|
But Alter loves epical and sweeping conceits. If it is not bewildering enough to imagine how Alter managed to measure the libidinous energy of US presidents, his bald assertion is all the more remarkable because the alleged affair occurred before Roosevelt became president, even before he became governor of New York. But it requires narration and explication, not psychoanalysis from a distance of several decades.Likewise, Alter believes Roosevelt had an affair with his secretary Marguerite "Missy" LeHand. Readers will discover that generally when Alter's hypotheses are less psychological and more political, they are more plausible. While his polio would be inhibitory for many men, Alter argues, Roosevelt was unlike most men because (now get this) he would someday become president of the United States: "It's also evident that men who become president of the United States tend to have stronger than average libidos" (p.57).
Alter's most serious speculation, the one that constitutes Roosevelt's central defining moment, concerns Roosevelt's alleged refusal to resort to dictatorial powers upon assumption of the presidency. But it could easily mean something considerably more benign and even salutary: Roosevelt might have wanted the veterans to, say, pass out food or plant trees. Alter seems to forget that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. He explicitly cites Freud in his account of it, even though virtually no intellectuals take strict Freudianism seriously any more.
According to Alter, Roosevelt had a classical oedipal complex. Why Alter insists on using the singular "moment" in his title and throughout the book isn't clear since it is belied by the various moments he provides during which "the character or perception" of Roosevelt becomes increasing more "crystallized." While it is certainly true that "moment" has a more heroic tone, akin to an apotheosis, Alter would confuse the reader less by arguing that greatness evolves over time and, in some cases, is punctuated by occasional defining moments. Does this statement smack of Roosevelt preparing an army to institute martial law. He identifies the defining moment as the point in time in which "the character or perception of a political figure is crystallized." Yet in his discussion of Roosevelt's defining moment he seems to have in mind various episodes, starting with the assassination attempt on Roosevelt in the winter of 1933 and extending to his inaugural address on March 4, 1933 and beyond through the first 100 days of his presidency. 274). To be sure, the hold Roosevelt's mother had over him was extraordinary and important.
It is in nothing that Roosevelt wrote, nor is there one memorialized discussion that he had on the subject with any trusted aide or confidant. Not all of Alter's speculations are doubtful. Jonathan Alter is smitten with the "defining moment" of presidents and presidential candidates. Alter presents highly tangential evidence that Roosevelt would have been tempted to institute a benevolent dictatorship, mostly on the order that many people wanted him to institute one (e.g., William Randolph Hearst). Alter's best evidence is a line from a list of "suggested additions" for a radio speech Roosevelt was to give primarily to veterans belonging to the American Legion:"As new commander-in-chief under oath to which you are still bound I reserve to myself the right to command you in any phase of the situation which now confronts us." How this suggested sentence, whose authorship is unknown and which Roosevelt didn't use in any case, is tantamount to a declaration of dictatorship is anyone's guess.
On an imaginative reading, perhaps.
He points out that most of the enduring "landmark" accomplishments of the New Deal--the SEC, Social Security, the Wagner Act--occurred after the first 100 days of the Roosevelt presidency.
At the most, it was an "option" that was on the mind of others, but Alter gives us no compelling reason to believe that it was ever a lively option for Roosevelt.
For example, it is not enough to say Roosevelt had a controlling and dominating mother and that, understandably, had predictable consequences for his behavior.
But that doesn't keep Alter from exclaiming:"But on March 5, 1943, an astonishing thing happened--or more precisely, did not happen.
Political good fortune guarantees undaunted potency.
He then opines interestingly that if the actions of the first hundred days had been more successful in whipping the Depression, these "social advances" might not have been advanced and made available to future generations (p.
Nowhere do we see any evidence that Roosevelt seriously considered the idea of assuming dictatorial powers.
The draft of the American Legion radio address was destined not for the ears of millions of veterans and other Americans, but for nothing more than the speech files of the Roosevelt library, where it lay unexamined for more than 70 years" (p.7).Something discarded becomes evidence of something momentous--a "defining moment." Now that is a stretch.
Many of the ideas were first suggested by members of the failed Hoover administration but it was FDR's New Dealers who put them to work for the American people. He knew American history and government like the back of his hand. TVA brought rural electrification to the South and confidence was restored in finance following the banking holiday and efforts to stabalize the fragile economy. FDR was a cousin of his hero Theodore Roosevelt. In his fireside chats and newsreels he entered into the homes and hearts of the public.
Not everything FDR tried worked but he kept plugging away as slow progress was made. FDR had a long term affair with Lucy Rutherford. With the help of Louie Howe his political guru he served as New York governor from 1928-1932 breaking with former governor Al E. Among the programs were the CCC which put thousands of men to work; the NRA and the Social Security Act of 1935. The Roosevelt children suffered through nineteen divorces. He was a sly politician who kept his innermost thoughts to himself.
He grew up at Hyde Park on the Hudson; graduated from Eton and Harvard with time spent at Columbia Law School. FDR also had federal government experience serving as assistant Secretary of the Navy in the Woodrow Wilson administration. It's author is Jonathan Alter a columnist for Newsweek magazine. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) was the greatest U.S. After he took office within those days over 15 bills were turned into law. The couple had six children being indulgent parents. His rise to the presidency began with his fourth ballot victory at the 1932 Democratic Convention in Chicago. His was an activist mode of leadership.
FDR pushed the Congress of the US into making effective law in a time of crisis. Jonathan Alter's book is the kind of political history which could easily whet a young person's desire to become a historian. Alter spends half the book examining the pre-presidential life of the great man. Alter focuses on the first 100 days of FDR's administration.
These events made him a stronger personality. Roosevelt is well served by this entertaining and informative book. Smith. He was a wealthy only son of Sarah his doting mother and his much older father James.
Alter contends that it was his polio affliction in 1921 that put steel in Roosevelt. FDR was the first major political figure to use the media. president of the twentieth century. Some of his plans failed while others succeeded. FDR was a liberal progressive who wanted to put America back to work. FDR eschewed dictatorship and stood for democratic government in the worst crisis in American history since the Civil War. It is witty, anecdotal, easy to read and informative. He later worked with polio victims in Warm Springs Georgia also becoming acquainted with common farmers and ordinary people.
America was given hope to rise like a phoenix from the dregs of the horrible Depression. FDR's defining moment came in the first inaugural and the first 100 days when he told the people "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." (based on a quote from Henry David Thoreau). His wife Eleanor discovered the infidelity but remained in the marriage. The former New York Assemblymam, former US Vice-Presidential candidate in 1920 learned a good deal about suffering through the ordeal. He spoke in a friendly way beginning his speeches by saying "My friends." He conducted 998 press conferences and used Eleanor's wide travels to keep his ear close to the ground of public opinion. Alter's great book is about a great man who saved our nation in its hour of greatest need.
I've read many books about FDR, so I wasn't expecting to learn much new when I read this one. But it was filled with tidbits I hadn't heard before. Alter does a very good job of showing how FDR's upbringing and his bout with polio helped form him into the man he was when he became president. He also makes many comparisons to presidents after FDR and shows how much the world has changed since FDR's time.
I really enjoyed this overview of FDR and his life. It is written for a lay audience and historians would probably qualify this as a synopsisof the first hundred days. Nonetheless the book paints a "human" picture of FDR and his strengths and weaknesses and tribulations- A good read.
FDR understood that there is no Invisible Hand that would intervene to coordinate the efforts of individual in a market economy (actually, Adam Smith didn't believe that either - in the passage where he introduces the idea of the Invisible Hand Smith expresses astonishment that uncoordinated actions did not ALWAYS lead to unwelcome results - this is very far from the idea foisted on Smith that the Invisible Hand always produces happy results) but that government had to intervene to minimize the harm caused by unregulated greed. As a supplement to those other books, this book serves just fine. No doubt she was an important person for a rather brief period, but the Roosevelt children were hardly prudish in discussing their parents' respective love lives and most denied that there was anything romantic between Hick and Eleanor (with the addendum that they were in fact sceptical that she was capable of a physical relationship with anyone, that she was someone who looked upon sex as an exceptionally unpleasant undertaking). For the 100 days and the New Deal, I would recommend Arthur M. Yet it is quite certain that Miller and Eleanor were almost inseparable companions for the last thirty-five years of her life, even when he married. Nonetheless, the book has to be used with caution. Schlesinger's work is very long, but definitely worth the time. Frank Freidel's books are wonderful, whether the original unabridged multi-volume biography or his one-volume condensation.
But I would recommend the other book - Jean Edward Smith's biography - far more strongly than I would this. Although it deals with the war years, Doris Kearns Goodwin's NO ORDINARY TIME -- FRANKLIN AND ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: THE HOME FRONT IN WORLD WAR II makes splendid reading and provides some of the best and sanest analysis of the various individuals making up the extended Roosevelt family. Finally, I have not read H. Alter is correct that FDR was not doctrinaire or an ideologue about the content of the New Deal, but this overlooks the fact that he brought into the White House a radically new conception of the role of government in dealing with the problems facing the American people. He shapes FDR's story in order to create a more dynamic story.
Jean Edward Nathan barely mentions Hickok in his biography and other biographers feel that Hickok's role in Eleanor's life has been exaggerated. Kenneth Davis and Geoffrey Ward both have written splendid multi-volume biographies as well, and both can be highly recommended. I would definitely put Alter's book well behind all of these. Another example of Alter's tendency to exaggerate is the portrait he paints of Roosevelt going into the election and his first term.
He also wrote the classic LEADERSHIP, in which Roosevelt features prominently. He works overtime to quote every possible individual who saw FDR as a frivolous dilettante incapable of leading the nation, intentionally ignoring the equally large number of individuals who saw FDR as the logical person to be president and lead the country in a time of crisis. To take just one example, he states that Lorena Hickok was the great love of Eleanor's life. But it does present a somewhat quirky and sometimes inaccurate portrait of FDR.Before continuing, which books would I recommend instead.
W. The best one-volume biography that was not a condensation of a multi-volume work is Jean Edward Smith's FDR, a recent book that I strongly recommend. He wants to portray FDR as not as qualified to be president as most accounts. Unlike Hoover, Coolidge, and Harding (three of the weakest presidents in American history), FDR believed that government had a crucial and direct role to play in all of the major problems confronting American life. Besides, FDR won in a landslide.
If I could recommend only one author on Roosevelt, it would probably be John MacGregor Burns, whose two works on Roosevelt -- ROOSEVELT: THE LION AND THE FOX and ROOSEVELT: THE SOLDIER OF FREEDOM -- stand at the pinnacle of FDR studies. I want to give a highly qualified recommendation for this book. So, I return to my original point. Leuchtenburg's FRANKLIN D. If you love FDR and intend to read a good many books on him, I suggest adding this to your list. These provide both more detail and more insight into the major legislation going into the New Deal.
In speech after speech and conversation after conversation leading up to his election and inauguration FDR iterated and reiterated this vision. It wasn't just a case of people voting against Hoover, but a substantial number of people voting for someone they felt was eminently qualified to be president. He leaves out details that would challenge the picture he is trying to paint and persistently ignores contrary evidence. Anyone doubting that FDR had many passionate and well-informed supporters need only read the first volume in Schlesinger's trilogy, THE CRISIS OF THE OLD ORDER. I definitely recommend the book, but only if one has read a substantial number of the many other very good books on FDR. Brands's new biography A TRAITOR TO HIS CLASS, but am quite curious to do so.
Schlesinger Jr.'s three-volume work on the New Deal and William E. Yes, many, like Walter Lippmann, thought FDR a lightweight, but there was anything but unanimity on him. I've read nearly 20 books on FDR at this point and would put this very far down the list of the most essential books. At most one could argue that Hick was to Eleanor as Lucy Mercer was to Franklin, while Earl Miller was Eleanor's equivalent to Missy Lehand. Even after reading all of these, I found many new insights in Alter's book and I learned a great many things that I didn't already know.
Yet to do this he has to downplay such things as his work in the New York legislature and his many, many years as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, which at the time was one of the largest entities of the federal government. He has to know that there is a mountain of evidence detailing just how close Eleanor and Earl Miller were, but to mention this would undercut the case for how crucial Hick was to Eleanor. If you intend, however, to read only a few books on FDR, I suggest reading other books instead. So, while he was intentionally somewhat loose on the details, he was crystal clear that the only entity that could solve the crisis was government, not the private sector or the market. Alter acknowledges this even while underplaying it.No doubt many of Alter's exaggerations are due to dramatic license. This is what I mean when I say that Alter is selective. After she left the White House and relocated in New York, for instance, Miller took an apartment in the same building.
Just as Missy Lehand was FDR's constant companion, so Earl Miller was Eleanor's. ROOSEVELT AND THE NEW DEAL 1932-1940. There are many interesting moments in Alter's book, but it is not a balanced, nuanced portrait of FDR. Alter is a serial exaggerator and is sometimes oddly selective in sifting through the evidence concerning various aspects of Roosevelt and those around him. On the other hand, some of her children felt that Eleanor did have an affair with Earl Miller, the New York state trooper that Alter barely mentions. He also seems to enjoy debunking widely shared myths. The only thing that elevates this somewhat in popular interest would be that on 60 MINUTES Barack Obama cited this as one of the two books that he was reading as he was preparing to enter the Office of President.
|
