Ken Burns wants you to know the Roosevelts were really awesome. Noble hardworking, intelligent people who devoted their lives to public service. And yes, they were. But they also had some serious flaws, and the only way you'll know that after watching this documentary series is if you knew it before watching it.
FDR gets more time than anyone else, and while the series spends endless amounts of time on political minutia and his love life, it spends about two minutes on the greatest stain of his presidency; the Japanese internment camps. When it is mentioned it's cheated by focusing on Eleanor's rather mild early objections to the program.
I have read elsewhere that, like most white people of the time FDR told racist jokes and seemed put off by other peoples, such as Asians and Jews, but there's not a hint of that here.
The approach to Teddy is similar, obsessed with stories of his strong will and good deeds, but TR was a decidedly problematic character and we see little of that.
This doesn't mean there's not a lot of interesting information, nor that the series doesn't make it's narrative compelling, but simply that I don't trust that narrative. To me there's something problematic about spending hours on a World War II president without looking at American antisemitism and those times when America rejected refugees just as we are today. The world is a complex place full of complex people, and I don't see the point in turning politicians into Prince Charmings.
As Ken Burns documentaries go, I didn't find this one as engaging as my favorites, like Jazz and The Dust Bowl, but overall it's worth watching, even if it loses momentum towards the end.
FDR gets more time than anyone else, and while the series spends endless amounts of time on political minutia and his love life, it spends about two minutes on the greatest stain of his presidency; the Japanese internment camps. When it is mentioned it's cheated by focusing on Eleanor's rather mild early objections to the program.
I have read elsewhere that, like most white people of the time FDR told racist jokes and seemed put off by other peoples, such as Asians and Jews, but there's not a hint of that here.
The approach to Teddy is similar, obsessed with stories of his strong will and good deeds, but TR was a decidedly problematic character and we see little of that.
This doesn't mean there's not a lot of interesting information, nor that the series doesn't make it's narrative compelling, but simply that I don't trust that narrative. To me there's something problematic about spending hours on a World War II president without looking at American antisemitism and those times when America rejected refugees just as we are today. The world is a complex place full of complex people, and I don't see the point in turning politicians into Prince Charmings.
As Ken Burns documentaries go, I didn't find this one as engaging as my favorites, like Jazz and The Dust Bowl, but overall it's worth watching, even if it loses momentum towards the end.