HARRY HOPKINS: Ally of the Poor and Defender of Democracy

by George McJimsey ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1987

A scholarly biography of the trusted aide to Franklin Roosevelt, who rose from his roots in small-town Iowa to become, first, anew York City social worker, and then the New Deal's director of the Works Progress Administration, and from there to Secretary of Commerce, Director of Lend-Lease, and, ultimately, FDR's right-hand man. Such a study is long overdue. McJimsey (history/Iowa State) found a vacuum in historical scholarship and set about to fill it. Up Until now, the only valuable treatment of Hopkins has been Robert Sherwood's Roosevelt and Hopkins. Here, though, the author bas concentrated on the mysterious Hopkins and he does so in a model of objectivity, the overwrought subtitle notwithstanding. So, for instance, we read of Hopkins' abject inability to handle a dollar in his personal life, despite continual promotions and hefty raises after college that soon found him in the upper ranks of New York State's bureaucracy. We see, too, his weakness for the high life (which, of course, fed the financial troubles) and for mixing with high society (a weakness that led Eleanor Roosevelt to criticize him for being more of a socialite than a socialist). But countering this was Hopkins' small-town manner of getting to the heart of a matter that led him to become so valued by Roosevelt that the latter asked him to move into the White House to be always at hand. Churchill, recognizing this, took to funneling many of his urgent requests during the war directly through Hopkins. One historical footnote, almost forgotten in the midst of the Great Depression, is that in the middle of Roosevelt's second term, FDR began grooming Hopkins to be his successor in 1940. Hopkins, however, was too hated a figure among Republicans, a dart board for all of their frustrations. This, and his divorced status and rumors of his ill health, killed his candidacy. McJimsey relates all of this and more in a fast-paced, yet detailed biography that will stand the test of time.

Pub Date: April 1, 1987

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harvard Univ. Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1987

Categories: NONFICTION