Welcome to todays lecture on Franklin Delano roosevelt. The man generally considered by historians to be the greatest president of the 20th century and even beyond that. Throughout all of American History probably considered the top three greatest american president s along with washington and lincoln. It is an assessment based on the fact he steered the nation through the two greatest crises. One internally, the Great Depression and one externally, orld war ii. There has been a long and ngoing debate among historians as to whether history is influenced more by individuals or larger social, cultural and economic forces. I think it is of course both of those. Certainly it seems to me that ranklin d roosevelt is a prime example of the significant of an individuals impact on history. It was broader social and Economic Conditions that allowed fdr to become a great leader, but in his case i believe it was force of personality that was a paramount element as i think we will see as we go alon
Streets around the building, and ill explain to you how that happened and how the research was done at the library of congress, which is sponsoring todays event, its a wonderful institution, the beautiful buildings, they are such Important Research materials they are, and its all available free. Use Public Access library, its one of the things that make our nation great. And im very grateful to the library of congress, for bringing here, and for continuing to give us such a wonderful material. Now, this is a self selecting crowd, i know some of you already know who Francis Perkins is, but a lot of people dont so lets start by asking this question, how many of you know who francis breakins is . Oh yes, this is great. How about this . How many of you know someone on Social Security, please raise your hand . How many of you know someone who is receiving unemployment insurance, or who has ever received Unemployment Compensation . Okay, friends perkins work. How many of you know someone who
Four this evening. I am evan dolly, on behalf of the History Program here, welcome. I should say at the outset, we are able to hold this top thanks to the generous funding of the history fund which is supporting this event. And let me jump straight to introducing our speaker for the evening. Our speaker for this evening is doctor robert chiles. He studied music and found the true faith and began a ph. D. In history in 2012 at the university of maryland. The top he will be giving this evening is a result of that ph. D. Dissertation, i believe. Yes. He has, in the course of this particular research for this project received a couple of prestigious honors the new York State Library Cunningham Research residency, and the new york state archives Ownership Trust hackman residency, to conduct research on governor alfred e. Smith, and as part of his next research project, on a Congress Woman from the state of new jersey and an advocate from the fair labors acts, he has received from the new Je
You today by your television provider. And i come here tonight to the alsmith dinner knowing im the underdog in these final weeks. If you know where to look, there are signs of hope, theres signs of hope, even in the most unexpected places, even in this room, full of proud manhattan democrats, i cant i cant shake that feeling that some people here are pulling for me. Im delighted to see you here tonight, hillary. I was thrilled to get this invitation. And i feel right at home here because its often been said that i share the politics of alfred e. Smith and the ears of alfred e. Newman. It is an honor to be here with al smith. I obviously never knew your great grandfather but from everything that senator mccain has told me the two of them had a great time together before prohibition. So of course i am delighted. But not surprised by the final repeal of the 18th amendment. I felt all along that when this matter was properly submitted to the rank and file of our people they would readily
Author of the book the revolution of 28 al smith, american progressivism and the coming of the new deal. His Progressive Coalition paved the way for franklin roosevelt. Good evening, everyone. Im really delighted to be able to see all of you here tonight and welcome you all here to our talk for this evening. On behalf of the History Department here, welcome, to our evenings talk. Were able to hold this talk thanks to the generous funding of the history fund which is supporting this event. And let me jump straight to introducing our speaker for the evening. Our speaker for this evening is dr. Robert chiles. Hes a graduate of town send university where he studied music and found the true faith and began a ph. D. In history which he completed at the university of maryland in 2012. And the talk that hes going to be giving this evening is the result of that ph. D. Dissertation, i do believe, yes. He has in the course of this particular research, the research for this project, hes received a