Quotes

Dialogue

Louis McHenry Howe: I can't quite picture you in the back woods of Georgia. Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Well, where do you picture me, Louis? Louis McHenry Howe: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Dialogue

Franklin Delano Roosevelt: [on first arriving at Warm Springs] I can't stay here. This place is a wreck. Eleanor Roosevelt: Franklin. Tom Loyless: Look on the bright side, most of your time will be spent in the water. Look, we've fallen on some hard times... Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Hard times?! This place should be condemned! Tom Loyless: [short pause] Yes, it's true, we've seen better days. But then, I imagine, so have you. [short pause] I'd be happy to drive you back to the train station right now if that's what you'd like? Eleanor Roosevelt: My husband is concerned. Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Fire. [short pause] I'm very frightened of fire. I can't get out if I'm upstairs I... Tom Loyless: Oh, of course. We have other options.

Dialogue

Helena Mahoney: I feel like I've been brought here under false pretenses. Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Join the club.

Dialogue

Louis McHenry Howe: Why are you a Democrat? Franklin Delano Roosevelt: The Democratic Party is the party of the people, and I'm a man of the people. Louis McHenry Howe: You're a Roosevelt. Since when does a Roosevelt know about people?

Dialogue

Eleanor Roosevelt: You want to stay? Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Yes. Eleanor Roosevelt: New York has the best doctors and hospitals in the country. Franklin Delano Roosevelt: I need something new. Eleanor Roosevelt: This isn't about getting better, is it? You don't want to come home. You don't want to live with us. Franklin Delano Roosevelt: I refuse to be a burden to anyone-- Eleanor Roosevelt: You're not a burden, you're my husband. Franklin Delano Roosevelt: I want to offer you the freedom you once so generously offered me. Listen, all you've ever known is duty to me and to a political career and unless I can walk again, no longer exists. You've been...exemplary. Now I'm telling you...that your free to go. Eleanor Roosevelt: I don't want freedom. I want a marriage. I want a life with you. Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Perhaps I can't imagine what you think that life is going to be. Eleanor Roosevelt: Oh, Franklin. It's not up to me to imagine. It's up to you.

Dialogue

Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Don't talk to me as if I were a child! Eleanor Roosevelt: How am I supposed to talk to you? Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Like I was! Eleanor Roosevelt: I don't know how to any more.

Dialogue

Franklin Delano Roosevelt: I want no part of this. I come here for privacy. Tom Loyless: This isn't your personal spa! I have a business to run! Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Exactly! You have a business to run not I! Tom Loyless: No one's asking anything of you! Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Course they are! Tom Loyless: Do you know what it took for most of them to get here? Franklin Delano Roosevelt: It's not my concern! I want to be left alone! Tom Loyless: My God... You're afraid of these people. Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Afraid? What are you talking about? Tom Loyless: You look at them with the same repulsion and pity as everyone else. Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Don't be ridiculous! And I resent-- Tom Loyless: You don't want to be around them because then that would make you one of them. Wouldn't it? Franklin Delano Roosevelt: God dammit! Get outta my way! Get out of my goddamn way!

Dialogue

Franklin Delano Roosevelt: You never pitied me, Tom. Thank you for that. Tom Loyless: On the contrary; I envy you.

Dialogue

Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Mahoney. I need to speak with you, please. Helena Mahoney: Sure, doc. [walks over] Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Thank you. Helena Mahoney: Good luck, Franklin. Franklin Delano Roosevelt: I'm throwing myself to the wolves. Helena Mahoney: You've faced worse. If they bite, you can come back here. Franklin Delano Roosevelt: I'll always come back here. [laughs]

Dialogue

Louis McHenry Howe: What's the matter? Franklin Delano Roosevelt: What if I fall? Louis McHenry Howe: If you fall, you just get up again. Franklin Delano Roosevelt: If I fall in front of thousands of people, I'll lose everything... except their pity. They'll never see past my legs. Eleanor Roosevelt: My darling, they'll never see past your legs... until you do.

Dialogue

Reporter: Mrs. Roosevelt, do you think that polio has affected your husband's mind? Eleanor Roosevelt: [smiling] Yes, I do! I certainly do!

Dialogue

Four years later, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected President of the United States. He was elected three more times - unprecedented in U.S. history. During his years as President, he saw the country through the Great Depression and a world war waged on six continents. On April 12, 1945, in the thirteenth year of his presidency, at the age of sixty-three, Franklin Roosevelt died in his cottage at Warm Springs. The beneficiary of his $562,000 life insurance policy was Warm Springs...which continues to flourish as a rehabilitation center to this day.