Joseph Roane, an agronomist trained at Virginia State University, was part of a group of African American expatriates who were encouraged by the Stalinist government in the 1930s to work in the Soviet Union building a society free of class and racism. Jon Bachman (Stratford Hall) and Marian Veney Ashton (A.T. Johnson Museum) are making a film on how Roane survived Stalin’s purges and returned to the United States to become a mentor to young African American agricultural students. Also: Brian McKnight’s (University of Virginia at Wise) new book We Fight for Peace tells the story of American prisoners of war in the Korean War, who defected to North Korea and what happened to them when they decided to return to the United States.

Later in the show: An entire generation of Americans grew up knowing no other president than Franklin Roosevelt, who served four terms and led them through the Depression and World War II. Pulitzer Prize-winning FDR biographer David Kennedy (Stanford University) gives a spellbinding account of this ebullient man of constant cheer who crafted the New Deal and the social security system. Kennedy and University of Virginia political scientist Sid Milkis spoke at a recent conference held by the Center for American Studies at Christopher Newport University.