Marshall here. Welcome back to The Realignment.

Hope everyone is having a great mid-summer period. As you all know by now,

especially as we near 400 episodes, The Realignment publishes a whole lot of different styles of

episode. Some, like the recent ones I recorded with Neil Howe on Peter Turchin, are with big thinkers

who look at our societal and global discord for the lens of big theories that they've spent decades

developing. Others are like last week with MIT's Amy Thinco Stein, a deep dive into a specific

topic in her case healthcare that are at the center of The Realignment moment. The third style,

which comes via audience request, focuses on history. In the past few months, we've covered everything

from then-centered Harry Truman's investigation of war industry corruption during World War Two

to President Lincoln's faith journey and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The goal of these episodes is to offer examples and perspectives from previous areas,

generation, and figures who face down challenges equal to or greater than those we face today.

Today's episode is with the historian Derek Libert, author of unlikely heroes,

Franklin Roosevelt, his four lieutenants, and the world they made. Unlike previous treatments

to the FTR of his podcast is covered, this book not only covers the president himself,

but analyzes four other figures who stood with him from America's confrontation of the Great Depression

to World War Two. Those figures are Harry Hopkins, Harold Icky's, Frances Perkins, and Henry Wallace.

If we're looking at today's challenges, it's easy to focus just on the man or woman on top.

Unlike we heroes, it's a great reminder that beneath the surface are almost equally

momentous figures that are often ignored for good or for ill. So next time you're looking at your

favorite presidential candidate left right or center, don't just look at he or she. Look at the people

that they would appoint. The people who would be the counselors, they will be chief of staffs,

...