DESCRIPTION:
(from PBS's press release, July 2014) Ken Burns's upcoming film, THE ROOSEVELTS: AN INTIMATE HISTORY, marks the first time the Roosevelts' individual stories have been woven into a single narrative, following the family's story 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 her fifth cousin, Franklin, who became the 32nd president. Together, they redefined the relationship Americans had with their government and with each other, and redefined, as well, the role of the United States within the wider world. The first 2-hour episode will premiere on PBS stations, Sunday, September 14th (8:00 p.m. ET) and the entire series can be streamed on station websites and PBS station branded digital sites beginning the day after the broadcast premiere. THE ROOSEVELTS is written by long-time Burns collaborator Geoffrey C. Ward, who is an authority on Franklin Roosevelt. The author of two biographical volumes, A First-Class Temperament and Before the Trumpet, he is also the editor of Closest Companion, which revealed for the first time Roosevelt's close friendship with his distant cousin, Daisy Suckley. Ward's interest in FDR grew in part from the fact that he, like FDR, is a polio survivor. |
