Derek Leebaert, Author of Unlikely Heroes

Derek Leebaert is the author of Unlikely Heroes, an account of Pres. Roosevelt and his 4 closest associates: Harry Hopkins, Harold Ickes, Frances Perkins, and Henry Wallace, and how they would forever change the world. In many ways, history tends to repeat itself, and recognizing patterns of the past gives us the opportunity to shape a better future.   FDR was a titan. He was elected president for 4 terms and to this day remains the longest-serving president of the US. He was known for his fairness and desire for equality for all, an essential factor that got him the Republicans' vote every single time.   A look into his 4 lieutenants reveals much more about the myths that have plagued FDR’s presidencies since then. Derek talks about FDR's New Deal, the secret military build-up that happened in the 1930s, and how each lieutenant played a critical role in getting America through the mayhem of the time.    Derek Leebaert won the biennial 2020 Truman Book Award for Grand Improvisation. His previous books include Magic and Mayhem and To Dare and to Conquer, both Washington Post Best Books of the Year. He was a founding editor of the Harvard/MIT journal International Security and is a co-founder of the National Museum of the United States Army. He holds a D.Phil from Oxford.   Get a copy of Unlikely Heroes: https://amzn.to/3J6NlXz Find out more about the National Museum of the US Army: https://www.thenmusa.org/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.