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“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.