The Roosevelts: A Conversation with Ken Burns

Grade Range: 9-12
Resource Type(s): Reference Materials, Interactives & Media
Duration: 62 minutes
Date Posted: 9/16/2014

This archived webcast features filmmaker Ken Burns discussing this documentary The Roosevelts: An Intimate History. The webcast included historian Clay Jenkinson, Smithsonian curator Harry Rubenstein, and Roosevelt biographer Geoffrey Ward. The conversation covered varied topics from how Theodore and Franklin rank among other American presidents and their possible responses to the contemporary political climate, to the way in which Eleanor Roosevelt shaped the role of the First Lady and Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency, to the roles of historians and how they do their work and present pictures of the past. Through a combination of film clips, exclusive interaction with the museum’s objects, and the panelists’ comments, viewers, and audience members not only learned about the Roosevelts, but experienced the excitement they continue to bring to the public decades later.


National Standards

United States History Standards (Grades 5-12)

Historical Thinking Standards (Grades 5-12)

Common Core State Standards (Grades K-12)

College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards (Grades 9-12)

Instructional Strategies