Franklin D. Roosevelt III

Franklin Delano Roosevelt III, born on July 19, 1938, is an American retired economist and academic. He is a grandson of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, and Eleanor Roosevelt, through his father, Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. His maternal lineage is connected to the prominent du Pont family.

Family Background:

Roosevelt was the first child of Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. and his first wife, Ethel du Pont. His birth occurred during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s second presidential term, making him the eighth grandchild born to Franklin D. Roosevelt. His father publicly referred to him as "Battling" Frank III as a newborn. He has a younger brother, Christopher du Pont Roosevelt, born in 1941, from his parents' marriage. His father married five times, resulting in additional siblings, including two half-sisters, Nancy Suzanne Roosevelt (born 1952) and Laura Delano Roosevelt (born 1959), and a half-brother, John Alexander Roosevelt (born 1977). From his mother's subsequent marriage to attorney Benjamin S. Warren Jr., Roosevelt gained a half-brother, Benjamin S. Warren III (born 1954).

Education and Academic Career:

Roosevelt attended St. Mark's School in Southborough, Massachusetts. He completed his Bachelor of Arts in Economics at Yale University in 1961, where he participated as a midshipman in the Yale Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) and was commissioned as an Ensign to serve aboard a minesweeper. He earned a master's degree from Columbia University in 1968 and obtained a Ph.D. from The New School. His doctoral dissertation was titled "Towards a Marxist Critique of the Cambridge School" and focused on integrating Marxist and capitalist economic theories to promote fairness and reduce inequalities inherent in "winner-takes-all" systems.

In 1977, Roosevelt became a professor at Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, New York. He served as chair of the social sciences faculty during two terms: from 1988 to 1990 and from 1991 to 1993. In addition to his teaching career, Roosevelt has continued to engage in public discourse about his grandparents' legacies.

Teaching and Influence:

Roosevelt has identified himself as a "radical" or "alternative" economist. Among his former students is Rhona Free, a professor of economics at Eastern Connecticut State University, who was named one of four U.S. Professors of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education in 2004. Free acknowledged Roosevelt's influence in her career, citing his teaching style as encouraging critical thinking and open-mindedness. Roosevelt received the Lipkin Family Prize for Inspirational Teaching from Sarah Lawrence in 2004.

Activism and Public Engagement:

Roosevelt was involved in the civil rights movement. During the 1964 Mississippi Summer Project (Freedom Summer), he was detained by the Mississippi Highway Patrol while transporting civil rights advocate Allard K. Lowenstein but was released upon recognition of his identity.

Community and Legacy Projects:

Based in Manhattan, Roosevelt served on the Board of Trustees for the Manhattan Country School from 1970 to 2010, advocating for policies such as sliding scale tuition fees. He also spearheaded the effort to establish the Eleanor Roosevelt Monument in Riverside Park, Manhattan, which was unveiled in 1996. He has expressed support for market socialism.

Personal Life:

On June 18, 1962, Roosevelt married Grace Rumsey Goodyear at St. Luke’s Protestant Episcopal Church in Darien, Connecticut. Grace is a graduate of Milton Academy and a former student at Smith College. Her family lineage includes Austin Goodyear, grandson of Charles W. Goodyear, and Louisa Robins Goodyear, granddaughter of Thomas Robins Jr. The couple has three children, including twins: Phoebe Louisa Roosevelt (born February 25, 1965), Nicholas Martin Roosevelt (born June 8, 1966), and Amelia "Amie" Roosevelt (born June 8, 1966), a concert violinist.

Published Works:

Roosevelt has authored several works, including:

- "Understanding Capitalism: Competition, Command, and Change" (3rd edition, 2005, Oxford University Press).

- "Why Market Socialism?: Voices from Dissent" (1994, M.E. Sharpe), co-authored with David Belkin.

- "Tuition Reform for Private Schools: The Manhattan Country School Plan" (1981).

References and external links related to his speeches, publications, and biographical details are available publicly.