''The Roosevelts: An Intimate History'' is a 2014 American documentary television

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format ...

directed and produced by

Ken Burns Kenneth Lauren Burns (born July 29, 1953) is an American filmmaker known for his documentary films and television series, many of which chronicle American history and culture. His work is often produced in association with WETA-TV and/or th ...

. It covers the lives and times of the three most prominent members of the

Roosevelt family The Roosevelt family is an American political family from New York whose members have included two United States presidents, a First Lady of the United States, First Lady, and various merchants, bankers, politicians, inventors, clergymen, arti ...

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

, a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

and the 26th

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

; Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat, the 32nd

, and fifth cousin of Theodore; and

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...

, the longest-serving

First Lady of the United States The first lady of the United States (FLOTUS) is the title held by the hostess of the White House, usually the wife of the president of the United States, concurrent with the president's term in office. Although the first lady's role has never ...

, a niece of Theodore, and wife of Franklin. As a result of the influence of Theodore and Franklin as Presidents, as well as Eleanor as

First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non- monarchical head of state or chief executive. The term is also used to describe a woman seen to be at the ...

, a modern democratic state of

equal opportunity Equal opportunity is a state of fairness in which individuals are treated similarly, unhampered by artificial barriers, prejudices, or preferences, except when particular distinctions can be explicitly justified. The intent is that the important ...

was begun in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. The series begins with the birth of Theodore in 1858 and ends with the death of Eleanor in 1962.

Actors and historians

The series is narrated by

Peter Coyote Peter Coyote (born Robert Peter Cohon; October 10, 1941) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, author and narrator of films, theatre, television, and audiobooks. He worked on films such as ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982), '' Cro ...

. Actors read lines of various historical figures and a series of noted commentators give background information. They include: *

Paul Giamatti Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti (; born June 6, 1967) is an American actor and film producer. He first garnered attention for his breakout role in '' Private Parts'' as Kenny "Pig Vomit" Rushton, leading to supporting roles in ''Saving Private R ...

(voice) *

Edward Herrmann Edward Kirk Herrmann (July 21, 1943 – December 31, 2014) was an American actor, director, and writer. He was perhaps best known for his portrayals of Franklin D. Roosevelt in both the miniseries ''Eleanor and Franklin'' (1976) and 1982 film ...

- Franklin D. Roosevelt (voice) *

Meryl Streep Mary Louise Meryl Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress. Often described as "the best actress of her generation", Streep is particularly known for her versatility and accent adaptability. She has received numerous accolades throu ...

(voice) *

John Lithgow John Arthur Lithgow ( ; born , 1945) is an American actor. Lithgow studied at Harvard University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art before becoming known for his work on the stage and screen. He has been the recipient of numerous ...

James Roosevelt I James Roosevelt I (July 16, 1828 – December 8, 1900), known as "Squire James", was an American businessman, politician, horse breeder, and the father of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd president of the United States. Early life Roosevelt was bor ...

(voice) *

Patricia Clarkson Patricia Davies Clarkson (born December 29, 1959) is an American actress. She has starred in numerous leading and supporting roles in a variety of films ranging from independent film features to major film studio productions. Her accolades in ...

- Margaret "Daisy" Suckley (voice) As themselves: *

Jonathan Alter Jonathan H. Alter (born October 6, 1957) is a liberal American journalist, best-selling author, Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker and television producer who was a columnist and senior editor for ''Newsweek'' magazine from 1983 until 2011. Alt ...

* H. W. Brands * Blanche Wiesen Cook *

Doris Kearns Goodwin Doris Helen Kearns Goodwin (born January 4, 1943) is an American biographer, historian, former sports journalist, and political commentator. She has written biographies of several U.S. presidents, including ''Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream ...

* Edna Gurewitsch * Clay S. Jenkinson * William Leuchtenburg *

David McCullough David Gaub McCullough (; July 7, 1933 – August 7, 2022) was an American popular historian. He was a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. In 2006, he was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States ...

Jon Meacham Jon Ellis Meacham (; born May 20, 1969) is an American writer, reviewer, historian and presidential biographer who is serving as the current Canon Historian of the Washington National Cathedral since November 7, 2021. A former executive editor ...

Patricia O'Toole Patricia O'Toole is an American historian who taught at Columbia University. She is a Society of American Historians fellow and was a visitor at the Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, ...

Geoffrey C. Ward Geoffrey Champion Ward (born 1940) is an American editor, author, historian and writer of scripts for American history documentaries for public television. He is the author or co-author of 19 books, including 10 companion books to the documentar ...

* George Will Other voices include:

Adam Arkin Adam Arkin (born August 19, 1956) is an American actor and director. He is known for playing the role of Aaron Shutt on ''Chicago Hope''. He has been nominated for numerous awards, including a Tony (Best Actor, 1991, '' I Hate Hamlet'') as well ...

, Keith Carradine, Kevin Conway,

Ed Harris Edward Allen Harris (born November 28, 1950) is an American actor and filmmaker. His performances in ''Apollo 13'' (1995), '' The Truman Show'' (1998), '' Pollock'' (2000), and '' The Hours'' (2002) earned him critical acclaim and Academy Award ...

Josh Lucas Joshua Lucas Easy Dent Maurer (born June 20, 1971) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in various films, including ''American Psycho'' (2000), '' You Can Count on Me'' (2000), '' The Deep End'' (2001), '' A Beautiful Mind'' (200 ...

, Carl Lumbly,

Amy Madigan Amy Marie Madigan (born September 11, 1950) is an American actress. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1985 film '' Twice in a Lifetime''. Her other film credits include '' Love Child'' (1982), ''Places ...

Carolyn McCormick Carolyn Inez McCormick (born September 19, 1959) is an American actress who played Dr. Elizabeth Olivet in the ''Law & Order'' franchise. Life and career McCormick was born and raised in Midland, Texas, and graduated first in her class from ...

, Pamela Reed,

Billy Bob Thornton Billy Bob Thornton (born August 4, 1955) is an American actor, filmmaker and musician. He had his first break when he co-wrote and starred in the 1992 thriller ''One False Move'', and received international attention after writing, directing, a ...

, and

Eli Wallach Eli Herschel Wallach (; December 7, 1915 – June 24, 2014) was an American film, television, and stage actor from New York City. From his 1945 Broadway debut to his last film appearance, Wallach's entertainment career spanned 65 years. Origina ...

Episodes

Critical response

The series premiered to positive reviews and was nominated for three

Primetime Emmy Awards The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

, winning the Emmy Award for Outstanding Narrator for

's narration of the first episode. In September 2014, ''The Roosevelts'' became the most streamed documentary on the PBS website to date. According to critic

James Poniewozik James "Jim" Poniewozik (; born July 12, 1968) is an American journalist and television critic. He is the chief TV critic for ''The New York Times''. Earlier in his career, he wrote ''Time'' magazine's ''Tuned In'' column for 16 years. Early life ...

Time magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Ma ...

, "''The Roosevelts'' tells the story of the American 20th century in

triptych A triptych ( ; from the Greek adjective ''τρίπτυχον'' "''triptukhon''" ("three-fold"), from ''tri'', i.e., "three" and ''ptysso'', i.e., "to fold" or ''ptyx'', i.e., "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided ...

. Teddy (who became President in 1901) is

progressivism Progressivism holds that it is possible to improve human societies through political action. As a political movement, progressivism seeks to advance the human condition through social reform based on purported advancements in science, tech ...

expansionism Expansionism refers to states obtaining greater territory through military empire-building or colonialism. In the classical age of conquest moral justification for territorial expansion at the direct expense of another established polity (who of ...

and

reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...

. FDR is the rise of American power and the rewriting of the

social contract In moral and political philosophy, the social contract is a theory or model that originated during the Age of Enlightenment and usually, although not always, concerns the legitimacy of the authority of the state over the individual. Social ...

. (Conservative pundit George Will sums up his legacy: the government would not just 'provide the conditions for the pursuit of happiness' but 'deliver happiness, understood as material well-being.') Eleanor looks ahead to postwar

globalism Globalism refers to various patterns of meaning beyond the merely international. It is used by political scientists, such as Joseph Nye, to describe "attempts to understand all the interconnections of the modern world—and to highlight pattern ...

and the move of

women A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...

and minorities in from the margins." Further, Poniewozik states, "''The Roosevelts'' brings up a kind of nature-nurture question: did these leaders make the times, or did the times make these leaders? It can't answer this question. But it does manage to tell an educational, emotional story of how these leaders and their times made us."

Hank Stuever Hank Stuever (born 1968) is an American journalist who writes about popular culture for the ''Style'' section of ''The Washington Post''. Early life and education Stuever was born and raised in Oklahoma City, where he attended Bishop McGuinn ...

, critic at

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

, writes, "Let's start with the end. When it's over — when you make it through the marathon that is Ken Burns's beautiful, seven-part documentary ''The Roosevelts: An Intimate History,'' ... you may find yourself with a lingering, nebulous grief. You're sorry it's over. You're sorry they're over. You're sorry a certain expression of American ideals is, or often appears to be, completely over." Timothy Egan of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote, "Ambitious and deeply moving."

References

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

.
''The Roosevelts''
– video search on

Dailymotion Dailymotion is a French video-sharing technology platform owned by Vivendi. North American launch partners included Vice Media, Bloomberg and Hearst Digital Media. It is among the earliest known platforms to support HD (720p) resolution vid ...

.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roosevelts 2010s American documentary television series Films about Franklin D. Roosevelt Cultural depictions of Theodore Roosevelt Roosevelt family Eleanor Roosevelt Television series about presidents of the United States

Actors and historians

Episodes

Critical response

See also

References

External links