Join us by the fireplace in the library for the fifth edition of the series, Fireside Chats: Exploring the Roosevelt Legacy. Paul Sparrow will present the first of two discussions on Eleanor Roosevelt, with the focus being her accomplishments between 1933 and 1945. Eleanor Roosevelt transformed the role of the First Lady, and in the process helped her husband Franklin Roosevelt transform America, and then the world.

Theodore Roosevelt was Eleanor’s uncle, and she grew up surrounded by wealth and privilege, but denied a loving and nurturing home. Both of her parents died before she was ten years old and she grew up in her grandmothers formal and austere home on the Hudson River.

She married Franklin, her fifth cousin, in 1905 and they raised five children as FDR’s political career took off. Eleanor nursed Franklin back to health after he was partially paralyzed by polio, and in 1932 he was elected president in the middle of the great depression. Eleanor had been deeply involved in progressive political causes supporting women and immigrants, and was fearful the spotlight of the White House would trap her in a gilded cage. Instead she emerged as a powerful voice for oppressed and under represented communities and a savvy political advisor to her husband.

They did not always agree, and the presentation will look at a number of key moments during her time in the White House, including her support for federal anti-lynching legislation, improvement in education and health, the power of unions, and her role as a champion of improving the civil rights of Black Americans. During World War II she opposed the incarceration of Japanese Americans, and traveled to England and the Pacific to bolster the morale of Allied troops and political leaders fighting for survival against the Axis powers.

President Franklin Roosevelt broadcast his first Fireside Chat on March 12th, 1933, just eight days after his inauguration. During his 12 years in office he delivered dozens of Fireside Chats, guiding America through the Great Depression, and guiding a global audience through the horrors of World War Two. FDR’s Fireside Chats were a new form of political communication, using radio to connect with Americans in an intimate setting – right in their living rooms. His compelling and persuasive broadcasts encouraged Americans to believe in democracy and its future. Paul Sparrow, a nationally recognized expert on Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and the former director of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, hosts this series of programs that build on the foundation laid by FDR’s Fireside Chats, and find their relevance to our world today.

This series is moderated by Paul Sparrow, a nationally recognized expert on Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and the former director of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. He has written articles and blogs on them, and has appeared on the CBS Evening News, CNN, CSPAN, the History Channel, and the Washington Post’s Presidential podcast.

NOTE: seating is limited so registration is required.