Franklin D. Roosevelt III

Last updated

Franklin D. Roosevelt III
FDR Jr.gif
Roosevelt, right, with his father Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. and grandmother Eleanor Roosevelt in 1962
Born
Franklin Delano Roosevelt III

(1938-07-19) July 19, 1938 (age 86)
Alma mater Yale University (BA)
Columbia University (MA)
The New School (PhD)
Occupation(s)Economist, academic
Political party Democratic
Spouse
Grace Rumsey Goodyear
(m. 1962)
Children3
Parent(s) Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr.
Ethel du Pont
RelativesSee Roosevelt and du Pont

Franklin Delano "Frank" Roosevelt III (born July 19, 1938) is an American retired economist and academic.[ citation needed ] Through his father, he is a grandson of 32nd U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt, and through his mother, he is related to the prominent du Pont family. [1]

Contents

Family

Roosevelt was the first child born to Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. and his first wife, Ethel du Pont. [1] He was born during his paternal grandfather Franklin D. Roosevelt's second term as president and was his eighth grandchild to be born. [1] After his birth, his father said, "'Battling' Frank III is a beautiful baby." [2]

He has a younger brother, Christopher du Pont Roosevelt, born 1941, also from his parents' marriage. [1] From his father's later marriages (who married 5 times in total), he has two younger half-sisters, Nancy Suzanne Roosevelt (born 1952) and Laura Delano Roosevelt (born 1959), and a younger half-brother, John Alexander Roosevelt (born 1977). [3] He also had a younger half-brother, Benjamin S. Warren III (born 1954), from his mother's later marriage to attorney Benjamin S. Warren Jr. [4]

Education and career

After graduating from St. Mark's School in Southborough, Massachusetts, Frank Roosevelt received his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Yale University in 1961. He was a midshipman in Yale Naval ROTC and commissioned as an Ensign to serve as on a minesweeper. He then received a master's degree from Columbia University in 1968, and his Ph.D. from The New School. [5]

Frank Roosevelt with his mother, Ethel du Pont, and his grandfather FDR at the White House, Christmas 1941 Fdr iii ethel du pont fdr.jpg
Frank Roosevelt with his mother, Ethel du Pont, and his grandfather FDR at the White House, Christmas 1941

His dissertation was entitled Towards a Marxist Critique of the Cambridge School [5] [6] . His work primarily focused on combining Marxism and capitalism in an attempt to make modern economic systems more "fair" and less prone to the "winner takes all" scenario[ citation needed ].

In 1977, he became a professor at Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, New York, where he was chair of the social sciences faculty from 1988 to 1990 and from 1991 to 1993. [5] In retirement, he continued to speak about his grandparents' legacies. [7] [8]

He refers to himself as a "radical" or "alternative" economist. [9]

Rhona Free, one of his former students who is a professor of economics at Eastern Connecticut State University, was named in 2004 one of four U.S. Professors of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. In her acceptance speech, she cited Roosevelt as a significant influence, saying, "The most important teacher I ever had was Frank Roosevelt, an economics professor at Sarah Lawrence. He's much more interested in teaching than in testing and in encouraging than in evaluating. In his classes even an average student, as I was, can learn to think critically, express thoughts carefully, and view the world with an open mind." [10]

In 2004, the university awarded him the Lipkin Family Prize for Inspirational Teaching. [10]

Roosevelt was active in the civil rights movement. During the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee's Freedom Summer program in Mississippi in 1964, he was arbitrarily arrested by the Mississippi Highway Patrol while driving the civil rights lobbyist Allard K. Lowenstein across the state, but was immediately released when the police realized his identity. [11]

Politics and family legacy

The Eleanor Roosevelt Monument in Manhattan Elroos72st.JPG
The Eleanor Roosevelt Monument in Manhattan

Roosevelt, who lives in Manhattan, was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Manhattan Country School from 1970 to 2010. [5] In 1981, he led the effort to put the school's tuition system on a sliding scale. [12]

Roosevelt led the effort to build a monument to his grandmother Eleanor Roosevelt at Riverside Park in Manhattan. The Eleanor Roosevelt Monument was unveiled in 1996. [13]

Roosevelt has written in support of market socialism. [14]

Personal life

On June 18, 1962, Roosevelt was married to Grace Rumsey Goodyear, [15] at St. Luke's Protestant Episcopal Church in Darien, Connecticut. [16] At the time of their wedding, Grace was a graduate of Milton Academy and a student at Smith College [ citation needed ]. She is the daughter of Austin Goodyear (grandson of Charles W. Goodyear) and Louisa (née Robins) Goodyear (granddaughter of Thomas Robins Jr.) who lived at "White Oak Shade" in Darien. [17] They have three children, including a set of twins: [3]

Published works

Related Research Articles

Sara Goodyear was a Pakistan-born American author and professor of English at Yale University, where her fields of study and teaching included Romantic and Victorian poetry and an interest in Edmund Burke. Her special concerns included postcolonial literature and theory, contemporary cultural criticism, literature, and law. She was a founding editor of the Yale Journal of Criticism, and served on the editorial boards of YJC, The Yale Review, and Transition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Roosevelt Halsted</span> American writer and socialite (1906–1975)

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt Halsted was an American writer who worked as a newspaper editor and in public relations. Halsted also wrote two children's books published in the 1930s. She was the eldest child and only daughter of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Halsted assisted her father as his advisor during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr.</span> American politician (1914–1988)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. was an American lawyer, politician, and businessman. He served as a United States congressman from New York from 1949 to 1955 and in 1963 was appointed United States Under Secretary of Commerce by President John F. Kennedy. He was appointed as the first chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from 1965 to 1966 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Roosevelt also ran for governor of New York twice. He was a son of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and served as an officer in the United States Navy during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tadd Roosevelt</span> Nephew of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John Jacob Astor IV

James Roosevelt "Tadd" Roosevelt Jr., also called Taddy, was an American heir and member of the Roosevelt and Astor families.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Aspinwall Roosevelt</span> American businessman

John Aspinwall Roosevelt II was an American businessman and the sixth and last child of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sara Roosevelt</span> Mother of Franklin D. Roosevelt (1854–1941)

Sara Ann Roosevelt was the second wife of James Roosevelt I, the mother of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States and her only child, and subsequently the mother-in-law of Eleanor Roosevelt.

The Roosevelt family is an American political family from New York whose members have included two United States presidents, a First Lady, and various merchants, bankers, politicians, inventors, clergymen, artists, and socialites. The progeny of a mid-17th-century Dutch immigrant to New Amsterdam, many members of the family became nationally prominent in New York State and City politics and business and intermarried with prominent colonial families. Two distantly related branches of the family from Oyster Bay and Hyde Park, New York, rose to global political prominence with the presidencies of Theodore Roosevelt (1901–1909) and his fifth cousin Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–1945), whose wife, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, was Theodore's niece. The Roosevelt family is one of four families to have produced two presidents of the United States by the same surname; the others were the Adams, Bush, and Harrison families.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethel du Pont</span> American heiress and socialite

Ethel du Pont Roosevelt-Warren was an American heiress and socialite and a member of the prominent du Pont family. She is best known for her widely publicized marriage to Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr., son of the 32nd U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt.

<i>Eleanor and Franklin</i> (miniseries) 1976 American television miniseries

Eleanor and Franklin is a 1976 American television miniseries starring Edward Herrmann as Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) and Jane Alexander as Eleanor Roosevelt which was broadcast on ABC on January 11 and 12, 1976. It is the first part in a two-part "biopic" miniseries based on Joseph P. Lash's biography and history from 1971, Eleanor and Franklin, based on their correspondence and recently opened archives. Joseph Lash was Eleanor's personal secretary and confidant. He wrote several books on the Roosevelts including some on both Eleanor and Franklin individually and was also a controversial activist in his own right in leftist, liberalism, social and labor issues of the era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederic Adrian Delano</span> American businessman (1863–1953)

Frederic Adrian Delano II was an American railroad president who served as the first vice chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1914 to 1916. After his term as vice chairman, Delano continued to serve as a member of the Federal Reserve Board until 1918.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isaac Roosevelt (businessman)</span> American doctor, farmer, and grandfather of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Isaac Daniel Roosevelt was an American doctor and farmer. He was the paternal grandfather of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Roosevelt (1760–1847)</span> American businessman

Jacobus "James" Roosevelt III was an American businessman and politician from New York City. A member of the Roosevelt family, he was the son of Isaac Roosevelt and great-grandfather of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Sara Delano Wilford was a psychologist who taught at Sarah Lawrence College from 1982 to 2014.

The FDR Suite is a set of rooms at Adams House, Harvard College that were occupied by the 32nd president of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, from 1900 to 1904.

<i>Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years</i> 1977 American TV series or program

Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years is a 1977 American Atelevision film and a sequel to Eleanor and Franklin (1976). Originally airing on March 13, 1977, it was part of a 2-part biographical film directed by Daniel Petrie based on Joseph P. Lash's Pulitzer prize-winning biography, Eleanor and Franklin, chronicling the lives of the 32nd U.S. President and the first lady. Joseph Lash was a secretary and confidant of Eleanor and wrote other books on the couple.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Robins (inventor)</span> American inventor

Thomas Robins Jr. was an American inventor and manufacturer.

The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Foundation is a private 501(c)3 US public charity based at Adams House, Harvard University. Founded as the FDR Suite Foundation in 2008, its original goal was to restore the Harvard rooms of Franklin Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States. The Foundation adopted its current name in 2014 to better reflect its broadened philanthropic mission to promote and preserve the legacy of Franklin Roosevelt throughout the world. The Foundation currently comprises three principal initiatives:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warren Delano Jr.</span> Opium merchant; Maternal grandfather of Franklin Roosevelt

Warren Delano Jr. was an American merchant and drug smuggler who made a large fortune smuggling illegal opium into China. He was the maternal grandfather of U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warren Delano IV</span> American business executive (1852–1920)

Warren Delano IV was an American horseman and coal tycoon.

Franklin Hughes Delano was an American merchant, diplomat and society man.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Roosevelt Genealogy". fdrlibrary.marist.edu. Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. Retrieved September 14, 2022.
  2. "Life on the Newsfronts of the World". Life Magazine . August 1, 1938.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Roosevelt Genealogy" (PDF). www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu. Marist College . Retrieved February 19, 2019.
  4. Staff. "A du Pont and Roosevelt Marry…But It's Anything But Happily Ever After". ashorthistoryblog.com. A Short History. Archived from the original on May 2, 2016. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Frank Roosevelt Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on June 14, 2011. Retrieved February 28, 2008.
  6. "TOWARDS A MARXIST CRITIQUE OF THE CAMBRIDGE SCHOOL. - ProQuest". www.proquest.com. Retrieved November 18, 2024.
  7. Fitz-Gibbon, Jorge (June 30, 2012). "FDR's grandson has advice for Obama". The Journal News . Archived from the original on March 24, 2012. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
  8. Toyoda, Toyoda (November 29, 2011). "Honoring Eleanor Roosevelt – 10/11/11". United Nations Association . Retrieved April 4, 2012.
  9. "Sarah Lawrence Faculty Profile: The Elephant in the Room". 2005. Archived from the original on January 22, 2015. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
  10. 1 2 "Rhona Free '78". Sarah Lawrence College. Archived from the original on January 22, 2015. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
  11. Watson, Bruce, 1953- (2012), Freedom summer : the savage season that made Mississippi burn and made America a democracy, Tantor, ISBN   978-1-4001-9748-4, OCLC   812411727 {{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. Roberts, Sam (July 14, 2017). "Gus Trowbridge, Turned King's Integration Dream Into a School, Dies at 82". The New York Times . Retrieved February 19, 2019.
  13. 1 2 Joseph Berger (March 16, 2005). "Roosevelts and the Quirks of Destiny". New York Times. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
  14. Roosevelt, Frank; Belkin, David (September 2, 1994). Why Market Socialism? Voices from Dissent. Routledge. ISBN   978-1563244667 . Retrieved February 19, 2019.
  15. "Princeton Alumni Weekly". LXIII (1). princeton alumni weekly. January 1, 1962: 19. Retrieved April 18, 2016.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  16. "Miss Grace R. Goodyear Is Married; Becomes Bride of Ensign Franklin D. Roosevelt 3d" (PDF). The New York Times . June 19, 1962. Retrieved February 19, 2019.
  17. "Grace Goodyear, Student at Smith, Will Be Married; Sophomore and Ensign Franklin D. Roosevelt 3d Engaged to Wed" (PDF). The New York Times . April 12, 1962. Retrieved February 19, 2019.
  18. "Amy Roosevelt". Bach Festival . Retrieved January 21, 2015.