Mini-Documentaries

FDR wins when all expect him to lose. Al Smith, who loses the presidential contest, thinks he can control FDR. He cannot nor can the Republican legislature. Within a year, FDR returns to the national stage with a flourish.

In the four months between FDR’s election and inauguration, the nation’s banking system hurls toward bankruptcy. Unemployment increases home and farm foreclosures. Lax banking rules encourages speculation. Banks began to fail.

FDR calls for ‘action and action now’ to help relieve America’s suffering and to lead it to economic recovery. The New Deal, his legislative program, will restore and revitalize the American spirit.

FDR’s team, working with holdovers from the Hoover administration, has 80 hours to write and pass the law that saves the U.S. banking system. When FDR goes on the radio to explain the law, comedians joke he explains it so clearly that ‘even the bankers understand it.’

Farmers, the unemployed, and businesses desperate to stay afloat compete for FDR’s attention. FDR instructs New Dealers to help them all. In 100 Days, 15 New Deal proposals will reassure, embolden, and transform America.

FDR insists that government must enact ‘some measure of protection…against the loss of a job and against poverty-ridden old age.’ The left wants more; the right wants less. It is a hard fought fight, but with Frances Perkins leading the effort, FDR’s plan triumphs.

FDR, as required by law and pressured by Congress, proclaims American neutrality, while taking steps to defend America and support those fighting Germany.

Germany is bombing Britain. Britain has no money to buy weapons it needs to defend itself. FDR proposes a dramatic solution. A divided Congress ultimately supports it.

Congress is bitterly divided. Europe is at war. Japan is on the move. Anxieties escalate. FDR challenges all within the sound of his voice to rise above their fears, defeat tyranny, and dedicate themselves to building a world where people are free from fear and want and free to think, speak, and pray.

FDR and Churchill finally meet face to face in a secret meeting at sea. They craft a document that will change the world’s political landscape.

Japanese bombers and torpedo planes launch a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, sinking most of the U.S. naval fleet stationed there.

Congress is bitterly divided. Europe is at war. Japan is on the move. Anxieties escalate. FDR challenges all within the sound of his voice to rise above their fears, defeat tyranny, and dedicate themselves to building a world where people are free from fear and want and free to think, speak, and pray.