Franklin Delano Roosevelt for Kids: His Life and Times with 21 Activities
FOREWORD by Senator Edward M Kennedy RANKLIN RooSEVELT WAS elected president the year I was born He was a leading topic of conversation in our family and across the nation for the next 13 years My father knew him well and was a friend of President Roosevelt He named my father the first chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and later appointed him ambassador to Great Britain My three older brothers Joe Jack and Bobby talked about President Roosevelt with my father and listening to those con versations I thought that he must be a good person and a good leader for our country and for the world I knew he was a Demo crat When I was six my parents took me with them to London because President Roosevelt had asked my father to become America's ambassador to Great Britain I knew it was an impor tant assignment but I was totally surprised by the British peo ple They seemed to treat us almost like royalty and wherever we went they wanted to take our pictures I was amazed to see my photo in the newspaper too Unfortunately only a year later war broke out in Europe My father stayed on but it was so dan gerous that my mother brought me home But my father's ser vice to FDR stayed in my mind I was proud of him and that experience certainly influenced my later decision to go into pub lic service myself I also had immense respect for President Roo sevelt and all he did for our country The New Deal always meant something special to me ever since A letter from young Bobby Kennedy to FDR
I43 Dunn Poudrant is the song and they see Lions at Late on law him I am going to hop at amid a nation and Derek Lau Biotensity ht AP
AUTHOR S NOTE RANKLIN DELANo RooSEVELT often went by his initials FDR throughout his life In fact he was still a child when he began signing his letters FDR Later when he was presi dent it was a way to distinguish him from former president Theodore Roosevelt When discussing Roosevelt in the first two chapters of this book while he is still a young man I refer to him mostly as Franklin Later when he enters politics and mar ries I use FDR Franklin and Roosevelt alternately Regardless of the nickname used I am always referring to Franklin Delano Roosevelt I have included first person narratives throughout the book and I was fortunate to be able to speak to several people who knew FDR The people whose stories appear on these pages include the son of Franklin D Roosevelt's treasury secretary the daughter of Vice President Henry Wallace the son of President Dwight Eisenhower and the grandson of President Woodrow Wilson Their insight and stories are extremely valuable and I let them speak to you the readers directly I hope you will find it interesting to read firsthand what FDR s eldest grandchild for example remembers about her grandparents In researching this book I used sources dating from 1932 to the present This gave me perspective on the changing views of FDR over time It reinforced for me the fact that history is remembered according to who is writing it and when I hope that you will enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing
Acknowledg ments HE FIRST PERSON I should thank is Chris Breiseth at the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute for his tremen dous support and encouragement and for putting me in touch with all the right people Sincere thanks also to Ellie Seagraves for her wonderful sto ries and insight Thanks to Anna Eleanor Roosevelt for her encouragement Very special thanks to the delightful Mrs Frank lin D Roosevelt Jr for her support of my project and for her foreword and to the very kind Senator Edward M Kennedy for his foreword Also thanks to all the other illustrious contributors namely Jimmy Carter Schuyler Chapin Anne Cox Chambers Bethine Church Jean Wallace Douglas Michael Dukakis John SD Eisen hower Vera Fairbanks Geraldine Ferraro Warren G Harding III Kitty Carlisle Hart Clare Harvay Adelaide Daniels Key Theodore W Kheel the late Jeane Kirkpatrick Matthys Levy David Russell Luke George McGovern Robert Morgenthau Peter Prommersberger Kermit Roosevelt Robert Rosenman Reverend Francis B Sayre Jr Helen Gig Smith and Victoria Wirth for taking the time to make important contributions to this book Thanks as well to Helen Hannah Campbell Forrest Church and Margaret Truman Daniel for their correspondence and sup port Thanks to Ingrid Molinazzi Sara Williams and James Kennedy for their persistence Thanks of course to my family Caren Matthew and Elizabeth for their support And thanks to Cynthia Sherry and Lisa Rear don for believing in this important
