The Franklin D. Roosevelt
Presidential Library and Museum
recently received previously unseen
and historically significant
home movie footage from the
1935 White House Easter Egg Roll
showing
"the most vivid glimpse we've yet had"
of FDR's adapted walk
HYDE PARK, NY -- The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum recently received
previously unseen and historically significant home movie footage of FDR "walking"
at the 1935 White House Easter Egg Roll. Roosevelt historian and Library Trustee Geoffrey C. Ward believes the footage offers "the most vivid glimpse we've yet had" of President Roosevelt's unique adapted walk made possible by the use of steel leg braces. FDR lost the use of his legs after contracting polio in 1921, at the age of 39.
In December 2017, the Roosevelt Library received a donation from Richard G. Hill, whose grandfather, Nevada ranch owner Fred Hill, captured 16mm home movie footage of the 1935 White House Easter Egg Roll. In only a few minutes of footage taken with his personal camera, Hill managed to capture close-up shots of Eleanor Roosevelt greeting guests, views of families on White House grounds, traffic on nearby Washington, D.C. streets and even a two-second glimpse of a large airship floating directly over the White House, very likely the Goodyear Enterprise. This footage is believed to be the earliest existing motion picture footage of an Easter Egg Roll hosted by the Roosevelts.
Most significantly, the footage presents very rare film of Franklin D. Roosevelt's adapted walk. From the crowd's perspective at a medium distance, we see both Roosevelts walk the length of the South Portico, FDR leaning on an aide's arm, advancing forward under his own power. Footage of FDR "walking" is rare because he primarily used a small wheelchair to move from location to location within in the White House and at home, and used his adapted walk only for short distances at public appearances.
Historian Geoffrey C. Ward stated, "Only a handful of mostly private snapshots and a few feet of blurry amateur film hint at that struggle. But 31 seconds of silent 16mm amateur black-and-white footage recently deposited at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library offer the most vivid glimpse we've yet had of his gallant attempt to persuade the public that he was merely "lame," that he was vigorous enough to withstand the awful pressures of the presidency."
This new footage is available for public viewing both online (
fdrlibrary.org/FDRwalking) and in the Roosevelt Library research room. Film editors at the Library's Pare Lorentz Film Center have formatted this footage for use in education programs, online exhibits, and social media sharing. In addition, teachers, students, and researchers will soon be able to access the fully digitized, unedited film through the National Archives Catalog.
For additional information about this footage please call Cliff Laube at (845) 486-7745.
