“Serendipity” is the English word for fortuitous coincidences, which Hindu philosophy elevates to a divine level with its concept of “kismat,” a pre-ordained, god-bestowed lucky coming together of things. When a member of President Franklin Roosevelt’s family comes to the historic site maintained in his honor to speak of how a president dealt with hard economic times and how his grandkids dealt with living in the fishbowl of the White House at the very moment that a new president with small children is about to take office amidst a world financial crisis, one is tempted to agree with the Indians, that sometimes things fit together so well that there must be something cosmic going on.
And no one who was part of the overflow crowd that turned out to hear FDR’s grandson Curtis Roosevelt speak about his new memoir about growing up presidential, “Too Close To The Sun,” at the Wallace Center of the FDR Home and Library on Sunday, Nov. 9 would have doubted it – starting with Roosevelt himself.
“Well, I’m pleased with myself,” he opened his talk in a bantering vein. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Not perhaps, for one of his talks, but he grew up experiencing one enthusiastic crowd after another as the First Grandson after his parents’ divorce led Franklin and Eleanor to take him in along with his sister, also named Eleanor.
And he wasted no time in addressing the issue of what is in store for Malia and Natasha Obama as they follow in the Roosevelt siblings’ footsteps at the White House.
“It’s misleading to think that my title ‘Too Close To The Sun’ refers only to me and my sister,” Roosevelt said. “Everyone in the White House lives too close to the sun, in every administration. There is in the atmosphere surrounding the presidency a kind of ether, which infects everyone.”
And often negatively, according to his book. He writes of an upbringing so highly organized, controlled and privileged that someone would run up and pick up something if he dropped it, a rearing which was so spoiled that it impeded his development of self-confidence and ambition for a long time. Not permanently, however; Roosevelt went on to become the leader of the section of the United Nations Secretariat that dealt with non-governmental organizations (NGO’s), and then a published author.
But he didn’t dwell on negatives as he rose to the occasion of addressing an audience which, like the country, has a new interest in FDR born of harsh necessity.
“We want another FDR,” he said to enormous applause. “For all the criticism of him, you wouldn’t be able to say that if he didn’t have an effective approach to problem solving, if he didn’t get things done. FDR used his mind in a different way than we normally train people to think in college. He used his mind in very imaginative ways – you might call it eclectic, or lateral thinking. He happens to have been a poor administrator, but he left that to others. What you got from him were powerful ideas.”
And the late president needed such mental dexterity, if only to overcome the tragedy of the polio that left him a cripple.
“I ask you to empathize with someone whose whole life was dedicated to seeking the presidency, and then to have that happen. He had this incredible sense of humor – he could make anything funny. I think that’s how he stayed alive. But he didn’t want people’s sympathy. He grew up in an age when you didn’t speak of your illnesses – you suffered in silence. His suffering taught him patience. It taught him to live with defeat. And for the American people to have elected a cripple president four times in a row, well, I think it speaks well of us.”
Drawing a comparison
Turning to current events, Roosevelt directly addressed the parallel economic crises of the FDR and Obama eras.
“The New Deal is suddenly relevant again,” he said. “We’re in a serious, deep recession, or even a slight depression. But you don’t just start a New Deal within 30 days. FDR’s programs took many months to develop. It may be most of 2009 before Obama begins to grapple with it effectively.
“FDR was essentially non-ideological.” Roosevelt added. “He didn’t believe in socialism, he didn’t believe in capitalism, he didn’t believe in any ‘ism.’ He was basically for propping up the institutions of capitalism, but within the context of being aware where people hurt, and his programs were aimed at alleviating the hurt.”
As to the secret to FDR’s success, his grandson has no doubt.
“He knew how to persuade people,” Roosevelt said. “He told them to take their money out of the mattress and put it back in the bank, and they did it. There was actually money in the banks because people listened to him.”
After his talk was over, Roosevelt opened the floor to questions. Michael Caldwell, the commissioner of health for Dutchess County, asked about FDR’s smoking.
“He was certainly a smoker, and it probably contributed to his heart disease,” Roosevelt replied. “There were times when he was able to cut down, but on the final trip he made, to Yalta in the Soviet Union, he was chain-smoking nonstop.’
The Beat then asked Roosevelt about the aspect of FDR’s presidency that is not being cited so much with reference to Obama, incredible as it seems with America involved in two wars – that of wartime Commander-In-Chief.
“My grandfather, like Obama, had to deal with both economic crisis and war,” he answered. “But they were distinct phases, with the Depression dominating FDR’s first two terms and World War II his last full term. I can’t offer advice based on my grandfather’s experience to Obama. But I will affirm that we must ask ourselves what are we doing over there in Iraq – trying to impose our values on another culture, with no consideration of cultural differences?”