An Interactive Biography of the World War II Presidents: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman (Enhanced Edition)

Includes over 20 minutes of video clips highlighting the lives of Roosevelt and Truman, Pearl Harbor, the use of the atomic bombs, and more.
Includes pictures of Roosevelt, Truman, and important people, places, and events in their lives.
*Includes Truman's most colorful quotes about politics, the Republican Party, and Richard Nixon

Everyone has read about history’s most important people and events in dense textbooks and classrooms, but words can only say so much. In Charles River Editors’ Interactive Biography series, history comes to life in video and audio, allowing people to experience history through the eyes and ears of the people who were there.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt might be America’s greatest 20th century president, but there’s no question that he was the most unique. A well-connected relative of Theodore Roosevelt, FDR was groomed for greatness until he was struck down by polio. Nevertheless, he persevered, rising through New York politics to reach the White House just as the country faced its greatest challenge since the Civil War, beginning his presidency with one of the most iconic lines ever spoken during an inaugural address.

For over a decade, President Roosevelt threw everything he had at the Great Depression, and then threw everything the country had at the Axis powers during World War II. Ultimately, he succumbed to illness in the middle of his fourth term, just before the Allies won the war.

When President Franklin Roosevelt died in April 1945, Vice President Truman, somewhat unprepared for the Presidency, now had to fill some of the biggest shoes in American history. Incredibly, Truman had not been informed of the country’s secret attempt to build atomic bombs, confiding in his diary after learning about it, “We have discovered the most terrible bomb in the history of the world. It may be the fire destruction prophesied in the Euphrates Valley Era, after Noah and his fabulous Ark.”

The new president had to usher America through victory in Europe in his first month and decide to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki a few months later, but the end of World War II produced only the first of many consequential decisions Truman would face during his nearly 8 years in office. As president, Truman would lay the groundwork for the next 50 years of American foreign policy, as the architect of Cold War containment, the man who signed off on the Marshall Plan, and the commander-in-chief during much of the Korean War. He would also be the president who finally integrated the military, a crucial step on the way to full civil rights for the country’s minorities.

This biography chronicles the lives and presidencies of the two men who successfully led America through the war. You will learn about FDR and Truman like you never have before.