All language subtitles for FDR.S01E03.720p.WEB.h264-EDITH

Everybody needs
to know, Franklin.

Will you run again?

ROOSEVELT: The situation in
France changes everything.

CHURCHILL: I’d rather
have a declaration of war

from America.

There’s nothing I’d like
better than to kick Hitler

in the teeth.

They’ve attacked Pearl Harbor.

A date which will
live in infamy.

The prime minister
of Great Britain

has nothing to hide from the
president of the United States.

Our team cracked it.

They fooled the Japanese.

We know where they’re going
to be, so we can lay a trap.

See this ship?

It’s got Marines aboard.

My son Jimmy is one of them.

He’s going to be in the
thick of it, isn’t he?

Franklin Roosevelt
was the president

who had to face the Great
Depression and World War II.

The only thing we have
to fear is fear itself.

He was ambitious and
active, incredibly privileged.

But he suffered.

You’ve contracted
infantile paralysis.

And he’s had setbacks.

But through pain
can come wisdom.

The country’s on
the edge of a cliff,

but we’re not going
to let it fall.

What do plan to
do with this power?

He has a vision to change
the very soul of America.

I pledge myself to a New
Deal for the American people.

American democracy
was literally

resting on his shoulders.

This was zero hour.

[speaking german]

Get everybody in here.

He knew that he needed
to project real strength.

He is the dealer in hope
for the entire free world.

An invasion of France
is courting disaster.

He took risks.

Again and again, you see
these moments of great daring.

ROOSEVELT: Success may not
come with rushing speed,

but we shall return
again and again.

Roosevelt led the
grand alliance to victory

over fascism.

This was a tumultuous,
complicated period of time.

It’s a mistake to think that he
somehow got everything right.

But there was something
about that voice.

There was something
about that smile.

That empathy, that
humility, that resilience,

all those qualities that
FDR just had triumphantly

built into his character.

[music playing]

There’s a small American base
at Midway Island in the middle

of the Pacific, and
in the spring of 1942,

the Japanese think
they’re going to be

able to take the
Americans by surprise

and knock out that outpost.

The Japanese believe that
if they can threaten Midway,

it will bring those US carriers
that weren’t at Pearl Harbor

out and they can destroy
them in one climactic battle.

NARRATOR: Suddenly, from behind
the clouds, the Japs attack.

The Japanese
think they’re going

to be able to take the
Americans by surprise.

What the Japanese didn’t realize
is that the Americans have

broken the Japanese code, and
FDR knows the Japanese fleet is

coming, and the American
forces in the Pacific

lay a trap for them.

NARRATOR: The trap is sprung.

Navy planes roar from the
decks of our carriers.

Army bombers, Marines.

It’s a really high risk
move on the part of FDR,

but it pays off spectacularly.

The results are just
catastrophic for Japan.

The Japanese lose four carriers.

The US loses one.

Japan will never, in the
entire course of the war,

replace the losses at Midway.

NARRATOR: The Battle
of Midway is over.

Our frontyard is safe, but a
big job is still to be done.

[singing]

It’s Jimmy.

You know, every mother in
America should see this film.

Won’t they be scared
seeing their sons in combat?

They’ll be inspired, Harry.

They’re seeing
their boys winning.

Roosevelt is blown away
by the uplifting story

of American victory.

Next thing you know,
this documentary

is being shown in movie
theaters all across the country.

And it was the first
kind of up close,

you are there, our
boys in action,

achieving spectacular military
victory in the Pacific.

FDR’s responsibility
as commander

in chief and president
the United States is

to be the global optimist
for Western civilization.

Summer of ’42, the
Battle of the Atlantic

still rages, the Germans are
500 miles into the Soviet Union

at this point, the Mediterranean
is still a battleground.

They’re all massive
problems of their own

of a complexity nobody has
ever dealt with before.

The Germans have driven
the British almost all

the way back into Egypt, but
the United States isn’t really

in the European war, and
this is FDR’s problem.

We’ve got to get in the war.

There’s still been no forward
movement of the American troops

against the German
army, and that’s

where so much of the attention
of the American public is at.

Roosevelt knew that somehow
we needed to get the soldiers

moving against the German army.

There’s great debate
in 1942 about which way

the Allies should go in terms
of trying to push the Nazis out

of Western Europe.

In 1942, Russia is bearing the
brunt of the Nazi onslaught.

The Nazis are driving
deep into Russia,

laying siege to Leningrad
and to other cities.

Every day, thousands of
people are being killed.

It’s really a bloodbath
on the Eastern Front.

Joseph Stalin is pleading,
demanding that Churchill

and FDR open a second front.

There were people that
wanted to keep the focus

in the Pacific, because
after all, it was Japan that

had attacked the United States.

There were people who
wanted to go straight

into continental Europe.

Churchill favors
starting in North Africa,

and then that then becomes
a staging ground to come up

through what Churchill
vividly described

as the soft underbelly of
the Nazi controlled Europe.

NEWSREADER: In Washington D.C.,
the president of the United

States welcomed the prime
minister of Great Britain.

The gravity of the moment
had brought them together.

Churchill really feels he
has his back to the wall.

Britain is basically
standing alone

against the German and Italian
threat in North Africa.

There’s great camaraderie
between FDR and Churchill,

but there’s also great tension.

I see you found
the good brandy.

Thank you.

Have you given any more
thought to North Africa?

I’ve been doing nothing but
thinking about North Africa,

and northern France.

An invasion of France
is courting disaster.

We’re not ready.

From the map room.

Just came in.

Thank you, my dear.

It’s Tobruk.

Churchill was in the
White House in 1942

when there were severe Allied
reverses in North Africa,

and Tobruk falls.

And FDR looks at him and
sees the pain in his eyes.

The commingling of the
personal and the political

and the diplomatic and the human
was fascinating and decisive

in many ways.

How could this happen?

It’s one defeat.

It’s not over.

A defeat is one thing.

A disgrace is another.

Beaten by a force half our
size, the British army.

I thought they would hold on.

I need every tank you can spare
sent directly to North Africa.

Consider it done.

And I need you to agree to
the North Africa invasion.

We can’t let Hitler control
the Mediterranean and our oil.

It’s where you need it most now.

My generals say otherwise.

Some of them want France.

Some of them want me to move
more resources to the Pacific.

But we’re depending on you.

Roosevelt ultimately
sides with Churchill,

because if a cross-channel
invasion misfires,

there’ll be enormous casualties
and it’ll be morale crushing

in the United States
and Great Britain.

At the end of
the day, they plan

an invasion of North Africa
called Operation Torch,

and FDR will do this
against the military advice,

a presidential
prerogative as commander

in chief, to say we
need to get in the war

and North Africa is
where we do this.

Now FDR has got to focus on
getting our military squared

away and all of the
tools that they need

to go out and be victorious.

FDR understood that
part of being a war leader

is not simply to be commander
in chief of the armed forces

but to be able to
mobilize the home front.

It’s not just making
strategic determinations

about where to fight
and what battles,

you have to get the people and
the soldiers wanting to fight,

willing to fight, willing to
be producing on the home front

24 hours a day.

To win the war, we have
to ramp up production,

and to ramp up production,
the president has to be deeply

involved in making the federal
government a force to make

capitalism start to
create a war machine,

to create what FDR
calls arsenal democracy.

FDR knew that he had to
change his relationship

with the business community,
which had been marked

by hostility at the
end of the New Deal,

that he had to pivot and make
himself a partner of business,

and he really makes a peace.

Factories are transforming from
cars into planes and tanks.

Doctor New Deal becomes
eventually Doctor Win The War.

Rarely do you
find a leader who

is good at proposing
controversial programs as FDR

did during the New Deal,
and then in the 1940s

uniting the country
to win the war.

Name me anyone else who
might have been president

of the United States during
those years who could have done

that.

It was only FDR.

He felt it was so important to
go to the manufacturing plants,

to go to the factories, because
he knew the enormous pressure

that they were working
under to produce.

They know that these weapons
and planes and tanks are

critical for the war effort.

There’s a lot of sense
of needing to make

sure their morale is up.

In every factory
that he visited,

the productivity went
up shortly thereafter.

And he also has to pressure
the manufacturers to get them

moving as fast as they could.

One of the leading
manufacturers in the United

States was the
Ford Motor Company.

Ford had this enormous Willow
Run Plant that they’ve created,

the biggest one of all.

They’ve only produced one
bomber that’s all that’s

come off the assembly line.

Henry Ford was largely an
opponent of the New Deal.

He was a vicious antisemite.

He said nice things
about Hitler.

So Henry Ford would not have
been at the top of FDR’s hit

parade.

But in 1942, he is
a wartime president

and is trying to mobilize
absolutely everyone.

Henry, quite an impressive
place you have here.

You got a lot of
nice press for it.

We’ve got a mile
long assembly line.

You should bring Hitler
and Tojo in here to see it.

They’d surrender in two seconds.

Only if it lives
up to its billing.

Your factory is
behind the others

and I’m here to find out why.

Mr. Roosevelt,
everything is new.

New machinery, new parts.

You can’t expect it to run like
clockwork right off the bat.

We’re going to get
rid of the Nazis.

And when we do, I hope I’ll
have you and your factory

to thank for it.

Weeks after that
visit, productivity

goes up at the Ford
plant, and they actually

do outstrip the industry
average eventually.

The relationship between
business and government

during World War II was the most
productive in all of history.

It was an incredible
accomplishment.

We see this incredible
increase in factory production.

The country is in
better economic footing

than it has been.

The workplace is
becoming more diverse.

We are seeing more and
more African-Americans,

Mexican-Americans, Latinos
contributing to the war effort.

We are seeing more women in
the workforce, in factories.

Rosie the Riveter.

Eleanor was instrumental
right from the start.

By 1942 and ’43, she was
arguing with the factory owners,

bring women aboard.

You need them.

She made a statement, if
I were a young girl at 17,

I would want to
work in a factory.

That’s where I would want to be.

And Eleanor focused
on the women who had

come to work in the factories.

During the war, Eleanor was
instrumental in encouraging

women to work the 24/7 shifts.

Eleanor met with them,
became pen pals with them,

secured better working
conditions for them,

got them raises, and made sure
there was daycare available

at federal employment
facilities.

Before her, there had been
ceremonial first ladies,

but she was the first
first lady to speak

at a national convention,
the first to speak

at a congressional
investigation,

the first to hold weekly press
conferences, the first half

radio shows of her own.

The price FDR paid for
Eleanor’s independence,

however, was that she was
gone almost 200 days a year.

But as Eleanor emerged into
the first lady she became,

FDR’s admiration for
her only increased.

She becomes absolutely
central to his leadership.

At the fall of 1942, there’s
a lot of pressure on Roosevelt.

It had been almost a year,
and the United States

had done nothing meaningful it
seemed in the European theater.

Winston Churchill would
argue, you haven’t been to war

unless you’ve
fought the Germans.

So this will lead us
to November of 1942.

Operation Torch will be the
largest amphibious invasion

in the United States
history, where

they will land on three
different landing sites

on the coast of North Africa.

The idea is if you can pinch
the Germans in North Africa

between the one force
coming from the east

and the other force
coming from the west,

you can clear all
of North Africa.

The weekend before the
invasion of North Africa, FDR

was uncharacteristically tense,
and I think the reason was

because he was the one
responsible for making

the decision to invade North
Africa against the wishes

of Marshall and Eisenhower, so
you can imagine what he felt

as he was waiting for the news.

Were the troops ready?

Were they sufficiently trained
enough to make this work?

On the eve of the invasion of
North Africa, Operation Torch,

Roosevelt is at one of his
vaunted cocktail parties,

and most of those people
there would not have even

known this was even happening.

Boss.

Thank you, Grace.

Is there anything
from Marshall?

Nothing yet.

Get down.

We’re taking a hell of a
chance with this, Harry.

I feel good about our chances.

Is there anything I can do?

It’s out of our hands now.

I can’t stop wondering
if we’re ready.

[phone rings]

Hello?

It’s the war department.

Yes?

Thank god.

Thank god.

Well, that sounds grand.

Congratulations.

We have landed in North Africa.

We are striking back.

[applause]

British and American forces
have landed in Operation Torch

in November of 1942.

NEWSREADER: A gigantic American
invasion force is landing.

A second front is at hand.

65,000 American troops
plus British troops

will hit the beaches
in French North Africa,

and they’re going to
start pushing eastward

along the North African coast.

Operation Torch
allows for Americans

to see their ground
troops in action.

That has a morale
building effect stateside.

FDR made every
American feel like they

were a part of this challenge
to beat back fascism.

Every radio address ended
with a call to action.

There is one front where
everyone in the United States,

every man, woman, and
child is in action,

and that front is
right here at home.

The story of the war cannot
be told without the story

of the home front, and the story
of the home front cannot be

told really without the
incandescent leadership

of Franklin Roosevelt. FDR
understood that the only way

that we could get the soldiers
the equipment they needed when

there were scarcity of
supplies was rationing.

He has rubber drives
in the village squares,

and everybody brings on a
Saturday their old rubber toys

and rubber hoses, rubber bands,
and he does that same thing

with aluminum.

One very important
feature of World War II

is that the sense
of shared sacrifice.

It’s the same spirit of
during the Great Depression

and the New Deal, that same
idea that we’re all in this

together.

Trust is the
most important part

of his leadership in many ways.

The American people trusted him.

So when he told them that
this is necessary for you

to only have five gallons
of gasoline a week,

it’s necessary for you to only
drink one cup of coffee a day,

even though they grumbled
and got angry with it,

eventually they knew they had to
do their part, because we were

all working together
in a common goal.

That’s one of the huge
parts of FDR’s leadership,

that he was able to mobilize
that collective will

of the country.

It’s January 1943,
and the war has really

reached a crossroads.

Stalin is in the process
of losing a million men

at Stalingrad and he is
desperate for his Western

partners to open a Western Front
to take some of that pressure

off of the Red Army.

In fact, Stalin
says bluntly to FDR

and to Churchill, we Russians
are killing more Germans

every day than the two of
your people put together.

The fear is that if Russia
gets worn down by the Nazis,

that they’ll sue for
a separate peace.

They’ll just give up.

And so FDR is eager
to do something

to help the ally Joseph
Stalin and to relieve some

of that pressure.

I cannot tell you when or
where the United Nations are

going to strike next in Europe,
but we are going to strike

and strike hard.

We believe that the Nazis and
the fascists have asked for it,

and they’re going to get it.

After Operation Torch,
for the first time

the Allies have the initiative.

FDR and Churchill, they’re
going to meet in Casablanca

in Morocco.

FDR is going to be the first
president to leave the United

States in a time of war, and
he’ll be the second president

since Abraham Lincoln
to go to a war zone,

and this conference is really
about what are the next steps.

And they ask Stalin to come,
but Stalin is afraid to fly,

and Stalingrad is
in the midst of it

so he’s not going to be there.

What meant so much
to FDR about Casablanca

is that two of his sons in
the military were there,

Harry Hopkins’ son was there,
Churchill’s son was there,

and there’s that next
generation who are carrying out

the goals of that older
generation of Churchill

and Roosevelt.

They seem to be
hitting it off.

Yes.

Did you know Stalin’s
son has been captured?

It’s awful.

I’m told he refuses
to negotiate for him.

I hear his motto
is, not one step back.

I guess that goes
for his son too.

Well, he’s certainly
making the Nazis bleed.

He just might hold Stalingrad.

It’s good to have
our boys close by.

Yes.

They’re out of harm’s
way, for the moment.

At the Casablanca
conference, Churchill

is advocating for a
continuation of this attempt

to strike Germany through
the soft underbelly of Europe

by invading through
Italy in hopes of getting

a quick series of victories.

But within the United
States, the military advisors

are not necessarily
of the same mind.

Some of them feel that
most of the attention

should be on the Pacific, while
others feel that the Europe

first strategy is
still the way to go.

We’re already in position
for an invasion of Sicily.

I believe I’ve made
that abundantly clear.

This is just a delay
of the inevitable.

We need to strike in France now.

I’m not certain your
Yanks are ready for that.

When the time
comes, we’ll be ready.

You can bet on that.

Gentlemen, the point is
Italy is a much more achievable

target than France right now.

But we all know it won’t do
anything to help the Russians.

What’s your view,
General Eisenhower?

The invasion of France
is going to be the biggest

operation maybe ever.

The way I see it,
we’re short on time.

Time to supply our bases
in England for launch, time

to train enough troops.

How much time?

We can’t do it before ’44.

It’s true.

We’ll need an overwhelming force
for the invasion of France.

So, in the meantime, we
strike a blow in Italy.

All right.

Italy seems the most
feasible option right now.

FDR was not risk
averse, but he was patient

and he knew when to strike.

He had an uncanny
sense of when to strike

and when to not strike.

FDR shows his
tremendous leadership.

He realized that you have to
have a powerful coalition.

You can’t go it alone, and
you can’t lose the British

and you can’t fight
without the British.

And so to keep this
alliance together,

he said, OK, we’ll do that
because they’re our ally

and then they’ll end up
serving our interests.

At the end of the
Casablanca conference,

Churchill goes to Roosevelt and
suggests that they take a trip

out to Marrakesh.

Churchill wants Roosevelt to
see the sun set over the Atlas

mountains before he goes home.

Uncle Joe is going to be
furious when he finds out

there won’t be a second
front in France this year.

He’ll get a second front
when the time is right.

And we both know Stalin
is not to be trusted.

He made a pact with
Hitler once before.

Who’s to say he
won’t do it again?

God help us if he does.

But at least we’ll
get there in 1944.

We have to stand by our
promises, and after the war,

we’ll lead by example.

What do you mean?

I’m talking about
your colonies.

People have the right
to self-determination.

I did not become prime
minister in order to liquidate

the entire British Empire.

If we want freedom in Europe,
that means freedom everywhere.

I’m telling you as
a friend, if you

stick with the old
way, Winston, there

will be a third world war.

And nobody would survive that.

In February of 1943, during
the invasion of North Africa,

the Allies have the initiative.

They’ll drive
across North Africa.

But America’s troops are young
and not terribly well trained

yet, still trying to learn the
lessons of armored warfare,

of combined operations
using aviation.

The Germans will counter
an attack at a place called

Kasserine Pass,
and they’re going

to wreck part of the United
States Army’s advance.

They’re going to roll
it back upon itself.

The Americans were
routed by the Germans.

There were some
examples of cowardice.

There was not good leadership.

It was a flop, and it was
kind of a demoralizing

one and a bad start.

At the same time,
there’s an operation

halfway around the world
in the Southwest Pacific

in Guadalcanal and
Solomon Islands

whose casualties are much
higher than they are at Torch.

In the Pacific
theater, we’re going

to hop from island to island as
we close in the defensive ring

on Japan.

At Guadalcanal, both sides
are feeding in reinforcements.

And, of course, the
casualties grow.

NARRATOR: Now it began, the
toil and the terror that

makes Guadalcanal not
a name but an emotion.

The casualties mount
from the fighting,

from malaria, from dengue,
from the rot and corruption

of the jungle, which
knows not mercy.

It’s costly in men.

It’s costly in munitions.

It’s a very, very
costly campaign.

General Marshall’s on his way.

Is Eleanor coming to dinner?

No.

She’s left for New
York, giving a speech.

She wrote you a note.

I see.

I must have forgotten.

Thank you, grace.

Sir.

Have a seat, General.

Thank you, sir.

I came to let you know
Eisenhower has the situation

in hand at the Kasserine Pass.

The Germans are withdrawing.

We can’t afford
these command problems.

It’s my responsibility, sir.

Do we know the casualties yet?

7,000 of ours, but
mostly wounded, or missing.

300 killed.

Where are we when 300 dead
boys seems like a small number?

How many was it at Guadalcanal?

7,000.

Dead?

But they were
both victories, sir.

Yes, I know.

7,000 killed or wounded.

At some point, it’s
numbers on a ledger,

but each one of those ledgers
has a mother or a father,

and it’s FDR who
carries that weight

and considers how would
you write that letter

to every mother and father.

It is the burden of command.

It is the burden of being
the commander in chief.

He knew that this
was not a battle.

It was a war.

He knew this was not
the work of six months.

He knew it would be many years.

He had learned that
you have to keep going.

And I think that as
he led us into war,

there was a fortitude and
a resilience that grew out

of his own personal
fortitude and resilience.

Somebody said to
FDR, how can you

go to sleep at night with
all these hard decisions

that you’ve had to make and
the pressures that are on you?

He said, if you spend
two years just trying

to wiggle your big toe, you’re
going to learn patience.

As the war unfolds, there
is increasing pressure because

of the losses that Stalin
and the Soviet Union

are sustaining to open a
second front in the West.

So Stalin Churchill
and Roosevelt

go to Tehran in November
1943, and the central question

from Stalin is, when are you
going to attack in the West?

Tehran is the first
opportunity for Roosevelt,

Churchill, and Stalin to all
sit down, the three of them.

Roosevelt really relied
on his own personal powers

of persuasion and
really dependent

on personal connections.

FDR loved politics, and
politics at the very highest

was keeping together a coalition
of thoroughly disagreeable

potential enemies.

And although their three
countries were in an alliance,

their interests
were not parallel.

Stalin believed that
Churchill and Roosevelt,

those capitalists, were ganging
up on Stalin, as indeed they

were.

So Roosevelt’s got to figure out
how to mollify Stalin when they

got together.

And during the war, FDR
sent his advisor Harry Hopkins

to meet with Stalin.

Hopkins was the entire
State Department

all by himself in this sort of
unofficial capacity as advisor

to the president.

Harry, you’ve met the man.

What can I expect?

Well, he does not care
much about clever strategies.

But he does care about killing
as many Nazis as possible.

That’s clear.

But what’s he really like?

Besides being a
butcher in his own right?

When I first met him, I was
astonished how polite he was.

Perfect uniform, polished
boots, cool as a cucumber.

When I was in Moscow, we
could hear German guns.

No sign of fear from him.

No hesitation.

Go on.

I need something I can use.

He does have a sense of
humor in his own peculiar way.

He laughs, but when
you least expect it.

And he does not trust Churchill.

What matters is
that he trusts me.

When the time comes, I’ll
have to distance myself

from Winston.

He will not like that.

I can’t worry about that now.

We need Stalin to stick with us.

It shouldn’t be long now.

I’m glad to see you.

I’ve tried for a long
time to make this happen,

and here we are.

[speaking russian]

That’s quite all right.

I believe men should
meet face to face.

I was so terribly sorry
to hear about your son.

[speaking russian]

I suppose we all must
be prepared to sacrifice

everything to win this war.

Tehran Conference is the
first conference where we now

have all of the big three.

NEWSREADER: Tehran,
capital of Iran.

Here, 6,000 miles from
Washington, the president

and prime minister
meet their great ally

in the war against Nazi Germany,
Marshal Joseph Stalin, premier

of Soviet Russia.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt has
the relationship with Winston

Churchill, and Winston Churchill
has met with Stalin before,

but Franklin Delano
Roosevelt has not,

so he wants to
develop a rapport,

and fundamentally he thinks, he
is the only one on Earth that

should be able to go ahead and
break this crusty exterior.

Stalin is ruthless, I would
go so far as to say heartless,

but that Soviet Union
was a necessary ally.

Roosevelt looked at
Stalin not as his partner

or as his great friend,
but as a leader who

was in charge of millions of
soldiers that might wind up

saving American democracy.

One of Roosevelt’s
enormous strengths

was that he could manipulate
people and he could oppose them

or he could have them
working with each other.

I always think one of the
best metaphors for FDR

as a leader is, you know, he had
spinning plates on his fingers

and on top of the plates
were spinning forks,

and this whole apparatus was
operating well because FDR was

there providing the leadership.

Roosevelt was careful to make
sure that Stalin saw that there

was no solid Anglo-US front.

So at Tehran, that the dynamic
of that US-British relationship

begins to change
just a little bit,

but it must have come as
quite a shock to Churchill

to see this gap
begin to open up.

Imagine the human
side for Churchill.

He’s been at war with Hitler
since September 1st, 1939.

Stalin was allied
with him at the time

and America was living
in a fantasyland,

and now Churchill is becoming
less important as these two

forces come up, and it
was incredibly painful

for Churchill, and FDR
didn’t do much to help.

[speaking russian]

Your aspirations are
justified, Marshal Stalin,

but your numbers are off.

The Atlantic wall is
not to be taken lightly,

and Hitler’s got to have more
than eight Panzer divisions

there.

[speaking russian]

The prime minister
is not haggling.

He just woke up on the
wrong side of the bed,

and he was forced to
wake up before noon

for the first time in 20 years.

[laughter]

And without his
precious brandy to boot.

Now, I agree with
the prime minister

that the risks for
this invasion are high,

but it’s a greater risk
to not take action now.

So I agree with
you, Marshal Stalin,

that we must commit to an
invasion of France immediately.

My doubts haven’t changed, but
you stood by me after Tobruk.

I’ll stand by your decision now.

Then we have a lot
of work ahead of us.

Churchill’s giving Ike a hard
time over using those bombers

over France.

He still thinks if we keep
bombing Germany we can avoid

the whole invasion.

Well, he’s wrong.

I’ll handle Winston.

The most important decision
reached at Tehran is that

the United States and Britain
will conduct Operation

Overlord, which becomes
D-Day in Normandy.

Operation Overlord,
or the Allied advance

from England into
mainland Europe,

is the fastest way to Berlin.

Because the war is not
over until a soldier

stands in Berlin with their
heel on Adolf Hitler’s neck.

Roosevelt gets credit for
choosing Dwight Eisenhower

to head the invasion of
France and the war in Europe.

Roosevelt recognized
in Eisenhower something

of a capacity that
he himself had,

and that was this personal
political skill, this ability

to keep divergent
interests in other people

from destroying the central
purpose toward which they’re

working.

Roosevelt was willing to
delegate responsibility,

so he listened to Eisenhower.

Winston?

Yes, I figured
you’d still be up.

Listen, Ike assures me
it’s essential to divert

those bombers to
targets in France.

Yes, I know France
is our ally and there

will be civilian casualties, but
I’ve got to leave the choice up

to the commander.

It’s his responsibility
and his decision.

Well, that’s really
all there is to it.

You too, Winston.

Get some rest.

Good night.

Your daughter sent me.

She wants to know if you
plan on sleeping tonight,

or ever again.

Maybe she’s right.

We’ve got two months to
pull off the biggest invasion

the world has ever seen.

And if it fails, we won’t
get a second chance.

I’ll sleep when it’s over.

You could see, really, in the
end of ’43 and early ’44 that

hollows were coming
under Roosevelt’s eyes,

that his color wasn’t very good,
that he was having some trouble

breathing, that he was
having headaches at night.

I imagine the anxiety he
must have felt about knowing

that something was wrong but not
being able to talk to anybody

about it.

Who could he talk to about the
fact that his body was failing?

Who could he talk to about
his anxieties about the war?

Because for everybody
else, he had

to keep up as much of
a cover as he could

and not let people know what
he was really feeling inside,

so it must have been, I imagine,
a really lonely time for him.

And Anna, his daughter,
saw this, finally persuaded

her father to go and have a
checkup done at Bethesda Naval

Hospital.

He meets with a
young cardiologist,

and he was stunned when
he saw Roosevelt’s visage.

He could see that he was in
the midst of congestive heart

disease.

Things are so bad that
Roosevelt’s doctor recommends

that he stay in bed to
arrest the deterioration.

He’s being told that he can’t
work more than 10 to 15 hours

a week.

This is during among
the most critical times

in world history.

To say that there’s
a lot riding on D-Day,

Operation Overlord, is a
massive understatement.

Operation Overlord
is the culmination

of years of effort
by Franklin Roosevelt

to convince Americans that
they needed to be prepared

for the war, and then once
we entered the war, taking

an army of just a couple
100,000 and building it

up putting people into
uniform by the millions.

Just the logistics of that
alone is pretty staggering,

and training all those folks
and outfitting all those folks.

It is the largest military
operation ever undertaken

in history.

It involves so many
people, so many layers

of military apparatus,
from transports and tanks,

ammunition, soldiers and
sailors, communication devices,

aircraft, tremendous
amount of coordination.

It’s an extraordinarily
difficult operation.

The Atlantic wall
is a system of defense

that the Germans start to
create from the moment they take

Europe.

This is what the Allies
have to break in order

to get into Europe.

It’s basically a 1,700 mile
wall that starts in Norway,

goes all the way to
the Spanish coast.

If you think about the Atlantic
wall as these 15,000 bunkers

as being the skeleton, the
trenches that connect them

would be the sinew that
connects those bones.

The cannons would be the
muscles that make it all work.

In front of that would be
6,000 mines, the obstacles

on the beaches, the obstacles
in the field to keep

gliders from landing.

That would be the
armor or the skin.

And then ultimately the
soldiers that defend it

would be the blood
that pump through it.

In the buildup to what
becomes Operation Overlord,

the D-Day invasion, the Allies
create all kinds of diversions,

all kinds of fake radio
traffic, even using fake tanks

and things like that to create
the illusion that this may be

a three-pronged or a
two-pronged operation,

all to get the Germans to not
massed their forces at what

ultimately becomes the main
point of contact at Normandy.

We need waves that
are less than five feet.

We’re going to land at dawn.

We’d like to have a half a moon.

We’d like to have 2,500
feet of cloud ceiling.

We’d like to have at
least 50% visibility.

How do we get those
conditions to happen?

On the eve of D-Day, this
is the culmination of years

of preparation, years of
building the supplies,

years of coalition building.

Now there’s nothing
more that FDR can do.

He had to believe that he had
supplied the soldiers the best

they could, that
they were trained

and they were ready for this,
and there was nothing he could

do but depend upon
those soldiers.

Across June 6th, we’re
going to put 155,000 soldiers

on the beach on one day.

You’ve got 7,000 ships,
13,000 aircraft all in support

of this.

It’s the greatest
joint Army, Air Force,

Navy coalition multi-service
military operation

in the history of Earth.

If you were in the
first wave of D-Day,

you would’ve left your port
early in the morning of June

6th.

You would have made your
way across rough seas.

You were probably seasick.

They tried to give
you some breakfast.

You took it and now
you’ve thrown that up.

All the toilets are full.

All the rails are full.

You’ve now gotten
on a landing craft.

Climb down a slippery rope
to get in that landing craft.

You would have been
splashed by sea waves,

soaking wet carrying
60 pounds of gear.

You can hear the
aircraft go overhead.

You hope they’re
doing their part.

And in front of you you would
see German defenses, mines,

and barbed wire, artillery
and mortars and machine guns.

Then all of a sudden the
boat would hit the beach,

and then they would
drop the ramp.

FDR had made the decisions
he could make and was now

at the mercy of events, of
time and tide quite literally.

Come in.

From General
Eisenhower, Mr. President.

10 seconds, Mr. President.

And 5, 4.

My fellow Americans,
in this poignant hour

I ask you to join me in prayer.

Almighty God, our sons,
pride of our nation,

this day have set upon
a mighty endeavor.

They struggle to preserve
our republic, our religion,

and our civilization, and to
set free a suffering humanity.

They will need life lessons.

Their role will be long and
hard, for the enemy is strong.

Success may not come
with rushing speed,

but we shall return
again and again.

By the righteousness of our
cause, our sons will triumph.

We shall prevail over the
unholy forces of our enemy.

Help us to conquer the apostles
of greed and racial arrogances.

Lead us to the saving
of our country,

and with our sister nations into
a world unity that will spell

a shore of peace, and a peace
that will let all of men

live in freedom.

Thy will be done, Almighty God.

Amen.

That speech was arguably
the largest mass prayer

in human history.

100 million Americans listened.

Church bells rang,
and everybody went

to churches and synagogues.

The impulse to pray
was overwhelming.

By noon on June 6th,
1944, even defenses

around Omaha Beach, bloody Omaha
Beach, will start to break,

and now what we have is
the invasion is a success.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s
prayer speaks volumes.

He’s responsible for speaking
for all freedom loving people.

What Operation Overlord
stands for, its hope.

Liberty is not just
this ethereal idea.

Liberty is coming.

The summer of 1944, the
Allies now have a foothold

in northwestern Europe and
are able to push across France

and directly into Germany.

The war is still unfolding.

The war in Japan
has no end in sight.

So for FDR, it was--

the job was unfinished.

The war was not won.

After D-Day, he feels a sense
that it’s close to the end,

but he has to get there.

So the question
was, will Roosevelt

run for a fourth term?

You have to remember the
enormous emotional toll

being the commander in
chief had taken on FDR.

He was giving orders that
were sending boys into battle

every day, who were dying.

And he could not imagine walking
away from that responsibility

for himself.

Sacrifice was everything to him.

He believed that he had a
duty to serve his office,

to serve his country until
he could no longer do it.

FDR’s decision process seems
to largely lie on a sense

that, my work is not done yet.

The country still needs
an optimistic leader,

an aspirational leader.

I think one of his biggest
strengths was his imagination.

How can we open the
doors for the future?

He has a lot more to do.

NEWSREADER: President Roosevelt
signs GI Joe’s Bill of Rights

that guarantees a
returning soldier

a year of unemployment
insurance and helps pay

for the completion
of his schooling.

The GI Bill was created
to assist veterans returning

from war so that they had a
substantial leg up economically

as they were trying to look
for housing, look for homes,

or go back to school.

When the GI Bill of Rights
passed, he was so happy.

I think he wanted to be the
man who would shape the peace,

and he thought he was
probably in a better position

to do that than anyone else.

The real concern is,
his health is failing,

and there are media
outlets who are making

that point in subtle ways
that, hey, you know, you’re not

looking well.

By 1944, FDR is dying of
congestive heart failure.

You can see that FDR is sick.

He doesn’t look as well.

He’s lost his rosy good cheer.

And he’s not going out much.

He’s not giving speeches.

And there’s some question,
is he up to the demands

of being president?

And so when he
was in Pearl Harbor

for some strategic sessions
with MacArthur and Nimitz,

he went to visit the
troops in a particular ward

where they had lost limbs.

And he deliberately
told the people,

I want to be wheeled in.

I want them to see
me in my wheelchair.

And he very, very rarely was
ever seen in his wheelchair

beyond the inner
circle, but he thought

it was important for them to see
that he was disabled, that he

had lost use of certain limbs,
but he could lead a full life

again.

It’s a pleasure
to meet you, sir.

You a sailor?

I was.

I’m a bit of a sea man myself.

Nothing soothes me more than
being out in the open water.

Yeah, me too.

That’s over now.

Well, if you want to sail
again, then you’ll sail.

That’s a joke.

Are you telling me
that I don’t sail?

No, I--

Well, if I can do it, you can.

Tell you what, if you find
the strength to get back out

to sea, I’ll be sure to
get out there with you.

NEWSREADER: At the International
Teamsters Union dinner,

President Roosevelt makes his
first campaign speech of 1944.

Here we are again
after four years,

and what years they have been.

The 1944 election is not
an easy one for Franklin

Roosevelt. He’s in some trouble.

For his political opponents,
Dewey, the Republican running

against him, they’re starting
to draw attention to Franklin

Roosevelt not being out there.

Where is he?

And is he up to the
demands of being president?

And at the same time, there
is a conspiracy theory

that’s been floated
by the Republicans,

that FDR has sent a destroyer,
a warship, to get his dog Fala.

There’s this rumor about
how FDR had left his dog Fala

at a base in Alaska, at great
cost to the taxpayer sent

a destroyer to go
and fetch his dog.

Completely false.

And so FDR is making a campaign
speech at a Teamsters dinner,

and he said, enough of this.

He knew that he needed
to project real strength.

These Republican
leaders have not

been content with attacks on me,
or on my wife, or on my sons.

No, not content with that, they
now include my little dog Fala.

[laughter]

Of course, I don’t
resent attacks,

and my family don’t
resent attacks,

but Fala does resent them.

[laughter]

Roosevelt shows he’s back.

He’s taunting his enemies.

He’s having fun with them.

He’s not a sick old man.

He’s the great politician
Franklin Roosevelt.

You know, Fala’s scotch,
and being a Scotty,

as soon as he learned that
the Republican fiction writers

in Congress and out had
concocted a story that I had

left him behind on
an Aleutian island

and sent a destroyer
back to find him,

at a cost to the taxpayer
of two or three or eight

or $20 million, his
Scotch soul was furious.

He has not been
the same dog since.

When he gave the great Fala
speech, the old master still

has it, newspapers said.

So time and again he
could rally himself.

The next day, it’s
played and replayed.

It’s printed and reprinted.

I mean, if anything could
go viral in 1944, this does.

NEWREADER: Crowds at Ebbets
Baseball Field, Brooklyn greet

President Roosevelt starting
his tour of New York City.

Mr. Roosevelt has a special
word for Brooklyn Dodger fans.

You know, I come from
the state of New York,

and I’ve got to make a
terrible confession to you.

I have never been in
Ebbets Field before.

They planned a long,
hard, arduous day for him

to prove that he was
still up to the job,

and he was going to go
in an open touring car

through the boroughs
of Manhattan and Queens

and Bronx and Brooklyn.

They didn’t plan on the fact
that there would be a drenching

rain and that it would be
freezing cold that day.

And people look at
his ability to do this.

I think it went for 50 miles,
and they say, all those rumors

that FDR is in bad health,
those must be wrong,

otherwise he could not
have done that this day.

That day in New York
City was a masquerade.

He was pretending to be much
more healthy than he was,

and he always knew that
politics was drama.

FDR once said to the
actor Orson Welles,

you and I are the two
greatest actors in America.

And almost like the actor
being taken off stage,

he was taken to Eleanor
Roosevelt’s apartment

in New York City, her separate
apartment, which he has never

seen.

Eleanor was traveling so much,
and she had become that person

that she could no
longer go back from.

And in some ways it turned out
to be fine for both of them.

He had enormous respect for her,
more than he had had before.

Quite the life you’ve had.

Yes.

Not exactly what I expected.

You always try
to do what’s right.

And people see that.

You must be hungry.

I can scramble you some eggs.

Don’t trouble yourself.

I should get cleaned up
and get out of your way.

Why not stay here?

I’ve already put
your room together.

Thank you, Babs.

But I’m speaking at the
Waldorf in a few hours.

People are expecting me.

You’re running
yourself ragged.

You’re sure you won’t stay?

I should go.

Please don’t worry about me.

But I do.

I, Franklin Delano
Roosevelt, do solemnly

swear that I will faithfully
execute the office of president

of the United States,
so help me God.

Winter, 1944, I think
a lot of Americans

expected the war
to have been over

after the success of Overlord.

The forces are still not
actually in Germany yet.

In December 1944, Hitler’s
unwilling to accept defeat,

so he comes up with a daring
scheme involving 10 Panzer

divisions to smash
through the Allied lines

where they’re at their weakest.

NEWSREADER: In the
Christmas season of 1944,

the German army unleashed
a desperate offensive.

The Germans conduct this
counteroffensive that today we

call the Battle of the Bulge.

It’s a surprise offensive that
takes place in December 1944.

The Battle of the
Bulge is called the bulge

because there was a
bulge in the Allied line,

the drive in ostensibly
to get to Antwerp all

the way on the Belgian coast.

When the Germans
begin their assault,

they have bad weather
on their side,

so American airpower is negated.

The German tanks and
artillery can just

slice through the Americans
of the British and slaughter.

The Americans lost 19,000 men.

10,000 men surrendered.

NEWSREADER: The Nazi party is
willing to sacrifice every soul

in Germany to stave off defeat.

The Germans could not afford
any mistakes, because they

couldn’t replace their
resources and the people that

had been lost.

There was a close moment
during the Battle of the Bulge

when things could
have gone very badly,

but eventually the United States
wears down the other side.

NEWSREADER: The
attack was blunted,

the spearhead stopped, the
Nazi columns thrown back

by men who had flung
themselves into the breach.

The Battle of the
Bulge is probably

the last German attempt
to try to change

the strategic
momentum of the war.

Once that fails, they
really are fighting

on the defensive in the West.

In January 1945, the Soviets
uncover the concentration

camps, and they were completely
unprepared for what they saw.

The Allies had learned
that the Nazis wanted

to commit mass murder of
European Jews very early on,

and at this point the
Allies could no longer

deny what was happening in
the concentration camps.

My sister was in Auschwitz.

When she came home post-war,
she said the one thing

that we never understood
while in Auschwitz, we

saw large groups of American
and Allied planes flying high

up in the air, and we stood
there praying that they should

come down and bomb
the gas chambers

and bomb the crematoria and
bomb the whole damn camp,

not caring about what would
happen to our own lives.

And they just flew on and
never came to help us.

We could not understand why they
would never attack this death

factory.

Franklin Roosevelt
and Winston Churchill

should have destroyed those
camps, even though there would

have been many lives
destroyed along with them.

It’s a complicated problem,
and we should not understate

just how deep the antisemitism
was in major parts

of the American government.

Roosevelt asked his military
advisors, what could we do?

Could we bomb the rail lines
that lead into the camps?

And the answer was, we’ve
been trying to bomb rail lines

for the last three years,
and it’s really hard

and they can rebuild overnight.

But I suspect that
Roosevelt thought,

what if we bomb somewhere
near the camps and the bombs

go astray and hit the camps?

Then the Germans might very well
say it was the American bombs

that killed the Jews.

There was an argument on
the part of the military

that it’s better off to
bomb factories and prevent

the production of war so
the war will end earlier,

and that will help the
situation as a whole.

Roosevelt said the German
leaders are going to be held

strictly accountable.

They will be brought
to the bar of justice.

It’s January
1945, and it looks

like finally after a half
decade of war, the war in Europe

will finally come to a close
sometime in the late spring

or early summer.

And with this brings
pressing questions

that Churchill, Roosevelt,
and Stalin have to address,

and they’re questions
that they feel

they can only address in person.

So they decide that they’re
going to have a conference

together at the LaGuardia Palace
on the Black Sea, the farthest

west that Stalin will go.

NEWSREADER: Yalta
on the Black Sea

was the scene of a
big three meeting.

Here starts a series of talks
that will profoundly influence

the diplomatic and political
future of the world.

February of 1945, they’re
starting to plan the post-war

world.

And you have three people that
see the world very differently.

The big three arrive at
Yalta with distinct goals.

Roosevelt wants to bring the
Soviet Union into the war

against the Japanese,
but Roosevelt also

has a personal goal that’s
looking even farther

into the future.

After the war’s over, he wants
to create a new organization

for international peace,
the United Nations.

FDR believes the United
Nations will help the world

resolve its problems, will help
de-escalate militarism and make

the world a safer
place into the future.

For Churchill and Stalin,
their objectives for Yalta

are really centered
around Poland.

Britain went to war in defense
of Polish sovereignty in 1939,

and the Polish government
has been in exile in London

ever since.

Churchill wants to make sure
that when all of this is over,

that Poland is free,
that they are independent

and have self determination.

Stalin wants to
make sure that they

are going to have a government
in Poland that’s controlled

by Stalin.

FDR never thought that
Soviets and Americans ultimately

had the same political ideals.

But as a tough political leader,
Roosevelt knew at the beginning

of 1945, the only way
to finish off this war

is to keep the Soviets
fighting, and that

may mean allowing Stalin
to do a lot of things

that Roosevelt would have
preferred that he not do.

[speaking russian]

Of course we want Poland’s
government to be friendly,

but most importantly, it must
be decided by the Polish people.

Which means, Marshal
Stalin, the members

of the Polish administration
who’ve been taking refuge

in my country should be
included in the government,

but you have shut them out
and put your own people in.

[speaking russian]

I’m assuming that you will
honor our previous agreement

that Poland will
enjoy free elections

under American and
British supervision.

[speaking russian]

Then swear to me that you
will guarantee free elections

in Poland.

[speaking russian]

I will need your word
on something else too.

I want you to join
the war against Japan.

The legacy of Yalta
was complicated.

When they depart, they
have reached agreements

that are going to lead to
peace, to a better world.

And yet Churchill
is deeply concerned

that Stalin has no intention
of honoring his agreements,

especially when it comes to
guaranteeing free elections

in Poland.

Roosevelt does succeed in
drawing the Soviet Union

into his plan for
the United Nations.

He also walks away with
a commitment from Stalin

to join the fight
in the Pacific.

We now look back on the
Yalta Conference in 1945,

and many people would say why
did Roosevelt give up Eastern

Europe?

Was it because he
was old and sick?

No, it was because the Soviet
army owned an awful lot

of Europe, and no matter how
charming or how angry Roosevelt

got at this conference,
his personal skill was not

enough to overcome that.

Roosevelt believed
that he was going

to keep going back to
Stalin to negotiate issue

by issue as things unfolded.

He didn’t see Yalta
as this climactic act.

It was not supposed
to be the final word.

Sir.

What do you think
of the changes?

The speech is fine, Sam.

They won’t like some of
the things I did out there,

but I did my best.

I think we should forget
the braces for tonight, Sis.

I don’t think
that’s a good idea.

Pa, don’t give them any more
reason to criticize you.

This is who I am.

I have nothing left to prove.

FDR returns to the United
States on March 1st, 1945,

comes before a joint
session of Congress.

[applause]

You can imagine the moment
with a filled chamber,

the doors open, and
FDR is wheeled down

the aisle in his wheelchair.

Congressmen and senators who’ve
been dealing with him for years

had never seen him in
a wheelchair before.

I hope that you will pardon
me for an unusual posture

of sitting down, but I know that
you will realize that it makes

it a lot easier for me in not
having to carry about 10 pounds

of steel around on
the bottom of my legs,

and also because of the fact
that I have just completed

a 14,000 mile trip.

It has been a long journey.

[applause]

The Congress just felt
a sense of love for him

because he had
acknowledged his infirmity.

And it’s the first time he
has ever admitted in public

to his disability.

Both Eleanor and
Frances Perkins later

commented that it wasn’t so
much that FDR was admitting

to the American people
that he had a disability.

He was admitting it to himself.

In the month after his
address to Congress,

FDR has a frantic set of
legislation and things

he has to deal with.

He’s exhausted.

He’s in poor shape.

I think he just felt, I’ve
got to give it everything I can

just to make sure the war
comes to the right end,

the peace treaty is
right, and that I’ve

got people established on a
different road toward peace.

Roosevelt had a sense
of his own immortality

that was borderline irrational.

He actually thought he was going
to serve out until 1948, ’49,

and then he was going
to go to Hyde Park

and world leaders were going
to come and fly in and bring

their problems to him
as a former president

and he would solve them.

Finally, towards
the end of March,

he goes down to Warm
Springs to recover.

And despite the fact that
his health was failing,

FDR was still focused now on
the first meeting of the United

Nations, which is to take place
in San Francisco in late April.

But he gets the Warm Springs,
he’s in such bad shape

that he has to be carried off
the train and put into his car.

The population of Warm Springs,
who had always come out

to meet him, when they see
what condition he’s in,

literally gasp and ask each
other, what happened to him?

What’s the matter?

Warm Springs had always
been the place that gave him

that resuscitation of his energy
because of the original time

of what Warm Springs
meant to him.

He went back there
again and again almost

like he was finding the
strength in that ground

there that he had once had.

And it appears to
people around him

that FDR is actually starting
on that path towards recovery

and that maybe he’ll
be strong enough

to go to San Francisco for the
opening of the United Nations.

This was what he
was working towards,

and he was very hopeful that
this would mean something

for the future.

Sir.

Yes, let’s go.

We have a lot to do.

It’s Thursday,
April 12th, 1945.

Warm Springs, Georgia.

FDR had just been
working on a speech

he was to deliver the next day.

In the speech he was
going to talk about how

the only limitation to
our dreams for tomorrow

would be our doubts of today.

Let us move forward with
strong and active faith.

That was the last speech
he was supposed to give.

A Russian portrait painter
had been there painting him

in his Navy cape.

A cousin, Polly Delano is there,
and Lucy Mercer Rutherford

is there, the woman he was
never supposed to see again

after 1918, but who had
been back in his life.

He has an aneurysm.

Among his last words were,
I have a terrific headache,

as he faded.

Mrs. Roosevelt.

Yes?

I’m sorry, but you’re needed
at the White House right away.

Right away?

It gives me great
pleasure to introduce

my friend and the first lady of
the White House, Mrs. Eleanor

Roosevelt.

[applause]

Eleanor gave her talk, and
she said she knew that something

dreadful had happened.

As his cousin
Daisy Suckley said,

Franklin Roosevelt, the
hope of the world, has died.

Eleanor summons vice president
of Truman to the White House,

and she put her hand
on his shoulder,

and she says, Harry,
the president is dead.

And Truman says, oh, Mrs.
Roosevelt, I’m so sorry.

You know, what can I do for you?

And she says, that’s
the wrong question,

because you’re the one
that’s in trouble now.

From his beloved second
home at Warm Springs,

Georgia, the body of
Franklin Delano Roosevelt

moves on to the first
stages of its journey

to his final resting place.

There’s immense
public grieving.

There’s this sense that the
glue that had held the country

together had
cracked, that someone

who had seemed perennial
was actually temporal.

And "The York Times"
that day wrote, "Men

will thank God on their
knees 1,000 years from now

that Franklin Roosevelt was in
the White House when he was."

There was a daily
government list

of casualties that went out, and
the top casualty that day was,

Roosevelt, Franklin
Delano, commander in chief.

There was a sense of his being
the only president for lots

of people that
they’d ever known.

12 years is a long time.

Having carried them
through the Depression,

carried them through the war.

Feeling a sense of
connection to him.

The kids who went to the
Civilian Conservation Camps

become the soldiers
in World War II.

There’s a story
of somebody who’s

crying during the funeral, and
they say to him, an old man,

he’s crying, did you
know President Roosevelt?

He said, no, but he knew me.

Franklin Roosevelt rescued
democracy and capitalism

in their hours of
maximum danger,

and the fact that we have a
market economy and a republic

if we can keep it is in
no small measure because

of his fundamental belief
in the constitutional order.

Ambition is the most
mysterious part of leadership.

FDR had this ambition
that’s large,

but it’s for something
larger than himself.

FDR had this great gift
for understanding what

the American people needed.

FDR made us
better than we are.

He could call on
our better angels.

I pledge myself to a New
Deal for the American people.

There was something
about that voice.

There was something
about that smile that

suggested it’s going to be OK.

Roosevelt opened the eyes of
Americans to positive effects

that government could
have on individual lives.

Everybody talks at the end
about how he’ll be remembered

for having gotten us
through the Depression,

carrying us through World War
II, and there’s Social Security

and all these things you can
see in the history books.

He would say, it’s the
bond with the people

that I’ve established
and that I care for.

Underneath all those
laws are people,

and they’re people whose
lives he’s affected

and people who he
helped to get them

back on their feet in the ’30s
to be ready to be the Greatest

Generation in the ’40s, and
I think that’s what he’d

want to be remembered for.

Americans have
always been lucky.

We got Lincoln
when we needed him,

we had Washington
when we needed him,

and we had FDR
when we needed him.

Let me assert my firm belief
that the only thing we have

to fear is fear itself.