Visiting the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Museum & Library in Hyde Park

Eric and I visit Presidential Museums and Libraries.  Since 2013, we visited the Abraham Lincoln, Rutherford B. Hayes, Herbert Hoover, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, Gerald Ford, George H.W.Bush and George W. Bush Presidential Museums and Libraries.  Each museum represents its President's life and service to our country.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt's
Presidential Museum is in
his home town of Hyde Park.






Eric, Adam and I are visiting FDR's Presidential Museum for a second time today.

Eleanor & Franklin Roosevelt

The Presidential Museum







Ken Burns' documentary on The Roosevelts has brought crowds to FDR's Presidential Museum.

Born into wealth, FDR was

drawn to public service.

He served in the New York State Senate from 1910 to 1913 and as Assistant Secretary of the Navy from 1913-1920.

FDR contracted polio in 1921 and spent time rehabilitating in Warm Springs, Georgia.  In 1928, he ran for Governor of New York State and won.  FDR was working on programs to
help New Yorkers weather The Great Depression when he was nominated to run for
President in 1932.

The United States was suffering
from a very weak economy
when FDR took office.






FDR and Congress got to work. The Treasury Department was empowered to administer a program to reopen banks that had closed during the banking crisis.  New Deal Programs include the Tennessee Valley Authority, the National Industrial Recovery Act, Works Progress Administration,  the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Agricultural Adjustment Act and the Home Owner's Loan Act provided work for those in need, stopped overproduction of crops and assisted homeowners in jeopardy of losing their homes.

Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration also faced environmental disaster.

The Great Plains was being

stripped of its top soil

during the Dust Bowl.

Farms were failing & families

were migrating to the cities.

The Civilian Conservation Corps worked on soil conservation projects.  The Soil Erosion Service and the Prairie States Forestry Project worked to cut top soil loss and reforest areas from Texas through North Dakota.

In 1935, FDR signed the Social Security Act.  Social Security was designed to keep senior citizens, who could no longer work, from living in poverty.  

Government intervention in numerous aspects of the economy

 were welcomed by many and criticized as well.

Progress was seen during
FDR's first term.

He won re-election in 1936
by a landslide.






The Supreme Court had found some New Deal programs unconstitutional.  FDR put forward a plan to require federal judges to retire at 70.  If a justice refused to retire, an "assistant" justice would be added to the court with full voting privileges.  The proposal failed.

War was coming.  Adolf Hitler's regime was persecuting Jews, annexed Austria and invaded Czechoslovakia.   Japan was building its empire by invading Manchuria in 1931 and mainland China in 1937.

 

War started in Europe on

September 1, 1939.

.

And, FDR ran for an unprecedented third term in 1940.  He promised to keep America neutral during the growing tensions in Europe and Asia.

Japan invaded Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.  World War II engulfed Europe and large parts of Asia. 

America switched gears from

domestic manufacturing 

to making airplanes, tanks,

munitions etc.

A country that had known

hardship during The Great

Depression was now 

rationing to provide supplies
for American troops.

 FDR worked with Allied leaders,
Winston Churchill & Joseph Stalin

 to execute a war on two fronts.

President Franklin D, Roosevelt faced challenges personally and professionally.  He gathered a team together and worked tirelessly to make the most of life with polio. 

FDR had a car retrofitted

with hand controls so

he could drive with

paralyzed legs.

FDR used the same model to

 lift the United States out of

 economic & environmental crises.

 When war came, he rallied the country, sent men to war knowing that caskets would return and families would grieve.  Working with Allied leaders, FDR worked tirelessly to bring World War II to a quick conclusion.

Many revere FDR.  Others consider him a traitor to his high born class.  The Presidential Museum exhibits provide the context for FDR's work to guide the US out of The Great Depression and through four long years of war.