Browsing with Mr. Mannion

I was visiting my inlaws with my wife Connie when my dear friend Mr. Lance Mannion asked me whether I thought that F.D.R. was a voracious reader or (as a new biography suggests) not much of a reader at all. "Aha!" I said for I am always talking like one of the Hardy boys (Frank I think) "Aha! I know Jeff Urbin, the educational director at the F.D.R. Presidential library. Let us call this good man and wish him all the season's felicities and beg of him the truth in this important matter." I actually said something like that because I am Frank Hardy.

Both Lance Mannion and yours truly are among other things ardent fans of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and accordingly the question about our favorite president's reading habits had to be answered then and there. Of course I had to take time out for a piece of mince pie and a game of "pass the pigs" with my family but the next morning I gave Jeff a call. As luck would have it Dr. Urbin was in his office at Hyde Park and he was instantly able to answer our question and even better, he invited us to visit him at the library that very day.

And so it came to pass that Lance and my guide dog Nira and yours truly found themselves at Hyde Park where Nira was thrilled to see a stuffe replica of Franklin and Eleanor's famous dog Fala standing inside the main doors of the visitor's center.

If you click on the above link to Lance Mannion's blog you will hear of the decided results of our collective investigation into the mystery of F.D.R.'s literary avocations. Hint: he owned 20,000 books, a number that will exceedthe height of the Empire State building by twice should some compulsive actually stack them but let's hope no such plan emerges anytime soon.

Lance has a great photo of Nira and Fallah and I hope that he posts it on his blog.

If you are in the vicinity of Hyde Park anytime soon I urge you to visit the fascinating exhibit they are currently showing about F.D.R.'s first hundred days in office. The shiveringly apt comparisons with our present historical moment are obvious.

If I'm Frank Hardy then I think Lance is Joe. We are chums. It was good to take a turn in our runabout and investigate the mystery of the presidential library. We owe Jeff Urbin our collective debt of gratitude and here's hoping for the advancement of a ne New Deal for our nation.

By turns I was amused t hear last niht on the Rachel Maddow Show that the GOP is calling President Bush a socialist. They of course want the Old Deal e.g. "The Gilded Age" and I think it's safe to say that they've had it for the past decade and, as muy uncle used to say: "C'mon kids, the show's over and the monkey's dead."

Author: stevekuusisto

Poet, Essayist, Blogger, Journalist, Memoirist, Disability Rights Advocate, Public Speaker, Professor, Syracuse University View all posts by stevekuusisto