Posted on 09/13/2014 8:10:16 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
Let’s start with the end. When it’s over — when you make it through the marathon that is Ken Burns’s beautiful, seven-part documentary “The Roosevelts: An Intimate History,” which begins Sunday night on PBS — you may find yourself with a lingering, nebulous grief. You’re sorry it’s over. You’re sorry they’re over. You’re sorry a certain expression of American ideals is, or often appears to be, completely over.
My study habits haven’t improved since college; like an idiot, I put off watching all 14 hours of “The Roosevelts” until I absolutely had to watch them on a deadline binge this week. Yes, the entire series sat on my desk for most of the summer, while there was still plenty of time to savor it. When I emerged from my office for a break, midway through the amplified noise of World War I, a co-worker reminded me (spoiler alert) that all of the major players eventually die, so why bother watching the whole thing? Why not skip ahead or skim through most of it?
Because I was absorbed. Within the first hour, “The Roosevelts” will probably have you hooked in a way that Burns and his collaborators haven’t quite achieved since 2007’s “The War.” Unlike the intimidating climb offered by “National Parks” or “Prohibition,” you easily glide through “The Roosevelts’ ” sublimely constructed narrative arc. The series is among Burns’s best works.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Wallace was pretty far left and was supported in his campaign for President by the Communist Party.
It’s not accurate to say he was “an open Communist,” though it is of course possible he was a secret one.
* facepalm *
One minor correction to your fine statement, 2DV. It is “gibsmedat,” not “gibmedats.”
Imagine, though, how TR would deal with ISIS.
I met James (Jimmy) Roosevelt, FDR’s son, many years ago. He offered his condolences when he learned I was a Republican.
A lot of folks would be in for quite a shock if the did a little look see in to some of the upper crust that whole heartedly supported eugenics and why.
Good points. The first one is especially important. FDR let his generals run the war, and did not interfere with operations. I wonder how Vietnam would have turned out had LBJ done the same.
And FDR knew who the enemy was, and went all-in for total victory. We haven't seen that kind of thinking since 1945.
I met Jimmy Roosevelt at the old Los Angeles Press Club in 1986. I was with a conservative activist group that was giving a press conference, and he was doing one for some liberal cause.
The fabian socialists all had grand plans for eliminating whole segments of the population they saw as “problematic” to their utopian ideals.
George Bernard Shaw wanted to literally put people on trial to justify their existence. The scumbag blamed the victims of communism for leaving communists with no recourse other than to exterminate their opposition.
Well, Hank Stuever, you can always HOPE that PBS will do a week long marathon on “Camelot”.
Perhaps they might even do a “Documentary” on the Warren Commission Report...
The FULL report...
NO redactions!
Careful now, you are turning blue..DON’T HOLD YOUR BREATH!
And he was a great orator, reciting words written by others, like the current pResident.
He (Jimmy Roosevelt) smiled and was very congenial, have to say that.
Most people aren’t aware of the political coalitions that kept FDR in office for 4 elections instead of just his first two, it is the same political breakdown as today, and why the 1965 Immigration Act was passed.
“You mean Ken Burn’s DEPRESSING. Everything he touches - even baseball - makes you want to jump off a bridge. “
He is a great documentary movie-maker.
But I know what you mean. He imparts a solemnity to everything that does border on depressing.
That was also my experience.
He’s got a little on his chin.
To say nothing of that growing wet stain on his chinos.
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