FDR - A Presidency Revealed (History Channel)
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FDR - A Presidency Revealed (History Channel) Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥ |
Recommended with a Good Biography of Roosevelt
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The 2-DVD biography of FDR by PBS Home Video, narrated by David McCullough, titled "FDR" is better. None-the-less, this DVD by the History Channel provides a different perspective. When paired with the bonus documentaries included, "FDR - A Presidency Revealed" presents a good introduction to Franklin Roosevelt. However, you really need to read a good biography of Franklin Roosevelt to learn the whole story. So much is left out of this DVD.
"A Presidency Revealed" touches on some of the more private and secretive aspects of Franklin D. Roosevelt, such as the fact that he was a paraplegic due to polio, yet most Americans thought him to be only lame.
Roosevelt was at times a cunning president. He recognized the grave danger of Adolph Hitler, who had conquered Czechoslovakia, Austria, Poland, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, North Africa, was manacing the North Atlantic and pounding Great Britain. Yet he had to manage the strong isolationist feelings in America. So he took two steps forward and one step back.
Hitler and FDR were actually sparring in the North Atlantic long before America actually officially entered the war. FDR began a huge military build-up. Yet FDR told Americans "again and again and again" that he would not send their boys overseas to fight a war, as this DVD explains.
The rare footage is great. The insights by Curtis Roosevelt, FDR's grandson, were terrific. Historian Doris Goodwin was great. I highly recommend her excellent book about Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt during World War II called "No Ordinary Time." It won the Pulitzer Prize.
Roosevelt was very charming and very popular, winning the biggest electoral landslide in modern history and three other landslide elections, one of which was also a top-five biggest win. But behind that charming mask was a clever leader.
Unfortunately, this DVD omits so many aspects of Roosevelt and his presidency. Very few details are mentioned about the sweeping New Deal are mentioned, and his leadership during World War II receives only brief attention. I also found it shocking that the partisan attack dog Thomas Fleming and his unfounded attacks were included. In a subtle way, this DVD includes a few unfounded smears of FDR.
To gain a better understanding, I suggest a good biography of Roosevelt.
I highly recommend Conrad Black's superb biography of Roosevelt called "Franklin Delano Roosevelt Champion of Freedom. The Economist Magazine called it "a masterpiece." Black is actually a staunch conservative, and his book received great reviews from conservatives like Henry Kissinger, William F. Buckley, and George Will. He does has critical things to say about Roosevelt, but overall he makes a stong case that Roosevelt was America's greatest president, except for maybe Lincoln and Washington.
Black says that FDR was cunning for a good cause - saving civilizaton from Hitler and saving the free market system. It is quite an entertaining book and you can buy it at a great price here at amazon.com.
I want to respond to a previous DVD review that makes some untrue comments about FDR at Yalta. FDR was sick but very effective at Yalta. He was charming and clever enough to get Stalin to concede to many things - so much so that Stalin's close advisor told Stalin not to sign it. Read the Yalta agreement yourself. FDR secured free elections for Poland, for example. The terms were very favorable to the west.
What happened is that Stalin broke all the promises he signed - the promises that FDR got him to agree to. I suggest you read what it actually said. And Yalta was not the final conference of the war. The final conference was Potsdam, and Truman was president at that time. By the way, Truman gave Molitov, the Russian foreign minister, "a tongue lashing" at the oval office to make it very clear that Truman insisted that the Soviets keep their terms of the deal that FDR secured at Yalta. Molitov was furious at Truman.
Of course, the Soviets did not uphold their end of the deal. So FDR did not give anything away. Stalin took it by installing friendly governments in Eastern Europe. Truman and Eisenhower were not willing to go to war with USSR over Eastern Europe.
I encourage you to read the article in "The History Channel Magazine called "FDR's Final Days" that was published about the time this DVD was shown. It says, "Admiral Daniel Leahy foudn his stamina no worse than anyone else's. Despite any discomfort of fatigue, Roosevelt labored hard at the conference and argued his points with alacrity and wit...
"James MacGregor Burns [whose brilliant biography of FDR won the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award] has been especially interested in determining the connection between FDR's health and his performance during his last meeting with Churchill and Stalin. 'I went through all the versions of the transcripts of the Yalta Conference, the American, British, and Russian,' Burns says. 'If you do that, forget about the charge that he was ineffective, and think of him as one of the discussants, you find that he is right there, ver attentive and responsive to the arguments made by the Russians and the British. In my view there's no sign at this conference that his effectiveness was impaired was impaired seriously by his health.'"
One last point. Churchill, if you read the histories of the era, desperately tried to preserve the British Empire acquired through imperialism. One of Roosevelt final legacies is that he undercut Imperialism, bringing it down, with his vision for a better post-war world. Churchill cut his own dirty deal with Stalin in a private meeting. Churchill did not want to even invade D-Day. He simply wanted to poke gingerly at the under-belly of Europe and focus on keeping the British empire. Had FDR not overruled Churchill and invaded France when he did, the West may not have been able to liberate Western Europe.
Again, I encourage you to read a thorough biography of FDR to learn the whole truth and not gossip.
About FDR's economic policies, please check the actual GDP numbers. GDP grew a staggering 50% in FDR's first term. If you add the jobs that FDR created through the WPA, CCC and other work programs, unemployment dropped to four percent in 1937. Thousands of bridges, buildings, schools, parks, and other things were built, putting people to work. It is unfortunate that the workers building huge bridges are not officially counted as employed in the official statistics, but when you factor them in, unemployment was around 4%.
Most important, the economic reform that FDR put into place, ushered in the greatest economic boom in American history. First, FDR's New Deal dramatically increased the number of Americans receiving a high school education. Then his GI Bill gave access to college to the middle class for the first time. The number of people with college degrees skyrocketed. The middle class mushroomed after WWII due to FDR's long-term reform policies.
Access to college loan/grants would later be expanded by Kennedy and LBJ as the natural extention of the Roosevelt Revolution.
FDR created the SEC to prevent disastrous corporate crimes from destroying the economy. He created the FDIC to prevent run on banks. He brought electricity to thousands of rural people.
His Fed Reserve Act created the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee. This created the first American central bank since Andrew Jackson destroyed in early it the 1800's. When you see the Fed Reserve chairman on TV talking about stimulating or slowing the economy, you can thank FDR for that.
Since Roosevelt's reforms were put into place, there has never been a depression since. Prior to FDR, depressions were somewhat common. That has forever been banished thanks to FDR's reforms.
He created America's basic safety net - Social Security - which protects orphans, old people and the disabled from the most horrendous poverty.(It has been since been expanded beyond what FDR originally envisioned). Social Security payments also act as a continuous stimulus into the economy, dampening any downturns.
Social Security today is in good shape, despite what some have said. If just a small portion of the Social Security trust fund was invested in corporate bonds and stocks, instead of the low-yielding government bonds, Social Security Would have a surplus.
Medicaire, created by LBJ, is the problem program that needs to be reformed. The Medical benefits are too expensive.
Roosevelt achieve the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) which banned child labor, implemented the 40-hour work week, overtime pay and other standards that protect workers. Think how much that impacts all of our lives. A humane work week.
He brought electricity to rural areas. Although the black sharecroppers were hit hardest by the Great Depression, they for the first time were treated as equals by the Federal Government in many ways. Just read the excellent book "A New Deal for Blacks." Or read "Bold Relief" which shows how the Jim Crow system was threatened by the New Deal, which helped blacks, and caused Southern retaliation against the New Deal because it helped blacks.
Keep in mind that the Okies (white people) and many other farmers also had to migrate. It's not fair to say that the New Deal was [...] blacks because that is not telling the whole story.
FDR's revolution of constitutional law led to Brown versus Board of Education. Read the book "The Supreme Court Reborn."
And more than anything, FDR brought optimism and leadership to the country during two grave crisis. He lifted the nation with hope during the depression - "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" - and beligerance towards Hitler - "We must be the Great Arsenal of Democracy."
This is a good DVD. The bonus DVD's make it much better. But there is still so much more to FDR. Buy both this DVD and a good biography of FDR. |
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FDR - A Presidency Revealed (History Channel) dvd movie.