MAJOR, MAJOR PROBLEM FOR HIM IN THE ELECTION. THE TWO MAJOR PROBLEMS FOR FDR IN 1940 WERE THE THIRD TERM ISSUE, WE NEVER HAD A PRESIDENT WHO RAN...

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY HAD A PROBLEM IN HOW TO DEAL WITH THE FOURTH TERM FOR ONE THING THEY WERE CONCERNED, SO THE PUBLIC WAS TOLD THAT ROOSEVELT WOULD...

IN 1944. >> ONE OF THE

THAT FOR JIM FARLEY, MUCH BELOVED AMONG DEMOCRATIC POLITICIANS, HE'D BEEN THE POSTMASTER GENERAL THROUGH ROOSEVELT'S FIRST TWO ADMINISTRATIONS BUT MORE...

I THINK IT WAS A VERY REAL FEELING BUT ALSO A PRACTICAL POLITICAL FEELING. SO HE MADE A TERRIFIC EFFORT TO TRY TO PERSUADE JIM TO CHANGE HIS MIND, AND...

EXACTLY, EXACTLY. >>

SITUATION. HE WANTED TO GET RID OF GARNER. HE WANTED TO REPLACE GARN WE ARE HENRY WALLACE WHO HAD BEEN A VERY GOOD SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE, AND HAD...

HE ACTUALLY PULL IT ROUND IN THE CONVENTION FIRST OF ALL FOR HIMSELF AND THEN AT ONE STAGE HE'S DRAFTING SOMETHING TO SAY THAT HE WON'T EVEN RUN UNLESS...

BE PRESIDENT? >> YES, IT'S FUNNY

WILSON'S SON-IN-LAW, AND HAD BEEN RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT SINCE 1920. >> I'M SURE THAT'S

HAVE A SECOND CHOICE? >>

CHOICE. >> HE WAS TOO YOUNG. >> HE HAD SOME

THE OBVIOUS QUESTION THAT HAVING FOUGHT SO INCREDIBLY HARD FOR HIM FOR WALLACE IN 1940, WHY DID HE GIVE HIM UP SO EASILY IN

WAS THAT I LISTENED TO THIS CONVENTION ON THE RADIO WHERE I WAS AT THE '40 CONVENTION, BUT IN THAT, IN THE '40 CONVENTION, ROOSEVELT WAS SHOVING WALLACE...

IT DIFFICULT TO DELIVER BAD NEWS TO PEOPLE AND HE CERTAINLY DID NOT GIVE WALLACE CLEAR WARNING THAT HE WAS GOING TO BE DUMPED. SO ANYWAY THAT NIGHT...

OF COURSE THERE WAS NOT A CHORUS OF NAYS. THE LOUDEST NAYS I'VE EVER HEARD, ALL IN FAVOR OF ADJOURNING, AYE, AND THEN THIS TREMENDOUS NAY MOVED FORTH...

A MIXTURE OF VERY LIBERAL AND CONSERVATIVE. HE HAD MANY, MANY CONSERVATIVE INSTINCTS. HE APPOINTED JAMES BURNS FOR INSTANCE HIS SECRETARY OF STATE...

OF THE GREAT CIVIL THINGS HE DID. I THINK IN THE CONGRESS OF DESEGREGATION IN THIS COUNTRY IT SEEMED TO ME THREE THINGS THAT HAD HAPPENED, ONE IS THE...

HAVE BECOME PRESIDENT BECAUSE ROOSEVELT HAD SEVERAL CARDIAC INCIDENTS IN 1944 HE WENT BY ARMORED TRAIN TO CHICAGO TO MEET WITH THE POLITICIANS. HE WOULDN'T...

EARLIER, THE PANELISTS WERE TALKING ABOUT ROOSEVELT'S SPEECHES AND SPEECHWRITERS. HIS SPEECHWRITERS WHO WERE QUITE A GOOD COMBINATION SAID DON'T...

ONE, STANLEY'S BOOK IS GREAT ON THIS, THE NEW YORK TOUR IN 1944 WAS SO IMPORTANT BECAUSE, AGAIN, TO, IN QUIETING THESE RUMORS ABOUT THE HEALTH BECAUSE...

OF THE AFTERNOON. I THINK WE PROBABLY SHOULD COMPLAIN TO THE LIBRARY THAT WE ONLY HAVE WATER UP HERE. MAYBE A MARTINI WOULD BE BETTER. >> HE WAS NOT...

WHY DID THE SOLDIERS VOTE THE WAY THEY DID? AFTER ALL, THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF WAS THE PRESIDENT THEY DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WHO DEWEY WAS. ALL THEIR LIVES,...

WOULD NOT HAVE RUN. I THINK IT WAS THE BREAKOUT OF THE WAR THAT FIRST GOT HIM THINKING ABOUT THE THIRD TERM. I THINK IT WAS, I THINK IT WAS THOSE EVENTS...

WAS THE GREAT GIFT TO FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT IN 1940 WAS WENDELL WILKEY BECAUSE ISOLATIONISM WAS ANOTHER ISSUE THAT ROOSEVELT HAD TO FACE. AS I TOLD,...

ON THE NIGHT THAT NORWAY AND THE DENMARK FELL, AND NORWAY WAS INVADED, WILKEY WAS ON A SHOW CALLED "INFORMATION PLEASE" THAT NIGHT, AND IT WAS A...

DEMOCRAT -- >> UNTIL SIX MONTHS

THIS BOOK ABOUT THIS ELECTION, I GOT SOME PAPERS OF ROBERT TAFT, AND IN ROBERT TAFT'S PAPERS HE WAS THE LEEZADING ISOLATIONIST CANDIDATE, IN THE PAPERS...

OF THE NEW DEAL ON DOMESTIC ISSUES, ALTHOUGH BY THE, BY 1943 HE ACTUALLY, AND I JUST LOVED THIS FROM MY REPUBLICAN FRIENDS, IN 1943, HE URGED ROOSEVELT,...

FDR PERSONALLY AS WELL AS POLITICALLY THAT WILKEY DIED OF A HEART ATTACK A MONTH BEFORE THE 1944 ELECTION. HE HAD HOPED THAT WILKEY WOULD BE A BRIDGE...

SUPPORT DEWEY IN THE 1944 ELECTION. EMISSARIES WENT TO WILKEY TO TRY TO TWIST HIS ARM INCLUDING HENRY LUCE OF TIME LIFE. THEY HAD NO SUCCESS. >> DREW...

IS ONE OF THOSE CHARACTERS WHOSE HISTORICAL REPUTATION SEEMS TO HAVE RISEN RECENTLY PARTLY BECAUSE OF THE BOOK THAT YOU WROTE THAT SOMETIMES HE'S...

AND THEN THE DRAFT. >> AND THE BIGGEST THING WAS

DIDN'T THE REPUBLICANS HELP DRAFT IT? >> OH,

I WILL NOT SEND YOUR BOYS INTO FOREIGN WARS. >> AND THAT WAS BECAUSE

WAS ABLE TO EXPLAIN THAT, THOUGH, LATER ON BECAUSE AFTER PEARL HARBOR, HE DIDN'T SEND BOYS INTO FOREIGN WARS. HE WAS FORCED TO SEND THEM INTO FOREIGN...

CARDS I'VE BEEN HANDED OF QUESTIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE, THERE ARE MANY, MANY QUESTIONS RETURNING TO THIS QUESTION ABOUT ROOSEVELT'S HEALTH IN 1944....

OF DEMOCRATS KNEW THAT HE WAS -- THAT HIS HEALTH WAS DETERIORATING. I THINK ONE OF THE FACTORS IN THE NUMBER OF THE POLITICAL LEADERS WANTING HARRY...

TO SHOW HE WAS IN REAL FIT AND FIDDLE, FIT AS A FIDDLE, WERE ACTUALLY PROBABLY SEVERELY DAMAGING TO HIS HEALTH. AND SO HE QUICKLY DETERIORATED. >> REMEMBER,...

AMAZING. I THINK ROOSEVELT WAS -- I THINK ALL OF US WHO ARE OF A CERTAIN AGE, YOU UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS A TENDENCY TO DENY EVIDENCE OF DECLINING HEALTH,...

DRINKER THAN FDR. >> AND HE DIED BEFORE

PRACTICALLY CHAIN SMOKED CIGARETTES AND DRANK HEAVILY. BUT HE LOOKED ROBUST UP UNTIL THE LAST. >> THAT'S WHY

THIS STEMS FROM ANOTHER QUESTION FROM THE AUDIENCE. WHERE WAS ELEANOR IN ALL OF THIS? AND MORE GENERALLY, HOW DID ELEANOR HELP AND AFFECT FRANKLIN...

LEGS, AS PEOPLE PUT IT. >> THIS

OF ELEANOR DOWN IN THE BOWELS OF A MINE AND THE MINERS WITH THEIR HEAD LAMPS ON SAYING, LOOK, HERE'S ELEANOR. SHE WENT EVERYWHERE. A LOT OF PEOPLE DIDN'T...

ROOSEVELT'S FAULTS, CRITICISM AT LEAST OF HIM, IS THAT HE APPOINTED OVERLAPPING MULTIPLICITIES OF INVESTIGATORS AND SO ON, BUT HE DID SO DELIBERATELY...

NO PERSONAL MOBILITY. >> THAT'S SO

YOU MENTIONED THE WORD "SCANDAL" THERE. ONE OF THE THINGS THAT SEEMS QUITE STRIKING ABOUT BOTH OF THE ELECTION CAMPAIGNS IS THAT EVEN THOUGH THERE...

FACT THAT SHE WAS THE BOOK EDITOR OF A REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER. SO THAT WAS OKAY. YOU TALK ABOUT SCANDAL, CERTAINLY ONE OF THE SCANDALS THAT DEWEY WANTED...

MAIN THINGS THAT -- ONE OF THE SPECTACULAR DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THEN AND NOW IS ROOSEVELT'S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE PRESS AND RECENT PRESIDENT'S RELATIONSHIP...

THING. >> GO AHEAD. >> THE REPORTING OF THOSE

THE OTHER HAND, WOULD BEGIN WITH SOMETHING WITTY. AND I THINK JOHN KENNEDY LEARNED FROM HIM, HOW TO CONDUCT A PRESS CONFERENCE. HANDY WAS VERY AND HE...

SAVVY TO DO THIS. >> BUT TODAY THE REPORTERS

TOO MUCH INTO CONTEMPORARY POLITICS, I THINK THAT'S A TERRIFIC PLACE TO STOP. AND I HAVE TO SAY, I THINK THAT THE CENTRAL MESSAGE SEEMS TO BE PRESIDENTS...