HIST2071: FDR's America

This course investigates of the life, career, and times of Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945), the 32nd U.S. president (1933-1945). Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin asserts the Roosevelt years “witnessed the most profound social revolution in the country since the Civil War -- nothing less than the creation of modern America." Indeed, by the time of FDR’s death, he had led the United States out of the Great Depression, paved the way for defeat of the Axis powers in World War II, and transformed America into a global superpower. Revered by everyday Americans as “the common man’s president” and scorned by elites as a traitor to his class, FDR was unquestionably one of history’s most consequential American leaders. A hugely talented, complex, controversial, and colorful political figure, he was also the only U.S. president to serve four terms in office and the country’s first physically disabled chief of state.

FDR and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), whose human rights advocacy earned her the moniker “First Lady of the World,” are superlative vehicles for examining critical developments in American history. Their lives and times bring into sharp relief the dynamism of the American public arena including the themes of ethnicity, race, and religion, health and welfare, disability and rehabilitation, women, gender, and sexuality, and more.

The main themes of the class are covered through a series of presentations, discussions, group activities, reading and writing assignments, work with primary sources and archival documents, occasional guest speakers, and local field trips. Each student will have the opportunity to conduct independent research using records housed at the UC Special Collections Department, the Cincinnati History Library and Archives (Cincinnati, OH), the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives (Cincinnati, OH), the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum (Columbus, OH), and the FDR Presidential Library and Museum (Hyde Park, NY).