Rob Newman on Franklin D Roosevelt
Great Lives
BBC
4.2 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 17 May 2022
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Comedian and writer Rob Newman is a long-time fan of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who "saved the United States, just in time for the United States to save the world".
When FDR came into office in 1933, at the height of the Great Depression, unemployment stood at more than 25% and drought in the Dust Bowl had decimated American agriculture across the Great Plains. While known for his folksy charm, Roosevelt was a shrewd and determined politician, who transformed federal government, the US financial system and the relationship between the American people and their president forever. His raft of early interventions, known as the New Deal, have become the benchmark for US presidents' first 100 days in office ever since.
As 'Forester in Chief', FDR's administration initiated mass tree planting and soil conservation - all while providing employment for 3 million young men. Rob talks to Matthew Parris about how FDR's radical and ambitious environmentalism continues to inspire him, and how this man defied his sheltered upper class upbringing to reach out to working Americans and address their struggles directly.
They are joined by Professor David B. Woolner, Senior Fellow and Resident Historian of the Roosevelt Institute and author of The Last 100 Days: FDR at War and at Peace, to discuss FDR's personal triumphs, his hidden struggles and his international legacy. Could or should he have predicted the divided Europe that followed hot on the heels of a hard-fought peace?
With thanks to the archivists at the Franklin D Roosevelt Presidential Library.
Presented by Matthew Parris.
Produced by Sarah Goodman for BBC Audio Bristol.
Transcript
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| 0:29.4 | sounds. |
| 0:30.4 | BBC sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:35.4 | Picture the scene. The US Capitol, Washington, DC. The country is facing an unparalleled |
| 0:42.7 | crisis. The American people have lost faith in their leaders. A vast crowd gathers. On |
| 0:49.4 | the podium, a man stands tall and declares, |
| 0:53.5 | this is pre-amountly the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly, and boldly. |
| 1:03.4 | No need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great nation will |
| 1:12.5 | endure as it has endured. We'll revive and we'll prosper. So first of all, let me assert |
| 1:22.8 | my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. |
| 1:32.4 | That you may have guessed is the 32nd president of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, |
| 1:39.4 | giving his first inaugural address in 1933, a giant of 20th century history. He saw the |
| 1:47.4 | United States through the Great Depression and the Second World War. He is the only president |
| 1:53.6 | to have been elected for a fourth term, and he is today's great life. Here to nominate |
| 2:00.3 | Roosevelt, or FDR as he was commonly known, is comedian and author, Rob Newman. Rob, |
| 2:08.2 | you shot into the public consciousness in the early 1990s with shows like The Mary White |
| 2:13.2 | House Experience and Newman and Badeel in pieces. But I know that for some time now, Roosevelt |
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