The History Channel Announces New Three-Night Documentary Event “FDR” Produced by Presidential Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, Academy Award-Nominated Producer Bradley Cooper [VIDEO]

The HISTORY® Channel is proud to announce its latest premium presidential miniseries, “FDR,” executive produced by world-renowned presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize®-winning, bestselling author Doris Kearns Goodwin, Academy Award®-nominated producer Bradley Cooper, under his production company Lea Pictures.

The new three-night documentary event will premiere on Memorial Day and air across three consecutive nights beginning Monday, May 29 @ 8PM ET/PT providing an epic portrait of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, unpacking how his own fight with polio prepared him for the challenges of leading the United States through the Great Depression and World War II.

Based upon Goodwin’s New York Times bestseller, Leadership: In Turbulent Times, viewers will experience a most harrowing, yet heroic time in history when through grit, commitment, and shared sacrifice FDR was the right man at the right time to lead the U.S. and the allied nations, projecting confidence in himself and America.

“Buoyed by the spectacular response to our ongoing partnership with The HISTORY Channel, I am proud that together with RadicalMedia and Bradley Cooper, we will be bringing to life one of the most consequential stories of presidential history and leadership for viewers around the world,” said Goodwin. “It’s been a dream of mine to tell the story of Franklin and Eleanor in this way, so audiences can truly know them and understand how they inspired and improved our country with a ‘new deal’ that forever altered the way in which the federal government contributed to the health and wellbeing of its people.”

“We are incredibly honored to work with our talented partners Doris, Bradley, and RadicalMedia on our network’s fifth presidential miniseries to bring FDR’s very important and complex story to life,” said Eli Lehrer, Executive Vice President and Head of Programming for The HISTORY Channel. “FDR’s presidency took place during one of the most disastrous times in world history and this miniseries will chronicle every aspect of those moments from the panic that came at the height of the Great Depression to the terror on the morning of December 7, 1941 – moments when our democracy was on the verge of collapse.”

“FDR” charts Roosevelt’s formative years, his marriage to Eleanor Roosevelt, his early political career, being afflicted by polio, and how he translated his personal struggle with a disability to connect to and help the American people navigate the depths of the Depression, ultimately culminating in his partnership with UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill that aided in his adept handling of World War II. Told through exceptional, dramatic narrative sequences, insightful expert interviews and contemporary scholarship, dynamic archival footage, and never-before-seen documents, this six-hour miniseries will chronicle his growth as a leader at one of the most perilous moments in history, with the immeasurable help of his wife and advisor Eleanor by his side. This premium miniseries features expert commentary from renowned authors, historians, and witnesses to history including Pulitzer Prize-winner Jon Meacham, Michael Beschloss, Allida Black, and Evan Thomas, internment camp survivor and actor George Takei, Holocaust survivor Paul Galan, professors Leah Wright Rigeur, Dr. H.W. Brands and Col. USMC Ret. Doug Douds as well former speechwriter for President Barack Obama Sarada Peri.

“FDR” is the network’s fifth presidential miniseries following the successful premieres of both the network’s fourth presidential miniseries, “Theodore Roosevelt,” which premiered in May 2022 and ranked as the network’s best miniseries in two years, and the acclaimed third presidential miniseries, “Abraham Lincoln,” also produced by Goodwin and RadicalMedia. Additionally, “Grant” also produced by RadicalMedia, became the network’s #1 non-fiction miniseries of all time following its May 2020 premiere with 2.8 million total viewers. Prior to “Grant,” the network teamed up with Goodwin who served as executive producer for “Washington,” which became the #1 miniseries on all of cable in nearly three years after its February 2020 premiere with 2.6 million total viewers.

“FDR” is produced for The HISTORY® Channel by RadicalMedia, in association with GroupM Motion Entertainment. Jon Kamen, Dave Sirulnick, Meredith Bennett, Liz Bull and Malcolm Venville serve as executive producers for RadicalMedia. Richard Foster and Chet Fenster serve as executive producers for GrouPM Motion Entertainment. Alex Browne is showrunner and Malcolm Venville is directing the series. Doris Kearns Goodwin and Beth Laski serve as executive producers for Pastimes Productions. Bradley Cooper and Kristen Barnett serve as executive producers for Lea Pictures. Eli Lehrer, Mary E. Donahue, and Jennifer Wagman are executive producers for The HISTORY Channel. Paul Sparrow, former Director at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, serves as historical consultant.

A+E Networks holds worldwide distribution rights for “FDR.”