The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum has reopened. Hours and attendance are limited. Please check our website for the most up-to-date information.

Ticket sales are online only. Masks are required.

Hours: 11am-4pm (last entry 2:45pm)

Franklin Roosevelt was a master of radio – the greatest mass medium of the 1930s and 1940s. His famous radio “Fireside Chats" were major media events that attracted tens of millions of listeners. Find out how FDR used the radio to forge a powerful connection with the American public from Supervisory Curator Herman Eberhardt.

A gift from his cousin Margaret Suckley, FDR's dog Fala accompanied him almost everywhere. The White House staff would send a bone up on the President's breakfast tray every morning.

During the summer of 1921, FDR was enjoying a day of sailing on his yacht when he suddenly fell overboard into the icy waters of the Bay of Fundy, which ironically felt paralyzing to his body. On August 25, 1921, Dr. Robert Lovett diagnosed FDR with infantile paralysis (i.e. polio).

FDR’s personal secretary, Grace Tully, wrote in her book F.D.R. My Boss (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1949): “The Boss was superstitious, particularly about the number thirteen and the practice of lighting three cigarettes on a single match...."

Long before GPS, people used to navigate using maps and compasses. But what if an area had no fixed features, like the oceans? Sailors found their way by using the stars. An accomplished sailor, FDR appreciated the stars for their usefulness in navigation and their beauty.

When was the last time you took a good look at the stars?

On August 14, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act, a monumental piece of legislation that forever changed the relationship between the federal government and the American people.