My Own Story ─ From Private and Public Papers

This volume is in many ways Roosevelt’s political autobiography. It permits Roosevelt, in his own words, to tell what he intended to do and what he tried to do as a political leader. It differs sharply from a memoir in that it explains why Roosevelt acted without offering justification or explanation. Donald Day chooses passages that reveal all Roosevelt’s dimensions—his humor, personal magnetism, and his insights into the outlook of the American people.

Each document reveals a stage in Roosevelt’s thinking and at the same time provides the flavor of his personality. The chapters trace his development as a social and political thinker, and also as a unique personality. This unique autobiography begins on "a very hot Saturday morning in 1910 at the policeman’s picnic in Fairview when ‘I started to make the acquaintance of that part of Dutchess County that lays outside of the town of Hyde Park. …On that joyous occasion of clams and sauerkraut and real beer I made my first speech, and I have been apologizing for it ever since."

The book carries the reader through the highlights of Roosevelt’s American domestic policies, foreign dangers, and his personal reflections on the best course of action in each moment of his presidency. The book ends with the last words Roosevelt ever wrote, when he was working on an address to have been delivered on Jefferson Day: "The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith." The day was April 12, 1945, the day of his death. The book remains timely and moving.