed the way president s spoke. The radio is an intimate device. When a president spoke before that, they were speaking to crowds. They would project and speak in a formal way. When he was governor, he first started these radio conversations. When he became president , he perfected this idea of having a personal conversation. His neighborsion sitting across the Kitchen Table from him when he would do his fireside chat. I think the best example of his persuasiveness is his first fireside chat as president , which was just a few days after he took office. He was the last president 1933. Rated in march, later he was the first president inaugurated in january. The first thing he did was shut down every banks. Called it a bank holiday. 1000 banks have failed in the weeks running up to his inauguration. So on a sunday night before the reopening of the banks, he gave his first fireside chat. It was a fairly short one, but an extraordinary speech. He says, i want to talk about banking. Evinces a good job of explaining the banking crisis, even the bankers understood it. He talked about the fact that they are going to reopen the banks, and how banks work. You give your money to the bank and the bank lends it up to businesses to do business. The money isnt just sitting there any fault because the bank runs had been such a problem. He decided he was going to reopen the banks only in the 12 Federal Reserve cities. The reason he did this was that he knew he had enough cash in the Federal Reserve banks in those cities that if there was a run on the bank, he could loaded truck up with cash and rated and send it over to the bank. , morethe banks reopened than 1 million had flown back in to the banks. He ended the banking crisis simply with his words. That is the sign of a great leader. Brian to back to the fireside chat and relate that to today. We have a president today that tweets. But back in the days of the fireside chats, i have read that one of the reasons they did the radio chats is because the newspapers were all biased against him, and this was a way to go around. Is that true . Every president wants to find a way to talk directly to the American Public. That he can think and get their point across and the media out of the way, they could convince the American Public they are right. France and roosevelt certainly felt very strongly he needs to be able to communicate directly to the Franklin Roosevelt certainly felt very strongly he needed to be a will to communicate directly to the American People. The reporters and photographers who covered him loved him, who adored him. That there were the rich publishers and owners who detested him. Brian why . Because he shifted the financial responsibilities for the upper class. He had changed the tax system, the power of labor, shifted the balance of power so that where capital had been dominant in labor submissive, he tried to balance it out. Encourage labor unions. Legislationd to limit the power of big money, so the 1 were very disturbed. They considered him a traitor to his class. One of his ancestors had been a partner of isolate mr. Hamilton of Alexander Hamilton in the creation of the bank of new york. He was part of that 1 , so they perceived him as a traitor. He understood you had to fundamentally bring the working class up if you were going to get the economy working again. They had to have purchasing power. You had to give the decent jobs. You had to give them security. You have to make them feel that they were a part of the economy so you could list home ownership, bring people back into the forks to have a healthy economy. ,he journalists who covered him but when they would do conferences that the white house , he would sit behind the desk in the oval office and the press would just stream in and fill in around him. He would have this back and forth. He had over 900 press conferences during his presidency. There would be a backandforth. Sometimes he would say, this is off the record. He knew a lot of them by name. He would make jokes with them, feed the tidbits of information. This whole time, eleanor roosevelt, his incredibly effective political partner, when he wanted to find out what was going on in the world, he would send eleanor out to her to tour to two o the country. Out an idea,digest he would have eleanor talk about it first in her column or one of her speeches if he wanted to test out an idea, he would have eleanor talk about it first in her column or one of her speeches. If it was successful, he would incorporate into his policy. They were a very Effective Team and she was a media powerhouse. People dont appreciate her impact. She wrote a column every day for 20 years, six days a week. She had radio shows. She was on television after franklin died and after the war. She was a very influential person and a voice that really spoke to helping those most in need. In the museum part of this, there is a picture of fdr in a wheelchair. , i am goingind me to step back so you can explain it, one of the wheelchairs that sits in his office all the time. You talk about the media, and say that we have only seen him in one of these in a public photo four times. Why . Several things, you can tell it is not a traditional wheelchair. This is a kitchen chair thats been built on a couple of bicycle wheels with some wheels in the back. First half of his life, he was a very person. He did get polio until his late 30s. At that point he went into almost seclusion. He had been the Vice President ial candidate in 1920, a nationally known public figure. He had been an assistant secretary to the navy. As determined to walk again. The American People knew that he had polio. He got this enormous standing ovation. He would use these steel braces on his legs to be able to brace himself. People knew he was crippled in some way, but very people knew he was completely paralyzed from the waist down. There was tremendous prejudice that fit about people who were disabled. There was a fairly widespread belief that if you were physically disabled, you might be mentally disabled. They wanted to downplay his physical disability. The press was not allowed to photograph him in his wheelchair. He was doingen speeches are bringing people into the oval office or this room, he would get in the wheelchair, be transferred to one of his chairs, so you would just be sitting in a chair. And photographer at a public event, and he was being helped out of a car or put in a wheelchair or being carried, they were told not to take photographs. Theres a lot of newsreel where, in the outtakes before he comes to the podium, the camera pans away from the podium while he comes to the podium. Once he is a there the camera pans back, and you dont see him as he leaves the a podium leaves the podium. They didnt want people to understand the extent of his disability. They wanted him to project this are a of confidence and vitality and energy. He did. He was incredibly dynamic. Everyone who met him was just enthralled his of those he has a, his articulate presentation , hiss enthusiasm articulate presentation of ideas. You were much more likely to see footage of him in a swimming pool, where he looks just like everybody else, then you are to see him with his crippled and withered legs in a wheelchair. Brian when did you first get interested in him personally . I have been interested since i was a child. My mother was from connecticut. She went to college in virginia and would always tell these stories that when people down there referred to president roosevelt, they never used his name. They just called him that man in the white house. He was a very unpopular figure. She would tell stories. She was born in 1916, so she lived through this entire period. She believed he had been americas greatest leader. She was also an enormous fan of eleanor roosevelt. She was a scientist, and so thought their support for research and education were vitally important. She had sort of instilled in me a love for the roosevelt and a real interest in history. Our family is mostly scientists, so they were expecting me to go into the world of science. I instead went on a different path. The storytelling was what always fascinated me. There are so many extreme area stories about Franklin Delano roosevelt that it is hard not to become a fan. Brian did he read when he was president , and if you write a book . Ofhe published several books his speeches, but he did not ever write a book on the. On his own. He had a screenplay he had written that he was trying to sell in the 1920s to the hollywood movie studios. It was sort of a spy mystery. It was pretty awful. No one bought it. He wrote the forward to a book on whaling ships. But he never wrote a book that was published. Brian what does the director do . Nothing. I have the greatest staff in the world. I talk to people like you. What really is extraordinary is the commitment of the people who work for the National Archives. They believe in the mission. They are deeply committed. To have many people who have been here 10, 15 years who have dedicated their lives to this institution. Brian where do they train . Most are in Library Sciences or museum studies. The world of archives is changing. There are certain core fundamental functions you have to do in terms of the way you preserve documents, the way you organize them and put them in folders and collections, how you make them available to the public. Some of those havent changed significantly, but the world of digitization has changed the way we think about providing access. Again, you have to think in terms of 100 years. You cant think in terms of tomorrow. Brian how often in the history of running libraries today have someone that came out of television and journalism instead of history or archival training . I dont know the answer to that. There are a number of people who have risen to Library Director status. A lot of time the Library Directors have a more outward focused mission. If you have a very, very highly skilled incompetent staff, i dont have to worry about the records being properly maintained because i know they are. My job is to help raise money for the library, increase its ability, do public programming community. With the is important that i have technical archival skills, but important that i be a manager, team theer, give the support they need. Brian to have watched the new president suggest cutting a lot of things in the arts and humanities. Will happen if they cut all of the money from the federal government to run a place like this . You adapt and change. The federal government has fluctuated back and forth in what is important and what is not. There are certain key functions of the federal government. The National Archives maintains all federal records. You cant really do away with the National Archives. They are an essential function of government. To keep the records of all the agencies, president ial records. The makers records available to congress and the public. They perform a vital function that cannot be change. You would have to say much greater shift over to private support. It would be very difficult to raise the money necessary to support an institution at the level and quality of these institutions. The president ial libraries are the finest examples of Research Institutions and museums. Everything that is done is done to preserve this material to make it accessible to the public. It is possible they could shift over to a private funding structure, but it would be very difficult. Brian in the museum, there are lots of new charts. One of them that top my attention was in 1933, the United States government spent 4 billion. Billion in0 4 1941, 34 billion. 4. 7 42, 4 . 7 billion unemployment. Does it say that when there is war, that is good for the country quest mark a lot more people country ques country . Most of that early spending by the federal government had to do with job creation, infrastructure redevelopment, creation of new regulatory agencies that provide support for farmers, homeowners, the conservation corps. Most of it was going directly into the American Economy, but not primarily the lee terry in nature. The military primarily military in nature. They really start transforming the industrial side of American Economy in to a military complex. There is no question that in times of extreme economic distress, government funding is critical to maintaining economic stability. We can argue the policies are shouldh the government be involved, but when the market has failed, the government has to step in. The market was incapable of making a correction. You have smaller failures, often at the market is capable. In this case, the federal spending for the military which created these massive deficits provided full employment. In that case, the creation of full employment was driven by military spending. But if you look at that chart, unemployment is dropping dramatically even before the massive military spending. Brian talking recently about the books on Lyndon Johnson, fdr was incredibly important to Lyndon Johnson. Historyave any personal of that relationship, and were there other politicians that he was responsible for preparing to run for office . One of the things fdr was a genius at was detecting talent. He saw something in Lyndon Johnson. The way that Lyndon Johnson first became a political figure in texas was through the fundingtion of federal going to the districts. This was a very controversial issue at that point, the idea of federal money going to state and local projects. So Lyndon Johnson was able to use that as one of the conduits for that cash to build a power base. When he came to washington and served in congress, he was one of fdrs most loyal supporters. Fairlystill a junior congressman, but he believed in everything fdr appended to do. He was trying to fill the work of Franklin Roosevelt. He truly believed his war on poverty, the idea of lifting up people who were most in need, his civil rights agenda, the civil rights and Voting Rights acts, these were directly related to the work of franklin and eleanor roosevelt. There are a few people he idolized more. Ranch,was visiting the one of his daughters was showing me something that fdr had given Lyndon Johnson. She said it was his most prized possession. There is a deep connection there. But fdr influenced an entire generation of political leaders. Not just people who served directly with him come up with people who served in the armed forces during world war ii. Every president served up until bill clinton in world war ii. Said, iagan famously voted for fdr four times. He was a great pragmatist. One of the things he is often labeled as is this sort of liberal, progressive, communist. But when you look at his actual policies and the way he would compromise with congress, he was a pragmatist on top of everything. In the early parts of his administration, he supported the growth of labor. When you look at the later administration when you Start Building up for the war and becoming the arsenal of democracy, he shift is focused to industrialists. He has to work with big business. He creates a system where they were getting contract with guaranteed 10 profit margin or whatever because he knew he needed to big business to invest in the infrastructure needed. Again, he was a pragmatist. What was the most important thing . We had to rearm to prepare for this global conflict. He was a pragmatist on top of everything. I think the best politicians of both parties look at his success in changing the way government in moving success this legislation through congress, and use that as a role model for how they can be successful. Brian what would he feel today if he saw we were 20 trillion in debt and that we are going to have to change some things in entitlement like Social Security and all that in order to pay for it was mark pay for a . Pay for it . Fdr firmly believed everyone should pay their share. In world war ii, everyone suffered rations. The amount of gas you could buy, beef you could buy, everything in your life was ration. Every american was impacted by the war. There was no, that is just other people. Everyone was equally engaged. There is not a single american who did not know someone who is directly involved in the war effort or fighting overseas. There were 10 million americans in uniform during the war. He believed that that had to be equally spread about. The understood there is going to be a massive deficit during the war. He also believed that rebuilding the for structure was going to create an economy that when the war ended, we would be a Major Economic power in the world and be able to pay those expenses down. But they were sacrifices made throughout. If you look at one of the most important components of the entire administration during the war years were the war bond efforts. They put massive efforts into getting people to the federal government. These werent taxes. You give the federal government money, and at the end of the war they give it back to you with a 1 or 2 interest earned. It wasnt just that he was taxing the American People. He was saying it is your duty, your responsibility as an american citizen to support the federal government in this war against fascism. Do you want liberty . Do you believe in democracy . If so, you need to contribute. I think it is a very different attitude than we have today when the burden of military Service Falls on a very small sliver of our population, one or 2 . So it is no longer a shared burden. I think that is a bigger problem than the idea of just saying, we have massive debt. The reason we have large deficits is because we are not equally sharing the burden in doing the things we need to do domestically and internationally. The director of fdrs library and museum, thank you very much for joining us. Its an honor to have you. Thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] announcer the home of franklin d. Roosevelt National Historic te features his estate, his library, and the final resting places of fdr and his wife eleanor roosevelt. We went to the home of david roosevelt, a grandson of the president and mrs. Roosevelt, to talk about his memories of hyde park and his time spent there with his grandmother. It really was not until my grandmothers funeral that i melized that it really hit that she was really a special person. ,nd something of a celebrity seeing the president , to expresident s, one future nextdents two president s, one future president s, and also to ambassadors and diplomatic people there that it really dawned on me, she really was important. We never thought of her in that way. Whenever viewed my grandmother. She was only a grandmother to us. That is all she ever wanted to be to us. In january 3, 1942. My father was elliott. Oldest ofs the second the sons, the third oldest of the children. So my dad kind of fell right in the middle. I think he always felt that he was the middle child. Claim that he to was my grandmothers favorite. Im not sure that was true, but that was what they claimed, anyway. My mother and father were divorced when i was only two. My time with my father was really quite limited. , the only thing that i can remember really am talking about him talking about was how he almost felt from my estranged he lovedbecause she was so busy that it was almost that he felt that she didnt have time for him. My grandmother, by her own admission, was not a particularly good mother. Experience of not having , sheher to grow up with never learned how to be a mother, good or bad. Think a consequence, i she paid special attention to her grandchildren to make up for not being a good mother. I can remember going for quite lengthy walks in the woods with my grandmother. She would always want to know what my interests were. Old,child at 7, 8, 9 years heres my grandmother paying attention to me and wanting to know how my life is going. About,y seldom talked herl we were much older,. Ork and the things she did she was a typical grandmother, but my grandmother was a horrible cook. She did not cook. [laughter] know, she always made time for the grandchildren that were there. Hey had a very special place of the place. We were very, very busy. I just remove the times i just run over the time i had with her, being with her, and really basking in her love. How was she has a grandmother . Was she a disciplinarian, or an indulgent grandmother . She was very indulgent. She was absolutely no disciplinarian whatsoever. Indulgent of very all of us. There were a lot of times when she would have someone who was quite famous visiting her. Would disturbren her or them, and she would never scold us. She would just say, thats my grandchild, or whatever, and thats what it and that was it. No problem. Do you remove or any particular dignitary or person that came to visit that you are particularly maybe of noxious . Maybe of noxious . Noxi maybe of maybe obnoxio us. There was this one. As a child, you always waited until the absolute last moment. This little boy ran right through the office going to the restroom, water flying off him and whatnot, and right past my grandmother. And she said, well, that was my grandson david. I will introduce him on his way back. There was no scolding whatsoever. You ever at any point i know you mentioned you didnt really get how famous or important your grandmother was until her funeral but at any point was there any indication serviceame or public growing up . Sure. When i wouldmes accompany my grandmother to various activities that she was doing. I remember one down in texas when she came and she was going church downa black in houston, i believe. I went with her. Adoration that these people and people were lined up in the streets waiting for it was so touching. Of course, i was older at that time. When sheember times did not receive such warm welcomes, as well. I did not have the opportunity to travel with her internationally. My brother and sister did, and some of my cousins, but i did not, unfortunately. , what were some of the things the negative reception your grandmother received . What was your reaction to that . A few casesember where there would be coming within the crowd, signs that were derogatory towards my grandmother. Muchdnt bother me so , at this time, that she was controversial. Realize thatif you during her lifetime, there were 19 attempts to assassinate her. So she was not universally loved by any stretch of the imagination. One of the talk at the dinner table what is the talk at the dinner table when someone tries to kill grandma . What does the family do . For the most part, it was not talked about. It was certainly not discussed. In a lot of cases, it was just it happened. The kkk is the largest bounty on her head that they have ever done for anyone. Occasion when some of the kkk had an opportunity to assassinate her, and a very good opportunity. They couldnt bring themselves to kill this woman. Real. Very a very real. Did your grandmother ever speak about a . Never. And certainly not to her grandchildren. Had personal protection whatsoever. Accepted thatst important totoo allow any kinds of threats to disturb her. Went right on doing her thing. Any ofou remember at all your relationship with fdr, and did eleanor talk about him as you all were growing up . It is interesting. I was too young to really but ier my grandfather, dont recall my grandmother ever specifically discussing fdr with us. Interesting relationship. Certainly it was not the kind of marriage that one would think of as a normal marriage, and yet they had such a strong partnership, and such respect for each other and each others itk that it really made quite a special relationship, i think. If i would ask my grandmother about fdr, she would answer, and it was always very positive, very loving. Dwell on that at all. I dont think my grandmother really enjoyed being first lady, being married to the president , although i think she realized that fdr became president it placed her in a position where she could have impact in areas that she was really interested in herself. Civil rights, human rights, things like that, education. Quite a Striking Partnership between the two. When your grandmother passed away . 1962. That your member the day you are do you remember the day you were told that she had passed . Oh yeah. I was in texas. I immediately left to come back up here. It was a terrible shock. Its funny, i dont think i ever really believed that she would never pass away, that she would ever pass away. It put quite a hole in my heart. Why didou decide you decide to write a book about your grandmother . I thats interesting because really had no interest in writing yet another biography of , and i thought it would be kind of fun for people to know about my grandmother from the perspective of a grandchild who knew her. I think theres a lot of misconception about my grandmother and what she wanted to try to accomplish. The thing that impresses me most about my grandmother is she really didnt care what other people thought. Felt was do what she in the best interest of her helping people, helping mankind, actually. That was always the thing that impressed me the most. The only thing that i recall and i think she told everyone of her grandchildren was be proud of your heritage. Be proud of the traditions of your family, but never feel that you have to live up to that legacy. You must be your own person. That is something that all of us carried with us for our entire lives. Announcer our visit to hyde park, new york is a book tv exclusive. We show it to you to introduce you to cspan cities tour. For six years we have traveled to u. S. Cities, bringing the book seem to our viewers. You can watch more visits on cspan, where history unfolds daily. In 1979, cspan was created as a Public Service by america felt Television Companies and is brought to you today i your cable or satellite provider. By your cable or select provider. Cspan,g up tonight on an interview with Small Business administrator Linda Mcmahon. Then President Trump attending bastille day ceremonies in france. Ushn president george w. B and president clinton. And then a discussion of russian meddling in u. S. Elections. Linda mcdaniel Linda Mcmahon has been Small Business administrator for five months. She talks about her marriage to vince mcmahon, her work as an executive, and her fiveyear