Franklin Delano Roosevelt for Kids: His Life and Times with 21 Activities
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
THE ROO SEVELT OF HYDE PARK s Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the presidential oath of office on March 4 1933 his hand rested on the Roosevelt family Bible The Bible dated to 1686 and was written in Dutch In that trea sured Bible Franklin Roosevelt s ancestors had written a record of the long Roosevelt lineage FDR as he was known throughout his life was very proud of his ancestry Though his ancestors were luminous FDR s brightness would outshine them all The Roosevelt Ancestry The Roosevelt story begins sometime during the late 1640s when the New World was still very new to the Europeans Claes Martenszen van Rosenfelt and his wife Jannetje left their home in Holland stepped onto a ship and set sail for the mysterious and alluring land of America Though the English had settle ments in Massachusetts and Virginia among other places the Dutch had their own foothold in the New World A few weeks later Claes and Jannetje set foot in the little Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam located at the tip of Manhattan Island the beginnings of what is now New York City Their name van Rosenfelt was Dutch for from the field of roses Their coat of arms features three roses at the center The thriving town of New Amsterdam founded only about 20 years earlier was filled with a few hundred enterprising Dutch
