S8 Ep1120: The Contenders: FDR, Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover Guest: David Pietrusza This segment introduces the rising stars of the 1920s: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover. At age 38, FDR was an ambitious Assistant Secretary of the Navy who
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John Batchelor
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🗓️ 12 July 2026
⏱️ 15 minutes
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Summary
The Contenders: FDR, Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover Guest: David Pietrusza This segment introduces the rising stars of the 1920s: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover. At age 38, FDR was an ambitious Assistant Secretary of the Navy who, despite his famous name, was considered "not ready for prime time" due to early political mistakes and a strained marriage following an affair with Lucy Mercer. Conversely, Governor Calvin Coolidgegained national fame for his decisive handling of the Boston police strike. Known for his Vermont-bred rectitude and "upstanding" persona, Coolidge was viewed as a man of few words but great reliability. Meanwhile, Herbert Hooverwas the "great engineer" and humanitarian who had fed millions in Europe. His popularity was so immense that FDRonce proposed a joint Hoover-Roosevelt Democratic ticket. Though Hoover eventually identified as a Republican, his systematic, modern approach to government made him a formidable figure for either party as the 1920 conventions approached. (3)
1919
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| 0:28.6 | This is CBSI on the world. I'm John Batchel with the author and historian David Patricia. The book is 1920, the year of the six presidents. We've seen three of them so far. Teddy Roosevelt, who's gone in January of 1919, Woodrow Wilson, who's frail and will be for the rest of his life. He dies in 1924. |
| 0:55.3 | And Warren G. Harding, who will not live out his first term. |
| 1:00.9 | We turn now to the vice presidents of the moment, and one who is either a president or a vice president for both parties. |
| 1:09.0 | We begin with FDR, a much different personality than we |
| 1:13.1 | know him from his time in the White House. He was a Harvard graduate after three years. His family was, |
| 1:21.0 | well, as David presents them, snootier than the rich families of New York State, very snooty, very well connected. |
| 1:29.9 | FTR was lucky enough to have a dominating mother who took care of him and his reputation the rest of his life. |
| 1:37.3 | He met Eleanor Roosevelt in 1905, 1902, early in his life, and proposed to her and they married. |
| 1:47.3 | And so he is, and they have five children who survive. |
| 1:50.9 | But when the period of time we're looking at, FDR is ambitious for more than he's won so far, |
| 1:58.7 | which is a state senate seat from Duchess County. |
| 2:02.5 | And then as his older uncle cousin, Teddy Roosevelt, he asks for the Wilson administration to make him |
| 2:09.8 | assistant secretary of Navy. And because Josephus Daniels, the secretary of the Navy from North |
| 2:15.1 | Carolina, who likes white suits, is much away. |
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