Reconsidering FDR With David Beito

On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Peter Boettke speaks with historian David T. Beito about his new biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt. They discuss FDR’s record on civil liberties, including government surveillance and efforts to police speech; the administration’s approach to refugees and antisemitism; and early-career episodes like the Newport Sex Scandal. The conversation also covers how progressive-era ideas shaped FDR’s political instincts, how New Deal programs like the NRA and AAA cartelized industries, and why key wartime choices, such as unconditional surrender and “rescue through victory,” may have prolonged World War II. They close with lessons for today: the dangers of malleable legal categories and the need for durable institutional guardrails against executive abuse.

Dr. David T. Beito is a Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute and Professor Emeritus at the University of Alabama. He is the author of many books, including FDR: A New Political Life (Carus Books, 2025), The New Deal’s War on the Bill of Rights: The Untold Story of FDR’s Concentration Camps, Censorship, and Mass Surveillance (Independent Institute, 2025), and T.R.M. Howard: Doctor, Entrepreneur, and Civil Rights Pioneer (Independent Institute, 2018), coauthored with Linda Royster Beito.

**This episode was recorded December 8, 2025.

Show Notes:

• Presidential Greatness Project

• Thomas C. Loenard’s book, Illiberal Reformers: Race, Eugenics, and American Economics in the Progressive Era (Princeton University Press, 2016)

• Herbert Croly’s book, The Promise of American Life: Updated Edition (Princeton University Press, 2014)

• Murray Rothbard’s book, America’s Great Depression (Mises Institute, 2000)

• David Michaelis’ book, Eleanor (Simon & Schuster, 2021)

• Daniel T. Rodgers’ book, Atlantic Crossings: Social Politics in a Progressive Age (Harvard University Press, 2000)

• David Hackett Fischer’s book, Liberty and Freedom (Oxford University Press, 2004)

• George Selgin’s book, False Dawn: The New Deal and the Promise of Recovery, 1933–1947 (University of Chicago Press, 2025)

If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts.

Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today!

Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram

Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus

CC Music: Twisterium