This family makes the Clintons and the Kennedys look like a JV team. This is the origin story of American power.
Trailer for “The Roosevelts: An Intimate History”
You Can’t Make This Sh*t Up
- Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt survived being shot in the chest while giving a speech in 1912. He kept speaking for 90 minutes, bleeding, before seeing a doctor.
- Teddy lost his mother and wife on the same day (Valentine’s Day 1884). His diary entry that night: a black “X” and the words “The light has gone out of my life.” He fled to the Badlands to live as a cowboy before returning to politics.
- Franklin Roosevelt, paralyzed from the waist down after polio in 1921, trained himself to stand with braces and handshakes so the public wouldn’t see his disability, then won four straight presidential elections.
- Eleanor Roosevelt discovered Franklin’s affair with Lucy Mercer in 1918. Instead of divorcing, they struck a deal: she would stay his political partner while building her own identity as a civil rights and human rights crusader.
Watch “The Roosevelts: An Intimate History”
You can watch “The Roosevelts: An Intimate History” on Prime Video and Apple TV. You can also check the latest streaming options at JustWatch.
Ratings:
- My Rating: 92/100
- IMDB Rating: 8.8/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Ratings: 94/100 (Users); 100/100 (Critics)
Director’s Note: Ken Burns directs this 2014 PBS epic. He’s the man behind “The Civil War” and “Baseball”. His signature mix of archival footage, narration, and deep research is on full display. Runtime: 780 minutes (7 episodes; about 14 hours total).
Release Date: September 14, 2014 (PBS broadcast premiere)
My Review of “The Roosevelts: An Intimate History”
The Setup
This doc is a power map of America from 1858 to 1962. You get Teddy charging up San Juan Hill, Franklin steering the country through the Great Depression and World War II, and Eleanor breaking barriers as the most influential First Lady in U.S. history. Burns ties their stories together in a way that feels like one long American saga.
More Highlights from the Doc
- Franklin’s “Fireside Chats” on the radio helped calm a panicked nation during the Great Depression—one listener wrote that his voice was “like a friend sitting in the room.”
- Eleanor was a key player in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the United Nations in 1948.
- Teddy built the Panama Canal, created the modern National Parks system, and won the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the end of the Russo-Japanese War.
- The doc traces how Franklin’s New Deal reshaped the federal government—creating Social Security, jobs programs, and bank reforms still in place today.
Lesser-Known Details from the Doc
- Teddy’s oldest daughter, Alice Roosevelt, was such a handful that he once said, “I can be president of the United States, or I can control Alice. I cannot possibly do both.”
- Franklin’s mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt, had such influence that she built him and Eleanor a townhouse—with her own apartment connected next door.
- Eleanor carried a pistol in her purse when traveling alone, a habit she kept long after leaving the White House.
- Burns weaves in 25,000 still photographs and over 800 hours of film footage to tell the story—it’s one of his most visually ambitious projects.
Wrap Up
“The Roosevelts: An Intimate History” is as epic as the family itself. If you want to understand how America went from horse-and-buggy to superpower, this is the binge to take.
Thanks for reading!
Heather Fenty, Guest Writer, Daily Doc