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Ken Burns: The Roosevelts - An Intimate History

2014
5.0
5 reviews
14+
Rating
Eligible

Season 1 episodes (9)

1 Get Action
9/14/14
From PBS and Ken Burns - A frail, asthmatic young Theodore Roosevelt transforms himself into a vigorous champion of the strenuous life, loses one great love and finds another, leads men into battle and then rises like a rocket to become the youngest president in American history at 42. Meanwhile, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, brought up as the pampered only child of adoring parents, follows his older cousin’s career with worshipful fascination and begins to think he might one day follow in his footsteps.
2 In the Arena
9/15/14
From PBS and Ken Burns - Murder brings Theodore Roosevelt to the presidency, but in the seven years that follow, he transforms the office and makes himself perhaps the best-loved of all the men who ever lived in the White House — battling corporate greed and building the Panama Canal, preserving American wilderness, carrying the message of American might around the world. FDR courts and weds Eleanor Roosevelt, the shy orphaned daughter of Theodore’s alcoholic brother, Elliott. Together, they begin a family. Franklin enters a law firm, but when he is offered a chance to run for the New York state senate, he jumps at the chance.
3 The Fire of Life
9/16/14
From PBS and Ken Burns - Theodore Roosevelt leads a Progressive crusade that splits his own party, undertakes a deadly expedition into the South American jungle, campaigns for American entry into World War I — and pays a terrible personal price. Franklin masters wartime Washington as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, while Eleanor finds personal salvation in war work. Her discovery of Franklin’s romance with another woman transforms their marriage into a largely political partnership. TR’s death at 60 is almost universally mourned, but provides Franklin with a golden opportunity.
4 The Storm
9/17/14
From PBS and Ken Burns - Franklin Roosevelt runs for vice president in 1920 and seems assured of a still brighter future until polio devastates him the following summer. He spends seven years struggling without success to walk again, while Eleanor builds a personal and political life of her own. FDR returns to politics in 1928 and, as governor of New York, acts with such vigor and imagination during the first years of the Great Depression that the Democrats turn to him as their presidential nominee in 1932. He survives an attempted assassination as president-elect and at his inauguration tells his frightened countrymen the only thing they have to fear is “fear itself.”
5 The Rising Road
9/18/14
From PBS and Ken Burns - FDR brings the same optimism and energy to the White House that his cousin Theodore displayed. Aimed at ending the Depression, his sweeping New Deal restores the people’s self-confidence and transforms the relationship between them and their government. Eleanor rejects the traditional role of first lady, becomes her husband’s liberal conscience and a sometimes controversial political force in her own right. As the decade ends, FDR faces two grave questions: whether to run for an unprecedented third term and how to deal with the rise of Hitler.
6 The Common Cause
9/19/14
From PBS and Ken Burns - FDR shatters the third-term tradition, struggles to prepare a reluctant country to enter World War II and, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, helps set the course toward Allied victory. Meanwhile, Eleanor struggles to keep New Deal reforms alive in wartime and travels the Pacific to comfort wounded servicemen. Diagnosed with congestive heart failure in 1943 and with the war still raging, FDR resolves to conceal his condition and run for a fourth term.
7 A Strong and Active Faith
9/20/14
From PBS and Ken Burns - Frail and failing but determined to see the war through to victory, FDR wins re-election and begins planning for a peaceful postwar world, but a cerebral hemorrhage kills him at 63. After her husband’s death, Eleanor Roosevelt proves herself a shrewd politician and a skilled negotiator in her own right, as well as a champion of civil rights, civil liberties and the United Nations. When she dies in 1962, she is mourned everywhere as the First Lady of the World.
101 PBS Preview: The Roosevelts
9/1/14
From PBS - Sample the Ken Burns documentary THE ROOSEVELTS: AN INTIMATE HISTORY in this exclusive PBS Preview. This behind-the-scenes bonus looks at the seven-part series, as filmmaker Burns describes how he brings the story of Theodore, Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt to life. Follow the camera crews into the grand estates and intimate cottages of the Roosevelts. Visit the studio as Burns records the voices of the stars who read the diaries, letters and contemporary accounts of this noteworthy family. And see clips from the monumental series that traces more than a century of life with, as Burns calls them, “the most influential family in American history.”
102 Model T Recreation
9/8/14
From PBS and Ken Burns - An exclusive bonus feature from THE ROOSEVELTS: AN INTIMATE HISTORY, 'Franklin's Freedom.' See how film makers recreate FDR's innovative method of driving his Model T Ford.

About this show

From PBS and Ken Burns - The Roosevelts: An Intimate History chronicles the lives of Theodore, Franklin, and Eleanor Roosevelt, three members of the most prominent and influential family in American politics. It is the first time in a major documentary television series that their individual stories have been interwoven into a single narrative. This seven-part, 14 hour film follows the Roosevelts for more than a century, from Theodore’s birth in 1858 to Eleanor’s death in 1962. Over the course of those years, Theodore would become the 26th President of the United States and his beloved niece, Eleanor, would marry his fifth cousin, Franklin, who became the 32nd President of the United States. Together, these three individuals not only redefined the relationship Americans had with their government and with each other, but also redefined the role of the United States within the wider world. The series encompasses the history the Roosevelts helped to shape: the creation of National Parks, the digging of the Panama Canal, the passage of innovative New Deal programs, the defeat of Hitler, and the postwar struggles for civil rights at home and human rights abroad. It is also an intimate human story about love, betrayal, family loyalty, personal courage, and the conquest of fear.

Ratings and reviews

5.0
5 reviews
Konrad Mutschel
February 26, 2020
This documentary is a MUST watch for all americans and lovers of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Such a powerful film that it beings tears to my eyes seeing how much that family shaped america and the world, and im not even american!
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Boyan Kovic
January 4, 2017
Great history lesson and story about an incredible American family and legacy. When it was on Netflix I watched the entire series twice it was that good!
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