Anyone looking forward to FDR - A Presidency Revealed on the history chann

[Sean Reynolds]

It's a four hour, two part series that starts this Sunday. Here's the website for it...

http://www.historychannel.com/fdr/

Looks really good. Shows the private side of Roosevelt and the problems he had fighting polio. It also illustrates the planning he put into winning World War II.

Yes, unlike Bush, President Roosevelt actually sat down with the generals and planned missions.

[Cooley Hurd]

1. I dunno - I'm fearing a smear job of some sort...

The History Channel has a tendancy of smearing Dems like JFK and LBJ, so I'm a bit nervous what kind of treatment they'll give FDR...:(

[Sean Reynolds]

3. I thought so as well...

Until I read this:

Highlights of FDR: A PRESIDENCY REVEALED (PART ONE) include:
Previously unseen home movies from his beloved estate in Hyde Park, New York, showing the private side that FDR so fiercely protected, and the early memories of his grandson Curtis: "He loved to play games, loved to be silly."


Historians' views on FDR's New Deal and his first hundred days in office, the most prolific and innovative legislative period in the nation's history.


Commentary about his commitment to civil rights, including disapproval from his own wife and interviews with modern-day dissenters.


Excerpts from and background on FDR's famous Fireside Chats, by which he developed a bond with the American people that would strengthen over time.


Detailed oral history accounts from Eleanor Roosevelt on the day FDR contracted polio and became paralyzed while visiting his summer home on Campobello Island in New Brunswick, a source of insecurity and pain the rest of his life, and touching first-hand accounts of his fruitless struggle to walk again.


A balanced look at FDR's failures, including a disastrous attempt to reconfigure the Supreme Court.


Details of FDR's flawed relationship with Eleanor, including an affair he had in his thirties with Lucy Page Mercer that nearly resulted in divorce.


An inside look at the most overlooked event in FDR's entire presidency, when Tyler Kent, an American working at the U.S. Embassy in England, was found to have intercepted months' worth of secret correspondence between FDR and Winston Churchill, with the intention of providing the information to political enemies in an attempt to expose FDR as a liar for promising American neutrality in the fight against Germany.

Highlights of FDR: A PRESIDENCY REVEALED (PART TWO) include:
FDR's struggle to convince the isolationist Congress of the growing threat posed by Adolf Hitler.


The devastating losses of both his mother and his beloved personal assistant, Missy LeHand; declining health and the growing threat of war; and Curtis Roosevelt's disclosure of the loneliness FDR felt during his latter terms.


Eleanor's oral history about his strangely detached demeanor in the wake of the Pearl Harbor attack.


An inside look at FDR's bond with Churchill, forged on mutual respect and a desire to keep the free world strong.


Footage from FDR's secret escapes to Hyde Park during the war, in which he would relax with friends and mix martinis with a dash of absinthe, said by many to be the worst they'd ever tasted.


Stunning details of FDR's ability to perform his job in the face of gravely deteriorating health, including an advanced state of congestive heart failure during his third term.


A first-hand account from cousin, confidante, and caregiver Daisy Suckley of FDR's death in Warm Springs, Georgia, just months into his fourth term.

http://www.historychannel.com/fdr/about_pt2.html

[Nevernose]

2. I've grown to loathe HC "documentaries"

They seem to focus on entirely unsubstantiated conspiracy theories, sometimes even debunked theories, and they always put in the most salacious rumors possible.

They then present it all as fact, either outright or through insinuation, while most people without a more thorough understanding of the situation presented have a nearly impossible time decoding the grist of the historical rumor-mill from what is actually known.

And, to answer your question: No, I won't be watching it Sunday night.

I'll be recording it so I can watch it Monday afternoon. :)

[LeftyDarthBrodie]

4. I don't think FDR is perfect...

the man made mistakes. I don't want to be like the freepers in their beatification of Cowpoke Ronnie and geedubya. I admit FDR made mistakes but will fiercely defend my statement that he was the last Great American President.

I'll probably watch this at a later date. I'm looking forward to reviews by history buffs and scholars on and off of DU.

[Cooley Hurd]

5. I have to admit, for a History Channel presentation...

...it was pretty fair (so far - pt 2 airs tonight).

The oral histories by Eleanor and FDR's cousin Daisy Suckley were by far the best part (as well as the colored home movies - very cool to see).:thumbsup:

[Beware the Beast Man]

6. Despite my initial hesitations,

I thought it was well done. And yes, it did focus on FDR's shortcomings as well as his accomplishments, but that's what makes a good history; it can't be all praise all the time. Our heroes were people too, and you have to take the bad with the good. I guess my reservations about it stemmed from the promos that attempted to make him sound like a sneaky, secretive type (ahem, Bush??).