FDR - A Presidency Revealed (History Channel) 2 DVDs -- 200 Minutes: President's Day Special
By the History ChannelBuzzFlash.com's Review (excerpt)
FDR was such a formidable figure in the history of America that the Republicans passed a law limiting a president to two terms when they got the chance.
Born into a wealthy American dynasty, he was an unusual figure to become a champion of the dispossessed and Americans pained by the depression. It was an age before the time of television, and no doubt -- stricken with polio and generally moving about in a wheelchair -- FDR would not be elected today.
But radio was king by 1932 and Roosevelt had a forceful, decisive, reassuring voice. Great pains were made to ensure that few photographs or news reals appeared (in the movie theaters) indicating that he was disabled.
This weekend we posted this 1936 campaign speech by Roosevelt on BuzzFlash.com. You can read it in text form and actually listen to an audio recording of his remarks, in which he said:"We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace—business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering. They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob. Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred."
An online reviewer praises the documentary:
FDR a Presidency Revealed, a two-DVD set of The History Channel, will delight both connoisseurs and neophytes. Archival footage, diary extracts, interviews with people who knew Franklin Delano Roosevelt, comments of leading historians, and the narration of Edward Herrmann make this series one of the best visual productions dedicated to FDR.
The History Channel opts for a chronological approach to its subject. FDR proved once more that only an optimist has ever created a revolution or a movement. To build his political career, FDR drew his main inspiration from his cousin Teddy Roosevelt. The career path that FDR followed, gave him plenty of opportunities to show his creativity and drive and prepared him very well to ultimately assume America's 32nd presidency. Polio, which struck FDR in adulthood, was ultimately no match for his insatiable political ambitions.
With the help of his wife, Eleanor, FDR overcame some of his prejudices about less privileged fellow Americans to get an understanding of the issues at hand and, at times, make controversial compromises to get things done. For twelve years, FDR did not spare his efforts to first pull the country out of the Great Depression and then to successfully wage war on the side of mainly Great Britain and the former Soviet Union against the Axis powers during WWII.
To its credit, The History Channel does not gloss over the shortcomings of FDR. Here follow a few examples for illustration purposes only. Unlike Eleanor, FDR condoned segregation in the South to keep the Democratic establishment on his side. Furthermore, FDR could be vindictive as it happened after his unsuccessful showdown with the U.S. Supreme Court during his second term in office. On top of that, FDR did not hesitate to make promises in public that he knew he could not keep subsequently. The inevitable entry of the U.S. into WWII comes to mind here. Finally, unlike Eleanor, FDR supported the popular, but morally reprehensible internment of Japanese-Americans in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor.
Perhaps, the only major critique that could be leveled against FDR a Presidency Revealed, is a lack of emphasis on the controversy surrounding FDR's attitude towards (American) Jews and the Holocaust.
To summarize, FDR a Presidency Revealed ranks among the best productions ever made for a broad audience.
BuzzFlash notes:
Like Obama, FDR had the ability to inspire, to provide hope, to challenge Americans to do better. Unlike Obama's youthful energy and athleticism, Roosevelt was an older, more frail leader, although until his finally days, the public was largely unaware of his physical limitations because he sounded and appeared so vigorous.
Roosevelt, like Obama, constantly evoked our unity as a nation and that we rise or fall economically as a Union -- and we would win or lose WW II as one team.
It calls to mind Barack Obama's remarkable and underreported speech on Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois, last week, emphasizing the important role of government and sense of national community in meeting our challenges.
Something Obama is still learning, FDR practiced politically with great success: You can't make great change unless you accept the real differences with your shrinking opposition and push through your plans despite them. History and the needs of the nation require boldness, not that you by liked by those who would hobble you at every turn.
What makes the film especially credible is that it reveals some of FDR's public policy shortcomings, such as his "deal with the devil" by not emphasizing civil rights because it might alienate the Democrats who controlled the South (this was before the Nixon GOP southern strategy.)
Perhaps, after watching it, I realized that a President -- like any of us cannot be our ideal -- but a President can be remarkable, and FDR surely was.
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