Kaye Lanning Minchew
Kaye is the author of “A President in Our Midst: Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Georgia”. She has previously spoken to us on the legacy of President Carter. The retired Executive Director of the Troup County Archives and Legacy Museum on Main in LaGrange, Kaye was appointed director of the Archives in 1985. She developed that institution into a model for local government records repository and local history program.
For Georgians of a certain age, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s (FDR) connection with the state was a constant, but as time has passed, many may have forgotten the time he spent in Georgia. In A President in Our Midst: Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Georgia, Kaye Lanning Minchew brings FDR and his twenty-one years of visits to Georgia back to the forefront. Minchew’s thirty-year tenure as executive director of the Troup County Historical Society and Archives provides her with a special insight into the Roosevelt’s time in Georgia. She also writes of her own family’s longtime admiration of President Roosevelt as part of the reason for putting together this.
In the first chapter, the reader learns of Roosevelt’s bout with polio and his efforts to recover from the paralysis that left him unable to walk without aid. His efforts at recovery led him to discover the benefits of Warm Springs. From the beginnings of his fight against polio, Minchew tells how FDR worked to show he was “fit” for office. It is here that one gains insight into how the press portrayed him, a contrast to today’s media coverage of candidates. Roosevelt’s leadership out of the Great Depression and into World War II is covered. Many were caught off guard when he died at the Little White House. Minchew tells of FDR’s legacy in Georgia: the work that continued in regards to polio, the economy, and the many memorials. Within this volume, there are many things that even the casual historian would know about Roosevelt, but the added value is that these things, along with many others, are placed within the context of his time in Georgia and his relationship with the people of the state.