CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Jonathan Alter, a senior editor at Newsweek and an NBC News correspondent, will deliver the annual McCreight Lecture at the Culture Center on Thursday evening, sponsored by the West Virginia Humanities Council.

His 2006 book, "The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope," was a national best-seller that received renewed attention when the White House announced President Obama and many of his staff members were reading it.

"I am going to talk about Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a big hero in West Virginia when he was president," Alter said during a Monday telephone interview.

"One of the reasons John F. Kennedy got elected president was the 1960 West Virginia primary. Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. came down to campaign for him and convinced people that even though Kennedy was a Catholic, he would be a good president.

"Back then, a lot of people had pictures of FDR on the walls of their homes throughout the state. People still believed in FDR 15 years after his death."

Alter's talk will focus on the "progressive tradition" in American politics.

"And I will probably talk a little bit about Jay Rockefeller, who is right in the thick of it with the health-care debate. I will also be very interested to hear questions from the audience."

Today, Alter is working on a book about Obama.

Alter believes there are many similarities between the way FDR launched his administration in 1933 and the way Obama launched his earlier this year.

"There are major similarities in terms of the economy then and now, although things were even worse then."

FDR and Obama, Alter said, both believed in the "importance of getting off to a fast start, renewing people's faith that government can accomplish something for them."

Roosevelt and Obama both had "first-class temperaments," but temperaments quite different from each other.

"Meeting Roosevelt was like opening your first bottle of champagne, as Winston Churchill said. There was an effervescent quality to Roosevelt.

"FDR was compared to a teacher. Sometimes, he called himself 'teacher in chief.' Obama is a bit more professorial. He is inspiring the way FDR was, but with a calmer disposition."

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Jonathan Alter, a senior editor at Newsweek and an NBC News correspondent, will deliver the annual McCreight Lecture at the Culture Center on Thursday evening, sponsored by the West Virginia Humanities Council.

His 2006 book, "The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope," was a national best-seller that received renewed attention when the White House announced President Obama and many of his staff members were reading it.

"I am going to talk about Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a big hero in West Virginia when he was president," Alter said during a Monday telephone interview.

"One of the reasons John F. Kennedy got elected president was the 1960 West Virginia primary. Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. came down to campaign for him and convinced people that even though Kennedy was a Catholic, he would be a good president.

"Back then, a lot of people had pictures of FDR on the walls of their homes throughout the state. People still believed in FDR 15 years after his death."

Alter's talk will focus on the "progressive tradition" in American politics.

"And I will probably talk a little bit about Jay Rockefeller, who is right in the thick of it with the health-care debate. I will also be very interested to hear questions from the audience."

Today, Alter is working on a book about Obama.

Alter believes there are many similarities between the way FDR launched his administration in 1933 and the way Obama launched his earlier this year.

"There are major similarities in terms of the economy then and now, although things were even worse then."

FDR and Obama, Alter said, both believed in the "importance of getting off to a fast start, renewing people's faith that government can accomplish something for them."

Roosevelt and Obama both had "first-class temperaments," but temperaments quite different from each other.

"Meeting Roosevelt was like opening your first bottle of champagne, as Winston Churchill said. There was an effervescent quality to Roosevelt.

"FDR was compared to a teacher. Sometimes, he called himself 'teacher in chief.' Obama is a bit more professorial. He is inspiring the way FDR was, but with a calmer disposition."

Calmness, Alter said, may be Obama's most distinguishing characteristic.

"Roosevelt was famously described as having a second-class intellect and a first-class temperament. Obama has a first-class intellect and a first-class temperament, but maybe not quite as joyful as FDR's."

The foreign policy of the new administration is at a crossroads.

"We don't quite know what direction he going to go. He is not going to withdraw entirely from Afghanistan, but is not going to send in hundreds of thousands of troops like we did in Vietnam," Alter said.

"There is going to be an American presence. But we don't know how focused it will be on fighting the Taliban versus fighting al-Qaida or on protecting civilian populations as opposed to targeting enemy areas.

"There is not a huge national appetite for a large-scale commitment. So he is operating under some major constraints.

"Obama is handling the process well, getting a wide array of advice, not drifting into war. He is trying to make a rational decision. That does not mean he will make the right decision, but the process is a sensible one."

Alter's most recent book, published last year, is "Between the Lines: A View Inside American Politics, People, and Culture."

Alter has covered seven presidential elections and written more than 50 Newsweek cover stories. His articles have appeared in: The New Republic, Esquire, Slate, Parade and The New York Times.

Columbia University named Alter one of the nation's 10 most influential media critics.

Previous McCreight speakers include: Ken Burns, Henry Louis Gates, Elaine Pagels, David Halberstam, Joyce Carol Oates and Richard Norton Smith.

Thursday's program begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Culture Center. After taking questions from the audience, Alter will attend a book signing and public reception in the Great Hall.

The lecture and reception are free and open to the public.

Reach Paul J. Nyden at pjny...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5164.