The Society of Presidential Descendants, in partnership with the Long Island University Roosevelt School, conferred Derek Leebaert with the 2025 Biennial Presidential Leadership Book Award for Unlikely Heroes: Franklin Roosevelt, His Four Lieutenants, and the World They Made. Leebaert’s bold reinterpretation of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency examines the lives of four extraordinary lieutenants—Harry Hopkins, Harold Ickes, Frances Perkins, and Henry Wallace—who helped steer the United States through the Great Depression and World War II.
