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A President in Our Midst: Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Georgia
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt visited Georgia forty-one times between 1924 and1945. This rich gathering of photographs and remembrances documents the vital role of Georgia's people and places in FDR's rise from his position as a despairing politician daunted by disease to his role as a revered world leader.
270 pages, Hardcover
First published May 15, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 16, 2016
While not born in Georgia, Franklin D. Roosevelt began to visit Warm Springs, Georgia for relief and for the healing waters in Warm Springs after being stricken with polio. Over a period of 21 years, including his years as President, he visited there forty one times. The waters were not the only charm that drew him back again and again, he had a very warm regard for the people there. It also offered some respite from his increasingly public persona.
The photographs are a more intimate look through those years than would likely have made the news back then, but combined with the information it provides an excellent peek into those years. The information and stories about FDR were more than enough to keep me interested, plus some stories of those that touched his life there, and the photographs are priceless.
Publication Date: 1 May 2016
Many thanks to University of Georgia Press, NetGalley, and author Kaye Lanning Minchew for providing me with an advance copy to read.
The photographs are a more intimate look through those years than would likely have made the news back then, but combined with the information it provides an excellent peek into those years. The information and stories about FDR were more than enough to keep me interested, plus some stories of those that touched his life there, and the photographs are priceless.
Publication Date: 1 May 2016
Many thanks to University of Georgia Press, NetGalley, and author Kaye Lanning Minchew for providing me with an advance copy to read.
March 12, 2019
Kaye Minchew's study of A President in Our Midst: Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Georgia (University of Georgia Press, 2016), is more than an excellent pictorial history of FDR's personal and political connections to his beloved Warm Springs, the mineral springs resort in southern Georgia. From the time he purchased the resort and surrounding land inn 1924 until his death on April 12, 1945, he was both a part-time loved and respected resident of Warm Springs. Perhaps more important, Roosevelt was also the moving force behind the Warm Springs Foundation for the fight against polio and its adjunct, the "March of Dimes." Beside the wide range of pictures with succinct explanations, Minchew deals well with topics such as his therapy and exercise in the pools there, his positive relations with polio patients as well as various Georgia residents, his important policies as President, his difficulties with Governor Eugene Tallmadge and Senator Walter George, and his personal ties with the closest of his own friends while at Warm Springs. For a pictorial history, this impressive book by Kaye Minchew is as good as it gets.
April 12, 2016
I grew up visiting the Little White House and Warm Springs every summer with my grandparents. This was obviously once it had been turned into a museum, but it was always one of the highlights of the break. It was always so peaceful and being a book-loving child I always wanted to pick a place to chill a while with a good story.
This book seemed to be more of a "coffee-table" type book, but it has so much biographical information interspersed with the photographs that it feels much more dense than that.
Roosevelt was one of the most interesting Presidents we've had for a variety of reasons, overcoming polio being just one of those, and it was nice to get a closer look at how involved he was in the Warm Springs community from the time he discovered it to his death there during his unprecedented fourth term as POTUS.
I've included my favorite pictures from this collection, and I highly suggest checking this book out if you have any interest in Roosevelt or Warm Springs. It's a great look at his life there.
Copy courtesy of University of Georgia Press, via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book seemed to be more of a "coffee-table" type book, but it has so much biographical information interspersed with the photographs that it feels much more dense than that.
Roosevelt was one of the most interesting Presidents we've had for a variety of reasons, overcoming polio being just one of those, and it was nice to get a closer look at how involved he was in the Warm Springs community from the time he discovered it to his death there during his unprecedented fourth term as POTUS.
I've included my favorite pictures from this collection, and I highly suggest checking this book out if you have any interest in Roosevelt or Warm Springs. It's a great look at his life there.
Copy courtesy of University of Georgia Press, via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
November 16, 2016
I found this book interesting and informative, but, as with many books of history, a bit on the dry side. It is full of photographs of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and those surrounding him from the time he first came to Warm Springs, Georgia, in search of therapy for the polio he contracted at nearly 40 years of age. The text accompanying the photographs is much like a museum's didactic panels. Informative, though not necessarily individually provoking, text plus photos provide insight into the import of Roosevelt's contribution to the people of the United States via and because of his time and work in this area of the state of Georgia, which gave him a view into aspects of life in the United States he likely would never have seen or understood. The book serves as a museum in lieu of being able to visit the multiple preserved Roosevelt-impeled sites in and around Warm Springs, Georgia, such as the Little White House, with its grounds and museum; the Historic Pools Museum and treatment pools complex, which preserves the legacy of the town's efforts at providing relief to polio and other disabilities sufferers; the vast Roosevelt Warm Springs Georgia Institute for Vocational Rehabilitation, begun in 1927 as a hospital for polio patients, and now an internationally recognized comprehensive medical and vocational rehabilitation facility for people with many types of disabilities; and the 9000-acre Franklin Delano Roosevelt State Park. Had I not recently made the trip to view these places, I might well have finished the book.
April 20, 2016
"A President in Our Midst" is a collection of photographs documenting Roosevelt's time in Georgia. The book particularly focuses on Warm Springs, where Roosevelt died in 1945 after visiting the mineral springs for 20 years in the hopes of curing (or at least alleviating) his polio symptoms. Whether you're planning a visit to Georgia or have already stopped at the Little White House (the highlight of my trip when I was younger was seeing Fala's leash), I recommend this as the perfect companion book to your travels and memories.
As a side note: I found it interesting that Minchew points out that 1920s Georgia was already a site of terrible poverty and agricultural failings, plights that would soon affect much of the country -- it made me wonder whether Roosevelt's exposure to the destitution and lack of development around Warm Springs influenced his political philosophies and the New Deal, or at least gave him a more personal connection to the hardships Americans were facing.
As a side note: I found it interesting that Minchew points out that 1920s Georgia was already a site of terrible poverty and agricultural failings, plights that would soon affect much of the country -- it made me wonder whether Roosevelt's exposure to the destitution and lack of development around Warm Springs influenced his political philosophies and the New Deal, or at least gave him a more personal connection to the hardships Americans were facing.
August 2, 2016
This book was full of photos of Roosevelt's visits to Georgia before his presidency and during it. He visited Warm Springs to take advantage of the health benefits of the Springs and supported opening and developing the facility for victims of polio like himself.
This book was a selection for the Rest of the Story Book Club at UGA. The author will be speaking at UGA in September. There will also be a chance to visit Warm Springs with a group of OLLI@UGA (over 50 group) members.
This book was a selection for the Rest of the Story Book Club at UGA. The author will be speaking at UGA in September. There will also be a chance to visit Warm Springs with a group of OLLI@UGA (over 50 group) members.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews