A Trip Through Georgia (Part 2) Franklin Roosevelt's Little White House & The Carter's Hometown of Plains (Special Edition)

In this our second episode of our tour through Georgia, we head out into rural south west Georgia to visit the community of Warm Springs. It was there in a small little resort town that Franklin Roosevelt discovered a treatment for his polio. It never cured him but it certainly revitalized him. The warm 88 degree water full of minerals allowed Roosevelt to move in the water like he was back on his feet again. it buoyed more than just his body, it lifted his spirit too. 

Roosevelt spent two thirds of his personal fortune, building a hospital to help those afflicted with polio, and that hospital still exists today helping with other disabilities and diseases. Roosevelt, who was born wealthy, met all types of people here in Georgia. He learned their struggles, their economic hardships, and the sky high cost of electrification. He vowed to help them, and he did. A great deal of the policies that made up the New Deal were from learning the problems of average Americans that he saw first hand in his adoptive home of Warm Springs. 

It was also here that he returned after his 14,000 mile trip to Yalta near the end of World War 2. He was tired, and it showed. He had been diagnosed with congestive heart failure, his blood pressure periodically spiking, and it was clear his health was not good. He came here to Warm Springs to recuperate, and gather strength for the final push of the European War, and his dream of building a United Nations for peace. He did not live to see either of them. 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, here at the Little White House in Georgia. We will tell that story in this episode too. 

Then we will head back out on the road and go an hour and a half deeper into Georgia to a tiny little town of around 524 people. It is so small, its downtown actually looks like a movie set. You would probably ride right past it if not for its very famous residents, former President and former First Lady Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter called Plains, Georgia home, for 100 years. We will visit their gravesites, their remarkable, and yet very modest home, and visit the high school museum both attended. 

It was their in that museum that we learned about his famous school teacher Ms. Julia Coleman, their work at the Carter Center, and finally stumbled on the only work of fiction, out of the 27 books he wrote during his long post Presidency. We bought a copy of the "The Hornet's Nest" the first novel ever written by a former President. 

We will take you through it all, and even walk you through downtown Plains, Georgia, in this episode wrapping up our tour through Georgia. 

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Chapters

• 0:00 Little White House Museum video audio "Why FDR loved Warm Springs"
• 1:11 Intro Music
• 1:36 Host Randal Wallace arrives at the Little White House
• 2:26 The Little White House Video narrated by Walter Cronkite
• 14:40 segment from the First Inaugural address of Franklin Roosevelt
• 16:49 Gather round to hear FDR's first Fireside Chats - PBS Newshour
• 17:00 Host Randal Wallace talks about Roosevelt and the Fireside Chats
• 18:01 Fireside Chat number 8 "Farmers & Laborers"
• 23:04 President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited Warm Springs Georgia for Polio Treatment - Georgia Public Television
• 24:44 Host Randal Wallace talks about the staging of photographs for the public as seen at the Museum.
• 27:41 History in Five : James Tobin Author of "The Man He Became"
• 32:59 Host Randal Wallace reads from his souvenir tour guide book about the Museum and the car in it.
• 37:11 FDR in Warm Springs - Museum Video Audio
• 37:52 Host Randal Wallace walking to the Little White House
• 38:27 Host Randal Wallace talks about the stones of the states walk way our stone in South Carolina is Winnsboro Granite
• 39:02 Host Randal Wallace talks about the Mustain House and Ms Georgia
• 40:06 Host Randal Wallace walks up tot he Little White House but we can't go in due to Lightning striking the power transformer.
• 40:31 Host Randal Wallace reads from the Souvenir book about the Little White House
• 42:07 President Franklin Roosevelt addresses a joint session of Congress and for the only time in his career addresses his handicap
• 44:25 Host Randal Wallace reads from the Souvenir book about the last visit to Warm Springs
• 46:52 Host Randal Wallace wraps up the Little White House visit in Warm Springs
• 49:19 Jimmy Carter's Long history with Plains, Georgia - CNN
• 50:23 Host Randal Wallace at the Gravesite for President and Mrs Carter
• 50:55 Host Randal Wallace looking through the gate at the Carter's Plains home
• 51:35 From Plains to the White House : the Legacy of Former President Jimmy Carter - Atlanta News First
• 55:10 Host Randal Wallace talks about the High School Museum and finding the copy of "the Hornet's Nest" President Carter's Novel and the Carter Center
• 1:02:36 The Carter Center Legacy Circle - Carter Center Video audio
• 1:06:09 Host Randal Wallace talks campaign buttons
• 1:08:14 At Plains Trading Post, you can find everything and then some - Atlanta News First
• 1:10:08 Host Randal Wallace wraps up his trip through Georgia from the Train Depot and National Carter for President Headquarters in Plains, Georgia.
• 1:11:24 Intro to the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library Video audio - a segment
• 1:11:57 Closing theme