Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated:
1
00:00:02,087 --> 00:00:03,272
Everybody needs
to know, Franklin.
2
00:00:03,296 --> 00:00:04,426
Will you run again?
3
00:00:04,548 --> 00:00:06,442
ROOSEVELT: The situation in
France changes everything.
4
00:00:06,466 --> 00:00:08,766
CHURCHILL: I�d rather
have a declaration of war
5
00:00:08,885 --> 00:00:10,015
from America.
6
00:00:10,095 --> 00:00:12,095
There�s nothing I�d like
better than to kick Hitler
7
00:00:12,222 --> 00:00:13,302
in the teeth.
8
00:00:13,431 --> 00:00:15,261
They�ve attacked Pearl Harbor.
9
00:00:15,350 --> 00:00:19,730
A date which will
live in infamy.
10
00:00:19,813 --> 00:00:21,123
The prime minister
of Great Britain
11
00:00:21,147 --> 00:00:25,987
has nothing to hide from the
president of the United States.
12
00:00:26,111 --> 00:00:27,191
Our team cracked it.
13
00:00:27,279 --> 00:00:28,529
They fooled the Japanese.
14
00:00:28,613 --> 00:00:32,533
We know where they�re going
to be, so we can lay a trap.
15
00:00:32,617 --> 00:00:33,707
See this ship?
16
00:00:33,785 --> 00:00:35,335
It�s got Marines aboard.
17
00:00:35,453 --> 00:00:37,163
My son Jimmy is one of them.
18
00:00:37,289 --> 00:00:41,159
He�s going to be in the
thick of it, isn�t he?
19
00:00:41,293 --> 00:00:43,123
Franklin Roosevelt
was the president
20
00:00:43,211 --> 00:00:47,841
who had to face the Great
Depression and World War II.
21
00:00:47,966 --> 00:00:53,136
The only thing we have
to fear is fear itself.
22
00:00:53,263 --> 00:00:57,393
He was ambitious and active,
incredibly privileged.
23
00:00:57,475 --> 00:00:58,855
But he suffered.
24
00:00:58,977 --> 00:01:02,277
You�ve contracted
infantile paralysis.
25
00:01:02,355 --> 00:01:05,445
And he�s had setbacks.
26
00:01:05,525 --> 00:01:07,865
But through pain
can come wisdom.
27
00:01:07,986 --> 00:01:09,696
The country�s on
the edge of a cliff,
28
00:01:09,821 --> 00:01:11,281
but we�re not going
to let it fall.
29
00:01:11,364 --> 00:01:13,284
What do plan to do
with this power?
30
00:01:13,366 --> 00:01:17,956
He has a vision to change
the very soul of America.
31
00:01:18,038 --> 00:01:24,548
I pledge myself to a New
Deal for the American people.
32
00:01:24,669 --> 00:01:27,339
American democracy was literally
33
00:01:27,464 --> 00:01:29,214
resting on his shoulders.
34
00:01:29,341 --> 00:01:30,841
This was zero hour.
35
00:01:30,925 --> 00:01:32,765
[speaking german]
36
00:01:33,511 --> 00:01:35,051
Get everybody in here.
37
00:01:35,180 --> 00:01:38,560
He knew that he needed
to project real strength.
38
00:01:38,683 --> 00:01:41,393
He is the dealer in hope
for the entire free world.
39
00:01:41,519 --> 00:01:45,269
An invasion of France
is courting disaster.
40
00:01:45,357 --> 00:01:46,527
He took risks.
41
00:01:46,650 --> 00:01:49,650
Again and again, you see
these moments of great daring.
42
00:01:49,736 --> 00:01:53,366
ROOSEVELT: Success may not
come with rushing speed,
43
00:01:53,448 --> 00:01:57,458
but we shall return
again and again.
44
00:01:57,535 --> 00:02:00,705
Roosevelt led the grand
alliance to victory
45
00:02:00,830 --> 00:02:02,200
over fascism.
46
00:02:02,332 --> 00:02:05,372
This was a tumultuous,
complicated period of time.
47
00:02:05,502 --> 00:02:08,882
It�s a mistake to think that he
somehow got everything right.
48
00:02:08,963 --> 00:02:11,253
But there was something
about that voice.
49
00:02:11,383 --> 00:02:13,883
There was something
about that smile.
50
00:02:13,968 --> 00:02:17,798
That empathy, that
humility, that resilience,
51
00:02:17,889 --> 00:02:20,889
all those qualities that
FDR just had triumphantly
52
00:02:21,017 --> 00:02:22,317
built into his character.
53
00:02:28,650 --> 00:02:31,070
[music playing]
54
00:02:39,369 --> 00:02:42,119
There�s a small American base
at Midway Island in the middle
55
00:02:42,247 --> 00:02:45,167
of the Pacific, and
in the spring of 1942,
56
00:02:45,250 --> 00:02:46,268
the Japanese think
they�re going to be
57
00:02:46,292 --> 00:02:48,422
able to take the
Americans by surprise
58
00:02:48,503 --> 00:02:51,923
and knock out that outpost.
59
00:02:52,048 --> 00:02:54,418
The Japanese believe that
if they can threaten Midway,
60
00:02:54,551 --> 00:02:57,261
it will bring those US carriers
that weren�t at Pearl Harbor
61
00:02:57,387 --> 00:03:01,607
out and they can destroy
them in one climactic battle.
62
00:03:01,683 --> 00:03:05,103
NARRATOR: Suddenly, from behind
the clouds, the Japs attack.
63
00:03:10,233 --> 00:03:11,419
The Japanese think they�re going
64
00:03:11,443 --> 00:03:14,033
to be able to take the
Americans by surprise.
65
00:03:14,112 --> 00:03:16,382
What the Japanese didn�t realize
is that the Americans have
66
00:03:16,406 --> 00:03:20,496
broken the Japanese code, and
FDR knows the Japanese fleet is
67
00:03:20,618 --> 00:03:23,488
coming, and the American
forces in the Pacific
68
00:03:23,621 --> 00:03:25,911
lay a trap for them.
69
00:03:25,999 --> 00:03:27,999
NARRATOR: The trap is sprung.
70
00:03:28,126 --> 00:03:30,426
Navy planes roar from the
decks of our carriers.
71
00:03:30,503 --> 00:03:31,503
Army bombers, Marines.
72
00:03:34,466 --> 00:03:37,016
It�s a really high risk
move on the part of FDR,
73
00:03:37,135 --> 00:03:39,515
but it pays off spectacularly.
74
00:03:39,637 --> 00:03:43,017
The results are just
catastrophic for Japan.
75
00:03:43,141 --> 00:03:45,471
The Japanese lose four carriers.
76
00:03:45,602 --> 00:03:47,232
The US loses one.
77
00:03:47,312 --> 00:03:49,942
Japan will never, in the
entire course of the war,
78
00:03:50,023 --> 00:03:53,363
replace the losses at Midway.
79
00:03:53,485 --> 00:03:55,195
NARRATOR: The Battle
of Midway is over.
80
00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:59,150
Our frontyard is safe, but a
big job is still to be done.
81
00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:00,660
[singing]
82
00:04:03,495 --> 00:04:04,495
It�s Jimmy.
83
00:04:10,835 --> 00:04:17,885
You know, every mother in
America should see this film.
84
00:04:18,009 --> 00:04:20,259
Won�t they be scared seeing
their sons in combat?
85
00:04:23,014 --> 00:04:26,394
They�ll be inspired, Harry.
86
00:04:26,518 --> 00:04:28,528
They�re seeing
their boys winning.
87
00:04:31,564 --> 00:04:34,614
Roosevelt is blown away
by the uplifting story
88
00:04:34,692 --> 00:04:36,572
of American victory.
89
00:04:36,694 --> 00:04:38,234
Next thing you know,
this documentary
90
00:04:38,363 --> 00:04:41,073
is being shown in movie
theaters all across the country.
91
00:04:41,199 --> 00:04:42,909
And it was the first
kind of up close,
92
00:04:43,034 --> 00:04:45,414
you are there, our
boys in action,
93
00:04:45,537 --> 00:04:50,047
achieving spectacular military
victory in the Pacific.
94
00:04:50,166 --> 00:04:51,546
FDR�s responsibility
as commander
95
00:04:51,668 --> 00:04:53,020
in chief and president
the United States is
96
00:04:53,044 --> 00:04:58,554
to be the global optimist
for Western civilization.
97
00:04:58,633 --> 00:05:00,383
Summer of �42, the
Battle of the Atlantic
98
00:05:00,468 --> 00:05:03,718
still rages, the Germans are
500 miles into the Soviet Union
99
00:05:03,847 --> 00:05:07,397
at this point, the Mediterranean
is still a battleground.
100
00:05:07,475 --> 00:05:09,725
They�re all massive
problems of their own
101
00:05:09,853 --> 00:05:12,943
of a complexity nobody has
ever dealt with before.
102
00:05:13,064 --> 00:05:15,194
The Germans have driven
the British almost all
103
00:05:15,275 --> 00:05:18,445
the way back into Egypt, but
the United States isn�t really
104
00:05:18,570 --> 00:05:21,400
in the European war, and
this is FDR�s problem.
105
00:05:21,489 --> 00:05:22,899
We�ve got to get in the war.
106
00:05:25,743 --> 00:05:29,453
There�s still been no forward
movement of the American troops
107
00:05:29,581 --> 00:05:31,411
against the German
army, and that�s
108
00:05:31,499 --> 00:05:35,709
where so much of the attention
of the American public is at.
109
00:05:35,795 --> 00:05:38,635
Roosevelt knew that somehow
we needed to get the soldiers
110
00:05:38,756 --> 00:05:41,966
moving against the German army.
111
00:05:42,093 --> 00:05:44,433
There�s great debate
in 1942 about which way
112
00:05:44,512 --> 00:05:47,472
the Allies should go in terms
of trying to push the Nazis out
113
00:05:47,599 --> 00:05:48,889
of Western Europe.
114
00:05:48,975 --> 00:05:54,145
In 1942, Russia is bearing the
brunt of the Nazi onslaught.
115
00:05:54,272 --> 00:05:56,152
The Nazis are driving
deep into Russia,
116
00:05:56,274 --> 00:05:59,484
laying siege to Leningrad
and to other cities.
117
00:05:59,611 --> 00:06:02,151
Every day, thousands of
people are being killed.
118
00:06:02,280 --> 00:06:05,490
It�s really a bloodbath
on the Eastern Front.
119
00:06:05,617 --> 00:06:09,837
Joseph Stalin is pleading,
demanding that Churchill
120
00:06:09,954 --> 00:06:13,004
and FDR open a second front.
121
00:06:13,124 --> 00:06:14,964
There were people that
wanted to keep the focus
122
00:06:15,043 --> 00:06:17,173
in the Pacific, because
after all, it was Japan that
123
00:06:17,295 --> 00:06:18,439
had attacked the United States.
124
00:06:18,463 --> 00:06:20,143
There were people who
wanted to go straight
125
00:06:20,173 --> 00:06:21,923
into continental Europe.
126
00:06:22,008 --> 00:06:24,178
Churchill favors
starting in North Africa,
127
00:06:24,302 --> 00:06:26,682
and then that then becomes
a staging ground to come up
128
00:06:26,804 --> 00:06:28,364
through what Churchill
vividly described
129
00:06:28,431 --> 00:06:32,601
as the soft underbelly of
the Nazi controlled Europe.
130
00:06:32,685 --> 00:06:35,645
NEWSREADER: In Washington D.C.,
the president of the United
131
00:06:35,772 --> 00:06:38,982
States welcomed the prime
minister of Great Britain.
132
00:06:39,067 --> 00:06:42,787
The gravity of the moment
had brought them together.
133
00:06:42,862 --> 00:06:45,072
Churchill really feels he
has his back to the wall.
134
00:06:45,156 --> 00:06:46,866
Britain is basically
standing alone
135
00:06:46,991 --> 00:06:49,701
against the German and Italian
threat in North Africa.
136
00:06:52,956 --> 00:06:55,466
There�s great camaraderie
between FDR and Churchill,
137
00:06:55,541 --> 00:06:57,831
but there�s also great tension.
138
00:06:57,919 --> 00:06:59,749
I see you found the good brandy.
139
00:07:05,843 --> 00:07:06,843
Thank you.
140
00:07:10,682 --> 00:07:14,642
Have you given any more
thought to North Africa?
141
00:07:14,727 --> 00:07:18,907
I�ve been doing nothing but
thinking about North Africa,
142
00:07:19,023 --> 00:07:20,773
and northern France.
143
00:07:23,528 --> 00:07:28,368
An invasion of France
is courting disaster.
144
00:07:28,491 --> 00:07:30,531
We�re not ready.
145
00:07:30,618 --> 00:07:31,368
From the map room.
146
00:07:31,494 --> 00:07:32,584
Just came in.
147
00:07:32,704 --> 00:07:33,704
Thank you, my dear.
148
00:07:40,044 --> 00:07:41,044
It�s Tobruk.
149
00:07:49,012 --> 00:07:52,222
Churchill was in the
White House in 1942
150
00:07:52,306 --> 00:07:56,566
when there were severe Allied
reverses in North Africa,
151
00:07:56,644 --> 00:07:57,854
and Tobruk falls.
152
00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:04,110
And FDR looks at him and
sees the pain in his eyes.
153
00:08:04,235 --> 00:08:06,655
The commingling of the
personal and the political
154
00:08:06,738 --> 00:08:12,578
and the diplomatic and the human
was fascinating and decisive
155
00:08:12,702 --> 00:08:13,702
in many ways.
156
00:08:16,581 --> 00:08:19,081
How could this happen?
157
00:08:19,208 --> 00:08:21,078
It�s one defeat.
158
00:08:21,210 --> 00:08:22,880
It�s not over.
159
00:08:22,962 --> 00:08:25,632
A defeat is one thing.
160
00:08:25,757 --> 00:08:28,927
A disgrace is another.
161
00:08:29,052 --> 00:08:35,302
Beaten by a force half our
size, the British army.
162
00:08:35,433 --> 00:08:37,273
I thought they would hold on.
163
00:08:41,439 --> 00:08:47,819
I need every tank you can spare
sent directly to North Africa.
164
00:08:47,945 --> 00:08:49,825
Consider it done.
165
00:08:49,947 --> 00:08:56,497
And I need you to agree to
the North Africa invasion.
166
00:08:56,621 --> 00:09:01,911
We can�t let Hitler control
the Mediterranean and our oil.
167
00:09:02,001 --> 00:09:04,791
It�s where you need it most now.
168
00:09:04,921 --> 00:09:06,631
My generals say otherwise.
169
00:09:06,756 --> 00:09:08,676
Some of them want France.
170
00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:13,010
Some of them want me to move
more resources to the Pacific.
171
00:09:13,137 --> 00:09:17,357
But we�re depending on you.
172
00:09:17,475 --> 00:09:19,315
Roosevelt ultimately
sides with Churchill,
173
00:09:19,393 --> 00:09:22,643
because if a cross-channel
invasion misfires,
174
00:09:22,730 --> 00:09:26,940
there�ll be enormous casualties
and it�ll be morale crushing
175
00:09:27,026 --> 00:09:30,326
in the United States
and Great Britain.
176
00:09:30,446 --> 00:09:31,673
At the end of the day, they plan
177
00:09:31,697 --> 00:09:34,867
an invasion of North Africa
called Operation Torch,
178
00:09:34,992 --> 00:09:37,282
and FDR will do this
against the military advice,
179
00:09:37,370 --> 00:09:38,950
a presidential
prerogative as commander
180
00:09:39,038 --> 00:09:41,038
in chief, to say we
need to get in the war
181
00:09:41,165 --> 00:09:44,755
and North Africa is
where we do this.
182
00:09:44,836 --> 00:09:48,506
Now FDR has got to focus on
getting our military squared
183
00:09:48,589 --> 00:09:50,839
away and all of the
tools that they need
184
00:09:50,925 --> 00:09:53,475
to go out and be victorious.
185
00:09:53,553 --> 00:09:56,553
FDR understood that part
of being a war leader
186
00:09:56,681 --> 00:10:00,261
is not simply to be commander
in chief of the armed forces
187
00:10:00,351 --> 00:10:02,681
but to be able to
mobilize the home front.
188
00:10:02,770 --> 00:10:05,270
It�s not just making
strategic determinations
189
00:10:05,356 --> 00:10:07,106
about where to fight
and what battles,
190
00:10:07,191 --> 00:10:10,231
you have to get the people and
the soldiers wanting to fight,
191
00:10:10,361 --> 00:10:12,861
willing to fight, willing to
be producing on the home front
192
00:10:12,989 --> 00:10:13,989
24 hours a day.
193
00:10:16,701 --> 00:10:19,911
To win the war, we have
to ramp up production,
194
00:10:20,037 --> 00:10:22,837
and to ramp up production,
the president has to be deeply
195
00:10:22,915 --> 00:10:27,715
involved in making the federal
government a force to make
196
00:10:27,837 --> 00:10:30,637
capitalism start to
create a war machine,
197
00:10:30,715 --> 00:10:35,685
to create what FDR
calls arsenal democracy.
198
00:10:35,761 --> 00:10:38,051
FDR knew that he had to
change his relationship
199
00:10:38,139 --> 00:10:40,099
with the business community,
which had been marked
200
00:10:40,141 --> 00:10:42,061
by hostility at the
end of the New Deal,
201
00:10:42,185 --> 00:10:46,275
that he had to pivot and make
himself a partner of business,
202
00:10:46,397 --> 00:10:48,237
and he really makes a peace.
203
00:10:48,316 --> 00:10:52,156
Factories are transforming from
cars into planes and tanks.
204
00:10:52,236 --> 00:10:56,406
Doctor New Deal becomes
eventually Doctor Win The War.
205
00:10:56,532 --> 00:10:59,072
Rarely do you find a leader who
206
00:10:59,160 --> 00:11:03,410
is good at proposing
controversial programs as FDR
207
00:11:03,497 --> 00:11:07,717
did during the New Deal,
and then in the 1940s
208
00:11:07,793 --> 00:11:10,333
uniting the country
to win the war.
209
00:11:10,421 --> 00:11:12,841
Name me anyone else who
might have been president
210
00:11:12,924 --> 00:11:15,764
of the United States during
those years who could have done
211
00:11:15,843 --> 00:11:16,513
that.
212
00:11:16,594 --> 00:11:17,974
It was only FDR.
213
00:11:21,724 --> 00:11:24,434
He felt it was so important to
go to the manufacturing plants,
214
00:11:24,560 --> 00:11:27,140
to go to the factories, because
he knew the enormous pressure
215
00:11:27,271 --> 00:11:29,521
that they were working
under to produce.
216
00:11:29,607 --> 00:11:32,317
They know that these weapons
and planes and tanks are
217
00:11:32,443 --> 00:11:35,283
critical for the war effort.
218
00:11:35,404 --> 00:11:37,154
There�s a lot of sense
of needing to make
219
00:11:37,281 --> 00:11:39,491
sure their morale is up.
220
00:11:39,617 --> 00:11:41,127
In every factory
that he visited,
221
00:11:41,202 --> 00:11:44,492
the productivity went
up shortly thereafter.
222
00:11:44,622 --> 00:11:47,502
And he also has to pressure
the manufacturers to get them
223
00:11:47,625 --> 00:11:50,045
moving as fast as they could.
224
00:11:50,127 --> 00:11:51,772
One of the leading
manufacturers in the United
225
00:11:51,796 --> 00:11:54,136
States was the
Ford Motor Company.
226
00:11:54,215 --> 00:11:57,215
Ford had this enormous Willow
Run Plant that they�ve created,
227
00:11:57,301 --> 00:11:58,841
the biggest one of all.
228
00:11:58,970 --> 00:12:01,010
They�ve only produced one
bomber that�s all that�s
229
00:12:01,138 --> 00:12:03,048
come off the assembly line.
230
00:12:03,140 --> 00:12:06,350
Henry Ford was largely an
opponent of the New Deal.
231
00:12:06,477 --> 00:12:08,857
He was a vicious antisemite.
232
00:12:08,980 --> 00:12:11,230
He said nice things
about Hitler.
233
00:12:11,315 --> 00:12:15,525
So Henry Ford would not have
been at the top of FDR�s hit
234
00:12:15,653 --> 00:12:16,573
parade.
235
00:12:16,654 --> 00:12:20,534
But in 1942, he is
a wartime president
236
00:12:20,658 --> 00:12:23,918
and is trying to mobilize
absolutely everyone.
237
00:12:27,498 --> 00:12:31,998
Henry, quite an impressive
place you have here.
238
00:12:32,128 --> 00:12:34,888
You got a lot of
nice press for it.
239
00:12:35,006 --> 00:12:37,846
We�ve got a mile
long assembly line.
240
00:12:37,967 --> 00:12:40,887
You should bring Hitler
and Tojo in here to see it.
241
00:12:41,012 --> 00:12:43,392
They�d surrender in two seconds.
242
00:12:43,514 --> 00:12:45,894
Only if it lives
up to its billing.
243
00:12:46,017 --> 00:12:47,437
Your factory is
behind the others
244
00:12:47,518 --> 00:12:49,518
and I�m here to find out why.
245
00:12:49,645 --> 00:12:53,525
Mr. Roosevelt,
everything is new.
246
00:12:53,649 --> 00:12:56,859
New machinery, new parts.
247
00:12:56,944 --> 00:13:00,244
You can�t expect it to run like
clockwork right off the bat.
248
00:13:00,364 --> 00:13:04,744
We�re going to get
rid of the Nazis.
249
00:13:04,869 --> 00:13:11,039
And when we do, I hope I�ll
have you and your factory
250
00:13:11,167 --> 00:13:12,167
to thank for it.
251
00:13:18,466 --> 00:13:20,886
Weeks after that
visit, productivity
252
00:13:21,010 --> 00:13:23,380
goes up at the Ford
plant, and they actually
253
00:13:23,512 --> 00:13:26,142
do outstrip the industry
average eventually.
254
00:13:26,223 --> 00:13:28,313
The relationship between
business and government
255
00:13:28,392 --> 00:13:31,852
during World War II was the most
productive in all of history.
256
00:13:31,937 --> 00:13:33,607
It was an incredible
accomplishment.
257
00:13:33,731 --> 00:13:36,561
We see this incredible
increase in factory production.
258
00:13:36,650 --> 00:13:38,730
The country is in
better economic footing
259
00:13:38,819 --> 00:13:40,109
than it has been.
260
00:13:40,237 --> 00:13:42,617
The workplace is
becoming more diverse.
261
00:13:42,740 --> 00:13:44,780
We are seeing more and
more African-Americans,
262
00:13:44,909 --> 00:13:48,779
Mexican-Americans, Latinos
contributing to the war effort.
263
00:13:48,913 --> 00:13:52,293
We are seeing more women in
the workforce, in factories.
264
00:13:52,416 --> 00:13:54,466
Rosie the Riveter.
265
00:13:54,585 --> 00:13:57,425
Eleanor was instrumental
right from the start.
266
00:13:57,505 --> 00:14:01,305
By 1942 and �43, she was
arguing with the factory owners,
267
00:14:01,425 --> 00:14:02,425
bring women aboard.
268
00:14:02,510 --> 00:14:03,630
You need them.
269
00:14:03,761 --> 00:14:06,471
She made a statement, if
I were a young girl at 17,
270
00:14:06,597 --> 00:14:07,908
I would want to
work in a factory.
271
00:14:07,932 --> 00:14:10,182
That�s where I would want to be.
272
00:14:10,267 --> 00:14:12,147
And Eleanor focused
on the women who had
273
00:14:12,269 --> 00:14:14,809
come to work in the factories.
274
00:14:14,939 --> 00:14:18,359
During the war, Eleanor was
instrumental in encouraging
275
00:14:18,442 --> 00:14:21,322
women to work the 24/7 shifts.
276
00:14:21,445 --> 00:14:25,285
Eleanor met with them,
became pen pals with them,
277
00:14:25,408 --> 00:14:28,828
secured better working
conditions for them,
278
00:14:28,953 --> 00:14:35,463
got them raises, and made sure
there was daycare available
279
00:14:35,543 --> 00:14:38,923
at federal employment
facilities.
280
00:14:39,004 --> 00:14:41,754
Before her, there had been
ceremonial first ladies,
281
00:14:41,841 --> 00:14:43,631
but she was the first
first lady to speak
282
00:14:43,759 --> 00:14:46,009
at a national convention,
the first to speak
283
00:14:46,137 --> 00:14:48,017
at a congressional
investigation,
284
00:14:48,139 --> 00:14:50,429
the first to hold weekly press
conferences, the first half
285
00:14:50,516 --> 00:14:53,186
radio shows of her own.
286
00:14:53,310 --> 00:14:55,680
The price FDR paid for
Eleanor�s independence,
287
00:14:55,813 --> 00:15:00,023
however, was that she was
gone almost 200 days a year.
288
00:15:00,151 --> 00:15:03,651
But as Eleanor emerged into
the first lady she became,
289
00:15:03,779 --> 00:15:06,029
FDR�s admiration for
her only increased.
290
00:15:06,157 --> 00:15:09,627
She becomes absolutely
central to his leadership.
291
00:15:15,624 --> 00:15:18,584
At the fall of 1942, there�s a
lot of pressure on Roosevelt.
292
00:15:18,669 --> 00:15:20,549
It had been almost a year,
and the United States
293
00:15:20,588 --> 00:15:24,888
had done nothing meaningful it
seemed in the European theater.
294
00:15:25,009 --> 00:15:26,820
Winston Churchill would
argue, you haven�t been to war
295
00:15:26,844 --> 00:15:28,764
unless you�ve
fought the Germans.
296
00:15:28,846 --> 00:15:31,726
So this will lead us
to November of 1942.
297
00:15:31,849 --> 00:15:34,389
Operation Torch will be the
largest amphibious invasion
298
00:15:34,518 --> 00:15:36,228
in the United States
history, where
299
00:15:36,353 --> 00:15:38,273
they will land on three
different landing sites
300
00:15:38,355 --> 00:15:40,485
on the coast of North Africa.
301
00:15:40,566 --> 00:15:43,026
The idea is if you can pinch
the Germans in North Africa
302
00:15:43,152 --> 00:15:45,032
between the one force
coming from the east
303
00:15:45,154 --> 00:15:47,034
and the other force
coming from the west,
304
00:15:47,156 --> 00:15:48,866
you can clear all
of North Africa.
305
00:15:52,036 --> 00:15:55,746
The weekend before the
invasion of North Africa, FDR
306
00:15:55,873 --> 00:15:59,583
was uncharacteristically tense,
and I think the reason was
307
00:15:59,710 --> 00:16:02,710
because he was the one
responsible for making
308
00:16:02,796 --> 00:16:05,966
the decision to invade North
Africa against the wishes
309
00:16:06,050 --> 00:16:09,090
of Marshall and Eisenhower, so
you can imagine what he felt
310
00:16:09,220 --> 00:16:10,590
as he was waiting for the news.
311
00:16:10,721 --> 00:16:11,931
Were the troops ready?
312
00:16:12,056 --> 00:16:16,226
Were they sufficiently trained
enough to make this work?
313
00:16:16,352 --> 00:16:19,812
On the eve of the invasion of
North Africa, Operation Torch,
314
00:16:19,897 --> 00:16:22,987
Roosevelt is at one of his
vaunted cocktail parties,
315
00:16:23,067 --> 00:16:25,117
and most of those people
there would not have even
316
00:16:25,236 --> 00:16:27,576
known this was even happening.
317
00:16:27,655 --> 00:16:29,075
Boss.
318
00:16:29,198 --> 00:16:30,198
Thank you, Grace.
319
00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:38,074
Watch any video online with Open-SUBTITLES
Free Browser extension: osdb.link/ext
320
00:16:46,215 --> 00:16:49,475
Is there anything from Marshall?
321
00:16:49,593 --> 00:16:52,303
Nothing yet.
322
00:16:52,429 --> 00:16:54,139
Get down.
323
00:16:54,265 --> 00:16:56,475
We�re taking a hell of a
chance with this, Harry.
324
00:16:56,600 --> 00:16:58,270
I feel good about our chances.
325
00:17:01,272 --> 00:17:02,352
Is there anything I can do?
326
00:17:07,194 --> 00:17:08,734
It�s out of our hands now.
327
00:17:12,449 --> 00:17:14,619
I can�t stop wondering
if we�re ready.
328
00:17:22,167 --> 00:17:23,167
[phone rings]
329
00:17:28,549 --> 00:17:29,549
Hello?
330
00:17:32,886 --> 00:17:35,686
It�s the war department.
331
00:17:35,806 --> 00:17:36,806
Yes?
332
00:17:40,853 --> 00:17:42,643
Thank god.
333
00:17:42,730 --> 00:17:44,560
Thank god.
334
00:17:44,648 --> 00:17:46,518
Well, that sounds grand.
335
00:17:46,650 --> 00:17:47,820
Congratulations.
336
00:17:55,993 --> 00:17:58,493
We have landed in North Africa.
337
00:17:58,579 --> 00:18:01,409
We are striking back.
338
00:18:01,498 --> 00:18:02,958
[applause]
339
00:18:07,755 --> 00:18:10,595
British and American forces
have landed in Operation Torch
340
00:18:10,674 --> 00:18:13,424
in November of 1942.
341
00:18:13,510 --> 00:18:16,090
NEWSREADER: A gigantic American
invasion force is landing.
342
00:18:16,180 --> 00:18:18,600
A second front is at hand.
343
00:18:18,682 --> 00:18:21,432
65,000 American troops
plus British troops
344
00:18:21,518 --> 00:18:24,228
will hit the beaches
in French North Africa,
345
00:18:24,355 --> 00:18:26,195
and they�re going to
start pushing eastward
346
00:18:26,273 --> 00:18:28,983
along the North African coast.
347
00:18:29,068 --> 00:18:31,868
Operation Torch
allows for Americans
348
00:18:31,945 --> 00:18:34,955
to see their ground
troops in action.
349
00:18:35,032 --> 00:18:37,872
That has a morale
building effect stateside.
350
00:18:41,955 --> 00:18:44,585
FDR made every
American feel like they
351
00:18:44,708 --> 00:18:49,788
were a part of this challenge
to beat back fascism.
352
00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:53,050
Every radio address ended
with a call to action.
353
00:18:53,175 --> 00:18:57,095
There is one front where
everyone in the United States,
354
00:18:57,221 --> 00:19:01,311
every man, woman, and
child is in action,
355
00:19:01,392 --> 00:19:05,432
and that front is
right here at home.
356
00:19:05,562 --> 00:19:07,982
The story of the war cannot
be told without the story
357
00:19:08,065 --> 00:19:10,695
of the home front, and the story
of the home front cannot be
358
00:19:10,776 --> 00:19:13,486
told really without the
incandescent leadership
359
00:19:13,570 --> 00:19:17,530
of Franklin Roosevelt. FDR
understood that the only way
360
00:19:17,616 --> 00:19:20,536
that we could get the soldiers
the equipment they needed when
361
00:19:20,619 --> 00:19:23,409
there were scarcity of
supplies was rationing.
362
00:19:23,539 --> 00:19:26,659
He has rubber drives
in the village squares,
363
00:19:26,750 --> 00:19:30,250
and everybody brings on a
Saturday their old rubber toys
364
00:19:30,379 --> 00:19:34,299
and rubber hoses, rubber bands,
and he does that same thing
365
00:19:34,425 --> 00:19:36,805
with aluminum.
366
00:19:36,927 --> 00:19:39,017
One very important
feature of World War II
367
00:19:39,096 --> 00:19:41,476
is that the sense
of shared sacrifice.
368
00:19:41,598 --> 00:19:44,008
It�s the same spirit of
during the Great Depression
369
00:19:44,101 --> 00:19:46,351
and the New Deal, that same
idea that we�re all in this
370
00:19:46,437 --> 00:19:47,277
together.
371
00:19:47,396 --> 00:19:49,066
Trust is the most important part
372
00:19:49,148 --> 00:19:50,608
of his leadership in many ways.
373
00:19:50,691 --> 00:19:52,271
The American people trusted him.
374
00:19:52,359 --> 00:19:54,859
So when he told them that
this is necessary for you
375
00:19:54,945 --> 00:19:57,115
to only have five gallons
of gasoline a week,
376
00:19:57,239 --> 00:20:00,739
it�s necessary for you to only
drink one cup of coffee a day,
377
00:20:00,826 --> 00:20:03,286
even though they grumbled
and got angry with it,
378
00:20:03,412 --> 00:20:07,202
eventually they knew they had to
do their part, because we were
379
00:20:07,291 --> 00:20:09,871
all working together
in a common goal.
380
00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:12,790
That�s one of the huge
parts of FDR�s leadership,
381
00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:14,733
that he was able to mobilize
that collective will
382
00:20:14,757 --> 00:20:15,757
of the country.
383
00:20:19,136 --> 00:20:22,226
It�s January 1943,
and the war has really
384
00:20:22,306 --> 00:20:24,476
reached a crossroads.
385
00:20:24,558 --> 00:20:27,778
Stalin is in the process
of losing a million men
386
00:20:27,853 --> 00:20:30,943
at Stalingrad and he is
desperate for his Western
387
00:20:31,023 --> 00:20:34,113
partners to open a Western Front
to take some of that pressure
388
00:20:34,193 --> 00:20:37,233
off of the Red Army.
389
00:20:37,321 --> 00:20:39,191
In fact, Stalin
says bluntly to FDR
390
00:20:39,323 --> 00:20:41,913
and to Churchill, we Russians
are killing more Germans
391
00:20:41,992 --> 00:20:46,082
every day than the two of
your people put together.
392
00:20:46,163 --> 00:20:49,003
The fear is that if Russia
gets worn down by the Nazis,
393
00:20:49,082 --> 00:20:50,582
that they�ll sue for
a separate peace.
394
00:20:50,667 --> 00:20:51,837
They�ll just give up.
395
00:20:51,919 --> 00:20:53,539
And so FDR is eager
to do something
396
00:20:53,670 --> 00:20:56,000
to help the ally Joseph
Stalin and to relieve some
397
00:20:56,131 --> 00:20:58,881
of that pressure.
398
00:20:59,009 --> 00:21:03,679
I cannot tell you when or
where the United Nations are
399
00:21:03,764 --> 00:21:09,564
going to strike next in Europe,
but we are going to strike
400
00:21:09,686 --> 00:21:11,396
and strike hard.
401
00:21:11,522 --> 00:21:16,692
We believe that the Nazis and
the fascists have asked for it,
402
00:21:16,819 --> 00:21:18,529
and they�re going to get it.
403
00:21:21,698 --> 00:21:24,108
After Operation Torch,
for the first time
404
00:21:24,201 --> 00:21:26,281
the Allies have the initiative.
405
00:21:26,370 --> 00:21:28,264
FDR and Churchill, they�re
going to meet in Casablanca
406
00:21:28,288 --> 00:21:30,158
in Morocco.
407
00:21:30,249 --> 00:21:32,185
FDR is going to be the first
president to leave the United
408
00:21:32,209 --> 00:21:34,709
States in a time of war, and
he�ll be the second president
409
00:21:34,837 --> 00:21:37,507
since Abraham Lincoln
to go to a war zone,
410
00:21:37,589 --> 00:21:40,549
and this conference is really
about what are the next steps.
411
00:21:40,634 --> 00:21:43,224
And they ask Stalin to come,
but Stalin is afraid to fly,
412
00:21:43,345 --> 00:21:44,895
and Stalingrad is
in the midst of it
413
00:21:44,972 --> 00:21:47,432
so he�s not going to be there.
414
00:21:47,558 --> 00:21:50,228
What meant so much to
FDR about Casablanca
415
00:21:50,310 --> 00:21:52,480
is that two of his sons in
the military were there,
416
00:21:52,563 --> 00:21:55,653
Harry Hopkins� son was there,
Churchill�s son was there,
417
00:21:55,732 --> 00:21:58,732
and there�s that next
generation who are carrying out
418
00:21:58,819 --> 00:22:01,069
the goals of that older
generation of Churchill
419
00:22:01,196 --> 00:22:04,916
and Roosevelt.
420
00:22:05,033 --> 00:22:07,033
They seem to be hitting it off.
421
00:22:07,119 --> 00:22:08,119
Yes.
422
00:22:10,873 --> 00:22:14,753
Did you know Stalin�s
son has been captured?
423
00:22:14,835 --> 00:22:16,295
It�s awful.
424
00:22:16,420 --> 00:22:20,000
I�m told he refuses
to negotiate for him.
425
00:22:20,090 --> 00:22:25,090
I hear his motto is,
not one step back.
426
00:22:25,220 --> 00:22:28,930
I guess that goes
for his son too.
427
00:22:29,057 --> 00:22:33,357
Well, he�s certainly
making the Nazis bleed.
428
00:22:33,437 --> 00:22:35,697
He just might hold Stalingrad.
429
00:22:39,568 --> 00:22:43,158
It�s good to have
our boys close by.
430
00:22:43,280 --> 00:22:44,320
Yes.
431
00:22:44,448 --> 00:22:47,038
They�re out of harm�s
way, for the moment.
432
00:22:50,203 --> 00:22:52,203
At the Casablanca
conference, Churchill
433
00:22:52,289 --> 00:22:55,869
is advocating for a
continuation of this attempt
434
00:22:55,959 --> 00:22:59,039
to strike Germany through
the soft underbelly of Europe
435
00:22:59,129 --> 00:23:01,289
by invading through
Italy in hopes of getting
436
00:23:01,423 --> 00:23:03,843
a quick series of victories.
437
00:23:03,967 --> 00:23:07,137
But within the United
States, the military advisors
438
00:23:07,220 --> 00:23:09,550
are not necessarily
of the same mind.
439
00:23:09,640 --> 00:23:11,075
Some of them feel that
most of the attention
440
00:23:11,099 --> 00:23:13,889
should be on the Pacific, while
others feel that the Europe
441
00:23:13,977 --> 00:23:18,197
first strategy is
still the way to go.
442
00:23:18,315 --> 00:23:22,075
We�re already in position
for an invasion of Sicily.
443
00:23:22,152 --> 00:23:25,782
I believe I�ve made
that abundantly clear.
444
00:23:25,864 --> 00:23:28,914
This is just a delay
of the inevitable.
445
00:23:28,992 --> 00:23:30,912
We need to strike in France now.
446
00:23:30,994 --> 00:23:34,744
I�m not certain your
Yanks are ready for that.
447
00:23:34,831 --> 00:23:37,411
When the time comes,
we�ll be ready.
448
00:23:37,501 --> 00:23:40,631
You can bet on that.
449
00:23:40,712 --> 00:23:47,922
Gentlemen, the point is Italy
is a much more achievable
450
00:23:48,011 --> 00:23:50,011
target than France right now.
451
00:23:50,097 --> 00:23:54,147
But we all know it won�t do
anything to help the Russians.
452
00:23:56,687 --> 00:23:58,857
What�s your view,
General Eisenhower?
453
00:23:58,939 --> 00:24:01,189
The invasion of France is
going to be the biggest
454
00:24:01,274 --> 00:24:04,864
operation maybe ever.
455
00:24:04,945 --> 00:24:08,205
The way I see it,
we�re short on time.
456
00:24:08,281 --> 00:24:12,161
Time to supply our bases
in England for launch, time
457
00:24:12,244 --> 00:24:13,914
to train enough troops.
458
00:24:14,037 --> 00:24:17,377
How much time?
459
00:24:17,499 --> 00:24:21,169
We can�t do it before �44.
460
00:24:21,253 --> 00:24:22,543
It�s true.
461
00:24:22,629 --> 00:24:26,799
We�ll need an overwhelming force
for the invasion of France.
462
00:24:26,883 --> 00:24:30,973
So, in the meantime, we
strike a blow in Italy.
463
00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:39,060
All right.
464
00:24:39,146 --> 00:24:42,816
Italy seems the most
feasible option right now.
465
00:24:46,111 --> 00:24:50,071
FDR was not risk averse,
but he was patient
466
00:24:50,198 --> 00:24:51,608
and he knew when to strike.
467
00:24:51,742 --> 00:24:54,532
He had an uncanny
sense of when to strike
468
00:24:54,619 --> 00:24:57,199
and when to not strike.
469
00:24:57,289 --> 00:24:59,579
FDR shows his
tremendous leadership.
470
00:24:59,708 --> 00:25:02,758
He realized that you have to
have a powerful coalition.
471
00:25:02,836 --> 00:25:05,386
You can�t go it alone, and
you can�t lose the British
472
00:25:05,464 --> 00:25:07,054
and you can�t fight
without the British.
473
00:25:07,132 --> 00:25:09,512
And so to keep this
alliance together,
474
00:25:09,593 --> 00:25:12,343
he said, OK, we�ll do that
because they�re our ally
475
00:25:12,429 --> 00:25:16,219
and then they�ll end up
serving our interests.
476
00:25:16,308 --> 00:25:18,188
At the end of the
Casablanca conference,
477
00:25:18,268 --> 00:25:21,428
Churchill goes to Roosevelt and
suggests that they take a trip
478
00:25:21,563 --> 00:25:22,773
out to Marrakesh.
479
00:25:27,444 --> 00:25:30,534
Churchill wants Roosevelt to
see the sun set over the Atlas
480
00:25:30,614 --> 00:25:33,864
mountains before he goes home.
481
00:25:33,950 --> 00:25:37,580
Uncle Joe is going to be
furious when he finds out
482
00:25:37,662 --> 00:25:40,952
there won�t be a second
front in France this year.
483
00:25:41,041 --> 00:25:44,921
He�ll get a second front
when the time is right.
484
00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:53,130
And we both know Stalin
is not to be trusted.
485
00:25:56,014 --> 00:25:58,814
He made a pact with
Hitler once before.
486
00:25:58,934 --> 00:26:01,684
Who�s to say he
won�t do it again?
487
00:26:01,812 --> 00:26:05,732
God help us if he does.
488
00:26:05,816 --> 00:26:10,696
But at least we�ll
get there in 1944.
489
00:26:10,821 --> 00:26:16,621
We have to stand by our
promises, and after the war,
490
00:26:16,701 --> 00:26:17,991
we�ll lead by example.
491
00:26:20,497 --> 00:26:21,627
What do you mean?
492
00:26:24,167 --> 00:26:28,257
I�m talking about your colonies.
493
00:26:28,338 --> 00:26:31,758
People have the right
to self-determination.
494
00:26:31,842 --> 00:26:34,842
I did not become prime
minister in order to liquidate
495
00:26:34,970 --> 00:26:38,300
the entire British Empire.
496
00:26:38,390 --> 00:26:46,390
If we want freedom in Europe,
that means freedom everywhere.
497
00:26:46,690 --> 00:26:49,190
I�m telling you as
a friend, if you
498
00:26:49,276 --> 00:26:51,696
stick with the old
way, Winston, there
499
00:26:51,778 --> 00:26:53,438
will be a third world war.
500
00:26:58,034 --> 00:27:00,204
And nobody would survive that.
501
00:27:08,587 --> 00:27:11,547
In February of 1943, during
the invasion of North Africa,
502
00:27:11,631 --> 00:27:13,801
the Allies have the initiative.
503
00:27:13,884 --> 00:27:15,764
They�ll drive
across North Africa.
504
00:27:15,886 --> 00:27:22,646
But America�s troops are young
and not terribly well trained
505
00:27:22,726 --> 00:27:25,396
yet, still trying to learn the
lessons of armored warfare,
506
00:27:25,478 --> 00:27:28,398
of combined operations
using aviation.
507
00:27:28,481 --> 00:27:30,611
The Germans will counter
an attack at a place called
508
00:27:30,734 --> 00:27:32,734
Kasserine Pass,
and they�re going
509
00:27:32,861 --> 00:27:34,941
to wreck part of the United
States Army�s advance.
510
00:27:35,071 --> 00:27:38,361
They�re going to roll
it back upon itself.
511
00:27:38,450 --> 00:27:40,700
The Americans were
routed by the Germans.
512
00:27:40,785 --> 00:27:42,705
There were some
examples of cowardice.
513
00:27:42,787 --> 00:27:44,497
There was not good leadership.
514
00:27:44,581 --> 00:27:47,001
It was a flop, and it was
kind of a demoralizing
515
00:27:47,083 --> 00:27:50,253
one and a bad start.
516
00:27:50,337 --> 00:27:51,847
At the same time,
there�s an operation
517
00:27:51,922 --> 00:27:53,842
halfway around the world
in the Southwest Pacific
518
00:27:53,924 --> 00:27:55,844
in Guadalcanal and
Solomon Islands
519
00:27:55,926 --> 00:27:58,346
whose casualties are much
higher than they are at Torch.
520
00:27:58,428 --> 00:28:00,138
In the Pacific
theater, we�re going
521
00:28:00,263 --> 00:28:02,853
to hop from island to island as
we close in the defensive ring
522
00:28:02,933 --> 00:28:04,223
on Japan.
523
00:28:04,309 --> 00:28:06,454
At Guadalcanal, both sides
are feeding in reinforcements.
524
00:28:06,478 --> 00:28:08,988
And, of course, the
casualties grow.
525
00:28:09,105 --> 00:28:12,025
NARRATOR: Now it began, the
toil and the terror that
526
00:28:12,108 --> 00:28:15,858
makes Guadalcanal not
a name but an emotion.
527
00:28:15,946 --> 00:28:18,286
The casualties mount
from the fighting,
528
00:28:18,406 --> 00:28:21,876
from malaria, from dengue,
from the rot and corruption
529
00:28:21,952 --> 00:28:25,702
of the jungle, which
knows not mercy.
530
00:28:25,789 --> 00:28:26,789
It�s costly in men.
531
00:28:26,915 --> 00:28:29,005
It�s costly in munitions.
532
00:28:29,125 --> 00:28:31,085
It�s a very, very
costly campaign.
533
00:28:38,969 --> 00:28:41,719
General Marshall�s on his way.
534
00:28:41,805 --> 00:28:44,605
Is Eleanor coming to dinner?
535
00:28:44,683 --> 00:28:45,683
No.
536
00:28:45,809 --> 00:28:49,889
She�s left for New
York, giving a speech.
537
00:28:49,980 --> 00:28:52,810
She wrote you a note.
538
00:28:52,941 --> 00:28:54,061
I see.
539
00:28:54,150 --> 00:28:56,020
I must have forgotten.
540
00:28:56,152 --> 00:28:57,152
Thank you, grace.
541
00:29:05,370 --> 00:29:06,580
Sir.
542
00:29:06,663 --> 00:29:08,373
Have a seat, General.
543
00:29:08,498 --> 00:29:09,498
Thank you, sir.
544
00:29:12,002 --> 00:29:15,462
I came to let you know
Eisenhower has the situation
545
00:29:15,547 --> 00:29:18,347
in hand at the Kasserine Pass.
546
00:29:18,466 --> 00:29:20,056
The Germans are withdrawing.
547
00:29:20,176 --> 00:29:22,516
We can�t afford these
command problems.
548
00:29:25,515 --> 00:29:28,525
It�s my responsibility, sir.
549
00:29:28,601 --> 00:29:31,981
Do we know the casualties yet?
550
00:29:32,063 --> 00:29:39,033
7,000 of ours, but mostly
wounded, or missing.
551
00:29:39,112 --> 00:29:40,112
300 killed.
552
00:29:43,366 --> 00:29:51,366
Where are we when 300 dead
boys seems like a small number?
553
00:29:55,378 --> 00:29:59,378
How many was it at Guadalcanal?
554
00:29:59,507 --> 00:30:03,097
7,000.
555
00:30:03,219 --> 00:30:04,219
Dead?
556
00:30:09,392 --> 00:30:11,062
But they were both
victories, sir.
557
00:30:15,732 --> 00:30:16,732
Yes, I know.
558
00:30:20,278 --> 00:30:21,938
7,000 killed or wounded.
559
00:30:22,072 --> 00:30:24,322
At some point, it�s
numbers on a ledger,
560
00:30:24,407 --> 00:30:27,577
but each one of those ledgers
has a mother or a father,
561
00:30:27,702 --> 00:30:29,532
and it�s FDR who
carries that weight
562
00:30:29,621 --> 00:30:31,265
and considers how would
you write that letter
563
00:30:31,289 --> 00:30:32,999
to every mother and father.
564
00:30:33,083 --> 00:30:35,003
It is the burden of command.
565
00:30:35,085 --> 00:30:39,175
It is the burden of being
the commander in chief.
566
00:30:39,255 --> 00:30:42,135
He knew that this
was not a battle.
567
00:30:42,258 --> 00:30:44,008
It was a war.
568
00:30:44,094 --> 00:30:47,344
He knew this was not
the work of six months.
569
00:30:47,430 --> 00:30:50,350
He knew it would be many years.
570
00:30:50,433 --> 00:30:55,643
He had learned that
you have to keep going.
571
00:30:55,772 --> 00:30:59,812
And I think that as
he led us into war,
572
00:30:59,943 --> 00:31:03,363
there was a fortitude and
a resilience that grew out
573
00:31:03,446 --> 00:31:07,206
of his own personal
fortitude and resilience.
574
00:31:07,283 --> 00:31:09,123
Somebody said to
FDR, how can you
575
00:31:09,202 --> 00:31:11,742
go to sleep at night with
all these hard decisions
576
00:31:11,830 --> 00:31:14,370
that you�ve had to make and
the pressures that are on you?
577
00:31:14,457 --> 00:31:16,667
He said, if you spend
two years just trying
578
00:31:16,793 --> 00:31:21,793
to wiggle your big toe, you�re
going to learn patience.
579
00:31:21,923 --> 00:31:25,213
As the war unfolds, there is
increasing pressure because
580
00:31:25,301 --> 00:31:27,721
of the losses that Stalin
and the Soviet Union
581
00:31:27,804 --> 00:31:31,894
are sustaining to open a
second front in the West.
582
00:31:31,975 --> 00:31:34,355
So Stalin Churchill
and Roosevelt
583
00:31:34,477 --> 00:31:38,907
go to Tehran in November
1943, and the central question
584
00:31:38,982 --> 00:31:43,822
from Stalin is, when are you
going to attack in the West?
585
00:31:43,903 --> 00:31:46,323
Tehran is the first
opportunity for Roosevelt,
586
00:31:46,406 --> 00:31:49,166
Churchill, and Stalin to all
sit down, the three of them.
587
00:31:49,284 --> 00:31:51,704
Roosevelt really relied
on his own personal powers
588
00:31:51,828 --> 00:31:53,588
of persuasion and
really dependent
589
00:31:53,663 --> 00:31:56,203
on personal connections.
590
00:31:56,332 --> 00:32:00,832
FDR loved politics, and
politics at the very highest
591
00:32:00,920 --> 00:32:05,510
was keeping together a coalition
of thoroughly disagreeable
592
00:32:05,633 --> 00:32:07,173
potential enemies.
593
00:32:07,302 --> 00:32:09,762
And although their three
countries were in an alliance,
594
00:32:09,846 --> 00:32:12,856
their interests
were not parallel.
595
00:32:12,974 --> 00:32:14,734
Stalin believed that
Churchill and Roosevelt,
596
00:32:14,851 --> 00:32:18,351
those capitalists, were ganging
up on Stalin, as indeed they
597
00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:19,730
were.
598
00:32:19,856 --> 00:32:22,906
So Roosevelt�s got to figure out
how to mollify Stalin when they
599
00:32:23,026 --> 00:32:24,196
got together.
600
00:32:24,319 --> 00:32:27,279
And during the war, FDR sent
his advisor Harry Hopkins
601
00:32:27,363 --> 00:32:29,033
to meet with Stalin.
602
00:32:29,115 --> 00:32:32,375
Hopkins was the entire
State Department
603
00:32:32,494 --> 00:32:36,414
all by himself in this sort of
unofficial capacity as advisor
604
00:32:36,539 --> 00:32:37,539
to the president.
605
00:32:42,378 --> 00:32:46,128
Harry, you�ve met the man.
606
00:32:46,216 --> 00:32:48,766
What can I expect?
607
00:32:48,885 --> 00:32:54,475
Well, he does not care much
about clever strategies.
608
00:32:54,557 --> 00:32:59,067
But he does care about killing
as many Nazis as possible.
609
00:32:59,187 --> 00:33:01,607
That�s clear.
610
00:33:01,731 --> 00:33:03,901
But what�s he really like?
611
00:33:04,025 --> 00:33:08,035
Besides being a butcher
in his own right?
612
00:33:08,112 --> 00:33:13,242
When I first met him, I was
astonished how polite he was.
613
00:33:13,368 --> 00:33:18,208
Perfect uniform, polished
boots, cool as a cucumber.
614
00:33:18,289 --> 00:33:24,129
When I was in Moscow, we
could hear German guns.
615
00:33:24,254 --> 00:33:26,044
No sign of fear from him.
616
00:33:26,130 --> 00:33:28,760
No hesitation.
617
00:33:28,883 --> 00:33:30,843
Go on.
618
00:33:30,927 --> 00:33:34,267
I need something I can use.
619
00:33:34,389 --> 00:33:39,469
He does have a sense of humor
in his own peculiar way.
620
00:33:39,602 --> 00:33:43,902
He laughs, but when
you least expect it.
621
00:33:43,982 --> 00:33:48,112
And he does not trust Churchill.
622
00:33:48,236 --> 00:33:50,196
What matters is
that he trusts me.
623
00:33:53,616 --> 00:33:58,286
When the time comes, I�ll
have to distance myself
624
00:33:58,413 --> 00:33:59,623
from Winston.
625
00:33:59,706 --> 00:34:02,216
He will not like that.
626
00:34:02,292 --> 00:34:03,712
I can�t worry about that now.
627
00:34:06,212 --> 00:34:09,552
We need Stalin to stick with us.
628
00:34:27,150 --> 00:34:28,270
It shouldn�t be long now.
629
00:34:53,009 --> 00:34:55,759
I�m glad to see you.
630
00:34:55,845 --> 00:35:00,015
I�ve tried for a long
time to make this happen,
631
00:35:00,141 --> 00:35:02,931
and here we are.
632
00:35:03,019 --> 00:35:04,429
[speaking russian]
633
00:35:36,719 --> 00:35:38,839
That�s quite all right.
634
00:35:38,930 --> 00:35:44,390
I believe men should
meet face to face.
635
00:35:44,477 --> 00:35:48,397
I was so terribly sorry
to hear about your son.
636
00:35:53,403 --> 00:35:55,153
[speaking russian]
637
00:36:10,294 --> 00:36:15,674
I suppose we all must
be prepared to sacrifice
638
00:36:15,758 --> 00:36:18,928
everything to win this war.
639
00:36:26,602 --> 00:36:28,722
Tehran Conference is the
first conference where we now
640
00:36:28,771 --> 00:36:31,231
have all of the big three.
641
00:36:31,315 --> 00:36:33,365
NEWSREADER: Tehran,
capital of Iran.
642
00:36:33,443 --> 00:36:36,613
Here, 6,000 miles from
Washington, the president
643
00:36:36,738 --> 00:36:38,498
and prime minister
meet their great ally
644
00:36:38,614 --> 00:36:42,704
in the war against Nazi Germany,
Marshal Joseph Stalin, premier
645
00:36:42,785 --> 00:36:44,955
of Soviet Russia.
646
00:36:45,079 --> 00:36:47,579
Franklin Delano Roosevelt has
the relationship with Winston
647
00:36:47,665 --> 00:36:51,255
Churchill, and Winston Churchill
has met with Stalin before,
648
00:36:51,335 --> 00:36:53,005
but Franklin Delano
Roosevelt has not,
649
00:36:53,129 --> 00:36:54,999
so he wants to
develop a rapport,
650
00:36:55,131 --> 00:36:58,051
and fundamentally he thinks, he
is the only one on Earth that
651
00:36:58,134 --> 00:37:01,474
should be able to go ahead and
break this crusty exterior.
652
00:37:01,554 --> 00:37:05,934
Stalin is ruthless, I would
go so far as to say heartless,
653
00:37:06,017 --> 00:37:09,237
but that Soviet Union
was a necessary ally.
654
00:37:09,312 --> 00:37:12,562
Roosevelt looked at
Stalin not as his partner
655
00:37:12,648 --> 00:37:16,648
or as his great friend,
but as a leader who
656
00:37:16,736 --> 00:37:20,536
was in charge of millions of
soldiers that might wind up
657
00:37:20,656 --> 00:37:23,166
saving American democracy.
658
00:37:23,242 --> 00:37:25,532
One of Roosevelt�s
enormous strengths
659
00:37:25,661 --> 00:37:29,831
was that he could manipulate
people and he could oppose them
660
00:37:29,957 --> 00:37:32,167
or he could have them
working with each other.
661
00:37:32,251 --> 00:37:35,331
I always think one of the
best metaphors for FDR
662
00:37:35,463 --> 00:37:39,713
as a leader is, you know, he had
spinning plates on his fingers
663
00:37:39,842 --> 00:37:42,172
and on top of the plates
were spinning forks,
664
00:37:42,261 --> 00:37:47,101
and this whole apparatus was
operating well because FDR was
665
00:37:47,183 --> 00:37:50,103
there providing the leadership.
666
00:37:50,186 --> 00:37:53,606
Roosevelt was careful to make
sure that Stalin saw that there
667
00:37:53,689 --> 00:37:56,729
was no solid Anglo-US front.
668
00:37:56,859 --> 00:38:00,739
So at Tehran, that the dynamic
of that US-British relationship
669
00:38:00,863 --> 00:38:02,703
begins to change
just a little bit,
670
00:38:02,782 --> 00:38:05,072
but it must have come as
quite a shock to Churchill
671
00:38:05,201 --> 00:38:09,491
to see this gap
begin to open up.
672
00:38:09,580 --> 00:38:11,500
Imagine the human
side for Churchill.
673
00:38:11,582 --> 00:38:16,132
He�s been at war with Hitler
since September 1st, 1939.
674
00:38:16,212 --> 00:38:18,292
Stalin was allied
with him at the time
675
00:38:18,381 --> 00:38:21,301
and America was living
in a fantasyland,
676
00:38:21,384 --> 00:38:24,804
and now Churchill is becoming
less important as these two
677
00:38:24,887 --> 00:38:30,187
forces come up, and it
was incredibly painful
678
00:38:30,268 --> 00:38:32,858
for Churchill, and FDR
didn�t do much to help.
679
00:38:35,565 --> 00:38:37,065
[speaking russian]
680
00:38:56,085 --> 00:39:00,635
Your aspirations are
justified, Marshal Stalin,
681
00:39:00,756 --> 00:39:04,766
but your numbers are off.
682
00:39:04,886 --> 00:39:08,396
The Atlantic wall is
not to be taken lightly,
683
00:39:08,472 --> 00:39:11,642
and Hitler�s got to have more
than eight Panzer divisions
684
00:39:11,767 --> 00:39:13,357
there.
685
00:39:13,436 --> 00:39:21,436
[speaking russian]
686
00:39:23,779 --> 00:39:26,529
The prime minister
is not haggling.
687
00:39:26,616 --> 00:39:29,496
He just woke up on the
wrong side of the bed,
688
00:39:29,619 --> 00:39:32,029
and he was forced to
wake up before noon
689
00:39:32,121 --> 00:39:33,951
for the first time in 20 years.
690
00:39:34,040 --> 00:39:35,040
[laughter]
691
00:39:35,958 --> 00:39:38,958
And without his
precious brandy to boot.
692
00:39:45,092 --> 00:39:50,722
Now, I agree with
the prime minister
693
00:39:50,806 --> 00:39:55,146
that the risks for
this invasion are high,
694
00:39:55,227 --> 00:40:02,117
but it�s a greater risk
to not take action now.
695
00:40:02,193 --> 00:40:05,823
So I agree with
you, Marshal Stalin,
696
00:40:05,905 --> 00:40:10,955
that we must commit to an
invasion of France immediately.
697
00:40:14,330 --> 00:40:22,330
My doubts haven�t changed, but
you stood by me after Tobruk.
698
00:40:26,217 --> 00:40:29,307
I�ll stand by your decision now.
699
00:40:29,387 --> 00:40:32,267
Then we have a lot
of work ahead of us.
700
00:40:52,451 --> 00:40:56,121
Churchill�s giving Ike a hard
time over using those bombers
701
00:40:56,205 --> 00:40:58,255
over France.
702
00:40:58,374 --> 00:41:01,584
He still thinks if we keep
bombing Germany we can avoid
703
00:41:01,711 --> 00:41:02,581
the whole invasion.
704
00:41:02,712 --> 00:41:04,212
Well, he�s wrong.
705
00:41:07,383 --> 00:41:08,593
I�ll handle Winston.
706
00:41:18,227 --> 00:41:20,737
The most important decision
reached at Tehran is that
707
00:41:20,855 --> 00:41:22,945
the United States and Britain
will conduct Operation
708
00:41:23,065 --> 00:41:26,575
Overlord, which becomes
D-Day in Normandy.
709
00:41:26,694 --> 00:41:28,904
Operation Overlord,
or the Allied advance
710
00:41:29,030 --> 00:41:30,530
from England into
mainland Europe,
711
00:41:30,614 --> 00:41:32,914
is the fastest way to Berlin.
712
00:41:33,034 --> 00:41:34,954
Because the war is not
over until a soldier
713
00:41:35,077 --> 00:41:39,667
stands in Berlin with their
heel on Adolf Hitler�s neck.
714
00:41:39,749 --> 00:41:42,619
Roosevelt gets credit for
choosing Dwight Eisenhower
715
00:41:42,752 --> 00:41:47,292
to head the invasion of
France and the war in Europe.
716
00:41:47,423 --> 00:41:51,473
Roosevelt recognized
in Eisenhower something
717
00:41:51,594 --> 00:41:53,684
of a capacity that
he himself had,
718
00:41:53,763 --> 00:41:58,933
and that was this personal
political skill, this ability
719
00:41:59,018 --> 00:42:02,358
to keep divergent
interests in other people
720
00:42:02,438 --> 00:42:05,158
from destroying the central
purpose toward which they�re
721
00:42:05,274 --> 00:42:06,694
working.
722
00:42:06,776 --> 00:42:09,366
Roosevelt was willing to
delegate responsibility,
723
00:42:09,445 --> 00:42:12,785
so he listened to Eisenhower.
724
00:42:12,865 --> 00:42:13,865
Winston?
725
00:42:16,243 --> 00:42:18,663
Yes, I figured
you�d still be up.
726
00:42:18,788 --> 00:42:23,008
Listen, Ike assures me
it�s essential to divert
727
00:42:23,125 --> 00:42:24,925
those bombers to
targets in France.
728
00:42:31,092 --> 00:42:35,302
Yes, I know France
is our ally and there
729
00:42:35,429 --> 00:42:40,309
will be civilian casualties, but
I�ve got to leave the choice up
730
00:42:40,434 --> 00:42:42,644
to the commander.
731
00:42:42,728 --> 00:42:46,188
It�s his responsibility
and his decision.
732
00:42:48,984 --> 00:42:50,654
Well, that�s really
all there is to it.
733
00:42:53,948 --> 00:42:55,498
You too, Winston.
734
00:42:55,616 --> 00:42:56,616
Get some rest.
735
00:42:56,659 --> 00:42:57,659
Good night.
736
00:43:11,215 --> 00:43:13,215
Your daughter sent me.
737
00:43:13,342 --> 00:43:18,342
She wants to know if you
plan on sleeping tonight,
738
00:43:18,472 --> 00:43:20,682
or ever again.
739
00:43:20,766 --> 00:43:21,766
Maybe she�s right.
740
00:43:24,937 --> 00:43:29,407
We�ve got two months to pull
off the biggest invasion
741
00:43:29,525 --> 00:43:30,945
the world has ever seen.
742
00:43:33,529 --> 00:43:38,159
And if it fails, we won�t
get a second chance.
743
00:43:41,287 --> 00:43:44,877
I�ll sleep when it�s over.
744
00:43:54,008 --> 00:43:57,768
You could see, really, in the
end of �43 and early �44 that
745
00:43:57,887 --> 00:44:00,227
hollows were coming
under Roosevelt�s eyes,
746
00:44:00,347 --> 00:44:03,767
that his color wasn�t very good,
that he was having some trouble
747
00:44:03,893 --> 00:44:08,063
breathing, that he was
having headaches at night.
748
00:44:08,189 --> 00:44:10,979
I imagine the anxiety he
must have felt about knowing
749
00:44:11,066 --> 00:44:13,776
that something was wrong but not
being able to talk to anybody
750
00:44:13,903 --> 00:44:15,573
about it.
751
00:44:15,654 --> 00:44:18,284
Who could he talk to about the
fact that his body was failing?
752
00:44:18,407 --> 00:44:21,417
Who could he talk to about
his anxieties about the war?
753
00:44:21,493 --> 00:44:22,873
Because for everybody
else, he had
754
00:44:22,953 --> 00:44:25,663
to keep up as much of
a cover as he could
755
00:44:25,748 --> 00:44:28,758
and not let people know what
he was really feeling inside,
756
00:44:28,834 --> 00:44:33,924
so it must have been, I imagine,
a really lonely time for him.
757
00:44:34,048 --> 00:44:36,638
And Anna, his daughter,
saw this, finally persuaded
758
00:44:36,759 --> 00:44:39,629
her father to go and have a
checkup done at Bethesda Naval
759
00:44:39,762 --> 00:44:40,632
Hospital.
760
00:44:40,763 --> 00:44:43,103
He meets with a
young cardiologist,
761
00:44:43,182 --> 00:44:46,972
and he was stunned when
he saw Roosevelt�s visage.
762
00:44:47,102 --> 00:44:50,102
He could see that he was in
the midst of congestive heart
763
00:44:50,231 --> 00:44:52,271
disease.
764
00:44:52,399 --> 00:44:56,319
Things are so bad that
Roosevelt�s doctor recommends
765
00:44:56,445 --> 00:45:02,785
that he stay in bed to
arrest the deterioration.
766
00:45:02,910 --> 00:45:06,330
He�s being told that he can�t
work more than 10 to 15 hours
767
00:45:06,455 --> 00:45:07,455
a week.
768
00:45:07,539 --> 00:45:10,119
This is during among
the most critical times
769
00:45:10,251 --> 00:45:11,251
in world history.
770
00:45:14,129 --> 00:45:16,589
To say that there�s a
lot riding on D-Day,
771
00:45:16,674 --> 00:45:21,094
Operation Overlord, is a
massive understatement.
772
00:45:21,178 --> 00:45:23,298
Operation Overlord
is the culmination
773
00:45:23,389 --> 00:45:25,799
of years of effort
by Franklin Roosevelt
774
00:45:25,933 --> 00:45:28,643
to convince Americans that
they needed to be prepared
775
00:45:28,769 --> 00:45:31,099
for the war, and then once
we entered the war, taking
776
00:45:31,188 --> 00:45:33,188
an army of just a couple
100,000 and building it
777
00:45:33,315 --> 00:45:36,025
up putting people into
uniform by the millions.
778
00:45:36,151 --> 00:45:39,401
Just the logistics of that
alone is pretty staggering,
779
00:45:39,488 --> 00:45:41,988
and training all those folks
and outfitting all those folks.
780
00:45:42,116 --> 00:45:44,916
It is the largest military
operation ever undertaken
781
00:45:44,994 --> 00:45:45,994
in history.
782
00:45:46,120 --> 00:45:49,450
It involves so many
people, so many layers
783
00:45:49,540 --> 00:45:54,540
of military apparatus,
from transports and tanks,
784
00:45:54,670 --> 00:45:58,000
ammunition, soldiers and
sailors, communication devices,
785
00:45:58,090 --> 00:46:02,170
aircraft, tremendous
amount of coordination.
786
00:46:02,261 --> 00:46:05,801
It�s an extraordinarily
difficult operation.
787
00:46:05,889 --> 00:46:07,889
The Atlantic wall is
a system of defense
788
00:46:08,017 --> 00:46:09,995
that the Germans start to
create from the moment they take
789
00:46:10,019 --> 00:46:11,019
Europe.
790
00:46:11,103 --> 00:46:13,773
This is what the Allies
have to break in order
791
00:46:13,856 --> 00:46:15,566
to get into Europe.
792
00:46:15,691 --> 00:46:19,071
It�s basically a 1,700 mile
wall that starts in Norway,
793
00:46:19,194 --> 00:46:20,674
goes all the way to
the Spanish coast.
794
00:46:23,282 --> 00:46:25,992
If you think about the Atlantic
wall as these 15,000 bunkers
795
00:46:26,076 --> 00:46:29,086
as being the skeleton, the
trenches that connect them
796
00:46:29,204 --> 00:46:30,964
would be the sinew that
connects those bones.
797
00:46:31,040 --> 00:46:33,960
The cannons would be the
muscles that make it all work.
798
00:46:34,043 --> 00:46:37,293
In front of that would be
6,000 mines, the obstacles
799
00:46:37,379 --> 00:46:39,190
on the beaches, the obstacles
in the field to keep
800
00:46:39,214 --> 00:46:40,134
gliders from landing.
801
00:46:40,215 --> 00:46:41,615
That would be the
armor or the skin.
802
00:46:41,717 --> 00:46:43,486
And then ultimately the
soldiers that defend it
803
00:46:43,510 --> 00:46:45,070
would be the blood
that pump through it.
804
00:46:49,016 --> 00:46:51,856
In the buildup to what
becomes Operation Overlord,
805
00:46:51,935 --> 00:46:55,605
the D-Day invasion, the Allies
create all kinds of diversions,
806
00:46:55,731 --> 00:46:59,821
all kinds of fake radio
traffic, even using fake tanks
807
00:46:59,902 --> 00:47:02,262
and things like that to create
the illusion that this may be
808
00:47:02,363 --> 00:47:05,363
a three-pronged or a
two-pronged operation,
809
00:47:05,449 --> 00:47:08,449
all to get the Germans to not
massed their forces at what
810
00:47:08,577 --> 00:47:12,747
ultimately becomes the main
point of contact at Normandy.
811
00:47:12,873 --> 00:47:14,623
We need waves that are
less than five feet.
812
00:47:14,750 --> 00:47:16,120
We�re going to land at dawn.
813
00:47:16,251 --> 00:47:17,541
We�d like to have a half a moon.
814
00:47:17,628 --> 00:47:20,048
We�d like to have 2,500
feet of cloud ceiling.
815
00:47:20,130 --> 00:47:22,090
We�d like to have at
least 50% visibility.
816
00:47:22,216 --> 00:47:24,136
How do we get those
conditions to happen?
817
00:47:27,179 --> 00:47:30,299
On the eve of D-Day, this
is the culmination of years
818
00:47:30,432 --> 00:47:33,312
of preparation, years of
building the supplies,
819
00:47:33,435 --> 00:47:34,565
years of coalition building.
820
00:47:37,231 --> 00:47:39,771
Now there�s nothing
more that FDR can do.
821
00:47:44,905 --> 00:47:47,615
He had to believe that he had
supplied the soldiers the best
822
00:47:47,741 --> 00:47:49,071
they could, that
they were trained
823
00:47:49,159 --> 00:47:51,659
and they were ready for this,
and there was nothing he could
824
00:47:51,787 --> 00:47:53,547
do but depend upon
those soldiers.
825
00:47:59,920 --> 00:48:03,250
Across June 6th, we�re going
to put 155,000 soldiers
826
00:48:03,340 --> 00:48:05,210
on the beach on one day.
827
00:48:05,300 --> 00:48:08,300
You�ve got 7,000 ships,
13,000 aircraft all in support
828
00:48:08,429 --> 00:48:09,429
of this.
829
00:48:09,513 --> 00:48:12,103
It�s the greatest
joint Army, Air Force,
830
00:48:12,182 --> 00:48:15,932
Navy coalition multi-service
military operation
831
00:48:16,019 --> 00:48:17,889
in the history of Earth.
832
00:48:17,980 --> 00:48:19,290
If you were in the
first wave of D-Day,
833
00:48:19,314 --> 00:48:22,654
you would�ve left your port
early in the morning of June
834
00:48:22,734 --> 00:48:23,734
6th.
835
00:48:23,819 --> 00:48:25,630
You would have made your
way across rough seas.
836
00:48:25,654 --> 00:48:27,034
You were probably seasick.
837
00:48:27,156 --> 00:48:28,216
They tried to give
you some breakfast.
838
00:48:28,240 --> 00:48:31,160
You took it and now
you�ve thrown that up.
839
00:48:31,243 --> 00:48:32,413
All the toilets are full.
840
00:48:32,494 --> 00:48:35,414
All the rails are full.
841
00:48:35,497 --> 00:48:37,207
You�ve now gotten
on a landing craft.
842
00:48:37,332 --> 00:48:39,832
Climb down a slippery rope
to get in that landing craft.
843
00:48:39,960 --> 00:48:42,040
You would have been
splashed by sea waves,
844
00:48:42,171 --> 00:48:45,211
soaking wet carrying
60 pounds of gear.
845
00:48:45,340 --> 00:48:47,340
You can hear the
aircraft go overhead.
846
00:48:47,468 --> 00:48:49,138
You hope they�re
doing their part.
847
00:48:49,219 --> 00:48:52,089
And in front of you you would
see German defenses, mines,
848
00:48:52,181 --> 00:48:54,891
and barbed wire, artillery
and mortars and machine guns.
849
00:48:55,017 --> 00:48:56,977
Then all of a sudden the
boat would hit the beach,
850
00:48:57,019 --> 00:48:58,559
and then they would
drop the ramp.
851
00:49:03,942 --> 00:49:07,732
FDR had made the decisions
he could make and was now
852
00:49:07,863 --> 00:49:12,613
at the mercy of events, of
time and tide quite literally.
853
00:49:16,079 --> 00:49:17,079
Come in.
854
00:49:26,215 --> 00:49:28,135
From General Eisenhower,
Mr. President.
855
00:49:41,980 --> 00:49:43,560
10 seconds, Mr. President.
856
00:49:48,070 --> 00:49:49,860
And 5, 4.
857
00:49:56,495 --> 00:50:01,585
My fellow Americans,
in this poignant hour
858
00:50:01,667 --> 00:50:04,837
I ask you to join me in prayer.
859
00:50:10,926 --> 00:50:18,926
Almighty God, our sons,
pride of our nation,
860
00:50:22,145 --> 00:50:26,615
this day have set upon
a mighty endeavor.
861
00:50:26,733 --> 00:50:34,363
They struggle to preserve
our republic, our religion,
862
00:50:34,449 --> 00:50:42,119
and our civilization, and to
set free a suffering humanity.
863
00:50:46,420 --> 00:50:49,290
They will need life lessons.
864
00:50:49,381 --> 00:50:56,221
Their role will be long and
hard, for the enemy is strong.
865
00:50:59,308 --> 00:51:04,648
Success may not come
with rushing speed,
866
00:51:04,771 --> 00:51:09,771
but we shall return
again and again.
867
00:51:13,155 --> 00:51:19,165
By the righteousness of our
cause, our sons will triumph.
868
00:51:32,007 --> 00:51:38,187
We shall prevail over the
unholy forces of our enemy.
869
00:51:38,305 --> 00:51:45,105
Help us to conquer the apostles
of greed and racial arrogances.
870
00:51:45,187 --> 00:51:49,317
Lead us to the saving
of our country,
871
00:51:49,399 --> 00:51:56,439
and with our sister nations into
a world unity that will spell
872
00:51:56,531 --> 00:52:03,411
a shore of peace, and a peace
that will let all of men
873
00:52:03,538 --> 00:52:04,618
live in freedom.
874
00:52:07,417 --> 00:52:11,217
Thy will be done, Almighty God.
875
00:52:14,383 --> 00:52:15,383
Amen.
876
00:52:19,388 --> 00:52:23,108
That speech was arguably
the largest mass prayer
877
00:52:23,225 --> 00:52:24,645
in human history.
878
00:52:24,726 --> 00:52:26,646
100 million Americans listened.
879
00:52:29,898 --> 00:52:32,978
Church bells rang,
and everybody went
880
00:52:33,068 --> 00:52:35,368
to churches and synagogues.
881
00:52:35,445 --> 00:52:39,455
The impulse to pray
was overwhelming.
882
00:52:39,574 --> 00:52:43,334
By noon on June 6th,
1944, even defenses
883
00:52:43,412 --> 00:52:47,622
around Omaha Beach, bloody Omaha
Beach, will start to break,
884
00:52:47,749 --> 00:52:49,999
and now what we have is
the invasion is a success.
885
00:52:54,715 --> 00:52:57,555
Franklin Delano Roosevelt�s
prayer speaks volumes.
886
00:52:57,634 --> 00:53:02,724
He�s responsible for speaking
for all freedom loving people.
887
00:53:02,806 --> 00:53:06,266
What Operation Overlord
stands for, its hope.
888
00:53:06,393 --> 00:53:08,353
Liberty is not just
this ethereal idea.
889
00:53:08,437 --> 00:53:09,527
Liberty is coming.
890
00:53:12,274 --> 00:53:15,274
The summer of 1944, the
Allies now have a foothold
891
00:53:15,360 --> 00:53:18,110
in northwestern Europe and
are able to push across France
892
00:53:18,196 --> 00:53:20,246
and directly into Germany.
893
00:53:20,323 --> 00:53:23,413
The war is still unfolding.
894
00:53:23,493 --> 00:53:27,083
The war in Japan
has no end in sight.
895
00:53:27,164 --> 00:53:29,164
So for FDR, it was...
896
00:53:29,291 --> 00:53:31,541
The job was unfinished.
897
00:53:31,626 --> 00:53:34,216
The war was not won.
898
00:53:34,296 --> 00:53:37,466
After D-Day, he feels a sense
that it�s close to the end,
899
00:53:37,549 --> 00:53:39,419
but he has to get there.
900
00:53:39,509 --> 00:53:41,629
So the question
was, will Roosevelt
901
00:53:41,720 --> 00:53:43,050
run for a fourth term?
902
00:53:45,891 --> 00:53:48,721
You have to remember the
enormous emotional toll
903
00:53:48,810 --> 00:53:52,890
being the commander in
chief had taken on FDR.
904
00:53:52,981 --> 00:53:55,861
He was giving orders that
were sending boys into battle
905
00:53:55,984 --> 00:53:58,484
every day, who were dying.
906
00:53:58,612 --> 00:54:02,402
And he could not imagine walking
away from that responsibility
907
00:54:02,491 --> 00:54:03,281
for himself.
908
00:54:03,366 --> 00:54:06,786
Sacrifice was everything to him.
909
00:54:06,870 --> 00:54:10,290
He believed that he had a
duty to serve his office,
910
00:54:10,373 --> 00:54:14,833
to serve his country until
he could no longer do it.
911
00:54:14,920 --> 00:54:19,960
FDR�s decision process seems
to largely lie on a sense
912
00:54:20,050 --> 00:54:23,510
that, my work is not done yet.
913
00:54:23,595 --> 00:54:28,895
The country still needs
an optimistic leader,
914
00:54:29,017 --> 00:54:31,277
an aspirational leader.
915
00:54:31,353 --> 00:54:34,103
I think one of his biggest
strengths was his imagination.
916
00:54:34,189 --> 00:54:37,019
How can we open the
doors for the future?
917
00:54:37,108 --> 00:54:39,188
He has a lot more to do.
918
00:54:39,319 --> 00:54:42,569
NEWSREADER: President Roosevelt
signs GI Joe�s Bill of Rights
919
00:54:42,697 --> 00:54:44,787
that guarantees a
returning soldier
920
00:54:44,866 --> 00:54:47,536
a year of unemployment
insurance and helps pay
921
00:54:47,661 --> 00:54:49,951
for the completion
of his schooling.
922
00:54:50,038 --> 00:54:53,828
The GI Bill was created to
assist veterans returning
923
00:54:53,917 --> 00:54:58,217
from war so that they had a
substantial leg up economically
924
00:54:58,296 --> 00:55:01,466
as they were trying to look
for housing, look for homes,
925
00:55:01,550 --> 00:55:03,550
or go back to school.
926
00:55:03,635 --> 00:55:07,555
When the GI Bill of Rights
passed, he was so happy.
927
00:55:07,639 --> 00:55:11,059
I think he wanted to be the
man who would shape the peace,
928
00:55:11,184 --> 00:55:13,314
and he thought he was
probably in a better position
929
00:55:13,395 --> 00:55:14,685
to do that than anyone else.
930
00:55:17,232 --> 00:55:19,902
The real concern is,
his health is failing,
931
00:55:20,026 --> 00:55:23,156
and there are media
outlets who are making
932
00:55:23,238 --> 00:55:26,458
that point in subtle ways
that, hey, you know, you�re not
933
00:55:26,575 --> 00:55:28,325
looking well.
934
00:55:28,410 --> 00:55:33,700
By 1944, FDR is dying of
congestive heart failure.
935
00:55:33,790 --> 00:55:36,660
You can see that FDR is sick.
936
00:55:36,751 --> 00:55:38,331
He doesn�t look as well.
937
00:55:38,420 --> 00:55:40,670
He�s lost his rosy good cheer.
938
00:55:40,755 --> 00:55:42,135
And he�s not going out much.
939
00:55:42,257 --> 00:55:43,927
He�s not giving speeches.
940
00:55:44,050 --> 00:55:46,930
And there�s some question,
is he up to the demands
941
00:55:47,012 --> 00:55:49,512
of being president?
942
00:55:49,598 --> 00:55:50,908
And so when he was
in Pearl Harbor
943
00:55:50,932 --> 00:55:54,352
for some strategic sessions
with MacArthur and Nimitz,
944
00:55:54,436 --> 00:55:56,986
he went to visit the
troops in a particular ward
945
00:55:57,105 --> 00:56:00,365
where they had lost limbs.
946
00:56:00,442 --> 00:56:02,572
And he deliberately
told the people,
947
00:56:02,652 --> 00:56:04,782
I want to be wheeled in.
948
00:56:04,863 --> 00:56:07,533
I want them to see
me in my wheelchair.
949
00:56:07,616 --> 00:56:10,786
And he very, very rarely was
ever seen in his wheelchair
950
00:56:10,869 --> 00:56:12,779
beyond the inner
circle, but he thought
951
00:56:12,913 --> 00:56:16,663
it was important for them to see
that he was disabled, that he
952
00:56:16,791 --> 00:56:19,171
had lost use of certain limbs,
but he could lead a full life
953
00:56:19,294 --> 00:56:20,294
again.
954
00:56:23,298 --> 00:56:26,518
It�s a pleasure
to meet you, sir.
955
00:56:26,635 --> 00:56:28,685
You a sailor?
956
00:56:28,803 --> 00:56:30,263
I was.
957
00:56:30,347 --> 00:56:33,647
I�m a bit of a sea man myself.
958
00:56:33,725 --> 00:56:37,435
Nothing soothes me more than
being out in the open water.
959
00:56:37,520 --> 00:56:41,100
Yeah, me too.
960
00:56:41,191 --> 00:56:42,271
That�s over now.
961
00:56:45,153 --> 00:56:52,373
Well, if you want to sail
again, then you�ll sail.
962
00:56:52,494 --> 00:56:54,414
That�s a joke.
963
00:56:54,496 --> 00:56:58,166
Are you telling me
that I don�t sail?
964
00:56:58,291 --> 00:57:01,921
No, I...
965
00:57:02,003 --> 00:57:05,003
Well, if I can do it, you can.
966
00:57:11,680 --> 00:57:17,430
Tell you what, if you find
the strength to get back out
967
00:57:17,519 --> 00:57:22,649
to sea, I�ll be sure to
get out there with you.
968
00:57:32,701 --> 00:57:35,161
NEWSREADER: At the International
Teamsters Union dinner,
969
00:57:35,245 --> 00:57:39,875
President Roosevelt makes his
first campaign speech of 1944.
970
00:57:40,000 --> 00:57:42,960
Here we are again
after four years,
971
00:57:43,044 --> 00:57:45,634
and what years they have been.
972
00:57:45,714 --> 00:57:48,964
The 1944 election is not
an easy one for Franklin
973
00:57:49,050 --> 00:57:51,470
Roosevelt. He�s in some trouble.
974
00:57:51,553 --> 00:57:54,183
For his political opponents,
Dewey, the Republican running
975
00:57:54,264 --> 00:57:59,144
against him, they�re starting
to draw attention to Franklin
976
00:57:59,227 --> 00:58:01,147
Roosevelt not being out there.
977
00:58:01,229 --> 00:58:02,389
Where is he?
978
00:58:02,480 --> 00:58:04,770
And is he up to the
demands of being president?
979
00:58:04,899 --> 00:58:08,439
And at the same time, there
is a conspiracy theory
980
00:58:08,570 --> 00:58:10,440
that�s been floated
by the Republicans,
981
00:58:10,572 --> 00:58:15,822
that FDR has sent a destroyer,
a warship, to get his dog Fala.
982
00:58:15,910 --> 00:58:20,660
There�s this rumor about how
FDR had left his dog Fala
983
00:58:20,749 --> 00:58:23,999
at a base in Alaska, at great
cost to the taxpayer sent
984
00:58:24,085 --> 00:58:25,795
a destroyer to go
and fetch his dog.
985
00:58:25,920 --> 00:58:27,790
Completely false.
986
00:58:27,922 --> 00:58:31,012
And so FDR is making a campaign
speech at a Teamsters dinner,
987
00:58:31,092 --> 00:58:32,672
and he said, enough of this.
988
00:58:32,761 --> 00:58:36,051
He knew that he needed
to project real strength.
989
00:58:39,100 --> 00:58:41,980
These Republican
leaders have not
990
00:58:42,103 --> 00:58:50,103
been content with attacks on me,
or on my wife, or on my sons.
991
00:58:53,573 --> 00:59:01,573
No, not content with that, they
now include my little dog Fala.
992
00:59:02,832 --> 00:59:04,252
[laughter]
993
00:59:06,961 --> 00:59:11,551
Of course, I don�t
resent attacks,
994
00:59:11,633 --> 00:59:16,133
and my family don�t
resent attacks,
995
00:59:16,262 --> 00:59:18,432
but Fala does resent them.
996
00:59:18,515 --> 00:59:19,975
[laughter]
997
00:59:24,145 --> 00:59:25,695
Roosevelt shows he�s back.
998
00:59:25,814 --> 00:59:27,194
He�s taunting his enemies.
999
00:59:27,315 --> 00:59:28,735
He�s having fun with them.
1000
00:59:28,817 --> 00:59:30,277
He�s not a sick old man.
1001
00:59:30,360 --> 00:59:33,400
He�s the great politician
Franklin Roosevelt.
1002
00:59:33,488 --> 00:59:38,418
You know, Fala�s scotch,
and being a Scotty,
1003
00:59:38,493 --> 00:59:43,203
as soon as he learned that
the Republican fiction writers
1004
00:59:43,331 --> 00:59:49,671
in Congress and out had
concocted a story that I had
1005
00:59:49,754 --> 00:59:53,304
left him behind on
an Aleutian island
1006
00:59:53,383 --> 00:59:57,433
and sent a destroyer
back to find him,
1007
00:59:57,512 --> 01:00:02,262
at a cost to the taxpayer
of two or three or eight
1008
01:00:02,350 --> 01:00:08,020
or $20 million, his
Scotch soul was furious.
1009
01:00:11,025 --> 01:00:13,785
He has not been
the same dog since.
1010
01:00:18,908 --> 01:00:21,368
When he gave the great Fala
speech, the old master still
1011
01:00:21,452 --> 01:00:22,912
has it, newspapers said.
1012
01:00:23,037 --> 01:00:25,707
So time and again he
could rally himself.
1013
01:00:25,790 --> 01:00:28,540
The next day, it�s
played and replayed.
1014
01:00:28,668 --> 01:00:30,208
It�s printed and reprinted.
1015
01:00:30,336 --> 01:00:35,676
I mean, if anything could
go viral in 1944, this does.
1016
01:00:35,758 --> 01:00:38,128
NEWREADER: Crowds at Ebbets
Baseball Field, Brooklyn greet
1017
01:00:38,219 --> 01:00:40,889
President Roosevelt starting
his tour of New York City.
1018
01:00:40,972 --> 01:00:44,972
Mr. Roosevelt has a special
word for Brooklyn Dodger fans.
1019
01:00:45,059 --> 01:00:48,269
You know, I come from
the state of New York,
1020
01:00:48,396 --> 01:00:53,026
and I�ve got to make a
terrible confession to you.
1021
01:00:53,109 --> 01:00:55,729
I have never been in
Ebbets Field before.
1022
01:01:00,700 --> 01:01:03,530
They planned a long,
hard, arduous day for him
1023
01:01:03,620 --> 01:01:06,080
to prove that he was
still up to the job,
1024
01:01:06,206 --> 01:01:08,006
and he was going to go
in an open touring car
1025
01:01:08,082 --> 01:01:10,752
through the boroughs
of Manhattan and Queens
1026
01:01:10,877 --> 01:01:12,927
and Bronx and Brooklyn.
1027
01:01:13,046 --> 01:01:15,316
They didn�t plan on the fact
that there would be a drenching
1028
01:01:15,340 --> 01:01:18,800
rain and that it would be
freezing cold that day.
1029
01:01:18,927 --> 01:01:20,937
And people look at his
ability to do this.
1030
01:01:21,054 --> 01:01:25,264
I think it went for 50 miles,
and they say, all those rumors
1031
01:01:25,350 --> 01:01:29,020
that FDR is in bad health,
those must be wrong,
1032
01:01:29,103 --> 01:01:33,103
otherwise he could not
have done that this day.
1033
01:01:33,233 --> 01:01:35,483
That day in New York
City was a masquerade.
1034
01:01:35,610 --> 01:01:39,030
He was pretending to be much
more healthy than he was,
1035
01:01:39,113 --> 01:01:42,663
and he always knew that
politics was drama.
1036
01:01:42,784 --> 01:01:45,664
FDR once said to the
actor Orson Welles,
1037
01:01:45,787 --> 01:01:51,717
you and I are the two
greatest actors in America.
1038
01:01:51,793 --> 01:01:55,213
And almost like the actor
being taken off stage,
1039
01:01:55,296 --> 01:01:58,096
he was taken to Eleanor
Roosevelt�s apartment
1040
01:01:58,174 --> 01:02:02,014
in New York City, her separate
apartment, which he has never
1041
01:02:02,136 --> 01:02:04,516
seen.
1042
01:02:04,639 --> 01:02:07,599
Eleanor was traveling so much,
and she had become that person
1043
01:02:07,684 --> 01:02:10,274
that she could no
longer go back from.
1044
01:02:10,353 --> 01:02:14,563
And in some ways it turned out
to be fine for both of them.
1045
01:02:14,649 --> 01:02:17,819
He had enormous respect for her,
more than he had had before.
1046
01:02:21,489 --> 01:02:25,279
Quite the life you�ve had.
1047
01:02:25,368 --> 01:02:28,128
Yes.
1048
01:02:28,204 --> 01:02:30,334
Not exactly what I expected.
1049
01:02:41,509 --> 01:02:46,429
You always try to
do what�s right.
1050
01:02:46,514 --> 01:02:48,184
And people see that.
1051
01:02:51,436 --> 01:02:53,606
You must be hungry.
1052
01:02:53,688 --> 01:02:56,738
I can scramble you some eggs.
1053
01:02:56,858 --> 01:02:59,528
Don�t trouble yourself.
1054
01:02:59,610 --> 01:03:02,440
I should get cleaned up
and get out of your way.
1055
01:03:05,033 --> 01:03:06,953
Why not stay here?
1056
01:03:07,035 --> 01:03:08,535
I�ve already put
your room together.
1057
01:03:11,581 --> 01:03:14,371
Thank you, Babs.
1058
01:03:14,459 --> 01:03:18,669
But I�m speaking at the
Waldorf in a few hours.
1059
01:03:18,755 --> 01:03:20,675
People are expecting me.
1060
01:03:23,885 --> 01:03:27,475
You�re running yourself ragged.
1061
01:03:27,555 --> 01:03:28,895
You�re sure you won�t stay?
1062
01:03:31,934 --> 01:03:33,394
I should go.
1063
01:03:38,566 --> 01:03:42,076
Please don�t worry about me.
1064
01:03:42,195 --> 01:03:43,195
But I do.
1065
01:04:00,213 --> 01:04:04,093
I, Franklin Delano
Roosevelt, do solemnly
1066
01:04:04,217 --> 01:04:09,017
swear that I will faithfully
execute the office of president
1067
01:04:09,097 --> 01:04:14,647
of the United States,
so help me God.
1068
01:04:14,769 --> 01:04:17,139
Winter, 1944, I think
a lot of Americans
1069
01:04:17,271 --> 01:04:18,901
expected the war
to have been over
1070
01:04:18,981 --> 01:04:21,191
after the success of Overlord.
1071
01:04:21,275 --> 01:04:25,865
The forces are still not
actually in Germany yet.
1072
01:04:25,947 --> 01:04:30,367
In December 1944, Hitler�s
unwilling to accept defeat,
1073
01:04:30,451 --> 01:04:34,411
so he comes up with a daring
scheme involving 10 Panzer
1074
01:04:34,497 --> 01:04:38,377
divisions to smash
through the Allied lines
1075
01:04:38,459 --> 01:04:41,829
where they�re at their weakest.
1076
01:04:41,963 --> 01:04:44,253
NEWSREADER: In the
Christmas season of 1944,
1077
01:04:44,340 --> 01:04:48,470
the German army unleashed
a desperate offensive.
1078
01:04:48,594 --> 01:04:50,804
The Germans conduct this
counteroffensive that today we
1079
01:04:50,888 --> 01:04:52,178
call the Battle of the Bulge.
1080
01:04:52,306 --> 01:04:56,646
It�s a surprise offensive that
takes place in December 1944.
1081
01:04:56,769 --> 01:04:58,729
The Battle of the Bulge
is called the bulge
1082
01:04:58,813 --> 01:05:01,063
because there was a
bulge in the Allied line,
1083
01:05:01,149 --> 01:05:04,109
the drive in ostensibly
to get to Antwerp all
1084
01:05:04,193 --> 01:05:07,653
the way on the Belgian coast.
1085
01:05:07,780 --> 01:05:09,820
When the Germans
begin their assault,
1086
01:05:09,907 --> 01:05:11,917
they have bad weather
on their side,
1087
01:05:11,993 --> 01:05:14,993
so American airpower is negated.
1088
01:05:15,079 --> 01:05:16,739
The German tanks and
artillery can just
1089
01:05:16,831 --> 01:05:21,251
slice through the Americans
of the British and slaughter.
1090
01:05:21,335 --> 01:05:24,715
The Americans lost 19,000 men.
1091
01:05:24,839 --> 01:05:30,009
10,000 men surrendered.
1092
01:05:30,136 --> 01:05:32,596
NEWSREADER: The Nazi party is
willing to sacrifice every soul
1093
01:05:32,680 --> 01:05:34,100
in Germany to stave off defeat.
1094
01:05:36,684 --> 01:05:40,564
The Germans could not afford
any mistakes, because they
1095
01:05:40,688 --> 01:05:42,728
couldn�t replace their
resources and the people that
1096
01:05:42,857 --> 01:05:45,737
had been lost.
1097
01:05:45,860 --> 01:05:47,754
There was a close moment
during the Battle of the Bulge
1098
01:05:47,778 --> 01:05:51,448
when things could
have gone very badly,
1099
01:05:51,532 --> 01:05:55,782
but eventually the United States
wears down the other side.
1100
01:05:55,870 --> 01:05:57,055
NEWSREADER: The
attack was blunted,
1101
01:05:57,079 --> 01:05:59,619
the spearhead stopped, the
Nazi columns thrown back
1102
01:05:59,707 --> 01:06:02,297
by men who had flung
themselves into the breach.
1103
01:06:02,376 --> 01:06:03,796
The Battle of the
Bulge is probably
1104
01:06:03,878 --> 01:06:05,718
the last German attempt
to try to change
1105
01:06:05,838 --> 01:06:08,918
the strategic
momentum of the war.
1106
01:06:09,050 --> 01:06:10,800
Once that fails, they
really are fighting
1107
01:06:10,885 --> 01:06:12,045
on the defensive in the West.
1108
01:06:24,357 --> 01:06:27,947
In January 1945, the Soviets
uncover the concentration
1109
01:06:28,069 --> 01:06:31,069
camps, and they were completely
unprepared for what they saw.
1110
01:06:33,908 --> 01:06:35,788
The Allies had learned
that the Nazis wanted
1111
01:06:35,910 --> 01:06:39,160
to commit mass murder of
European Jews very early on,
1112
01:06:39,247 --> 01:06:41,167
and at this point the
Allies could no longer
1113
01:06:41,249 --> 01:06:45,329
deny what was happening in
the concentration camps.
1114
01:06:45,419 --> 01:06:48,919
My sister was in Auschwitz.
1115
01:06:49,048 --> 01:06:52,668
When she came home post-war,
she said the one thing
1116
01:06:52,760 --> 01:06:58,180
that we never understood
while in Auschwitz, we
1117
01:06:58,266 --> 01:07:06,266
saw large groups of American
and Allied planes flying high
1118
01:07:07,358 --> 01:07:12,328
up in the air, and we stood
there praying that they should
1119
01:07:12,446 --> 01:07:16,616
come down and bomb
the gas chambers
1120
01:07:16,742 --> 01:07:23,952
and bomb the crematoria and
bomb the whole damn camp,
1121
01:07:24,083 --> 01:07:28,043
not caring about what would
happen to our own lives.
1122
01:07:28,129 --> 01:07:34,339
And they just flew on and
never came to help us.
1123
01:07:34,468 --> 01:07:39,968
We could not understand why they
would never attack this death
1124
01:07:40,099 --> 01:07:41,929
factory.
1125
01:07:42,018 --> 01:07:44,238
Franklin Roosevelt
and Winston Churchill
1126
01:07:44,312 --> 01:07:48,732
should have destroyed those
camps, even though there would
1127
01:07:48,816 --> 01:07:53,326
have been many lives
destroyed along with them.
1128
01:07:53,404 --> 01:07:56,404
It�s a complicated problem,
and we should not understate
1129
01:07:56,490 --> 01:07:59,740
just how deep the antisemitism
was in major parts
1130
01:07:59,827 --> 01:08:02,127
of the American government.
1131
01:08:02,204 --> 01:08:05,704
Roosevelt asked his military
advisors, what could we do?
1132
01:08:05,833 --> 01:08:09,253
Could we bomb the rail lines
that lead into the camps?
1133
01:08:09,337 --> 01:08:12,677
And the answer was, we�ve
been trying to bomb rail lines
1134
01:08:12,798 --> 01:08:15,508
for the last three years,
and it�s really hard
1135
01:08:15,593 --> 01:08:18,133
and they can rebuild overnight.
1136
01:08:18,220 --> 01:08:21,050
But I suspect that
Roosevelt thought,
1137
01:08:21,182 --> 01:08:23,682
what if we bomb somewhere
near the camps and the bombs
1138
01:08:23,809 --> 01:08:26,139
go astray and hit the camps?
1139
01:08:26,228 --> 01:08:30,268
Then the Germans might very well
say it was the American bombs
1140
01:08:30,358 --> 01:08:32,948
that killed the Jews.
1141
01:08:33,027 --> 01:08:35,237
There was an argument on
the part of the military
1142
01:08:35,363 --> 01:08:38,283
that it�s better off to
bomb factories and prevent
1143
01:08:38,366 --> 01:08:40,616
the production of war so
the war will end earlier,
1144
01:08:40,701 --> 01:08:44,701
and that will help the
situation as a whole.
1145
01:08:44,830 --> 01:08:47,120
Roosevelt said the German
leaders are going to be held
1146
01:08:47,208 --> 01:08:48,218
strictly accountable.
1147
01:08:48,334 --> 01:08:50,124
They will be brought
to the bar of justice.
1148
01:08:55,716 --> 01:08:57,806
It�s January 1945, and it looks
1149
01:08:57,885 --> 01:09:00,895
like finally after a half
decade of war, the war in Europe
1150
01:09:00,971 --> 01:09:03,511
will finally come to a close
sometime in the late spring
1151
01:09:03,599 --> 01:09:04,599
or early summer.
1152
01:09:04,642 --> 01:09:06,162
And with this brings
pressing questions
1153
01:09:06,227 --> 01:09:08,567
that Churchill, Roosevelt,
and Stalin have to address,
1154
01:09:08,646 --> 01:09:09,873
and they�re questions
that they feel
1155
01:09:09,897 --> 01:09:11,817
they can only address in person.
1156
01:09:11,899 --> 01:09:14,019
So they decide that they�re
going to have a conference
1157
01:09:14,110 --> 01:09:17,360
together at the LaGuardia Palace
on the Black Sea, the farthest
1158
01:09:17,446 --> 01:09:19,576
west that Stalin will go.
1159
01:09:19,699 --> 01:09:20,926
NEWSREADER: Yalta
on the Black Sea
1160
01:09:20,950 --> 01:09:23,240
was the scene of a
big three meeting.
1161
01:09:23,369 --> 01:09:26,489
Here starts a series of talks
that will profoundly influence
1162
01:09:26,580 --> 01:09:30,330
the diplomatic and political
future of the world.
1163
01:09:30,418 --> 01:09:33,428
February of 1945, they�re
starting to plan the post-war
1164
01:09:33,546 --> 01:09:35,136
world.
1165
01:09:35,256 --> 01:09:37,966
And you have three people that
see the world very differently.
1166
01:09:38,092 --> 01:09:42,472
The big three arrive at
Yalta with distinct goals.
1167
01:09:42,596 --> 01:09:45,146
Roosevelt wants to bring the
Soviet Union into the war
1168
01:09:45,266 --> 01:09:47,936
against the Japanese,
but Roosevelt also
1169
01:09:48,018 --> 01:09:50,138
has a personal goal that�s
looking even farther
1170
01:09:50,271 --> 01:09:51,561
into the future.
1171
01:09:51,647 --> 01:09:54,277
After the war�s over, he wants
to create a new organization
1172
01:09:54,400 --> 01:09:58,150
for international peace,
the United Nations.
1173
01:09:58,279 --> 01:10:02,109
FDR believes the United
Nations will help the world
1174
01:10:02,241 --> 01:10:06,201
resolve its problems, will help
de-escalate militarism and make
1175
01:10:06,287 --> 01:10:09,087
the world a safer
place into the future.
1176
01:10:09,165 --> 01:10:12,375
For Churchill and Stalin,
their objectives for Yalta
1177
01:10:12,460 --> 01:10:14,460
are really centered
around Poland.
1178
01:10:14,587 --> 01:10:18,057
Britain went to war in defense
of Polish sovereignty in 1939,
1179
01:10:18,132 --> 01:10:20,262
and the Polish government
has been in exile in London
1180
01:10:20,342 --> 01:10:21,632
ever since.
1181
01:10:21,719 --> 01:10:24,219
Churchill wants to make sure
that when all of this is over,
1182
01:10:24,305 --> 01:10:27,225
that Poland is free,
that they are independent
1183
01:10:27,308 --> 01:10:29,438
and have self determination.
1184
01:10:29,518 --> 01:10:31,388
Stalin wants to
make sure that they
1185
01:10:31,479 --> 01:10:34,479
are going to have a government
in Poland that�s controlled
1186
01:10:34,565 --> 01:10:36,315
by Stalin.
1187
01:10:36,400 --> 01:10:40,900
FDR never thought that Soviets
and Americans ultimately
1188
01:10:40,988 --> 01:10:43,698
had the same political ideals.
1189
01:10:43,824 --> 01:10:47,324
But as a tough political leader,
Roosevelt knew at the beginning
1190
01:10:47,453 --> 01:10:51,163
of 1945, the only way
to finish off this war
1191
01:10:51,290 --> 01:10:54,000
is to keep the Soviets
fighting, and that
1192
01:10:54,126 --> 01:10:57,426
may mean allowing Stalin
to do a lot of things
1193
01:10:57,505 --> 01:10:59,635
that Roosevelt would have
preferred that he not do.
1194
01:11:04,011 --> 01:11:05,511
[speaking russian]
1195
01:11:27,701 --> 01:11:31,991
Of course we want Poland�s
government to be friendly,
1196
01:11:32,081 --> 01:11:39,421
but most importantly, it must
be decided by the Polish people.
1197
01:11:39,547 --> 01:11:42,097
Which means, Marshal
Stalin, the members
1198
01:11:42,216 --> 01:11:45,096
of the Polish administration
who�ve been taking refuge
1199
01:11:45,219 --> 01:11:48,969
in my country should be
included in the government,
1200
01:11:49,056 --> 01:11:54,226
but you have shut them out
and put your own people in.
1201
01:11:54,353 --> 01:11:57,483
[speaking russian]
1202
01:11:57,565 --> 01:12:04,825
I�m assuming that you will
honor our previous agreement
1203
01:12:04,905 --> 01:12:09,495
that Poland will
enjoy free elections
1204
01:12:09,577 --> 01:12:13,087
under American and
British supervision.
1205
01:12:15,708 --> 01:12:17,878
[speaking russian]
1206
01:12:39,940 --> 01:12:47,940
Then swear to me that you
will guarantee free elections
1207
01:12:48,032 --> 01:12:50,202
in Poland.
1208
01:12:50,284 --> 01:12:57,294
[speaking russian]
1209
01:12:57,416 --> 01:13:02,426
I will need your word
on something else too.
1210
01:13:02,504 --> 01:13:06,964
I want you to join
the war against Japan.
1211
01:13:12,806 --> 01:13:16,146
The legacy of Yalta
was complicated.
1212
01:13:16,226 --> 01:13:18,486
When they depart, they
have reached agreements
1213
01:13:18,562 --> 01:13:21,942
that are going to lead to
peace, to a better world.
1214
01:13:24,568 --> 01:13:26,478
And yet Churchill
is deeply concerned
1215
01:13:26,570 --> 01:13:30,110
that Stalin has no intention
of honoring his agreements,
1216
01:13:30,199 --> 01:13:32,819
especially when it comes to
guaranteeing free elections
1217
01:13:32,910 --> 01:13:34,910
in Poland.
1218
01:13:34,995 --> 01:13:37,415
Roosevelt does succeed in
drawing the Soviet Union
1219
01:13:37,498 --> 01:13:40,338
into his plan for
the United Nations.
1220
01:13:40,417 --> 01:13:42,837
He also walks away with
a commitment from Stalin
1221
01:13:42,920 --> 01:13:44,500
to join the fight
in the Pacific.
1222
01:13:47,257 --> 01:13:51,137
We now look back on the
Yalta Conference in 1945,
1223
01:13:51,220 --> 01:13:55,100
and many people would say why
did Roosevelt give up Eastern
1224
01:13:55,182 --> 01:13:56,102
Europe?
1225
01:13:56,183 --> 01:13:58,103
Was it because he
was old and sick?
1226
01:13:58,185 --> 01:14:02,145
No, it was because the Soviet
army owned an awful lot
1227
01:14:02,231 --> 01:14:06,481
of Europe, and no matter how
charming or how angry Roosevelt
1228
01:14:06,568 --> 01:14:09,818
got at this conference,
his personal skill was not
1229
01:14:09,905 --> 01:14:11,035
enough to overcome that.
1230
01:14:15,035 --> 01:14:17,165
Roosevelt believed
that he was going
1231
01:14:17,246 --> 01:14:20,506
to keep going back to
Stalin to negotiate issue
1232
01:14:20,582 --> 01:14:23,422
by issue as things unfolded.
1233
01:14:23,544 --> 01:14:29,054
He didn�t see Yalta
as this climactic act.
1234
01:14:29,133 --> 01:14:31,383
It was not supposed
to be the final word.
1235
01:14:46,025 --> 01:14:47,025
Sir.
1236
01:14:52,906 --> 01:14:55,166
What do you think
of the changes?
1237
01:14:55,242 --> 01:14:58,782
The speech is fine, Sam.
1238
01:14:58,912 --> 01:15:04,082
They won�t like some of
the things I did out there,
1239
01:15:04,209 --> 01:15:05,329
but I did my best.
1240
01:15:14,720 --> 01:15:17,680
I think we should forget
the braces for tonight, Sis.
1241
01:15:21,560 --> 01:15:23,180
I don�t think
that�s a good idea.
1242
01:15:27,775 --> 01:15:33,035
Pa, don�t give them any more
reason to criticize you.
1243
01:15:38,285 --> 01:15:39,415
This is who I am.
1244
01:15:42,122 --> 01:15:44,582
I have nothing left to prove.
1245
01:15:47,461 --> 01:15:51,961
FDR returns to the United
States on March 1st, 1945,
1246
01:15:52,091 --> 01:15:54,421
comes before a joint
session of Congress.
1247
01:15:54,510 --> 01:15:55,970
[applause]
1248
01:16:06,730 --> 01:16:09,100
You can imagine the moment
with a filled chamber,
1249
01:16:09,191 --> 01:16:12,401
the doors open, and
FDR is wheeled down
1250
01:16:12,486 --> 01:16:14,286
the aisle in his wheelchair.
1251
01:16:16,782 --> 01:16:18,885
Congressmen and senators who�ve
been dealing with him for years
1252
01:16:18,909 --> 01:16:20,949
had never seen him in
a wheelchair before.
1253
01:16:32,673 --> 01:16:37,723
I hope that you will pardon
me for an unusual posture
1254
01:16:37,845 --> 01:16:43,435
of sitting down, but I know that
you will realize that it makes
1255
01:16:43,517 --> 01:16:48,857
it a lot easier for me in not
having to carry about 10 pounds
1256
01:16:48,981 --> 01:16:52,611
of steel around on
the bottom of my legs,
1257
01:16:52,693 --> 01:16:57,193
and also because of the fact
that I have just completed
1258
01:16:57,281 --> 01:17:04,281
a 14,000 mile trip.
1259
01:17:04,371 --> 01:17:07,451
It has been a long journey.
1260
01:17:07,541 --> 01:17:08,961
[applause]
1261
01:17:12,212 --> 01:17:14,462
The Congress just felt
a sense of love for him
1262
01:17:14,548 --> 01:17:18,638
because he had
acknowledged his infirmity.
1263
01:17:18,719 --> 01:17:22,889
And it�s the first time he
has ever admitted in public
1264
01:17:23,015 --> 01:17:26,645
to his disability.
1265
01:17:26,727 --> 01:17:28,687
Both Eleanor and
Frances Perkins later
1266
01:17:28,770 --> 01:17:33,480
commented that it wasn�t so
much that FDR was admitting
1267
01:17:33,567 --> 01:17:36,577
to the American people
that he had a disability.
1268
01:17:36,653 --> 01:17:38,073
He was admitting it to himself.
1269
01:17:43,911 --> 01:17:46,491
In the month after his
address to Congress,
1270
01:17:46,580 --> 01:17:49,710
FDR has a frantic set of
legislation and things
1271
01:17:49,791 --> 01:17:50,621
he has to deal with.
1272
01:17:50,751 --> 01:17:51,331
He�s exhausted.
1273
01:17:51,418 --> 01:17:54,208
He�s in poor shape.
1274
01:17:54,296 --> 01:17:57,676
I think he just felt, I�ve got
to give it everything I can
1275
01:17:57,758 --> 01:18:00,228
just to make sure the war
comes to the right end,
1276
01:18:00,302 --> 01:18:02,262
the peace treaty is
right, and that I�ve
1277
01:18:02,346 --> 01:18:05,936
got people established on a
different road toward peace.
1278
01:18:06,058 --> 01:18:09,438
Roosevelt had a sense
of his own immortality
1279
01:18:09,519 --> 01:18:13,479
that was borderline irrational.
1280
01:18:13,607 --> 01:18:18,327
He actually thought he was going
to serve out until 1948, �49,
1281
01:18:18,445 --> 01:18:20,245
and then he was going
to go to Hyde Park
1282
01:18:20,322 --> 01:18:23,282
and world leaders were going
to come and fly in and bring
1283
01:18:23,408 --> 01:18:25,568
their problems to him
as a former president
1284
01:18:25,661 --> 01:18:26,781
and he would solve them.
1285
01:18:29,498 --> 01:18:30,600
Finally, towards
the end of March,
1286
01:18:30,624 --> 01:18:33,214
he goes down to Warm
Springs to recover.
1287
01:18:33,293 --> 01:18:36,843
And despite the fact that
his health was failing,
1288
01:18:36,964 --> 01:18:39,804
FDR was still focused now on
the first meeting of the United
1289
01:18:39,925 --> 01:18:44,515
Nations, which is to take place
in San Francisco in late April.
1290
01:18:44,638 --> 01:18:47,648
But he gets the Warm Springs,
he�s in such bad shape
1291
01:18:47,766 --> 01:18:51,776
that he has to be carried off
the train and put into his car.
1292
01:18:51,853 --> 01:18:54,313
The population of Warm Springs,
who had always come out
1293
01:18:54,439 --> 01:18:56,729
to meet him, when they see
what condition he�s in,
1294
01:18:56,817 --> 01:19:00,237
literally gasp and ask each
other, what happened to him?
1295
01:19:00,320 --> 01:19:02,360
What�s the matter?
1296
01:19:02,489 --> 01:19:05,239
Warm Springs had always
been the place that gave him
1297
01:19:05,325 --> 01:19:08,415
that resuscitation of his energy
because of the original time
1298
01:19:08,495 --> 01:19:10,045
of what Warm Springs
meant to him.
1299
01:19:10,163 --> 01:19:11,833
He went back there
again and again almost
1300
01:19:11,915 --> 01:19:14,755
like he was finding the
strength in that ground
1301
01:19:14,835 --> 01:19:15,925
there that he had once had.
1302
01:19:22,009 --> 01:19:23,379
And it appears to
people around him
1303
01:19:23,510 --> 01:19:27,180
that FDR is actually starting
on that path towards recovery
1304
01:19:27,306 --> 01:19:28,658
and that maybe he�ll
be strong enough
1305
01:19:28,682 --> 01:19:33,022
to go to San Francisco for the
opening of the United Nations.
1306
01:19:33,145 --> 01:19:34,895
This was what he
was working towards,
1307
01:19:35,022 --> 01:19:37,352
and he was very hopeful that
this would mean something
1308
01:19:37,482 --> 01:19:38,482
for the future.
1309
01:19:44,531 --> 01:19:45,531
Sir.
1310
01:19:50,746 --> 01:19:52,336
Yes, let�s go.
1311
01:19:54,791 --> 01:19:56,211
We have a lot to do.
1312
01:20:06,053 --> 01:20:08,893
It�s Thursday, April 12th, 1945.
1313
01:20:08,972 --> 01:20:11,812
Warm Springs, Georgia.
1314
01:20:11,892 --> 01:20:14,062
FDR had just been
working on a speech
1315
01:20:14,144 --> 01:20:16,024
he was to deliver the next day.
1316
01:20:18,690 --> 01:20:20,650
In the speech he was
going to talk about how
1317
01:20:20,734 --> 01:20:24,234
the only limitation to
our dreams for tomorrow
1318
01:20:24,321 --> 01:20:25,423
would be our doubts of today.
1319
01:20:25,447 --> 01:20:29,167
Let us move forward with
strong and active faith.
1320
01:20:29,242 --> 01:20:32,032
That was the last speech
he was supposed to give.
1321
01:20:32,120 --> 01:20:35,080
A Russian portrait painter
had been there painting him
1322
01:20:35,207 --> 01:20:37,757
in his Navy cape.
1323
01:20:37,834 --> 01:20:42,674
A cousin, Polly Delano is there,
and Lucy Mercer Rutherford
1324
01:20:42,756 --> 01:20:46,346
is there, the woman he was
never supposed to see again
1325
01:20:46,426 --> 01:20:49,186
after 1918, but who had
been back in his life.
1326
01:20:52,933 --> 01:20:54,223
He has an aneurysm.
1327
01:20:57,104 --> 01:21:01,354
Among his last words were,
I have a terrific headache,
1328
01:21:01,441 --> 01:21:02,441
as he faded.
1329
01:21:18,959 --> 01:21:19,959
Mrs. Roosevelt.
1330
01:21:20,001 --> 01:21:22,541
Yes?
1331
01:21:22,629 --> 01:21:25,089
I�m sorry, but you�re needed
at the White House right away.
1332
01:21:27,634 --> 01:21:28,634
Right away?
1333
01:21:31,388 --> 01:21:33,308
It gives me great
pleasure to introduce
1334
01:21:33,432 --> 01:21:37,062
my friend and the first lady of
the White House, Mrs. Eleanor
1335
01:21:37,144 --> 01:21:37,894
Roosevelt.
1336
01:21:37,978 --> 01:21:39,818
[applause]
1337
01:21:42,983 --> 01:21:46,233
Eleanor gave her talk, and she
said she knew that something
1338
01:21:46,319 --> 01:21:49,239
dreadful had happened.
1339
01:21:49,322 --> 01:21:51,202
As his cousin
Daisy Suckley said,
1340
01:21:51,324 --> 01:21:54,494
Franklin Roosevelt, the
hope of the world, has died.
1341
01:22:00,333 --> 01:22:03,753
Eleanor summons vice president
of Truman to the White House,
1342
01:22:03,837 --> 01:22:06,887
and she put her hand
on his shoulder,
1343
01:22:07,007 --> 01:22:11,687
and she says, Harry,
the president is dead.
1344
01:22:11,761 --> 01:22:16,261
And Truman says, oh, Mrs.
Roosevelt, I�m so sorry.
1345
01:22:16,349 --> 01:22:17,889
You know, what can I do for you?
1346
01:22:18,018 --> 01:22:21,528
And she says, that�s
the wrong question,
1347
01:22:21,646 --> 01:22:26,316
because you�re the one
that�s in trouble now.
1348
01:22:26,401 --> 01:22:28,781
From his beloved second
home at Warm Springs,
1349
01:22:28,862 --> 01:22:32,032
Georgia, the body of
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
1350
01:22:32,157 --> 01:22:34,117
moves on to the first
stages of its journey
1351
01:22:34,201 --> 01:22:35,821
to his final resting place.
1352
01:22:43,668 --> 01:22:46,958
There�s immense public grieving.
1353
01:22:47,047 --> 01:22:50,967
There�s this sense that the
glue that had held the country
1354
01:22:51,051 --> 01:22:55,511
together had
cracked, that someone
1355
01:22:55,597 --> 01:22:59,687
who had seemed perennial
was actually temporal.
1356
01:23:05,941 --> 01:23:09,571
And "The York Times"
that day wrote, "Men
1357
01:23:09,694 --> 01:23:12,574
will thank God on their
knees 1,000 years from now
1358
01:23:12,697 --> 01:23:15,057
that Franklin Roosevelt was in
the White House when he was."
1359
01:23:19,246 --> 01:23:21,456
There was a daily
government list
1360
01:23:21,581 --> 01:23:26,921
of casualties that went out, and
the top casualty that day was,
1361
01:23:27,003 --> 01:23:31,253
Roosevelt, Franklin
Delano, commander in chief.
1362
01:23:31,341 --> 01:23:34,091
There was a sense of his being
the only president for lots
1363
01:23:34,219 --> 01:23:35,879
of people that
they�d ever known.
1364
01:23:35,971 --> 01:23:37,681
12 years is a long time.
1365
01:23:37,764 --> 01:23:40,064
Having carried them
through the Depression,
1366
01:23:40,141 --> 01:23:42,061
carried them through the war.
1367
01:23:42,143 --> 01:23:45,063
Feeling a sense of
connection to him.
1368
01:23:45,146 --> 01:23:47,356
The kids who went to the
Civilian Conservation Camps
1369
01:23:47,440 --> 01:23:50,360
become the soldiers
in World War II.
1370
01:23:50,443 --> 01:23:51,783
There�s a story
of somebody who�s
1371
01:23:51,861 --> 01:23:55,201
crying during the funeral, and
they say to him, an old man,
1372
01:23:55,282 --> 01:23:57,702
he�s crying, did you
know President Roosevelt?
1373
01:23:57,784 --> 01:24:01,584
He said, no, but he knew me.
1374
01:24:01,663 --> 01:24:06,213
Franklin Roosevelt rescued
democracy and capitalism
1375
01:24:06,293 --> 01:24:08,583
in their hours of
maximum danger,
1376
01:24:08,670 --> 01:24:14,550
and the fact that we have a
market economy and a republic
1377
01:24:14,634 --> 01:24:20,854
if we can keep it is in
no small measure because
1378
01:24:20,974 --> 01:24:24,644
of his fundamental belief
in the constitutional order.
1379
01:24:29,024 --> 01:24:32,904
Ambition is the most
mysterious part of leadership.
1380
01:24:32,986 --> 01:24:34,986
FDR had this ambition
that�s large,
1381
01:24:35,113 --> 01:24:38,663
but it�s for something
larger than himself.
1382
01:24:38,742 --> 01:24:42,582
FDR had this great gift
for understanding what
1383
01:24:42,662 --> 01:24:45,082
the American people needed.
1384
01:24:45,165 --> 01:24:47,665
FDR made us better than we are.
1385
01:24:47,792 --> 01:24:50,212
He could call on
our better angels.
1386
01:24:50,337 --> 01:24:58,307
I pledge myself to a New
Deal for the American people.
1387
01:24:58,386 --> 01:25:00,396
There was something
about that voice.
1388
01:25:00,513 --> 01:25:05,183
There was something
about that smile that
1389
01:25:05,268 --> 01:25:07,308
suggested it�s going to be OK.
1390
01:25:10,190 --> 01:25:14,820
Roosevelt opened the eyes of
Americans to positive effects
1391
01:25:14,903 --> 01:25:18,443
that government could
have on individual lives.
1392
01:25:18,531 --> 01:25:21,701
Everybody talks at the end
about how he�ll be remembered
1393
01:25:21,826 --> 01:25:24,086
for having gotten us
through the Depression,
1394
01:25:24,204 --> 01:25:27,874
carrying us through World War
II, and there�s Social Security
1395
01:25:27,999 --> 01:25:30,369
and all these things you can
see in the history books.
1396
01:25:30,460 --> 01:25:32,880
He would say, it�s the
bond with the people
1397
01:25:33,004 --> 01:25:36,804
that I�ve established
and that I care for.
1398
01:25:36,883 --> 01:25:38,923
Underneath all those
laws are people,
1399
01:25:39,052 --> 01:25:40,972
and they�re people whose
lives he�s affected
1400
01:25:41,054 --> 01:25:43,434
and people who he
helped to get them
1401
01:25:43,556 --> 01:25:46,266
back on their feet in the �30s
to be ready to be the Greatest
1402
01:25:46,393 --> 01:25:49,483
Generation in the �40s, and
I think that�s what he�d
1403
01:25:49,562 --> 01:25:52,062
want to be remembered for.
1404
01:25:52,190 --> 01:25:53,810
Americans have
always been lucky.
1405
01:25:53,900 --> 01:25:55,520
We got Lincoln
when we needed him,
1406
01:25:55,610 --> 01:25:57,820
we had Washington
when we needed him,
1407
01:25:57,904 --> 01:25:59,824
and we had FDR
when we needed him.
1408
01:26:13,336 --> 01:26:18,636
Let me assert my firm belief
that the only thing we have
1409
01:26:18,758 --> 01:26:23,178
to fear is fear itself.
1410
01:26:23,228 --> 01:26:27,778
Repair and Synchronization by
Easy Subtitles Synchronizer 1.0.0.0
114650
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get subtitles in any language from opensubtitles.com, and translate them here.