Roosevelt Institute

The Roosevelt Institute
Motto	Carrying forward the legacy and values of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.
Established	1987
President	Andrew Rich
Location	New York, NY
Address	570 Lexington Ave., 18th floor New York, NY 10022
Website	www.rooseveltinstitute.org

The Roosevelt Institute is a progressive non-profit organization devoted to carrying forward the legacy and values of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt by developing progressive ideas and bold leadership in the service of restoring America's health and security. It has offices located in New York, New York, Hyde Park, New York, and Washington, D.C..

History

The Roosevelt Institute was initially created through the merger of three Roosevelt family organizations in 1987:

• The Franklin D. Roosevelt Foundation, founded by the President’s friends in 1939 with the express purpose of building the first presidential library, an effort directed by FDR to bring order and security to the preservation of the nation’s historical records.

• The Four Freedoms Foundation, founded in 1951 to promote the ideals of FDR’s Four Freedoms.

Four Freedoms Wall in the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, Washington, D.C.

• The Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, founded in 1972 as the successor to the Eleanor Roosevelt Memorial Foundation that was responsible for building the Eleanor Roosevelt wing of the FDR Library.

Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, November 1935.

The purpose of these organizations was not to memorialize Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, but rather to promote the study of the momentous era in which they played such prominent roles and to inspire others to carry forward their public legacy.

A series of organizational mergers followed the celebrations, programs, and events that took place around the centennials of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt’s births in 1982 and 1984, respectively. In 1982, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Foundation merged with the Four Freedoms Foundation to strengthen their shared mission of bringing contemporary relevance to the history of the Roosevelt era. In 1987, the Eleanor Roosevelt Institute merged with the FDR Four Freedoms Foundation and the new organization was named the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute.

In 2007, the Roosevelt Institute merged with the Roosevelt Institution, now known as the Roosevelt Institute Campus Network. It remains the non-profit partner to the government-run Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, the nation's first presidential library. In 2009, it expanded its mission with the launch of the Four Freedoms Center, a progressive policy think tank, and its economic policy blog, New Deal 2.0.

Programs

Both independently and in partnership with the FDR Library, the Roosevelt Institute seeks to generate bold progressive ideas, develop the next generation of progressive leadership, and promote the Roosevelt legacy.

The Institute's Four Freedoms Center is designed to promote a rigorous debate about progressive policies and values and to deploy their strongest proponents in the public sphere. Its Fellows Program includes influential thinkers and analysts such as Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and Robert Johnson, former chief economist to the Senate Banking Committee, and its work has informed the consumer protection efforts of Elizabeth Warren.^[1]

Official logo of the Roosevelt Institute Campus Network.

The Roosevelt Institute Campus Network is a forum of 10,000 politically engaged young people at 86 active chapters who discuss, promote, and implement progressive ideas and policies. The Network comprises a diverse cross-section of backgrounds, with women and people of color leading more than half the chapters. The Roosevelt Alumni & Young Professionals Network, launched in 2010, brings together early-career progressives in order to support and encourage future progressive leaders.

Through the FDR Presidential Library, the Institute seeks to promote the Roosevelts' legacy and attract new audiences to their ideas and values. The library, located in Hyde Park, New York, offers programs and exhibitions and produces white papers and blog content that provide a historical context to contemporary challenges.

The Roosevelt Institute also sponsors a number of awards, including:

• The Four Freedoms Awards Program – Established in 1982 to recognize individual achievement in promoting freedom from want, freedom from fear, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and the universal concept of freedom.
• Franklin D. Roosevelt International Disability Award - Established in 1995 by the World Committee on Disability recognizes and encourages progress by nations toward the fulfillment of the goal of the United Nations World Program of Action Concerning Disabled Persons.
• Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. Award in American History and Public Commentary – Established in 1998 to honor individuals who have made significant contributions in the fields of American history, public policy and participation in public affairs.
• Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize – Established in 1986 to honor an outstanding work on American naval history.

New Deal 2.0

History

New Deal 2.0 (abbreviated ND20) is a collaborative blog focusing on progressive economics, created by web entrepreneur and cultural theorist Lynn Parramore, co-founder of Recessionwire.^[2] It was launched on April 29, 2009, the end of President Barack Obama’s first hundred days in office, as a reference to the First Hundred Days of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency.^[3] It has served as a platform for Roosevelt Institute fellows Joseph Stiglitz, Robert Johnson, Thomas Ferguson, Mike Konczal, Mark Schmitt, Matt Stoller, Marshall Auerback, Bo Cutter, Ellen Chesler, Jeff Madrick, Richard Kirsch, David Woolner, and Lynn Parramore, as well as other writers and commentators including Elizabeth Warren, Eliot Spitzer, William K. Black, Anna Burger, and James K. Galbraith. Aimed at journalists, policy-makers, and engaged citizens, New Deal 2.0 covers topics including financial reform, unemployment, housing, debt, income inequality, money and politics, progressive values, the culture of capitalism, and the economic challenges facing the country. It also brings an economic perspective to issues including health care, immigration, and human rights, advocating the view that economic outcomes must be considered alongside social goals.

New Deal 2.0 official logo.

Features

New Deal 2.0 features a number of regular columns written by Roosevelt Institute staff and fellows, including Robert Johnson's "The FinanceSeer" and Bo Cutter's "The Cutter Report," in which they draw on their experience in finance and politics to provide insight on current debates; David Woolner's "Legacy Lessons," which examines the FDR legacy in relation to modern politics; Feminomics, a series on women and the economy edited by Lynn Parramore; "The Swipe," a series on consumer debt written by Bryce Covert; "Young Voices," which showcases young thinkers and student activists; "New Deal Dictionary" and "Econ 102," which explain significant economic terms and concepts, and the "Daily Digest," which rounds up important economic and political news.

Roosevelt Institute fellows and associates have also used New Deal 2.0 to publish several research papers, including "A World Upside Down? Deficit Fantasies in the Great Recession," Robert Johnson and Thomas Ferguson's exploration of the U.S. budget deficit; "Principles and Guidelines for Deficit Reduction," Joseph Stiglitz's blueprint for a progressive response to the deficit; "Democracy in Peril," an examination of American voter turnout patterns by Walter Dean Burnham; "The Stagnating Labor Market," in which Mike Konczal and Arjun Jayadev challenge the structural unemployment explanation for the current job crisis; "The Boom Not the Slump: The Right Time for Austerity," in which Konczal and Jayadev argue that austerity is the wrong response to an economic downturn; "Understanding Public Opinion on Deficits and Social Security," an investigation of the AmericaSpeaks town hall meetings by Benjamin Page and Lawrence Jacobs; and "1,2,3 Many Tea Parties: A Closer Look at the Massachusetts Senate Race," Thomas Ferguson's study of the Tea Party's role in the election of Scott Brown.

References

1. ^ "Elizabeth Warren on Consumer Protection (MMBM)". Vimeo. http://vimeo.com/9952891. Retrieved May 2, 2011. 
2. ^ "A Site Chronicles Ways to Adapt in the Downturn". New York Times. February 9, 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/09/business/media/09recession.html. Retrieved May 17, 2011. 
3. ^ "Comparing Obama to FDR". CNN. http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/04/29/comparing-obama-to-fdr/. Retrieved May 17, 2011. 

External links

• [1] Official website
• [2] New Deal 2.0