FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT AND THE NEW DEAL

[Music] I'm Mike Wallace this is biography our story Franklin Delano Roosevelt to millions of Americans FD R was not only their president but their cherished friend as well his political enemies were AED by his public appeal he could Inspire the entire nation in times of Crisis March 4th 1933 a dismal Sullen day matching the mood of the people gathered in Washington to witness the inauguration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt caught in the grip of a paralyzing depression the nation has lost faith in its government and in itself Franklin Roosevelt knows that these people will do anything if only someone will tell them what to do this is a day of national Consecration and I am certain that on this day my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the presidency I will address them with a cander and a decision which the present situation of our people impels first of all let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself this nation is asking for action and action now [Music] the words the sure smiling confidence of the president bring a new surge of Hope to the hundreds of thousands in Washington to the millions across the United States throughout the nation he is hailed as the champion of the Common Man yet in his own life Franklin Delano Rosevelt had always been isolated from the Common Man born in 1882 at Hyde Park New York Franklin Roosevelt spends his childhood amid wealth and luxury his parents James and Sarah Delano Roosevelt educate their son at home determined to raise him in a gential aristocratic tradition but when he is 14 years old young Franklin is enrolled at exclusive gron school later as a Harvard student he divides his time between studying and rounds of Boston Society parties in 195 he marries a fifth cousin Eleanor Roosevelt I will be he earnestly tells a friend assistant Secretary of the Navy governor of New York and then the [Music] president young Roosevelt supports woodro Wilson's presidential campaign in 1912 when Wilson is elected Rosevelt receives an appointment as assistant Secretary of the Navy a canny politician warns you know the Roosevelts whenever a Rosevelt rides he wishes to ride in front the job Delights Roosevelt who has always loved boats sailing in the [Music] sea Rosevelt supervises the Navy buildup when America enters World War I he gambles on radical new ideas and worries conservative Engineers by saying try it and we'll see what happens I get my fingers into everything he writes his wife and in Washington he makes invaluable political contacts he isn't a deep thinker says one official but he's intelligent and learns quickly in 1920 the Democrats nominate James Cox Ohio's Governor as their presidential candidate he chooses for his running mate Franklin [Music] Roosevelt the Rosevelt name still has strong voter appeal and it pleases FDR that many people mistake him for Teddy's son in his vigorous cross-country campaign Rosevelt concentrates on international issues he wins attention but few votes when a republican Administration sweeps to power in 1920 Franklin Roosevelt returns to the kind end of life his parents Envision for him with elanar and their five children he spends leisurely summer days at Campa belloo swimming and sailing but as much as he enjoys being with his family he still Longs for the excitement of public office and through the summer of 1921 he keeps up a steady correspondence with important Democratic leaders suddenly he is stricken by polio Franklin Roosevelt's legs are paralyzed the paralysis crushes Roosevelt's dreams his hopes for a career in politics but his wife Elanor gently patiently urges him not to give up at Warm Springs Georgia Roosevelt undertakes a strenuous program of physical therapy [Applause] he slowly regains strength in his legs and the Improvement fills him with New Hope New [Music] enthusiasm a 1928 Democratic Convention Franklin Roosevelt makes a dramatic return to politics in a rousing speech he nominates for president the man he calls the happy warrior Al [Applause] Smith during Smith's colorful campaign Roosevelt remains in the background he's convinced that the happy warrior cannot win late in September of 1928 however Smith virtually forces rosvelt into the battle by presenting him with the Democratic nomination for governor of New York well if I've got to run says Roosevelt there's no use worrying about it and he undertakes a strenuous tour throughout New York State 1928 is a republican year but Roosevelt wins a hairbrad victory on January 1st 1929 he achieves another of the goals he had set for himself 20 years before he becomes governor of New York State well Franklin Delano Roosevelt the governorship becomes a springboard I believe he tells a friend I can be nominated for the presidency in 1932 for 3 years Roosevelt travels around the country making friends of influential political leaders it's been a great Delight to be with you and these distinguished friends of mine today and I wish very much that I could come down here this summer instead of having to spend and the summer in the hot capital of the state of New York we have a feeling that you shouldn't continue to come here as Governor you should come in a more exalted capacity and so we're looking forward to welcom you as president sometime within the next two years a 1932 Democratic Convention no matter who we nominate says one party leader he'll win but Franklin Roosevelt is the most dramatic personality we have Franklin Rosell having received more than 2/3 of all the delegates voting I Proclaim him the nominee of this convention for president of the United States jubilant Democrats Proclaim Happy Days Are Here [Music] [Applause] [Music] Again a hurry plane trip brings Roosevelt to the convention he breaks a longstanding tradition appearing in person to accept the nomination I pledge myself to a new deal for the American people this is more than a political campaign it is a call to Arms give me your help not to win votes alone but to win in this crusade to restore America to its own [Applause] people the depression is the only issue in the 1932 election campaign 11 million Americans are without jobs families are without food without clothing without homes the nation is without [Music] hope during the campaign Rosevelt bitterly attacks the Hoover administration now let's be frank you and I know the immediate relief of the unemployed is the immediate need of the AR the present leadership in Washington stands convicted not because it did not have the means to plan but fundamentally because it did not have the will to do roselt is a tireless campaigner who draws enthusiastic audiences wherever he goes he pleases the crowds writes one Observer but he speaks in generalities and seems to have no concrete program just a collection of vague proposals but Roosevelt's electrifying personality dominates The [Music] Campaign on Election Day the Democratic party behind Frank Roosevelt is swept into Power his victory is a gratifying personal Triumph but he knows that now he must somehow find the means to stir the productive Machinery of America back to life to lead a frightened and bewildered Nation out of the depths of a crushing depression no president has ever faced a greater challeng the nation president Roosevelt has said wants action now and with Incredible speed the New Deal swings into operation banks are failing their Ready Cash wiped out by a run of frightened depositors Roosevelt closes down the banks then he rushes Emergency Banking legislation through Congress Roosevelt explains the meaning of the new law in the first of his Fireside checks the bank holiday while resulting in many cases in great inconvenience is affording us the opportunity to supply the currency necessary to meet the situation no sound bank is a dollar worse off than it was when it closed its doors I can assure you that it is safer for you to keep your money in a reopened Bank than to keep it under the mattress there are other crises in the first first 100 days of the Rosevelt Administration hardpressed Farmers man barricades to stop foreclosure on their land the agricultural adjustment act gives the money to save their farm and assures them a fair price for their [Music] crops for the unemployed Federal Work project begins and if the planning is Hasty no one cares it doesn't matter how it turns out in the long run says one official people don't eat in the long run they eat every day a thirsty Nation happily greets the signing of the beer Bill the end of prohibition [Applause] the creation of the NRA the National Recovery Administration caps the first 100 days of Roosevelt's first turn a giant parade through New York City celebrates the founding of this gigantic Cooperative movement the Blue Eagle symbolizes the NRA and the thousands of people rallying behind this Banner seem to typify the new spirit the new Vigor flowing through the entire nation the people the newspapers even his enemies cheer Roosevelt's efforts he is the spearhead they say of this new Awakening the first 100 Days Are Over hastily constructed laws ran through Congress have met the emergency the upswing has begun now for the first time in more than year the president relaxes he returns to Warm Springs Georgia at Thanksgiving time here he has helped found a treatment center for victims of infantile paralysis to these youngsters he is a special source of inspiration and the first thing we do is to uh distribute the spinach which you're all so fond of and then we proceed to that and then at last we get busy and we commit [Music] murder on Election Day 1936 the New Deal reaches its crest of popularity and prestige in Time Square a cheering crowd greets the news that FDR has been reelected by the greatest majority in [Applause] history Inauguration Day 1937 the president scorns a closed car for the parade following the inauguration if the people can take it he says so can I but as Roosevelt starts his second turn the slap Dash nature of the emergency measures passed back in 1933 begins to haunt the president the Supreme Court rules that vital pieces of New Deal legislation like the NRA are unconstitutional Roosevelt bitterly denounces the actions of the Court the Democratic Administration and the Congress made a gallant sincere effort to raise wages to reduce ours to abolish child labor and to eliminate unfair Trade Practices and what happened you know who assumed the power to veto and did veto that program if we would make democracy succeed I say we must act now now Roosevelt resolved to change the makeup of the Supreme Court mulling over a number of plans he hits on this suggestion for every judge over the age of 70 an additional judge shall be appointed to the court to help lighten the workload the answer to a maiden's prayer says Roosevelt most of the nine judges are over 70 if he can push this suggestion through Congress it will enable Roosevelt to appoint as many as six new judges to the court and perhaps swing the balance in favor of the New Deal a democratic controlled Congress Rebels against the president Senators publicly debate the issue I shall not be a party to breaking down the checks and balances of the constitution in the absence of a mandate from the people to that effect I do not think that any person who has confidence in the president of the United States will believe for one moment that he was urged by a desire to pack the Supreme Court of the United States in his personal interest I am opposed to packing the court for the purpose of controlling its constitutional decisions whether by the president or by anybody else what do they mean by the words packing the Supreme Court let me answer this question with a bluntness that will end all honest misunderstanding of my purpose if by that praise packing the court it is charged that I wish to place on the bench spineless puppets who would disregard the law and would decide specific cases as I wish them to be decided I make this answer that no president fit for his office would appoint and no Senate of Honorable Men fit for their office would confirm that kind of aoes to the Supreme Court of the United States Roosevelt fails in his effort to get support in Congress Roosevelt accepts the defeat philosophically I Haven a care in the world he writes and he goes on which is going some for a president who was said to be a remorseless dictator driving his country into [Music] bankruptcy at a political dinner the president issues a warning to boky Democrats using the brogue of an Irish politician and if we if we Democrats if we Democrats lay for each other now we can be sure that in 1940 that will be the corner where the American people will be laying for all of us but Roosevelt refuses to announce his plans for the 1940 election many Democratic leaders are fearful that he may want to break the longstanding tradition that a president serve only two terms September 1939 Adolf Hitler invades and triggers the start of World War II the crisis in Europe changes the Outlook of many Democrats you must run they tell Rosevelt at the 1940 Democratic Convention Roosevelt is nominated by acclamation he talks to the delegates By Radio in the face of the danger which confronts our time my conscience will not let me turn my back upon on a call to service FDR returns to Hyde Park on Election Day 1940 he spends the day with his family in warm familiar surroundings but Beneath The Confident smile lie nagging doubts about his reelection with the world poised on the brink of War will they ask some someone else to lead them by midnight the trend is clear Roosevelt will win election to an unprecedented third term it is November 1940 and in the dawn of a new crisis the people have turned again to Franklin Delano Roosevelt for leadership there is there is a great storm raging now a storm that makes things harder the world our future belongs to us Americans it is for us to design it for us to build it and we will make it we will make it and the world we hope will make it too [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] before he decided to run for a third term as President Franklin Roosevelt told a friend I want a rest to go home to Hyde Park he said and I want to write about history but with the shadow of War hanging over the nation president Roosevelt would not be writing history he would be making it Mike Wallace for biography a [Music] [Applause] [Music]