“The Center of the World”: Roosevelt’s family background, education, his first run for office and his courtship and troubled marriage to Eleanor Roosevelt.

“Fear Itself”: FDR’s bout with polio; Eleanor’s developing political skill; and FDR’s assent to the White House.

"The Center of the World" explores Roosevelt's family background and education, looking for clues to the coddled rich child's ascent to political success. It follows him from his very first run for political office as New York state senator through his years in Washington as assistant secretary of the navy, as he pursues the highest office in the land. This segment also tells the story of FDR's courtship of his distant cousin, Eleanor Roosevelt, and their troubled marriage, including FDR's affair with Eleanor's social secretary, Lucy Mercer. The affair, which nearly ended the marriage, encouraged Eleanor to embrace a life of her own and become politically active. The second segment, "Fear Itself," begins with Roosevelt's bout with polio at age 39 and follows his relentless struggle to rehabilitate his body and his seemingly moribund political career, and to teach himself to appear to walk. The section also paints a portrait of Eleanor Roosevelt as she makes a life of her own, developing her own political skills while keeping her husband's name before the public through her involvement in reform causes. A remarkable sequence of events leads FDR back from despair to win his party's nomination as president of the United States. Catapulted into the White House, a man who could not walk begins to lead a country crippled by the Great Depression.