FDR: The Making of the American Century
Jeremi Suri holds the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a professor in the University’s Department of History and the LBJ School of Public Affairs. A popular public lecturer and frequent news commentator, his writings appear in The New York Times, the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, CNN.com, The Atlantic, Newsweek, Time, and other media. Professor Suri has received the President’s Associates Teaching Excellence Award from the University of Texas and the Pro Bene Meritis Award for Contributions to the Liberal Arts. Professor Suri hosts the weekly podcast, “This is Democracy,” and is the author and editor of eleven books, including: The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America’s Highest Office; Liberty’s Surest Guardian: American Nation-Building from the Founders to Obama; and Henry Kissinger and the American Century. His most recent book is entitled: Civil War by Other Means: America’s Long and Unfinished Fight for Democracy.
Overview
This lecture will examine the transformational presidency of Franklin Roosevelt. How did this scion of America’s elite inspire hope in millions of suffering citizens during the Great Depression? How did he re-design the purposes and expectations of American government through the New Deal?
The lecture will show how domestic policy was connected to foreign policy, particularly President Roosevelt’s successful efforts to defeat fascism and re-make the international order. The lecture will investigate President Roosevelt’s ideas, his leadership style, and his legacies for contemporary American domestic and foreign policy.