My Own Story: From Private and Public Papers

Each document reveals a stage in Roosevelt's thinking and at the same time provides the flavor of his personality. The chapters trace his development as a social and political thinker, and also as a unique personality. This unique autobiography begins on "a very hot Saturday morning in 1910 at the policeman's picnic in Fairview when 'I started to make the acquaintance of that part of Dutchess County that lays outside of the town of Hyde Park. …On that joyous occasion of clams and sauerkraut and real beer I made my first speech, and I have been apologiing for it ever since."

The book carries the reader through the highlights of Roosevelt's American domestic policies, foreign dangers, and his personal reflections on the best course of action in each moment of his presidency. The book ends with the last words Roosevelt ever wrote, when he was working on an address to have been delivered on Jefferson Day: "The only limit to our realiation of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith." The day was April 12, 1945, the day of his death. The book remains timely and moving.