Join us in-person in the library for a presentation by Fireside Chats host Paul Sparrow.

The home movies of Marguerite "Missy" LeHand were hidden from public view for many decades until her family donated them to the FDR Library in 2017. For more than 20 years Missy was FDR's closest confidante. She first worked for Franklin Roosevelt when he ran for Vice President in 1920. After the campaign he kept her on as his personal secretary. She stayed by his side as he struggled to overcome the paralysis caused by polio, and joined him in the governor's mansion in Albany upon his return to politics. She was his executive assistant at the White House, controlling access to the Oval Office, and providing advice when needed. She was also an amateur film buff who brought her 16 mm camera with her everywhere she went.

The candid scenes shot in both color and black and white are mainly from 1932 until 1941. These home movies reveal a private side to the Roosevelts - fun loving, adventurous and carefree. Historical figures, including European royalty and political advisors, make appearances. The films also show FDR in unguarded moments at the polio rehabilitation center in Warm Springs, Georgia, where he could let down his guard and relax with other polio survivors. The home movies will be narrated by Paul Sparrow, the former director of the FDR Presidential Library, who worked closely with Missy's descendants to make them available to the public.  

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: this session is available to attend in-person ONLY.