The Roosevelt Story

The film begins with newsreel footage taken after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's death on 14 April 1945, as his funeral procession travels down Washington, D.C.'s Pennsylvania Avenue. The film then goes back in time to the site of Roosevelt's birthplace and home, Hyde Park, New York. An account of Roosevelt's education, from his early schooling to his graduation from Harvard University is followed by the mention of his marriage to Eleanor, one year after completing his studies at Harvard. This is followed by a discussion of Roosevelt's entrance into politics in 1912, when he worked for Woodrow Wilson's victorious presidential campaign and served as his Assistant Secretary of the Navy. The film notes that in August 1921, at the age of twenty-nine, Roosevelt fell ill with polio and was hospitalized in Warm Springs, Georgia, where he was put on a special physical rehabilitation program. Roosevelt's successful bid for the office of Governor of New York and his subsequent reelection in 1930 is documented. Scenes taken from a sound newsreel in which Roosevelt addresses the state of New York with holiday greetings from his Hyde Park home, are shown. On 27 June 1932, Roosevelt is nominated by the Democratic National Convention to be the party's presidential candidate, and it is noted that Roosevelt was the first presidential candidate to accept his nomination in person at a party convention. Soon after winning the election, the picture comments, Roosevelt introduced his New Deal program to an America in the throes of Depression. To illustrate the degree of suffering prevalent in the country at the time, the film introduces a character named "Joe, an average, forgotten man," who tells his hard luck tale of life as a transient worker. Briefly mentioned is the 15 Feb 1933 assassination attempt on the president-elect's life. Following scenes of Roosevelt's inauguration, the film discusses the many government programs he introduced, including the Works Progress Administration, the Public Works Administration, the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Tennessee Valley Authority. A brief example of one of Roosevelt's trademark "fireside chats," in which he spoke directly to the American people about various timely topics, is seen. Other watersheds in Roosevelt's personal and professional life that are covered include the following: Roosevelt's 1936 landslide reelection to office; the international crises he faced in 1937, when Adolf Hitler was gaining power in Germany, and when a Japanese war plane bombed an American boat on the Yangtzee River--an event the film describes as a "preview of things to come;" the outbreak of World War II; his reelection to an unprecedented third term as president; the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941; the formal declaration of war; the formation of the United Nations; and his election to a fourth term. The film concludes with Roosevelt's death, one year after his reelection.