Members of an NAACP Planning Committee at a recruitment event. Photograph: Library of Congress Black women were on the frontlines of civil rights activism during the war years. The grassroots organizing work of young leaders like Rosa Parks, Juanita Jackson, and Ella Baker helped fuel a dramatic increase in NAACP membership and branch activism. Union … Continue reading Black Women in the Wartime Struggle
Franklin D. Roosevelt with Winston Churchill at the Casablanca Conference, Casablanca, Morocco. January 18, 1943. NPx 48-22:186 Cooperation, n. 1. Act of cooperating; joint operation; concurrent effort or labor. - Webster’s New International Dictionary (Second Ed.) By Kevin Thomas, Archives Technician Since America’s entry into the war in 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had recognized … Continue reading Roosevelt, Commander in Chief
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToeOpvsHcO4 United News newsreel, September 16, 1942: Presentation ceremonies for the United States’ gift of the escort ship, HNoMS King Haakon VII, to Crown Princess Martha of Norway accepting on behalf of the Norwegian Royal Navy. NAID 38922 “If there is anyone who still wonders why this war is being fought, let him look to … Continue reading Look to Norway
by Kevin Thomas, Special Events Coordinator Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers his Christmas message on the radio from his study in the FDR Library in Hyde Park, New York, December 24, 1943. NPx 61-71. Lend-Lease is one of Franklin Roosevelt's most remarkable and vital achievements in the formation of the anti-Hitler alliance- Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, … Continue reading Turning the Tide: FDR and the Battle of the Atlantic, March 18, 1943
by William A. Harris, Deputy Director Eighty years ago today, on May 11, 1940, the world looked very different in Europe than it had just the morning before. Nazi forces had attacked the Low Countries--The Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg--on May 10th. The invasions had not come as a complete surprise, for Germany had been at … Continue reading May 1940: President Roosevelt and the German Invasion of the Low Countries
Hollywood loves blockbuster films about World War II and the new “Midway” promises to be another box office success. It tells the story of one of the most important and dramatic naval battles in history. Here, you can read the top secret dispatches that came to the White House during that battle. The spring of … Continue reading Midway – The Battle That Changed the War in the Pacific
American troops head toward Omaha Beach, June 6, 1944. At 9:57 pm on D-Day, June 6, 1944, FDR sat in front of a microphone in the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House waiting to begin a national radio address. Earlier in the day the President had held a press conference in the Oval Office … Continue reading FDR’s D-Day Prayer
FDR with Winston Churchill at the Casablanca Conference, January 1943. The year 1943 dawned with the slightest glimmer of hope that the balance of power in World War 2 was slowly shifting in the Allies favor. In the Pacific the Americans had won a bloody victory on Guadalcanal, and on the Eastern Front the Russian … Continue reading FDR, Churchill and their secret code names for Casablanca
By Herman Eberhardt, Supervisory Museum Curator. When I arrived as the new museum curator at the Roosevelt Library in the summer of 2003 I set to work understanding the museum’s rich collection of over 34,000 objects. My review turned up much that I expected to find. But there were also more than a few surprises. … Continue reading New Exhibit and Book Spotlight Museum’s World War II Posters
By J. Tomney, FDR Presidential Library volunteer. The sons and daughters of thousands of American families heeded the call to serve their country during World War II. The four sons of America’s First Family were counted among those that served with distinction and honor for the duration of the war. The Roosevelt boys – Jimmy, … Continue reading Sons of the Commander in Chief: The Roosevelt Boys in World War II
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