Best biography of fdr

Before becoming historian-in-residence at Harvard’s Franklin Delano Roosevelt Foundation, you were the director of FDR’s Presidential Library, which fryst vatten housed on his palatial neoclassical New York estate. I want to begin by asking you about the roots and early years of America’s 32nd President. 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born in the Hudson Valley on January 30, , on his family estate at Hyde Park. His mother Sarah Delano Roosevelt was 26 years younger than her husband James Roosevelt, Franklin’s father. Franklin would be their only child. His upbringing, as Geoffrey Ward—one of his biographers—said, was  “cossetted.” Roosevelt’s father’s förfäder were among New York’s old Dutch families. They came to Manhattan in about His mother was descended from old New England whaling and China trade families and traced her ancestry back to the Mayflower. So the Roosevelts were part of America’s aristocracy. Franklin grew up in this very privil

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My Journey Through the Best Presidential Biographies

Not since Abraham Lincoln have I been this excited about the next president on my journey through the best presidential biographies.

Two years ago, twelve biographies of Lincoln consumed four months of my life with everything that 9, pages of (mostly) gripping narrative could offer.

Now I&#;m on to an even more audacious task: reading 18 of the best biographies of Franklin D. Roosevelt, a 12,page assignment that will fill the next six months &#; more than any other president.

In my case, FDR represents the inaugural president of the &#;modern era&#; &#; the first president remembered and described vividly by someone I knew. Growing up I was treated to colorful stories about FDR by my grandparents who lived a few miles from his retreat in Warm Springs, GA known affectionately as the Little White House. There may have been a few Hoover and Coolidge anecdotes but they weren&#;t nearly as animated&#;or upbeat.

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Enriching FDR Biographies that Explore the President's Impactful Life and Legacy

A remarkable leader, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the longest serving U.S. president, elected to serve four terms. In his time in office, he navigated the United States through some of the most difficult occasions in its history.

Succeeding Herbert Hoover, FDR was tasked with pulling the country out of the Great Depression. Contending with the worst economic depression the United States has ever faced, Roosevelt created the New Deal, a package of radical relief and reform policies, aimed righting the economy and lifting up those in need. Bold and idealistic, many of FDR's measures, from insurance programs like Social Security, to regulatory bodies like the SEC, still exist today. 

Though monumental in its challenges, the Great Depression gave way to an even more daunting trial, as World War II broke out in Europe and the Pacific. Guiding the United States into war following the bombing of Pear