Michael Berkowitz at the 2026 Roosevelt Reading Festival

We are pleased to announce that Prof Michael Berkowitz has been invited to the 2026 Roosevelt Reading Festival to present Hollywood’s Unofficial Film Corps: American Jewish Moviemakers and the War Effort (University of Wisconsin Press)

The FDR Presidential Library has assumed increasing importance recently due to the vilification of FDR and the New Deal by the current administration.  It also is important to recall the hatred, often tied to antisemitism, foisted on Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, as well as Hollywood, by the fascists of the 1930s and 40s.

From the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum:

On Saturday, June 20, 2026, from 9:45 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum will host the annual Roosevelt Reading Festival. The day-long program will highlight the recently published work of fourteen authors — including a special afternoon presentation in honor of America’s Semiquincentennial Celebration — with Mary E. Stuckey, author of Remembering Jefferson: Who He Was, Who We Are. The festival will be held in the Henry A. Wallace Center at the FDR Presidential Library and Home. This is a free public event. Registration is not required.

In six concurrent sessions taking place throughout the day, fourteen authors of works that draw upon the Roosevelt Library archives — or focus on the Roosevelt era — will present author talks followed by question-and-answer sessions and book signings. Copies of all the authors’ books will be available for sale in the New Deal Store. The program begins at 9:45 a.m. with coffee and refreshments.

This year’s Roosevelt Reading Festival authors include:

David T. Beito FDR: A New Political Life

Michael Berkowitz Hollywood’s Unofficial Film Corps: American Jewish Moviemakers and the War Effort

Michael Croland Poems by First Ladies: The First-Ever Anthology

Michael J. Gerhardt FDR’s Mentors: Navigating the Path to Greatness

Garrett M. Graff The Devil Reached Toward the Sky: An Oral History of the Making and Unleashing of the Atomic Bomb

Stephanie Gray Restoring America: Historic Preservation and the New Deal

Michael J. Illuzzi Mending the Nation: Reclaiming We the People in a Populist Age

Adrian Miller Asian Heritage Chefs in White House History: Cooking to the President’s Taste

Donn Mitchell Eleanor Roosevelt’s Nightly Prayer: The Religious Life of the First Lady of the World

Lobsang Nyandak The Dalai Lama and American Presidents: A Story of Faith, Diplomacy, and Friendship

David Pietrusza Roosevelt Sweeps Nation: FDR’s 1936 Landslide and the Triumph of the Liberal Ideal

Andrew Preston Total Defense: The New Deal and the Invention of National Security

Cathryn Prince For the Love of Labor: The Life of Pauline Newman

Special Afternoon Presentation:

Mary E. Stuckey Remembering Jefferson: Who He Was, Who We Are

The event is free and open to the public. Author book signings will be conducted throughout the day, and books will be available for purchase in the New Deal Store. For additional information about this event please call Cliff Laube at (845) 486-7745.

Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum

Designed by Franklin Roosevelt and dedicated on June 30, 1941, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum is the nation’s first presidential library and the only one used by a sitting president. Administered by the National Archives and Records Administration since 1941, the Library preserves and makes accessible to the American people the records of FDR’s presidency. The Roosevelt Library’s mission is to foster a deeper understanding of the lives and times of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and their continuing impact on contemporary life. This work is carried out through the Library’s archives and research room, museum collections and exhibitions, innovative educational programs, and engaging public programming. For more information about the Library or its programs call (800) 337-8474 or visit fdrlibrary.org.