My father died in 1995, but for as long as he lived if you asked him after a presidential election “Who did you vote for, Daddy?” his response was always “Roosevelt.”

Obviously I grew up in a home that honored the former president, and my mother would go on and on about Eleanor as well. The late president’s wife was still alive when I was a little girl and I remember her profound influence on the country.

I was excited to have a chance to speak with historian Harvey Kaye about a president who feels so extraordinarily relevant right now. Faced with the horrors of the Great Depression, Roosevelt knew that in order to save the America economy his generation would “need to become fairly radical for a generation.” Those words echo powerfully today, along with all his calls for social justice and fundamental economic reform.

We have much to learn from Roosevelt, and there’s no one better to teach us than Harvey Kaye.

FDR on Democracy: The Greatest Speeches and Writings of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Follow Harvey on Twitter @HarveyJKaye

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