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NEWS ABOUT: Franklin D. Roosevelt

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Bill Murray to Play FDR

Actor set to star in Hyde Park On the Hudson

(Newser) - Bill Murray—presumably in serious mode—has been tapped to play Franklin Delano Roosevelt, sources tell New York . Murray is set to take on the role in Morning Glory director Roger Mitchell's adaptation of British radio play Hyde Park On the Hudson. The movie, set during the weekend in 1939... More »

Obama 15th-Best President, Scholars Say

George W. Bush, meanwhile, finishes not quite last

(Newser) - Two years in, Barack Obama looks like a pretty good president to the nation’s top presidential scholars. The 44th president came in 15th on the all-time list, two spots behind Bill Clinton and three ahead of Ronald Reagan, in a Siena College Research Institute Poll, the New York Daily ... More »

Latest ‘Miss Me Yet' Billboard: Jimmy Carter

'We need a good laugh after the theft of our liberty'

(Newser) - Following on the heels of the mysterious billboard with a photo of George W. Bush and the caption “Miss Me Yet?”, a blog unfriendly to President Obama’s expansive spending—and his health-reform plan, in particular—is claiming credit for a new one, this featuring Jimmy Carter. “We... More »

Obama Needs a Louder Left

Without a strong progressive movement, country won't shift leftward

(Newser) - If Barack Obama wants to be a transformational progressive president like Lyndon Johnson or FDR, he’s going to need a strong liberal movement in the streets. “Every Democratic president since Johnson has raised the hope that he would bring with him a new era of progressive reform,”... More »

Cancer May Have Killed FDR

Possible deception in 1944 election raises lots of what-if questions

(Newser) - Speculating about Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s real cause of death has been a popular sport for years, and now two authors have a provocative theory: brain cancer. The shifting opinions are well documented: FDR’s own doctor, who at first likened the deadly brain hemorrhage to a “bolt of... More »

Top US Political Dynasties

Kennedys, Rockefellers, and Harrisons sit at the top, while newer Bushes rank 6th

(Newser) - The Constitution states "no title of nobility shall be granted by the United States," but political dynasties are "as American as apple pie," writes Stephen Hess, who ranks America's top political families in the Washington Post. With one president, three senators, four reps, and a cabinet... More »

Learn From FDR, Obama, and Show Some Backbone

Roosevelt biographer says president needs to block out GOP

(Newser) - As President Obama prepares to pull away from a public health care option, it shows not just that he's giving in to his opponents, writes Jean Edward Smith; worse, it "suggests that the Democratic Party has forgotten how to govern." In an op-ed for the New York Times,... More »

Obama, Be Like FDR and Talk to Us

(Newser) - President Obama should man up and talk straight to the American people about health care reform—just like FDR did when trying to pass Social Security, Nancy J. Altman writes in the Los Angeles Times. Roosevelt succeeded with that program against similar odds—opponents cried “socialism” and said it... More »

On Financial Reforms, Obama Is No FDR

Proposed regulatory fixes don't actually fix much: Nocera

(Newser) - President Obama is hardly living up to the hype on fiscal regulatory reform, and he's not matching Franklin Roosevelt, either. When FDR reformed financial regulation, he transformed the industry, cheerfully making enemies in the process. Obama has been timid by comparison, writes Joe Nocera of the New York Times: “... More »

Bush's Failures Show the Need for Pragmatic Prez

Like Hoover, Dubya stuck to his principles rather than compromise

(Newser) - What exactly made George W. Bush such a terrible president? His unwavering commitment to his principles, Alan Brinkley argues in the New Republic. Most Americans favor idealists over realists, in theory, so the criticism might seem strange. But the presidents we remember for their lofty goals and convictions—such as... More »

FDR 'Prolonged' the Depression? Come On

(Newser) - Fox News left one pundit scrambling for his history books last week after he dared to defend the New Deal. Supporting Congressional talk of a stimulus plan, David Sirota sat "mouth agape, deer in the headlights" as a commentator accused FDR's plan of prolonging the Great Depression. Sirota disagreed,... More »

Obama Must Be a Goo-Goo: Krugman

That's a good-government wonk, much like FDR

(Newser) - Bill Clinton once declared that “the era of big government is over.” Barack Obama can’t do that, writes Paul Krugman of the New York Times. “Indeed, he has to be a goo-goo.” Goo-goo being a century-old term for “good government” proponents. FDR, for example,... More »

Forget the Deficit: Spend, Spend, Spend!

We need massive fiscal expansion, not budget restraint: Krugman

(Newser) - As the incoming administration prepares a massive fiscal stimulus to jolt America's floundering economy back to life, some are worrying about what billions in spending will do to the budget deficit. On the contrary, writes Paul Krugman in the New York Times: Deficit spending now will help, not harm, the... More »

You'll Need FDR's Optimism to Save Us, Obama

Obama needs to emulate Roosevelt's optimism in the face of deep crisis

(Newser) - Barack Obama keeps saying he wants to emulate Abraham Lincoln but he’s lucky that he more closely resembles Franklin D. Roosevelt, Richard Cohen writes in the Washington Post. Lincoln faced the massive challenge of reuniting the Union but knew just how to do it, while FDR, like Obama, confronted... More »

New Deal a Good Example, But Not Perfect

Obama must have 'audacity' FDR lacked

(Newser) - With the economy on the rocks, the New Deal is a hot topic. But FDR’s master plan almost failed, Paul Krugman writes in the New York Times, because "his economic policies were too cautious." In the end, "what saved the economy, and the New Deal, was... More »

Can Obama Be the New FDR?

Nation needs Roosevelt's action, inspiration

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s call yesterday to “act swiftly” to address the economic crisis clearly echoed Franklin Roosevelt’s inaugural address during the Depression: “action, and action now.” But while Obama's “crisp competence” was welcome, he wasn't particularly inspirational, and, Joe Nocera writes in the New York ... More »

The Civil War Ended Last Night; Time for Reconstruction

Already a historic prez, Obama can be great

(Newser) - The American Civil War finally ended last night, writes Thomas Friedman in the New York Times. The struggle that began at Bull Run was brought to a close when white America elected a black American president—the ‘Bradley effect” trumped by the “Buffett effect” of rich whites secretly... More »

Ranking the Dads-in-Chief

Carter among the best, FDR one of the worst

(Newser) - Enough with debates on Sarah Palin being a mommy and a vice president. A look at the best and worst fathers-in-chief, as compiled by Madeline Holler for Babble, starting with the worst:
  • Thomas Jefferson only acknowledged (the white) half of the "kajillion kids" he had.
  • FDR might have saved
... More »

Obama's First 100: Channel FDR, Avoid Clinton Foibles

Democrats hoping for 'new New Deal,' but financial crisis will be drag on any efforts

(Newser) - Up big in the polls with Election Day fast approaching, “a lot of people around Barack are reading books about FDR’s first 100 days,” one Obama insider tells New York. Aides have gone beyond simply planning his White House transition; they’ve drafted a book-length administration blueprint,... More »

Running for Prez? How's Your Health?

Unlike JFK, Mac and Obama must reveal medical woes

(Newser) - John F. Kennedy, the standard-bearer of youthful Camelot and the picture of presidential health, suffered from a litany of ailments including osteoporosis, back pain, and Addison’s disease, Robert Dallek writes in the New York Times. But the president’s loyalists buried the secrets for 40 years, prompting Dallek to... More »

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