American Presidents: Totalus Rankium - 32.1 Franklin D Roosevelt

Episode Date: January 24, 2021

Surprise release! We managed to find a bit of time between packing, and attempting to do our jobs remotely. So here is Franklin part 1. Find out what a man born with all the silver spoons can do with his life!

Welcome to Totalus Rankium. This week, Franklin D. Roosevelt Part 1. Surprise! Hello and welcome to American Presidents Totalus Rankium. I am Jamie. And I'm Rob, ranking all of the presidents from Washington to Biden. And this is a surprise episode. Is Biden getting an episode then? At some point we'll do an episode. Right.

So, yeah. Yeah, and surprise episode. yeah so yeah um yeah and surprise episode uh we are recording this on um the 15th of january and i'm still very much in the middle of attempting to move house uh both of us are still in the middle of trying to learn how to do our jobs of teaching primary school children remotely which is interesting but we've both managed to find a little bit of spare time. And because these notes were already written before the midden hit the windmill, I've dusted the notes off

and we're going to have a stand-up recording an episode. And hopefully I'll be able to edit it and release it this week at some point. Of course, if you binge listening in the future, none of that is important at all, but the date might interest you. That's right, we're recording post the attack on the Capitol,

but before the inauguration. Very much a grey area at the moment, isn't it? Not even grey, more of a brown, muddy... It's all very interesting, and I'm sure we'll talk about this a lot more in a future episode. But right now... I cannot wait. It's F very interesting, and I'm sure we'll talk about this a lot more in a future episode. But right now... I cannot wait. It's FDR, Jamie.

Big name. Big name in presidential history. Long president, as I understand, as well. Yeah, yeah. That's why he's going to get three episodes. We did a poll on Twitter. I honestly can't remember if we said this at the end of the last episode. Probably did.

But yes, Franklin Roosevelt is getting three episodes to cover the fact he was in for three whole terms and a little bit. So, yeah. But we're not doing any of that today. We're doing his early life. So are you ready to start? Yes. Yes, I am. Because I've just remembered, because I wrote these a while ago, I completely forgot to plan an introduction, so this will be off the top of my head.

Excellent. Okay, a pink unicorn. Which you have as a prop. That is amazing. Which I have as a prop, with a ball in its mouth. It's a very nice rainbow ball in its mouth. What is that? Oh, yeah, the ball comes out.

Yeah. in his mouth. What is that? Oh, yeah, the ball comes out. Yeah. Okay, a pink unicorn with a rainbow ball in its mouth that shoots out when you squeeze its stomach. Yes, you got it. It's pretty niche, but I'm sure it can do something.

Okay, open on a pink unicorn with a ball in his mouth. Nice. This pink unicorn is striding down a corridor, then walking up some stairs in a very rich-looking townhouse. There's a woman. Very weird townhouse. Yeah, well, there's a woman by the unicorn's side,

and they're both walking together, and the woman's saying, Doctor, is this as bad as it looks? And the unicorn spits out the ball, because he needs to speak. Yep, good sound effect. And says, Mrs. Roosevelt, I'm afraid this is as bad as it looks he may never walk again and then the unicorn opens the door to the room and there is franklin roosevelt in bed very high fever uh almost hallucinating to the point where

he's starting to see pink unicorns instead of people. But fortunately, because his doctor was actually a pink unicorn, Franklin was hallucinating that it was a normal doctor, so he didn't get freaked out. That's good. Yeah, yeah. But obviously, Eleanor was a pink unicorn to his fever dream. So, yeah.

So just a pan away from the doctor and eleanor over to franklin who is just sweating in his bed looking very worried and then just the words franklin d roosevelt sort of shakily come on screen in a kind of blurry fever dreamy kind of way and uh then sort of wobbly fade to black i'm guessing you know a little bit about FDR. Yeah, three terms through World War II. But if I'm not mistaken, he... I might be misremembering this. He either died...

No, he must have died before the end of World War II. He must have done, because there's pictures of him and Stalin and Churchill, aren't there, together? But didn't he become president for the first time when Hitler became chancellor as well in 33? Oh, I'm misremembering that. Let's find out, shall we? Not in this episode, but...

No, no, not in this episode. We get close, but we're not quite there. We're going to start in Hudson Valley in New York in the late 1800s. And we are with a family that we have obviously seen before. We are with the Roosevelt's. Do you think their house is like loads of dead animals?

Insects lining the wall. You come in, you think it's wallpaper. But it's not. It's just insects pinned. Yeah. Stuffed insects. Teddy was very dedicated. He really was. Yeah. Well, not quite for reasons you'll see in a moment. So let's do a quick brief recap on this family. If you remember Teddy Roosevelt's episode, the Roosevelt's were very much part of the aristocracy class. We are in the upper classes

of American society here, incredibly wealthy, very well respected. Well, we're actually not with those Roosevelts this time. We're with a different branch of the Roosevelt family. Teddy was a member of the Oyster Bay Roosevelts who resided in, you guessed it, it's Oyster Bay. They were rich and influential. However, to find the connection to Franklin Roosevelt and the Hyde Park branch that he was part of, you have to go back five generations to around the year 1700, where two brothers, Johannes and Jacobus Roosevelt, both started their own branches of the family. So although they share a name, FDR and Teddy Roosevelt are actually quite distantly related, fifth cousins to be exact.

Okay. Yeah. Now, in the build-up to the Civil War, the two branches of the family, who had been Whigs, split politically. Teddy Roosevelt's Oyster Bay branch were staunchly pro-abolition. They became Republicans upon the birth of the party the hyde park branch however went the other way they became democrats yeah so you you had your two branches differed politically that didn't put too much of a strain on the two branches however

things were fairly friendly between them i mean politics was just business really that's yeah yeah when you're that when you're rich enough it is yeah exactly just difference of opinion yeah it's not gonna affect my life in anyway well yeah exactly so uh yeah the two branches uh got on perfectly fine just like the oyster bay branch the hyde park branch were also very wealthy and had influence so it's not like one branch was doing better than the other right james roosevelt this is fdr's father had met his wife sarah delano uh after his first wife had died now james had actually proposed to uh barmy uh roosevelt remember that's teddy roosevelt's sister at one

point but had been turned down um so it was soon after this that he met sarah delano uh sarah came from an incredibly wealthy family the delanos were um you know how the roosevolts are filthy rich yeah yeah just go up a peg really yeah just like she's marrying down then oh yeah yeah disgustingly rich that's how how rich the the Delanos were. So how related were the Roosevelt's and the Delanos then? No, not really at all. Okay. I mean, I'm sure there were some ties.

I mean, we were in the upper crusts here, and there's always a lot of connections in the upper crust out there. I was going to say, it's very incestuous, the richer you are. But yeah, the two met. Sarah was almost half of James Roosevelt's age, and she was currently in love with another man. But her family disapproved of this man. So when James came along to the family to inquire about marriage,

the Delano family hoped that this would settle their daughter a little bit. Far better, go marry a Roosevelt. They're the right sort. So arrangements were made, and the two wed. She was 26 and running out of time. I mean, you couldn't be 26 and single back in those times.

Of course not, no. Stop bumping our kids. Well, in January 1882, Sarah did exactly just that. She gave birth to a little boy. The birth was very hard. She was in labour for 26 hours and she almost overdosed on chloroform. Oh, okay. Which does not... That's the thing that

knocks you out, doesn't it? Yeah, yeah. It doesn't sound fun, that's for sure. But she got through it. The child was born. Sarah wanted to call the boy Warren after her father. But unfortunately another child in the family called Warren had just died. So it seemed a little bit poor taste, almost as if, well, you lost your Warren, but hey we gained one. Here's mine.

It all swings and roundabouts really, isn't it? Yeah, every cloud. Yeah, so they decided maybe that wasn't the way to go. so instead, he was named after an uncle, Franklin. So,

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born. He was a large and happy baby, apparently, and he grew into a happy child. Yay.

The first adventure of little Franklin was going off to Europe at the age of three. Yeah. Yeah. After a lovely time away from home, which I'm sure he did not pay any attention to at this age,

he just, yeah, they're just like that baby summer, aren't they? Yeah. He's three at this point. Yeah. Yeah, so a bit bigger than a baby, I suppose, but still probably not that interested in European history. No. No.

Not marvelling at the architecture. No, probably not. But still, I'm sure the family had a good time, and then they boarded their ship, and they headed back to the good old United States. But the ship hit a storm on the way back home. Apparently it was very intense, and we

get a very strange little anecdote from this. Because as the ship rocked back and forth to an alarming degree water started to fill the cabin that they were staying in they seriously began to think that this ship was going down and apparently sarah turned to james and said sorry i wish we weren't an audio podcast so everyone could see you acting out being on a ship right now. Yeah.

Imagine early Star Trek episodes when the ship was rocking. Yeah, that kind of thing. Are you proud of me? That was a Star Trek reference there. I am. I am. Well done. That was very good.

And an accurate one, isn't it? Very accurate. Yes, good. Well done me. Anyway, so they're in this ship. It's starting to fill with water. They start to fear for their lives. And apparently Sarah turns to James and says, we seem to be going down.

And James apparently replied, it looks like it. Morty! This is how upper class we're talking here. Almost British levels of nonchalance. It reminds me of the scene from Titanic where you've got the... Captain Berserk? No, like the richest guy on Titanic. of nonchalance. It reminds me of the scene from Titanic where you've got the oh, the... Captain Bersai? No, like the richest guy on Titanic. And he

basically said, I'll have another brandy, please, as the ship was listing quite sharply to the right. I'm guessing he survived. No. I bet he did in real life, though. No, he did. Nothing bad happens to people that rich, Jamie. John Jacob Astor. That was the last one I was thinking of.

Okay, fair enough. The anecdote's not over, though, because apparently Sarah then wrapped her three-year-old son in one of the fur coats that she had, looked down at the child and said, Poor little boy. If he must go down, he's going down warm. Oh, what?

Yeah. They are so rich, it's unbelievable. Yes. If you're going to go down, you're going to go down in style. That's a proper mink coat there for little Franklin. Yeah, well, fortunately for everyone, the ship just about survived the storm, then managed to turn around and head back to Liverpool to be repaired. Fair enough.

Yeah, and then they got on another ship and they headed home and they survived. So well done. Everyone's still alive. Back home, Sarah looked after her child and Franklin's days had a very strict schedule. Apparently he would awake at seven, eat at eight, lessons until eleven, lunch, then lessons till four, and then two hours free time, then eat, then bed. Sounds like what we're doing now. Yes. So yeah, home education was very strict here. There were things that he was expected

to do. It's good to have a routine. Yeah, exactly. To begin with, Sarah educated her son on her own, but as he grew, tutors were employed to come around the house. And from an early age, he was taught French, German, Latin, penmanship, arithmetic, and history. I think it was Roman history. It must have been Roman history. That's all they ever learnt about, wasn't it? Oh, yeah, yeah, Roman history, Greek history. Yeah, the classics.

Yeah, probably a bit of American history by this point. That's true. They started to get a little bit by this point. Now, before he was seven years old, he was fluent enough in German that he could write short notes in it. And he would leave notes in German to his mother just to show that he's learning quite well. I wonder why German... I'm guessing a lot of the royal families in Europe

were kind of linked to German, weren't they, German families? So it's probably more of a... Yeah, yeah. Seems quite a high-brow thing, rather than French. Well, if you've got French, German and English, then you've got all the languages you need, really, in this world that they live in. You can do anything in America and in Europe

and someone will understand you. Now, his father was in his early 60s by this point. Remember, James was a lot older than Sarah. And he was not overly present in Franklin's life. His mother spent far more time with him. However, the family did spend some time together when they went on trips. For example, James was on friendly terms with the current president, President Cleveland. Because, of course, he was.

The family were invited to the White House on more than one occasion when Cleveland was in office. Cleveland was finding the job stressful at the time, if you remember. He went through a bit of stress to Cleveland. It's stressful trying to lock up young women. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, he turned to the young boy and made a wish that Franklin would never, ever become president. Really?

Yeah. a wish that Franklin would never ever become president. Really? Yeah. Which goes to show how happy Cleveland was in office at that time. Yeah. Yeah. He just grabs the poor child by the lapels. Don't do it, son. Don't do it.

Picks him up. Push him against the wall. Shaking him. Whatever you do, it's not worth a room. It's not worth it. Sarah turns to James. It appears the president's shaking our boy. And James just asks for a brandy.

Yeah. What if he's going to go down? I might as well be drunk. Yeah. Well, Franklin, apparently, you'll probably be unsurprised to learn this, grew up to be a serious and well-behaved boy. Yeah. One hobby he did develop at this time, however,

was at the age of seven, his mother gave him her stamp collection. Oh, fantastic. Which he became obsessed with, and estimates are, over his lifetime, he collected over a million stamps. Yeah, this was a lifetime hobby. He was still at it in the White House. Yeah, he loved his stamps, he did.

I just think he'd sneak into the post room and just slit off the stamps from letters. Well, yeah, I mean, when you're president, you're in charge of the executive branch, you're in charge of the post, essentially. I bet he was there just issuing new stamps every day just so he could collect them. Yeah, but only like one stamp.

It's mine. Yeah, so there you go. It's mine. Yeah. So there you go. He's a stamp collector. Oh, I inherited some stamps from my aunt. Did you? Yeah, just a little book of old stamps from different countries in the past. How nice.

Has it become an obsession for you? No, no. I still like my coins, my banknotes. Fair enough. Fair enough. All the more, yeah. Right, James. He started got my coins, my banknotes. Fair enough, fair enough. Right, James. He started to get ill, I'm afraid to say. Did Dad. His health started to fail. The family, looking for

a way to alleviate his ills, decided to go and spend some more time in Europe, in particular in Germany, where James could take advantage of some hot springs there. I'm not sure why they couldn't use the hot springs that they had in America. Apparently the German hot springs were better. So off to Germany again.

And it was here at the age of nine that Franklin first attended school because he'd been homeschooled up until this point. He's fluent in German by this point, so he was more than ready and prepared to go into a German school and apparently had a really good time. Nice. Yeah. He also went on extended bike rides in Germany and just generally got to know the German people, as it were.

Nice. That's a very grand way of saying that a nine-year-old went for a bike ride in Germany. Yeah. So he's having a good time, but it was not long before the family were heading back home once more. Before the age of 14, Franklin had been to Europe for an extended stay eight times. He was a well-travelled child. Wow.

Yeah, very much like Teddy Roosevelt was, if you remember. It's just Franklin didn't stand on top of a pyramid catching butterflies, which definitely happened. That wasn't something we made up. Yeah, definitely happened. But Franklin is getting we made up. Yeah, definitely happened. But Franklin is getting older now. He's in his teens. So it's time to think about his future.

He needed to go to a prep school to get him ready. Of course. Groton was selected. Oh, what a name. Yeah, the type of school that was so posh it could have such a bad name and it didn't matter. Yeah. It cost double to attend for a year than the average American earned in a year.

Oh. Yeah, we're talking you could feed a family for an entire year for the fees that it took for, no, for two years. Yeah. For the fees it took to send a child there. took for, no, for two years, for the fees it took to send a child there. The school made no attempt to hide the fact that you paid to get in. There are no scholarships here.

This was an elite school for people with the money. And if you paid for it, they would get your child into Harvard. Wow. So do you think they'd have their own butlers get them addressed for PE and stuff? Ah, no, not at all. Because the school was very strict.

And in fact, Spartan is the word that I've seen more than any other to describe this school. It was taught by Spartans. That's impressive. I looked into it. I assume this meant that all the teachers had heavy Scottish accents, CG rippling six-packs, and there were also lots of racist stereotypes of Persians around. Yeah. But apparently it wasn't that aspect of Sparta

that they were referring to. Although the wow was still there that children got kicked into. That definitely happened. This is Groton! As if you didn't pay your fees that term. Ooh.

Yeah. An image of a child being kicked into a well. The posh parent standing nearby just going, looks like he's going down. No, Spartan means no doors on any of the rooms because there'd be none of that business, thank you very much. Icy cold showers because there'd be none of that business, thank you very much. Icy cold showers because there'd be none of that business, thank you very much.

And very formal dinners where everyone had to dress properly. Probably not because there'd be none of that business, thank you very much. Probably just tradition. So it's in Groton that we get, guess how many stories of him making mischief and getting into hilarious pranks. Well, you say very serious, so probably none. Yeah, yeah, you're right. None.

No stories at all. There was one day where he drew the curtain across his doorway rather than leaving it open, maybe. Maybe that happened once. Maybe they planned to put, like, a bucket of water over a door. Ah, damn it. Oh, maybe that's why that's no doors. Damn it.

To stop the bucket over the door trick yeah okay that makes sense uh yeah now apparently uh playing around pranks it wasn't his style uh so he just spent his time there studying the strict routine of his homeschooling kind of prepared him for this apparently so yeah he got on with things the four years that he spent in the elite drafty halls of Groton did exactly what it was paid to do. It prepared Franklin for Harvard. Sixteen of his eighteen classmates went to Harvard. Wow. Yeah.

Class of 18. That's not even teaching, is it? Well, there's that much money floating around. There's no teaching involved, Jamie. You teach yourself. The lesson was the register, and then the teacher would just nod wisely every time that they said their own name. Yes. Roosevelt, yes, yes, you are.

You have passed today's lesson. Right. Franklin and a friend from school got themselves a very fancy three-room lodging in an area near Harvard. The area he stayed in was full of young men also from Groton, so he essentially went to Harvard with his classmates, his entire class. Or if they weren't from Groton, they would have been from very similar schools, from the more fancy parts of the country. And he lived his four years in Harvard in ease and comfort,

surrounded by the people who knew that they were going to be the leaders of the country one day they were literally separated from the riffraff in harvard and by riffraff i mean members of other rich families or people who could afford to go to harvard but they weren't quite yeah they weren't quite at this level yeah he did do some work you'll be pleased to know he took courses in economics government and history which are very sensible things to take when you're pretty much on the road to being one of the leaders of the country in the future i'm assuming a lawyer um obviously obviously um it was during his first year that he received news that his father had suffered two heart

attacks. Very, very sad news, although kind of people could see it coming. He's getting on at this point. Franklin rushed back to see his father, which he managed to do, but James died shortly afterwards. But, silver lining, he left the modern equivalent of $14 million to his family, and a trust fund was set up for Franklin, so he guaranteed steady income for the rest of his life. Nice.

It was not long after this that news of President McKinley's death shocked the nation. See the one that was shot? Yes. In the train station? No, no, that was Garfield. Ah, okay. Yeah, McKinley was shot at the train station? No, no, that was Garfield. Ah, okay. Yeah. McKinley was shot at the science fair. Oh, right. Yeah.

And if you remember, who was the vice president who became the president? Roosevelt. Roosevelt, yes. His fifth cousin from the Oyster Bay branch of the family was suddenly now the president. Nice. Still, it didn't really affect Franklin's day-to-day life very much cousin

teddy's now now the president of course uh so he just uh carried on with his studies doing okay but not amazing he wasn't meant he wasn't said to be uh like top tier student or anything uh he was having a great time socially however constantly going out to dinner parties, going for rides on his horse that he kept in the stables. Bloody hell, stables. His only disappointment was that he could not get into the most prestigious club on campus, which goes to show how ridiculous these clubs were. Even Roosevelt couldn't get into the most prestigious one. Wow.

Yeah, he could get into pretty much all the others, and he joined quite a few of the others, which were very highbrow. But yeah, his big disappointment was he didn't quite have access to everything. Still, there was one thing that kept him from dwelling on this disappointment too much, and that was, of course, the ladies. Yay! While at Harvard, he met a young woman named Frances. But his mother, after finding out that Frances was a Catholic, soon put an end to that.

Oh, yes. The Roosevelt's very much anti-Catholic feeling at the moment. Right. Yeah, yeah. So, well, I assume Franklin had less anti-catholic feelings since he quite liked francis but sarah was having none of that that's for sure but it's okay if franklin soon moved on i'm actually thinking about it maybe it was more to do with the fact that franklin and francis you don't want to be a couple known as Franklin and Francis. The two Franks. I mean, that's not good, is it?

Yeah, Frankie and Frankie. Yeah, not good. Let's say that was the reason, rather than the hideous racism. Anyway, Franklin gets over this. He soon meets Alice. Alice was the right sort for the Roosevelt family, you'll be pleased to know. she came from an incredibly wealthy and influential family and they weren't catholic so excellent however as things started to get serious franklin mentioned that in the future i mean he'd not been thinking about it too much but hard to know just occurred to him he wanted six children exactly six six six not five six not seven six children i want six children uh the relationship ended quite soon afterwards and apparently apparently alice announced to friends that she did not want to be a cow oh that's quite funny yeah uh still despite telling everyone that it was all off

because they obviously had no future together the two still really liked each other so they still saw each other a lot Alice's family realised this can only end in bitterness and tears sent her to Europe just in case because yeah

this isn't going to end well still it's ok because then Franklin during his 21st birthday, got talking to his cousin. His cousin, Eleanor Roosevelt. Her maiden name was Roosevelt. Oh, yeah, you didn't know this, did you? Yeah.

No. Eleanor Roosevelt. They already knew each other, but now they were a bit older. Well, family gatherings, yes. Of course they knew each other. Well, they're a bit older now, and they started to realise they had a mutual attraction. Oh, you've grown up.

Wow. You'll be very pleased to know that when I say cousin, Eleanor's from the Oyster Bay Roosevelt's. We are talking fifth cousins once removed. We are talking very distantly related here. That's fine. Yeah, it's... Plus, she won't have to use a new name as well.

Oh, yeah, exactly. It's all good. Yeah, you have to literally go back to around the year 1700 before you can find a direct blood tie between these two people. It's probably a good thing, right? Strengthen the old genes. Yeah. But, yes, Eleanor Roosevelt was always Eleanor Roosevelt.

The two hit it off and started writing to each other and spending time together. Franklin finished his time at Harvard and entered law school because, of course, he did. Do you know what the relationship between Eleanor and Teddy was? Yes. Good. That's what I need to know. I didn't sound convinced there, did I? It's because I realised I've written that in my notes,

but I hadn't said it. So I was scanning my notes going, oh, I must have missed a bit. And yes, I did. I've missed a line. Eleanor is Teddy Roosevelt's niece. It's his brother's daughter. So if they get together,

obviously this will tie Franklin to Teddy far more closely. He'll become more of an uncle figure rather than a distant relation. Meanwhile, Franklin entered law school because, of course, he did. He lived with his mother now on Madison Avenue. And he was in a house opposite J.P. Morgan's mansion, or at least one of his. Yeah, again, this is how rich we're talking here. After his first day at Columbia Law School, Eleanor wrote to him asking him how it went.

Did you meet any friends or, and I quote, did you only have due gentlemen to work with? What? Yeah, if you didn't know Eleanor Roosevelt in her early days in particular, massive racist, hugely anti-Semitic. Oh. Yeah. Anyway, it was around this time that Franklin was exposed to something he'd never really seen before. And that is the lives of normal people. Because one day when he was visiting Eleanor, who was working as a teacher at the time,

she announced that she had to go and see a child who she was teaching who had become ill. Franklin accompanied her to the tenement building and was utterly shocked by what he saw. My God, I did not know anyone lived like this, he exclaimed. The house has barely five rooms. Shortly after this, he went out and got a hugely expensive diamond ring from Tiffany's and proposed to Eleanor. Excellent. Yeah.

President Teddy Roosevelt heard of this and was over the moon. He wrote to his cousin congratulating him and stating that they should wed in the White House itself. Really? Yeah. Now, neither Eleanor or Franklin liked the sound of that. It sounded a bit too much like everything would become the Teddy Roosevelt show rather than their wedding. So instead, they wed in a family member's house. Still, Teddy was there to give his niece away, and the wedding essentially turned into the Teddy Roosevelt show anyway, because any room with Teddy Roosevelt in had Teddy Roosevelt in. Yeah.

He loudly announced to Franklin in front of everyone, Well, Franklin, there's nothing like keeping the name in the family. And he probably slapped his knee, hearty chuckle, at a joke that sounds uncomfortably close to an incest joke at a wedding. Yeah. Yeah. To which he then got his blunderbuss off his butler, went outside and shot a pigeon.

Quite likely, yeah. There was definitely a walk in his pocket the entire time. Anyway, what with all this excitement, Franklin was not particularly paying attention in law school. I mean, he got his new wife. He was rich. He didn't need to do anything for the rest of his life, and he was happy. So he failed a couple of courses,

and he had to retake them. He got mediocre results. Yeah, whatever. One professor stated later that Franklin had no natural talent for the law and did not use hard work to make up for the fact. Still, Franklin didn't care. I mean, why would he?

He's got the combined wealth of the two Roosevelt branches. It meant that neither he or his wife were going to work again. They were getting roughly the equivalent of quarter of a million dollars a year just through the trust funds alone wow yeah so anything else they made on top was bonus so they headed off to europe to spend a few months there they even opened a flower show in scot apparently. Oh, nice. Which is nice. So, mini celebrities, just for being rich Americans, I assume.

And then in 1905, Franklin's mother gave them a Christmas present. Is it like a house or something? Oh yeah, you got it, Mum. A townhouse was being built for them. And, also, one for me as well, mum right next door i'm building building two houses so we'll all be together i like to think eleanor went sorry your mother's moving in next door to us yeah and then when franklin delivered the next piece of news which is yes two separate houses with connecting doors on the inside. Eleanor went, oh, really? Yeah, it's essentially one massive, massive mansion.

Yeah. Franklin was very excited by this news. He threw himself into the construction, offered suggestions to the architects. So that will not work. I'm sure they were thrilled by having this young, posh man suggesting, I don't know, like a rotating fifth floor or something. So it was built and they moved in and Eleanor burst into tears. Was sad happy?

No, no, she was horrified. These are not tears of joy. No, no, she was horrified. These are not tears of joy. No, she hated it. She had no say in the construction. It's not where she wanted to live. Her husband paid no attention to any of her slight problems with this idea.

She was railroaded into it. A confused Franklin told his wife that she would grow to love it and then never talked about it ever again. Eleanor later said, I think he always thought that if you ignored something for long enough, it would just settle itself. That's not great for a president who becomes president during the Depression, is it?

It doesn't bode well, no. We'll have to see how that goes. Fortunately for the Roosevelt's, however, four years later sarah gave her son and daughter-in-law another present another house another house yeah um this was a cottage a 34 room cottage on the shoreline it's not a cottage but that's how it was described in the history book that i read which only made me think think that Americans don't know what cottages are. Yeah. Eleanor apparently felt

far more at home here. She loved it here. So she at least had a retreat to go to. But then, shock horror, despite everything I've been saying for the last, well, whole episode, really, they ran into money problems. Really? Yeah. They were ridiculously rich,

but the lifestyle they were living cost a fortune. After some calculations, they realised that the outgoings were surpassing the incomings. So what do you do when you realise that you were spending more than a quarter of a million a year on servants and yachts and travel and the upkeep of their now three houses? I mean, what do you do?

Well, I think I know where this answer's going, but I think a sensible person would stop and recoup a little bit, but I get the feeling they carry on and just borrow money from somebody. They don't borrow money from people. No, they just get money from Sarah. Ah, wonderful. Yeah, yeah. She is, remember, from the filthy, filthy Delano family.

Of course. Filthy, filthy? Filthy, filthy rich, I should say. Slip of a tongue there. Oh, Sarah. The pockets were bottomless, essentially. Yeah, she was always happy to give to her son and daughter-in-law. So, yeah, they were able to live in the style to which they were accustomed to and

it was around this time that franklin passed the bar there you go he's now a lawyer uh he hated it at law school so he just dropped out he didn't get the degree he'd passed the bar so that's all he needed that would be a problem if you weren't rich because you'd struggle to get work as a lawyer his name's roosevelt so he's not going to struggle to get work. So he just drops out. And over the next ten years, the Roosevelts settle down and create a large family. These six children that Franklin wanted came into existence.

Although one did die in infancy, unfortunately. But still, a large family. Despite the large family, Eleanor was not particularly into the idea of motherhood, unfortunately. But still, a large family. Despite the large family, Eleanor was not particularly into the idea of motherhood, however. Which is a shame. Especially the care of small children just really freaked her out by the sounds

of things. I mean, she loved her children, she wanted to do what was best for them, but the whole being a mother thing was just way out of her experience. One day, she read that fresh air was good for children. So she devised a way for the children to go and get fresh air without hurting themselves. I mean, the children were very small at the time. They lived in a townhouse.

They were quite often several storeys up. Oh, no. Do your worst, Jamie, in a prediction, because... Well, I've seen pictures, photographs of what I can only describe as baby cages. Oh, you've got it. Yes, you've come across this. They're literally just like a metal cage on the outside of the building. Yeah, she had a cage constructed of chicken wire and she...

Well, it's not for foxes to get in, I guess. Yeah, exactly. How many times have you put your child outside in the garden to play to come back and realise they've been eaten by a fox? Oh, exactly. And this solves that problem. Yeah, no, she just hung the children out the window in chicken wire cages. Eventually, a neighbour, fed up of the crying,

threatened to report the Roosevelts to the Society for the Preservation of Cruelty to Children. I like the way the noise caused them to read it, rather than the actual cruelty of it. Yeah. Eleanor apparently was shocked. I thought I was being a very modern mother, she declared later. She also later looked back and admitted that she had no idea what she was doing as a mother in the early days and she regretted the way she acted yeah i mean if you think about it she would have grown up in a family full of servants doing everything she wouldn't have had her own mother to give her advice because her own mother probably didn't know how to raise a child. Yeah. It's, yeah.

It's a weird circumstance, isn't it? All very strange. Saying that, there's not knowing the ins and outs of how to prepare, like, food for the baby and, like, bits that I'm sure all first-time parents struggle over. And then there's knowing not to hang your child in a cage out of a window. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Still. Yeah.

Still, we're doing Franklin's episode, not Eleanor's. So what did Franklin think about all of this? Not much. No. True to the age, he just let his wife and the servants get on with it. So there you go. He had a job in a law firm because his name was Roosevelt. But he found the job very boring.

He never liked law. He only did it because that's what you were supposed to do. So he was starting to look into what he wanted for his future. And he decided for quite some time now, just like his cousin, he was going to be a politician. Of course. It was not long before he was in some chats with the right people. The Democratic Party would love to have a prominent Roosevelt on their side. It was soon discovered.

I mean, the name alone would put a dent in the republican support yeah so he was soon offered a seat in the new york assembly one of their men was standing down and you could fill the safe seat what what another cigar um yes so he he was pretty much handed this seat on a platter yeah yeah they were literally outside the building when he was offered this seat and apparently he replied and i quote here i'd like to talk to my mother first there was a pause and the man who had offered him the seat replied that they were about to go into this building and the men who would be voting for him would not like to hear that the man they're voting for had to ask for his mother's permission that's really funny in other words come on now franklin it's time to grow up yes you're in the big boys club now yes you can make decisions so roosevelt paused for a while and then said i'll take it it. So there you go.

He gets a seat in the New York Assembly because of democracy. However, I feel like I'm being very snarky this episode. Well, it's okay to feel that way. When something's literally handed to somebody based purely on the fact they've got money, it is a bit, oh. We get it in our country as well. You know, our prime minister is evident of that. And all the previous ones are evident of that as well. If anything, it's worse in our country as well. You know, our prime minister is evident of that. And all the previous ones are evident of that as well.

If anything, it's worse in this country. We've got centuries of literal lords still hanging over us, haven't we? So, Roosevelt gets the seat. However, if Roosevelt's getting into politics, he's got to make sure of one thing first. He's guaranteed a place. Yeah, I mean, he can walk into this job, but he does have an obstacle that no one else has, and that is his cousin. Yes. Yeah. If his uncle-in-law, ex-president Roosevelt, disliked the idea of Franklin becoming a Democrat, then he could use his political clout to end this career before it began

yeah there's no one more powerful in politics than teddy roosevelt at this time yeah so yeah this could be a problem so franklin spoke to teddy's sister baimey would the old bull moose object to my career was the question baimey in turn wrote to her brother asking his opinions and got this reply. Franklin ought to go into politics without the least regard as to where I speak or don't speak. Ha ha! Pigeon! Or something like that. He also stated that he wished Franklin was a Republican, but he would not object to him being a Democrat.

Fair enough. Because, yeah, like you say, at that height, it doesn't really matter. Yeah. So there you go. This one barrier's out the way. The road was clear. But then the man who was due to step down suddenly changed his mind. Oh.

This safe seat that he was just going to be ushered into suddenly disappears. The seats are no longer open. Franklin was furious. He had his heart set on that job. So he went to his contacts in the Democrat Party and announced that he would run as an independent, damn it. Ooh. Yeah.

Now, an independent Roosevelt on the ticket could cause all sorts of problems. I mean, we all know how much of a squirrel in the barrel the other Roosevelt is. Oh, yeah, yeah. That is a saying I've just made up. I couldn't remember the word. Loose cannon.

That's what I was trying to say. Squirrel in a barrel. Well, I imagine that would move a little. I think it works. So, yeah, they didn't want an independent Roosevelt. So, the Democrats suggested something else. Like, hang on. Let's see if we can work something out here.

How about a seat on the state senate instead of the state house? Yeah? That's even better. Even better than the assembly. Do you want that? I mean, it's not a safe seat. You'll actually have to fight for this one. In fact, it's the opposite of a safe seat.

The current incumbent was a safe Republican who was actually very popular. But it's yours if you want it. And even if you lose, which you probably will, it'll be good experience. And then next safe seat, it's yours, honestly. But have this to keep you occupied for now was essentially the message.

It's so ridiculous, isn't it? You can just tell even now they're the kind of, say, conversations that go on. Oh, yeah, yeah. Even more than the word definitely. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, anyway, Roosevelt throws himself into this. He's got a hobby, hurrah. So he starts campaigning and he was a modern young chap with money to burn and he decides to campaign in style. with money to burn and he decides to campaign in style this was the future this was a new century this was this was it's a new age it's a new age yeah exactly so he was going to tour the district in i hope i'm reading this correctly an automobile automobile yeah yeah uhreliable as it may have been, it would certainly pull a crowd. That's true.

And they can also cover a distance. So there you go, that's what he's going to do. In four to six weeks. Yeah. So he got himself an actual car and he starts to tour. I'm assuming it would have been a Ford? I genuinely don't know. I didn't think to check the type of car.

Apparently it was a very fancy one for the time, though. This one had a roof. Yeah. Well, back at this time, horses had right-of-way at all times. Because, of course, they did. Most people were using horses. Cars were very much a luxury at this time but not just right of way the law was if a horse and a car were going to pass on the road the car had to stop

and cut the engine so the horses wouldn't be panicked so it's like literally shut down everything and there were a fair few horses around so um it took a long time for Franklin to get anywhere but this was fine because every time he had to stop and cut the engine to the car anyone who was nearby would go oh look it's someone in a car they stopped let's go and have a look at the car we're the party of ingenuity and modern invention

vote for me they'd go up and there was this young excited man chatting about how he is running for the state senate would you vote for me he said as the horse went by and then he'd turn on his engine again and then zoom off at i don't know 50 60 miles per day yes exactly um the dust would just sort of wobble slightly on the floor it's fine he'd pay a butler to just pick up dust from the wheels and throw them so franklin had the confidence of an upper class white man and the enthusiasm of youth. I mean, there was no stopping him at all. He was having the time of his life.

One day, he drove up to a small group of Italian workers preparing a railway track. Oh, no. He didn't offer advice, did he? Well, figuring that Italian was just a cross between French and Latin, don't you know what was, he jumped out of his car, strode up to them,

and started to talk to them in what he assumed was probably Italian. Bonjour, je m'appelle Totalis Rankia. Yeah. Fattius Maximus. You can only imagine the looks he got. But still, passed out some badges. Everything's fine. Imago Facius

points to his badge in his own face. On another day campaigning, he's still enjoying whizzing around in his car. He arrived in a town. He entered a tavern. He loudly shouted, drinks for everyone. And as the drinks were being poured and everyone was cheering and shaking his hand,

he asked where he was. It turned out that he'd crossed state lines without realising and was now in Connecticut. That's an expensive mistake. Well, an undeterred Franklin paid for the drinks anyway and passed out some of his campaign buttons regardless. Fair enough. Well, you can't vote for me, but you know what?

Have them. So there you go. I like it. It's investment for his future. Maybe they'll vote for him in future. And then he left. And then come election day, things look closer than most in the Democrats had dared to hope.

I mean, the GOP was infighting at this time and it was showing. And the Democrats all over were picking up seats. Remember, Teddy Roosevelt is in the process of infighting with the rest of the republicans right and it's really damaging the gop so yeah the democrats do really well in this round of elections and to everyone's shock including franklin's uh he won oh yeah he was meant to be a race he could not win, but there you go. See, that's impressive. It shows his technique of just blind optimism worked.

Yeah, exactly. And he went out and spoke to people, which is... Yeah. So he starts looking for a place to live in Albany. Most of the state senators stayed in hotels during the 10 whole weeks a year that they worked. But Franklin was determined this was going to be a full-time job for him because he literally had nothing else to do with his time. So he might as well.

So they were going to move there and he was going to make it a full-time job. Career politician. If he's going to rise to the top, he's got to take this seriously. And while he was there, he decided he was going to do one thing more than anything else,

and that was fight the corruption coming from Tammany hall now as we've seen with uh well as we've seen with any democrat from new york the tammany hall faction was a powerful part of the democratic party a force to keep the glory days of the gilded age alive not just powerful in new york the tammany faction were powerful nationally. If you got on the wrong side of them, they could end your career. Fair enough. Backroom deals were dealt. Cigars smoked, whiskey drank, nudges nudged, winks winked. Just like Teddy, Franklin hated the obvious corruption of the conservative faction of the parties. So while he was in Albany, he was not going to bow to the party pressure.

He was not going to give in to Tammany Hall. So he became the ringleader of a group who became known as the Insurgents. They were going to get him, and they were going to reveal the corruption of the Democrats in the state senate, and they were going to create a new purer form of the Democrats. So he's trying to take them down from the inside pretty much yeah is this where he joins and goes oh this is fun no that's a bit later um anyway they would meet in franklin's house uh the cigar smoke apparently would fill the room so much that eleanor moved the children's bedrooms up to the third floor to escape it because there was just so much smoke. Probably they all crawled into their chicken wire cages as well.

It's the only way to get fresh air. Well, yeah, of course. When the State Senate and Assembly met to vote on a US senator one day, the Tammany Hall of Actions soon realised that Franklin was going to be a problem because he led 19 other senators to break democratic ranks and they did not vote for the Tammany Hall man who was meant to be a shoo-in. Right. And then all of a sudden, a deadlock ensued.

The Tammany Hall faction were not happy with this young upstart who did not know how things were ran in the party, so they used their considerable pressure to try and break the insurgents. Members of the insurgents suddenly found their support for their political agendas evaporating. Any project that any of them had on the back burner or even a full pout going for it, suddenly the political will dried up.

Funding stopped. When that did not work, members of this group that Roosevelt was leading found that their bank loans were suddenly being called in. Yeah. Suddenly they were being asked to pay off their mortgages. You know all that money you owe me. Yeah. Franklin more than once had to help pay for a mortgage

that had suddenly come due. And because of the sheer money that Franklin was able to bring in, the rebel group managed to hold out for a bit. But then Tammany Hall put forth a new man. This was a man who, on paper, had no ties to the Tammany Hall faction, but in reality was actually a huge supporter, an even bigger supporter of the Tammany Hall faction than the previous candidate had been.

Now, Franklin and his faction had nothing they could object to. The man had no formal ties to big businesses. On paper, he was perfect, so they folded. Franklin attempted to make it look like he was happy with the result and he'd won, but everyone who knew, knew that Franklin had lost. The Tammany Hall faction Action had got what they wanted and ended up with someone on the seat that actually they preferred more than their first candidate. Well, fair enough.

Yeah. Still, Franklin got what he wanted out of all of this. His name was in all the papers, and he was becoming more and more popular with the population at large. But in Albany, he was not liked. He gained a reputation for being snobbish, elitist, and bigoted. Bigoted against the Irish and the Catholics in general. Eleanor wrote to a friend complaining that her husband was always surrounded by Catholics whilst working. Yeah, again, if you didn't know, yeah, massive racist. In fact, I'll quote one person who worked with franklin uh here he had an

appearance of looking down his nose at people not because he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth but because he really didn't like people very much which is good quality for a president it's not a good quote is it it's not no still this did not stop franklin from going uh for re-election two years later unfortunately for him however he had a bit of the old typhoid fever at the time and he was bedridden this looked bad if he could not campaign he could well lose his seat so he called for a friend he had made recently this was a reporter from the new y Herald named Louis Howe. Howe was described by one person who knew him as a medieval gnome and apparently described himself as one of the foremost ugly men in New York. And I'll quote, children, take one look at me and run. His name's Louis Howe, if you want to

look him up, because I had to look him up after reading that quote. Louis Howe, is that L-O-U-I-S? Mm-hmm. And then Howe with an E. Um, yeah, skeletal, deep-set eyes. I can see that. I feel bad. He looks like he could work as a butler in a haunted mansion. Yes, yes.

Yes, that's how he looks. That's a good description. Yeah. So yeah, Franklin called on Howe to help him out. Because when Louis Howe was not scaring the children in the street, he was a very shrewd political operator, apparently. He took over the campaign as Franklin lay in bed, too ill to move. Howe and Eleanor campaigned on his behalf.

Howe wrote letters to voters stating Franklin's opponents could not even be bothered to visit certain areas and sign them with Franklin's name. No one seemed to notice that the man himself was absent. The age-old throw accusations at

your opposition and hope that people don't realise you're doing it yourself. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I bet you could pretend he's back there in the car with the curtains shut. He's definitely in there. He's waving. Look, he's waving. Just a poor child.

How threatened. Trying to wave. When you say the car, is it the children's catcher truck from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang? Yes. Yes. Big lollipop on top of that. Yes. Anyway, Hal was having just as much fun as his friend had the previous election. He wrote to Franklin and I quote, I'm having more fun than a goat,

which is brilliant because we've come across that quote before, a completely different thing. I had a look. I can't remember which episode I have quoted someone saying I had more fun than a goat. And we laughed at it then. It was obviously just a saying back then. I've tried to look it up and I cannot find any evidence of this being used. But we've come across it twice now. Well, we need to bring this back. If our podcast achieves anything, it's bringing back, I was as happy as a goat.

I'm having more fun than a goat. More fun than a goat. If anyone out there knows why people said just over 100 years ago, I'm having more fun than a goat, let us know. Yeah. Yeah, that would be great. So there you go. Hal's busy kidnapping children and having more fun than a goat

and campaigning. Come election day, Franklin actually gained votes from two years previously, even though he did in no way campaign himself. But he did not plan to stay long because Wilson had just become president. And Franklin, due to supporting Wilson's nomination, was hoping to get a job. On the cabinet? Well, nothing flashy. Just something that would suit a Roosevelt.

Vice President? Well, if you remember, Teddy Roosevelt, before Vice President, was Assistant Secretary of the Navy. So maybe, Franklin thought, something like the Assistant Secretary to the Navy would do. Good position, yeah? Yeah, just like Uncle Teddy had done. I mean franklin's not making any secret of it here uh he's trying to literally follow in the footsteps not literally of uh of teddy i imagine just because it's easy easy it's

like well this would be easy i'll just yeah it worked for me do you know i'm not i don't dislike franklin at the moment but i'm annoyed are you annoyed by the entire draw of silver spoons but the thing is this has been going on the whole podcast this isn't yeah just this is this been more the focus of it i think in this one is well thanks yeah, because, I mean, well, we'll see. Let's carry on and we'll see. Okay. Anyway, sure enough, not long afterwards, word came through. The role's yours if you want it, Franklin.

You're a Roosevelt after all. Of course, you can be the Assistant Secretary to the Navy. You can take the naval hat off now, Franklin. Yes. So the 31-year-old moved to Washington on his own and took his place in the Navy Department, working under the Secretary of the Navy, a man named Daniels. He's even younger than us.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Day one was a bit of a whirlwind, apparently. Franklin did not know what he was doing. So Navy, that involves boats, right? Yes. Is this the boats or is this the marching one? I always forget. I'll quote Franklin here. Is this the boats or is this the marching one? I always forget. I'll quote Franklin here. For over an hour, I've been signing papers which have to be accepted on faith, but I hope luck will keep me out of jail.

Nice. That's a letter he wrote to his mother on his first day. Excellent. That's fantastic. Yeah. The deputy secretary didn't actually have a defined role in the Navy department. And instead, it was rather whatever the man in the job made it to be. So after a while, Franklin found that if he showed an interest in something, he could pretty much just get involved. There was nothing saying what the assistant secretary could or couldn't do.

He could sit in his office with his feet up and do nothing and get paid. It's a cushy number. Equally, he could put his fingers office with his feet up and do nothing and get paid. It's a cushy number. Equally, he could put his fingers in all the pies. In fact, I'll quote him here. I get my fingers into just about everything, and there's no law against it. His friendship with Howe continued, you'll be pleased to know. Two years after getting the job, he wrote to Howe, and I'll quote, Ludwig, here's the dope.

Secretary, $2,000. Expect you April the 1st. Which is an amazing, amazing quote. I didn't think it would be this soon that we were getting here's the dope as a quote from a president, but there you go. Yeah. Yeah. Howe was soon in Washington helping out his friend. The kiddie catcher truck trundled its way into Washington. Hello children! The sides kept falling off to reveal the cage and he had to keep pushing it back up. Crying children. It was fine. So Franklin worked in the day and he spent his evenings in the various clubs that he was a part of.

At the weekend he would play golf. clubs that he was a part of. At the weekend, he would play golf. But after half a year, his bachelor lifestyle came to an end as Eleanor and his children came to stay. They moved into a large house owned by Bamey. More of the six children I've already mentioned were born, and then they moved into a larger house. Franklin worked for the experience, not for the money, obviously. He treated his equivalent of ninety thousand dollars a year as pocket money he'd be paid in cash once every two weeks and i quote i don't know where it went it just went yeah he'd get his wages put it in his pockets go off to one of his clubs and you know money just happen it comes it goes it's a bit like the wind, really, isn't it? After a while, he decided that it was time to get into the U.S. Senate.

The National Senate. Ah. Yes. As luck would have it, a seat was up for grabs. So he sent out some feelers. Any chance I could, you know, have that seat? Because of democracy? Any chance?

No. No. Oh. Yeah. Tammany Hall blocked him. Really? Oh, wow. Yeah, they were still not happy.

The president did not want to face the anger of the faction and made it very clear that this was not Roosevelt's time. So Franklin pressed on, determined to put his name forward. He did. But without the backing of the Tammany faction, But without the backing of the Tammany faction, or rather the opposition of the Tammany faction, he lost the primary. And this is when he realised that, yes,

fighting Tammany Hall is all very good for popularity with the masses, with the great unwashed. But it did mean that the party would not fully support him. So he made it clear that he would toe the line more in future. He sent out a few whispers. He let it be known, I'll be a good boy from now on. Can I please

come and play in the club? I'm sorry, Daddy. Yeah. And about this time, World War I begins. Wow. Now you would think that there would be something to say about the second man in the Navy Department during the largest war the world has ever seen. Not to start with.

Not at all. For the whole war, really. Franklin did what his namesake had done in the build-up of the Spanish War, which was do whatever he could to prepare for war, even in the early days when they were trying to stay out of it. For the next few years, he did admin, essentially. Important admin.

Stuff that had to be done, but not stuff that makes for an interesting podcast. He just gets on with his work. However, this wasn't what he really wanted to do. What he wanted to do was what his uncle-in-law had done. He wanted to go and fight. He wanted to don a uniform, and he wanted to go and make a name for himself. That's what Teddy had done. That's what he would do.

And in fact, this was also Teddy's view. Teddy wrote to Franklin saying, you must resign. You must get into uniform at once. Pigeon! It's weird because it's, I don't know, even in Roman times, this weird mentality of

no army experience but i want the glory so yeah put me as a lieutenant put me as something high up and i'll go and do something great and be remembered yeah exactly we we have seen this from every podcast episode we have done from Scipio up until this one. Yeah, but he was persuaded not to don the uniform. The Navy Secretary Daniels and the President Wilson both said to him, the Navy does not need another pompous rich officer. It needs someone in Washington who knows what they're doing. Get on with your job, please, Roosevelt. But you said that knows what they're doing. Get on with your job, please, Roosevelt.

But you said that knows what they're doing. I have no idea what I'm doing. Well, by this point, to be fair, he did. He's doing well as the assistant secretary. It took him a while to learn, but it takes everyone a while, doesn't it? So he stays in the job. And like I said, he gets on with it. He does a decent enough job

but nothing hugely exciting one tale does come to us though and this is in 1918 when he goes and visits europe uh the trip to europe itself was an eventful uh but it's the journey home that was unpleasant very much like the one when he was a small child right because you should notice something about that date, 1918. End of the war. Still the war, though. The war, yes, but something that's become more prominent in the collective memory very recently. Because there was a small global influenza pandemic going around. Oh, Spanish flu. On the journey home, someone who was infected boarded.

The virus spread rapidly through the ship and people started to die. As the boat sailed off to the United States, the body started to pile up and then started to be thrown overboard. Or buried at sea, as it politely is put in the history books. Yeah. Sends it to Davy Jones' locker. Sort of a wing and an arm kind of buried at sea. Yeah.

Hooray! Splash. It's what he would have wanted. Oh, that's a shark. Oh, got him. Got him. Yeah, Franklin got it because it was hard to avoid. And he was laid out on a bunk, unable to function properly.

He was very ill. So when the ship finally arrived in the united states he was so ill that an ambulance was arranged to transport him from the ship to the family home just spread around a little bit more oh yeah so he was carried into his bed eleanor therefore was left to sort out his luggage and much to her horror she found a pack of bound love letters to a woman named Lucy. Ooh. Ooh. That's awkward. That is awkward, isn't it?

Yeah, it would appear that Franklin had found something to get up to during the war. For various reasons, Franklin and Eleanor had grown apart recently, and after the birth of their sixth child, apparently they were only just about on talking terms. It was around this time, so in 1916 here, gone back a bit, that Franklin started to have an affair with Lucy Mercer. Lucy Mercer was Eleanor's social secretary. Yes, that's how rich they are. They had a social secretary. Lucy was 23, said to be very bubbly and attractive, and she was in charge of organising the social life of the Roosevelts. Looks like she organised it very well.

Yes. Well, because she was in charge of organising the social events, she was quite often at these social events, even when Eleanor was out of town and only Franklin was in attendance. And it would seem that during a couple of these, the two got to know each other. Yeah. Even when Eleanor was out of town and only Franklin was in attendance. And it would seem that during a couple of these, the two got to know each other. As Eleanor spent more time away, the two hid their affair less and less. And in certain circles, it became an open secret.

Everyone seemed to know. In fact, Franklin got Lucy a job in the War Department. And when Eleanor was back in Washington, he spent a lot of time at work all of a sudden. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, late night in the office, dear. Of course, yeah. Should we go and clean out the stock cupboard?

It's filthy in there. Dirty, dirty, dirty stock cupboard. Yeah, we're directly quoting here. This definitely happened. Eleanor started to suspect something uh and it would appear that she threatened to leave him around this time this is still pre-finding the letters by the way the affair had become so well known within the navy department that the navy secretary himself found out that lucy was working in his department he was outraged that his department was facilitating this affair so had her fired but the stock could have cleaned yes thoroughly cleaned uh the affair continued however

right up to eleanor discovering the letters and having her fears confirmed. Now, full details are obscured, but arguments happened as Franklin was recovering from the flu. Eleanor said that they were going to get divorced, and Franklin agreed, it would appear. However, before things progressed down those lines, Franklin's mother Sarah and Louis Howe intervened. Eleanor was arguably closer to Sarah than her own son at this time. The two had become close, it would appear, over the years. And also, Eleanor was

very fond of Howe as well. So Sarah and Howe were able to mediate between the two. And it was fairly simple. If they got divorced, it would be ruinous for them both. The scandal would ruin any future political career for Franklin, who was by this time determined to make it to the top. However, if the two stayed together, they could achieve greater things than if they parted. They did not need to love each other. All they needed to do was tolerate each other, and they could have secure futures. So Eleanor agreed on the condition that franklin never saw lucy ever again something that he very reluctantly agreed to that would appear that he

and lucy were very much in genuine love with each other at this point as far as it can be made out they were both deeply upset that the affair had to end. But it did. Ultimately, Franklin decided to choose his political future over his mistress. No scandal came out. It was all swept under the rug, and it was years later all this was found out about. I was going to read my next question. I've not got it in my notes, but I'm fairly sure it was in the 50s, if I remember correctly. But bearing in mind I wrote these notes over a month ago, that might be wrong. Yeah, so, the year 1919

comes along, and the Roosevelt's settle into a new somewhat unhappy routine. I mean, the relationship is now one of appearances only. The war's over, though. That's nice, isn't it? Huzzah!

Wilson heads to Paris for the peace talks. Franklin and Eleanor also head over. Why not? Trip to Versailles, right? Yeah. Well, for five weeks, Franklin spends his days organising the selling off of various Navy assets. He does all right at this.

He's quite proud of his own negotiating skills, apparently. Do you think all the countries in Europe are going, we have no money, there's nothing we can buy. Yeah, pretty much. And then on the way home, there is another returning to the US on

a ship anecdote. Who knew Franklin had so many of these in his pocket? This time on the way home, they happen to be on the same ship as President Wilson. Yeah, he's returning. He's about to try and sell the idea of the League of Nations to his home country unsuccessfully. But part of the way home, Wilson directed the captain to change where they were heading in the kind of way that only a president can. Are you sure about New Zealand? It's a heck of a way. No, he wanted to suddenly head to Boston. He wanted to be in Boston quicker and figured, oh, let's just dock

there instead. I'm the president, so let's do that. Now, the captain agreed, because obviously it's the president asking him. What he didn't let on, however, the fact that he uh had no idea how to get to boston oh brilliant yeah he he didn't have the charts for the waters around boston i mean okay he could probably roughly head in the direction he knew roughly where it was on the map but he he wasn't prepared for this and if you're on a big ship and you're the captain you you need a bit of prep work i imagine i'm no seafaring man myself but i'm guessing the smallest degree you move is gonna massively spread out isn't it as well yeah yeah exactly so whereabouts in mexico did they land no no it wasn't that bad they got quite

close uh for one morning uh franklin was awoken to the sound of the ship's engines suddenly being cut off with an almighty bank. He rushed up to go and see what's going on. This didn't sound good. And he saw that the ship had nearly run aground. What's the sound of reggae? No, no, they are. Honestly, they're really close. Okay.

Yeah, so close that Franklin actually recognized one of the settlements that was disturbingly close. Not like on the distance on the horizon, more looking down and going, I recognise that cake shop. That we're going through. Yes. Yeah. So he was able to tell the captain exactly where they were and how close to Boston they were. And because of Franklin's help, the captain was able to correct the course and they managed to get there in time and everything was fine. Apparently, Wilson slept through all of this and never found out about it, which I find hard to believe, but apparently no one ever told the president. That's absolutely fantastic. I love that story.

Apparently, no one ever told the president. That's absolutely fantastic. I love that story. So there we go. Franklin helped navigate back to the US. Still, they got back home. The Red Summer started up. Hooray.

If you remember, that's when all the black people were blamed for pretty much everything. And then the Red Scare started. It was a Red themed time. The racial tension pot was stirred more than ever. The Roosevolts found themselves in the thick of it one evening, in fact. Returning home from a party, the Roosevolts suddenly heard and felt an explosion ripping through the air, coming from roughly where they lived. Panicking because their 11-year-old son was home, they rushed towards the smoke. They were horrified to see that the house opposite them, belonging to the attorney general, of course, had had the front of his house blown off. The bomber was an anarchist, and he had been blown up by his own device before he could set it properly.

So a bomb literally goes off outside their house. before he could set it properly. So a bomb literally goes off outside their house. Franklin races up the stairs to his own house to find his son James standing in a room at the window surrounded by broken glass, just staring out, looking what's going on. Just a charred, frantic hair, blend that. Hi, Father!

Apparently he was unhurt, but as you can imagine, Eleanor and Franklin, a bit put out by this. The next day, Eleanor wrote to her mother-in-law, Sarah, We are roped off. The police haven't yet allowed the gore to be wiped up, and James Glory is in every bone found. So the son went on a bit of a scavenger hunt, apparently. Fantastic.

I find the thighbone mother. The thighbone of an anarchist, look. Look, a gold tooth. I didn't know anarchists had skeletons like humans. Yeah, so that was an exciting time. Yeah. As you can imagine. Shortly after

this, an opportunity came up for Roosevelt to further his career. You'll be pleased to know. Wilson, by this point, was too ill to run again for president, even if he wanted to, or if anyone wanted him to, which they didn't. So the Democrats were looking for a ticket that could keep them in power. Now, such a ticket was being talked about. How about Hoover and Roosevelt? Hoover, the great humanitarian, the great feeder of the masses,

the energetic engineer, one of the common people made good. And then with him, Roosevelt, one of the Roosevolts, a great Roosevelt. Rich, money. You can see how they balance each other out, can't you? Yeah, of course. I mean, the name alone on a Democrat ticket would be sure to persuade some swing voters. I usually vote Republican, but Roosevelt, I'll vote for Roosevelt. Love the last one.

So, Hoover for president, Roosevelt his vice president. However, as we've seen, despite Hoover working for the Wilson administration, he ultimately decided he was more Republican than Democrat. So he publicly announced that he was going to be a Republican. The Hoover-Roosevelt ticket died before it even began. Still, he had the idea now, so he ran with it. He started letting it be known to everyone that he wanted to be the vice president. Whoever the Democratic nominee is, I will stand by them. And it's not hard to achieve. I mean, who wants to be vice president? It's not a real job.

And also, what Roosevelt brought to the ticket was just as true, whether he ran with Hoover, than anyone else. His name was always going to be his name. So, when Cox was nominated, Roosevelt found himself as the vice president nominee against Harding and Corlidge. But, as we've seen, this was the year that the Democrats were utterly wiped out. Franklin took it in his side, however. He later claimed that if he'd not run for vice president in 1920,

he would not have been able to run as president in 32. That's probably true, his experience. Yeah, exactly. But he did see the writing on his wall for his political career in the short term. He was convinced that the Republicans had such a strong hold that it would take, I don't know, some kind of economic catastrophe to unseat them. Well, that's not going to happen. They live in the golden age.

So in the meantime, let's get a job on Wall Street, he thought. I mean, why not with all that experience? So what do you think he's going to be able to do on wall street well he's quite good at convincing people it sounds like it's quite persuasive so imagine selling and buying close he was handed the job of vice president for the fidelity and deposit company a very exciting sounding company um his job was to turn up for a few hours a week and uh whilst he was there, to have the name Roosevelt. Splendid.

So you get an office with the name Roosevelt on the front. Oh, definitely, because Roosevelt works there. Nice. Of course. He would also use his connections to open up business opportunities, shall we say. Right. In return, he would be given a salary five times which he had been earning in the Navy Department. he would be given a salary five times which he had been earning in the navy department so lots of money for uh making some connections scratching some backs and generally being a

roosevelt to add to prestige yeah very much so in the time he was not at work uh he taught the state he made speeches he attended parties he charities, he generally prepared his inevitable comeback into politics. This was always a planned retreat, it wasn't a giving up on politics, he just realised now wasn't the right time. So he starts building up his base amongst those people who matter, essentially. And he's in the middle of doing this, then one morning he woke up and he didn't feel very well. He stood up and his leg buckled under him slightly. So he tried again, and this time both his legs went. So he dragged himself back to the bed.

Eleanor took his temperature and realized he had a bit of a fever. Yeah, he was in quite a bad way. Started seeing pink unicorns and everything. Oh, no. Yeah, the doctor was cold, who was a pink unicorn. It just so happened that the very discreet doctor who would secretly remove Cleveland's mouth tumour was nearby. You remember that on the boat? Yes, the whole jaw thing. Yeah, yeah. The doctor who did that happened to be nearby, so he was called for. He deserves a medal. Well, exactly. Steady hands.

Fantastic doctor. Maybe not. Brilliant doctor. He's 84 years old. But fantastic doctor. Experienced. Turns out, though, that although he was excellent at secretly removing tumours on a boat, leaving no scars, he was not an expert on orthopaedics. He stated that it was probably a blood clot in the spine. It might take months to recover. Meanwhile, Franklin was getting worse. Then paralysis took over, spreading up his body.

That sort of makes sense why it's in the spine. Yeah, yeah. It got to the point that he was paralysed below the chest and his thumbs were starting to be affected. He was starting to lose his arms as well. Howe decided, you know what, we need another doctor here. I'm not convinced by this octogenarian. Let's see if we can get someone a bit younger. And another doctor was

called, hoping to stem the growing panic that Roosevelt was feeling. So using the family connections, the professor of orthopaedics at Harvard was contacted with a list of symptoms. The news soon came back. It was almost certainly infantile paralysis, also known as polio. Ooh. Yeah. That's not good. Good news, there's a vaccine for polio. It's not good when you've already got it.

Yeah, it's also not good when that vaccine won't be invented for another 30-odd years either. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. Still, apparently there's only been 33 cases in 2018, so that vaccine's done a good job. Well done, polio vaccine. That's why we don't have people in iron lungs.

Yeah, yeah, it's almost completely eradicated, polio is. I went down a bit of a rabbit hole that I won't go down and go into now, especially since it was a month ago. But yeah, we've almost got rid of polio, Jamie. Isn't that good? It is good, yeah. See, vaccinations work. Yeah, of polio jamie isn't that good it is good yeah see vaccinations work yeah it's a vaccination so a good thing um yeah so um i mean as great as the

vaccine for polio is uh like i say it didn't exist and it wouldn't for another 30 years yeah so no good for franklin and his family well wouldn't have made any difference anyway he's already got it apparently he'd received the news calmly when he was told he had polio. He apparently was the type of person who went very quiet when getting bad news. So he just very quietly accepted the fact.

After a cigar in his best jacket. However, over the next few days, still unable to move, and in his bed, he became very distressed. He was like, am I about to die i'm about to be paralyzed for the rest of my life what's happening here paralyzes your lungs isn't it it can do yeah i mean it can do nasty nasty things uh it was decided to take him to a hospital in new york uh put under the care of an old harvard classmate a private railway car was hired to transport him out of the eyes of

any press keep it out the papers i so did they have to build like a railway track next to his house no they didn't go quite that far this time so i'd be impressive that would be impressive i still can't believe that actually happened that is insane uh still the press of course did figure out something was wrong. Parts of the story was leaked, and eventually they put things together. It was reported he had polio, but it was very mild, and he would make a full recovery. Roosevelt read this in the paper at the time, and apparently was much cheered. Brilliant. Well, according to one of the books that I was reading, he was in a very bleak mood, and he believed that the doctors were lying to him about his chances of recovery,

just to keep his spirits up. He was convinced that this was going to finish him off. But apparently, when he read this in the paper, it genuinely cheered him up. I'll quote, Now I've seen the same statement officially made in the New York Times. I feel immensely relieved, because I now know, of course, that it is true. Now, like I say, where I read it, it acted as if this was a genuine statement, but that sounds like sarcasm to me. Definitely does, but who knows. His condition was not getting better, however,

as much as the newspapers reported it. The doctors started to believe that a full recovery was not actually going to be possible. For the following month, there were some signs of recovery, but it was painfully slow. His arm and back muscles started to regain their function. The signs of this recovery, Roosevelt's mood soared. He started to believe he would get out of the woods. Another month passed, and he was returned home. He was able to pull himself upright using a strap, and he was able to, with help, load himself into a wheelchair. So still very much paralysed from the waist down at this point. But he threw himself into an exercise regime that was set up in the hope that the rest of his body would start to function once more.

It was very slow, incredibly painful work, but every day he would exercise using a board that he cheerfully referred to as the morgue, because it was just a big slab and he had to do his exercises on it. His children recall that that year their Christmas was actually a very joyful one, and in later life remarked how their father was able to make it seem like everything was just fine. So he seemed to, although have some times of despair, put a brave face on it for at least his children. Howe moved into the house full-time, and him and Eleanor became very close whilst looking after Franklin. Doesn't say how close, but apparently they were close. A rope and poly system that was already attached to the house to move heavy furniture, to get things

like pianos and wardrobes up to the top floor and stuff. This rope and poly system was rejigged a bit and became an elevator for Franklin to use in his chair. They thought about making it electronic, but Roosevelt just... Oh no, not at all. Roosevelt feared that it would break and he'd be stuck, so he just used the ropes himself and just winched his way around. Meanwhile, Howe went to work for Roosevelt. The Wall Street company that Roosevelt worked for made it clear to Franklin, it's fine, you can still work. You don't need to be personally present to do your job.

The very fact that you exist and you're called Roosevelt is enough for you to do your job. Don't worry. Maybe write a letter or two to a certain friend or two to make sure some contacts happen. More than enough. And anything that did need to be done in person, then just send Hal into the office and he can deal with it. So he's still able to get his huge salary for his job, which was a huge relief. Sarah felt that her son should retire from public life, however, at this point.

Just enjoy your life of luxury, son, was her message. You don't need to do any of this. We have enough money. So just retire. Relax. You've gone through a lot. And this option was definitely there for him if he wanted to take it. But how and Eleanor were determined. Both their futures were completely invested in Franklin's. And all three of them wanted to see him go all the way. So no one was suggesting that he stop his dream of trying to become the president. Although one day doubt did get the better of Eleanor. And she asked how, do you really believe Franklin has a political future?

Howe apparently replied, I think he will be president. So if they weren't talking about it before this time, they certainly are by this point. Right. In March the following year, he had steel braces attached to his legs. He'd spent seven months in bed by this point. He found them all but impossible to use. But again, still determined. He still continued to practice with them.

It started to look like he was going to get movement back to everything above the knee. But below that seemed to be on hope. Completely died. It was in October 1922, 15 whole months after the first attack, that he finally felt that he was able to go into the office once more. Wow. Yeah, this serious illness. He was driven up to the front door of the office,

and he, with the help of his chauffeur, started to make his way on his crutches across the marble lobby in a very slow and stilted movement. This wore him out a lot. He found this very difficult, so much so in fact that halfway across his leg slipped and he crashed to the marble floor. Horrified onlookers watched as the chauffeur awkwardly helped him up, but he was determined and eventually he made it to his office. It was time to get his life back. But after one journey into the office, he realized that something's got to change.

He can't just go back to how it was. Yeah. He's got to adapt. So he left his job at Fidelity and Deposit Company. I'm still blown away at how exciting that is for the name of a company. He and a young man who also worked for the company left and set up a law firm together. This firm was called Roosevelt and O'Connor. The work was divided equally between them. When I say equally, what I mean is Roosevelt would be the front man and O'Connor would actually do all the work.

Yeah. Yeah. Junior partner. And then with the idea that he was on the road to recovery put out there amongst the political circles, he then spent a lot of time in the south where the climate was better. He purchased a houseboat and he went to go and live on the water. Nice and relaxing. Not a huge, I looked up some pictures of it, I was expecting like a huge sort of paddle boat thing that he got, but no, no, it was a fairly large boat. He was comfortable on it. But yeah, don't think mansion on the water. No, okay. Off he went, and with him went Missy Lahand. What?

This was Missy Lahand. This is one of Roosevelt's secretaries. Right. She had worked for the Roosevelts for the last three years. Sorry, this sounds like a James Bond name. It really does, doesn't it? Hey, Missy Lahand. Well, again, we don't get all the details

here, but it would appear that Missy and Roosevelt got to know each other fairly well. From 1925 to 1928, Roosevelt spent 116 of the 208 weeks away from home to improve his health. Now, Eleanor was with him for four of those 116 weeks, and Missy, 110. Gives you a sense of who he was spending his time with. You certainly get the impression she was the most important person in his life. Even if they weren't getting to know each other, they certainly were close. But it wasn't all fun on the boat. Roosevelt suffered from depression, often staying in bed till noon. He was really struggling with the fact that he tried to get his life back up and working again, but it just wasn't the same. But once he was up, apparently he put a brave face on things most days and appeared calm and relaxed to the frequent

visitors who would come on board. Much to Roosevelt's disappointment, however, his boathouse was destroyed in a hurricane one day. Unfortunately, not when he was on it. He's good at saying that. But never mind. It's fine. He doesn't need his boat anymore. A few years had gone by, by the way. He spent a few years pretty much living on this boat. This wasn't a short trip. And he decided at the end that he was going to start getting back into politics. Let's get this career back up and running again. Now, at this point, the Democrats were split. McAdoo, remember McAdoo?

McAdoo. That's the one. He had support of the ever-rising rural conservative Ku Klux Klan wing of the party, of the Democrats. Ah, he's the c***. Yes. And his opponent, Smith, had support of the progressive wing. Now, Smith contacted Roosevelt and asked if he wanted to chair his campaign in the primaries.

Do you want to run my campaign for me, Roosevelt? Roosevelt was very tempted by this. This sounds good. Good way to get back into the political life, get his name out there again. But was he physically up to the job? It pained him to admit it, but he didn't think he was. How on earth could he possibly do this? So he told those that needed to know that I'd love to, but I just can't. I won't be able to do what you need me to do. The reply came, don't worry about that. You've still got your name and your name works very well. We can work around the paralysis.

Be a Roosevelt running my campaign. That's quite saddering because it's like the only thing good about you is your name. Yeah. You can see it that way, certainly. But at least he's got that. A lot of people in his position at this time didn't. That's very true. Yeah.

So Roosevelt starts working and organising the campaign. He had his work cut out for him. After all, McAdoo was an obviously corrupt racist with strong support from the Ku Klux Klan, whereas Smith was a Catholic. So obviously this made it a very hard choice for most of the Democrat party at the time, apparently. Of course. Yeah. Then Roosevelt was asked to give the nomination speech for Smith at the convention. Now, this was going to be tough. This meant walking up to a podium and giving a speech in front of the entire Democratic Party. If he messes this up, I mean, his political future is pretty much gone. These are the people he needs to be impressing.

He cannot appear weak in front of these people. So he's got to be walking, as horrible as I used to say. Well, come the convention, every single day Franklin arrived earlier than everyone else and left pretty much after everyone else. That way, he could be helped to his seat with very few witnesses. His son, James, remember the one who was almost blown up? Yeah.

Yeah, he's much older now. He's a young adult now. So he was there to guide his father to the chair and help him sit. However, if Roosevelt was worried he was going to look weak, it turns out he didn't need to worry. The delegates from across the country actually saw Roosevelt's battle with polio far more of a sign of strength, that

Roosevelt refused to give in. Yeah, he got polio, but it's not going to stop him. It got to the point where he was applauded as he entered the room every single day, and as he made his way slowly down the aisle, anyone who was there would clap him as he went. Ah.

Yeah. Okay. So as he struggled on his crutches, with James literally holding him up as they went, it was to thunderous applause, or at least scattering of applause, because they were trying to do it with few witnesses, but still positive.

But then came the day of the speech itself. At this point, it became a bit more dangerous for Roosevelt because he was going to have to cross the stage on his own. It wouldn't look good having someone holding him. He wanted to do it himself. He was helped on the stage, but he pulled himself essentially across a large stage up to the podium using his crutches. At last, eventually, sweating and swaying,

he managed to grasp hold of the podium. He then paused and smiled at the audience. Obviously, if you can easily imagine this, the whole room, hundreds of people watching, cringing as this man is slowly trying to get to the podium, holding their breath. So when Roosevelt manages to get to the podium and lets out a smile, everyone ro holding their breath. So when Roosevelt manages to get to the podium and lets out a smile,

everyone roared their approval. A standing ovation that lasted three minutes occurred simply for him getting to the podium. Now, it didn't matter what he said after that. He could have said anything. The speech was going to be a success. The Democrats had their own fighting Roosevelt. They had a man that they would support. speech was going to be a success the democrats had their own fighting roosevelt yeah they had

a man that they would support and that is where we're going to leave episode one oh so there we go yeah so that's franklin roosevelt do you think so far he's determined yeah which is kind of surprising considering the massive golden spoon shoved into his mouth since birth. Yeah. Yeah, that's interesting. So he's determined and he wants to achieve. He's ambitious. Yeah, yeah.

I got the impression that before the polio you were not too impressed. Not... I didn't dislike him. Just thinking, like, oh, it's a bit sad that he's given everything. But actually, he's literally... Well, he's not... No, he's not not at all but he's had a lot taken away yeah i found during the research he seems pretty much a bit of a blank slate yeah before the polio and it's that point you see a bit of character about him the no no i'm not going to give in actually before that he just seems to just go from one post to the other he's like a waffle he waffles through life and then now he's become like a a wooden door wedge he's gonna wedge my

way and there was some sort of analogy in there yeah no i i liked it it petered out after the waffle you you started strong yeah you said waffle i'm sorry. Waffle's a good word. Yeah, it is. So there you go. That is Roosevelt up to this point. Now, what I'm hoping, although this, who knows whether this will work, the plan is the next episode will take us up to the start of World War II. So we will see him become president and then see him deal with the Great Depression.

so we will see him become president and then see him deal with the Great Depression, and then the episode part three will be dealing with World War II and what's going on there. Because there'll be an election halfway through World War II. Yeah, so we'll have plenty to talk about, I am sure, and that will be how he gets his three episodes, so that is the plan,

but I'll be honest, I don't know when this episode's going to be released, because everything's so up in the air at the moment. I don't know when we're going to get the next episode released. But I do know in theory, I should have moved house by mid-February. So moved, set in, get internet up and running, myself sorted i'm hoping we will be back on normal schedule definitely by the start of march uh yeah yeah um but hopefully maybe squeeze a couple of episodes in before then we'll see how it goes but that's that's as much as i can say at the moment for the schedule unfortunately okay right well that's the end of this episode. Thank you very much for listening.

I hope everyone is staying safe out there. Yeah, and please literally do stay safe. It's not a good virus going around at the moment. And don't forget you can download some Popbean and iTunes and follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Yeah, okay. And until next time. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye.

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