FDR’s Library at Springwood
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Woodrow Wilson appointed Franklin Ass Sec of Navy in 1913, a position he held until 1920. He successfully specialised in naval administration, resulting in his being nominated for Vice-Pres by the Democrats in 1920. However objections to Wilson's plan for US’s participation in the League of Nations made Republican Warren Harding President.
While holidaying in New Brunswick in mid 1921, Roosevelt contracted polio and could never use his legs again. He established a foundation at Warm Springs Georgia to help other polio victims, and directed the March of Dimes project that funded an effective vaccine.
The Roosevelts resumed his political career. In 1928 NY Gov Alfred Smith became Democrats’ presidential candidate and arranged for Roosevelt's nomination to succeed him as NY governor. Smith lost to Herbert Hoover but Roosevelt was elected governor anyhow. By 1930, Roosevelt began campaigning for himself. While the Depression harmed Hoover and the Republicans, Roosevelt's heroic efforts to combat it in N.Y enhanced his reputation. In 1932 he stood as the Democratic presidential candidate, calling for government working on the economy to provide relief and reform. He easily beat Hoover in 1932.
While holidaying in New Brunswick in mid 1921, Roosevelt contracted polio and could never use his legs again. He established a foundation at Warm Springs Georgia to help other polio victims, and directed the March of Dimes project that funded an effective vaccine.
The Roosevelts resumed his political career. In 1928 NY Gov Alfred Smith became Democrats’ presidential candidate and arranged for Roosevelt's nomination to succeed him as NY governor. Smith lost to Herbert Hoover but Roosevelt was elected governor anyhow. By 1930, Roosevelt began campaigning for himself. While the Depression harmed Hoover and the Republicans, Roosevelt's heroic efforts to combat it in N.Y enhanced his reputation. In 1932 he stood as the Democratic presidential candidate, calling for government working on the economy to provide relief and reform. He easily beat Hoover in 1932.
Roosevelt and Churchill aboard the HMS Prince of Wales
Roosevelt Library and Museum Blog
The Depression worsened before Roosevelt's inauguration in Mar 1933. Factories shutting, farm closures and bank failures increased, while unemployment soared. Roosevelt, who faced the greatest crisis in American history since the Civil War, immediately initiated his New Deal programmes. He worked with a special session of Congress during the First 100 Days to pass recovery legislation which established agencies eg the Agricultural Adjustment Administration to support farm prices and the Civilian Conservation Corps to employ young men. Other agencies assisted business and labour, insured bank deposits, regulated the stock market, subsidised home and farm mortgages, reviving confidence in the economy. Direct relief saved millions from starvation.
Note that the New Deal measures directly involved government in areas of social and economic life as never before and resulted in increased spending and unbalanced budgets. This led of course to right-wing criticisms of Roosevelt's programmes, but working families and farmers supported Roosevelt, and elected additional Democrats to state legislatures. More New Deal legislation followed in 1935 including the establishment of Works Projects Administration, providing jobs for labourers, artists, writers, musicians and authors. And the Social Security Act which provided unemployment compensation, and old-age benefits.
Roosevelt easily defeated his opponents in 1936, 1940 and 1944, becoming the only American President to serve more than 2 terms. Roosevelt took on the critics of the New Deal, namely the Supreme Court which had declared various legislation unconstitutional. He proposed to add new justices to the Supreme Court in 1937 but critics said he was packing the Court and undermining the separation of powers. His proposal was defeated! This setback, coupled with the new Recession that occurred in his second term, was his nadir.
By 1939 when WW2 erupted FDR concentrated on foreign affairs. New Deal reform legislation reduced, and Depression crises didn’t fully abate until the nation mobilised for war. When Germany invaded Poland in Sept 1939, although the U.S was neutral, Roosevelt did not expect them to remain totally inactive against Nazi aggression. Thus he tried to make American aid available to Britain, France and China, and to get an amendment of the US Neutrality Acts. And he tried to build the military, despite isolationist opposition
With France’s fall in 1940, Roosevelt's policy changed quickly. Congress enacted legislation for military conscription and Roosevelt signed a Lend-Lease Bill in Mar 1941 to enable the nation to furnish aid to nations fighting the Axis Powers. Though neutral re the war and still at peace, U.S was becoming the centre of preparedness as its factories were producing like they did pre-Depression.
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour in Dec 1941 was followed by Germany's and Italy's declarations of war against US, inevitably bringing U.S into the war. Roosevelt exercised his powers as Commander of the Armed Forces, making his Day of Infamy Speech in Congress and asking for a formal declaration of war.
He co-created a Grand Alliance against Axis powers in The United Nations Declaration, Jan 1942, in which all nations fighting the Axis powers agreed not to make a separate peace and pledged a peace organisation on victory. He gave priority to the western European front and had his Chief of Staff plan for the Pacific; they organised an expeditionary force for an invasion of Europe. The Allies invaded North Africa in Nov 1942, Sicily and Italy in 1943. D-Day landings on Normandy beaches June 1944 were followed by Allied invasions of Germany and by 1945 victory over Europe.
The endless strain exhausted Roosevelt and by 1944, heart and circulatory problems appeared. And although he was on a strict medical regime, he suffered a massive stroke and died aged 63. He was buried in his Hyde Park estate, just before complete military victory in Europe and some months before victory over Japan.
FDR Presidential Library and Museum built in 1940 and opened in 1941
with his statue in the centre front
Black Americans, Civil Rights and the Roosevelts 1932-62 is an exhibition that will be open until the end of 2024. It centres on the historical voices of many Black community leaders, wartime servicemen and citizens who engaged the Roosevelt administration directly, examining the President’s politics re racial justice. And new exhibits tell the story of the Roosevelt Presidency from the Great Depression and New Deal to WW2. The Map Room recreates FDR’s secret White House Map Room where the walls featured projections of maps of key battles.
By the time he was President, Roosevelt had amassed one of the nation's finest collections of naval art, Hudson River Valley art, and historical photos. In the New Deal years, he collected examples of art and crafts work produced by Works Progress Administration.
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30 comments:
Hello, Helen! It's a wonderful museum-library! I like it very much! I see you know nothing about Germany and Ukraine. Nazi criminals from World War II have become heroes in Germany and Ukraine. All German tanks have swastikas painted on them. Scholz and Annalena are proud that their grandfathers served in Hitler's army. Ukrainian prisoners of war were found with portraits of Hitler and his book "Mein Kampf".
The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum is administered by the National Archives and Records Administration and is located near FDR’s home. The first presidential library—and the only one used by its namesake while in office—was planned and designed by Roosevelt in the Dutch Colonial style and houses his official papers, books, and other memorabilia, as well as the papers of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The library’s study was the scene of several of the president’s popular “fireside chats.” It remains as it was when FDR used it during his third and fourth terms. Museum exhibits focus on all aspects of FDR’s life, from his boyhood through his presidency, including the desk he used in the Oval Office, and his 1936 Ford Phaeton. Additional exhibits trace the life and accomplishments of Eleanor Roosevelt.
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum
If I had my wish, every home would have a dedicated library area, even if only one wall of books.
Must be a marvelous library there. He sounds as if he was a very nice man Hels. Here is hoping this comment goes through.
Contracting polio would have stopped many a man pursuing his dream. I think he endeavoured to hide his disability from the general public.
Irina
my Russian relatives were exterminated by the Ukrainians, leaving only the 6 orphan children to survive and emigrate. The Kishinev pogrom and others didn't end until 1921 so we are very grateful that one generation were protected by the Russians.
Many thanks. I enjoyed the library and museum.
I didn't remember that the library’s study was the scene of the president’s popular fireside chats. They were very important in the bleak days of Depression and War.
River
Plan an excellent space for your own personal, dedicated and spacious library. I think that was very true for most learned people, especially in the days before the internet.
Every minute of President FDR's time was taken up with important people from his own country and from other countries. On top of wanting an open peaceful space of his own, he couldn't have walked in a peaceful space without staff. So having a spacious, light filled, book filled library was essential.
Margaret
The Depression showed Pres FDR was a progressive, democratic leader who focused on saving working families, not on making the rich richer. Even
more New Deal legislation followed in 1935 including the establishment of Works Projects Administration, providing jobs for labourers, artists, writers, musicians and authors. And the Social Security Act which provided unemployment compensation, and old-age benefits.
He was a role model for every democratic, humanitarian leader in the world.
jabblog
When Roosevelt contracted polio in 1921, he was very keen to appear as able-bodied as every other leader. By 1932, he was thinking that the public wouldn't vote for a "cripple" President who was dependent on a wheelchair and aides.
Only in his last year, 1945, did he ever mention his polio in public.
Archival Collections, sent via Dr Joe.
There are 17+ million pages of documents in 400 distinct collections in the Library's archives. Each year, thousands of researchers from around the world come here to explore these collections, which include the President's personal and family papers, the papers covering his public career, Eleanor Roosevelt's papers, and those of many Roosevelt friends and associates.
The boxes here are only a small portion of 22,000+ in the archival collections, the boxes in this room coming from the papers of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. They contain thousands of letters from the public written to the President and First Lady. FDR believed these spontaneous letters were among the most important in the Library.
Many thanks.
The boxes in this room were/are a very important part of the official documents that should always have been protected for future generations.
But the library books are handsome, the maps and artefacts important, and the furniture and book shelves perfect for a President. The archives are not handsome; they are more essential for researchers analysing the millions of texts.
Erika
I wish I had met you back then. It is always more informative and entertaining to go through the library and museum with a local who appreciates the (non-financial) value of the site.
A well know man and I have heard of the museum and library and think it would be an interesting place to visit.
Almost all leaders leave a rich librarary which in turn becomes a small or big museum. Even in my tiny country.
Rooswelt , because of the Depression, his vast political involvement, and his personal polio- caused disability, invested a lot of work and research in his library, and thus it became a noteworthy presidential library-museum, administered by the National Archives and Records.
I wonder how the New Deal is now viewed by those interested in such parts of government. To me he sounds like he was one of the greatest presidents of the US.
Jo-Anne
Until the Kennedy family came to power, I didn't know very much about the US political system. Their separation of powers divided the government into separate branches, each of which had independent powers to ensure that neither branch was more powerful than the other. Thus I assumed that FDR was the same as our prime ministers.
DUTA
Prior to Roosevelt's presidency, the final disposition of Presidential papers was not formally accounted for. The papers of chief executives were private property which they took with them upon leaving office, sold, destroyed or left to the children. Some of these collections ended up in the Library of Congress much later.
FDR became the first President to make his papers available to the public by donating them intact to the government.
Gunther, John (1950). Roosevelt in Retrospect
Andrew
because I came from a migrant family who suffered terribly during the Depression, I assumed that ordinary working families would have found the New Deal the most humane, economically progressive and moral programme EVER. Well over 50% of the American voters believed he WAS the greatest U.S presidents; the nation was facing the most brutal crisis since the Civil War.
Nowadays many Americans have never heard of the New Deal. Others refer to the New Deal as a waste of precious tax payers' finances, spent on unemployed ex-servicemen, blacks, socialists, artists, retired people, road builders etc.
Read "Did the New Deal have an overall positive effect on America or was it just a waste?"
Delightful blurbs on FDR, but one is missing. After the Liberal Party formed in 1930 demanding repeal of economy-wrecking Prohibition, the Dems took up the plank. FDR Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Pittsburgh, PA, October 19, 1932: . "I call definite attention to the fact that just as soon as the Democratic platform pledge is enacted into a law modifying the Volstead Act, a source... (wild cheering) ...just as soon as that happens a source of new revenue amounting to several hundred millions of dollars a year will be made available towards the balancing of the budget.
Yes I refer specifically to a federal tax on beer, a tax that would be raised on the sale of beah in those states—and those states only--which would allow the sale of beer. (Transcribed from Moviola-type newsreel footage played in theaters after the election, beer pronounced beeuh). He then won 4 elections!
Orwell pointed out that they who think communism and fascism are the same thing fight both as monstrosities. They who imagine the two versions of altruism are opposites feel they ought to side with one or the other. My wife has Ukrainian ancestors. I wish Ukraine had not signed away their right to keep and bear nuclear weapons. Observe that Russia attacks nobody able to fight back with modern weapons.
The prohibition laws Harding violated, Coolidge ignored and Hoover enforced wrecked the economy. One result was a sevenfold increase in communist party membership to burden FDR's job from day one. We are lucky Dems brought repeal and unlucky that Herbert Hoover so angered German pharma in 1931 as to cause them to fund the NSDAP!
Oops sorry Hank. My Russian relatives were certainly killed by the Ukrainians before WW1 but this discussion did not belong in my blog post on President FD Roosevelt's museum-library. I refer you instead to
"Battle of Kursk then and now: 1943 and 2024" in
https://librarytreasurer.blogspot.com/2024/08/kursk-battle.html#comment-form
Hank,
I had no idea President FDR's success or otherwise back then had anything to do with prohibition. Nor can I find any analysis of its role today. Do you have a reference I can examine?
I do enjoy visiting the former homes of well known people. Thank you for sharing Roosevelt's library and museum.
Lisa
One of the tours I took my sons on when they were still in primary school was Capt Cook's Cottage in Melbourne. Just as you said, they loved the experience.
Now I must write it up for the blog :)
Didn't you already write about it? I remember commenting that it was from Yorkshire, where I was born.
Lisa
of course I did... twice: 1st Nov 2021 and 19th March 2024. My mind is going to mush :(
I just wanted to agree with your comment that you enjoy visiting the former homes of well known people. So do I, IF I largely approved of the well known person's life style and moral values.
How fascinating. I had no idea about Roosevelt and polio. I'm reading The Worst Hard Time so find the policies relating to the dust bowl very interesting.
How sad that he didn't see the end of the war. I don't think I ever really appreciated that.
This library looks fascinating- I'd love to visit
Mandy
I have not read The Great Depression's Dust Bowl, but I do know that the dust bowl was a total tragedy during the 1930s. Roosevelt urgently ordered the Civilian Conservation Corps to plant the Great Plains Tree Belt from Canada south to break the wind, control water and do soil conservation.
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