ROOSEVELT SWEEPS NATION

A robust chronicle of Franklin Roosevelt’s quest to stay in the White House.

After recounting Roosevelt’s rise to the presidency in 1932, historian Pietrusza creates a brisk, spirited narrative, abundantly populated and bursting with anecdotes, revealing the president’s trials and turmoil as he faced reelection. Despite the considerable achievements of the New Deal, Roosevelt’s win was not a foregone conclusion. The nation was beset by racism, antisemitism, and a fear of importing socialism or communism. Roosevelt also faced a host of formidable opponents. As one was overcome (Roosevelt’s fierce opponent Huey Long, Louisiana’s feisty governor and senator, was assassinated in 1935), another challenger popped up. Among Roosevelt’s detractors were Georgia Gov. Eugene Talmadge, who thought FDR was on a “mad course of socialism”; Dr. Francis E. Townsend, ardent promoter of old age pensions, who hated FDR’s social security plan; Father Charles E. Coughlin, a powerful and influential “Detroit radio priest,” who fomented dissension; Socialist candidate Norman Thomas; and fearsome newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst. Hearst, the author notes, “hated internationalism and dictators (although, some ominously said, not all dictators), but also taxes, unions, and anyone telling him what to do with his prized newspapers.” Pietrusza follows the aspirations of possible Republican candidates and the unlikely emergence of “lackluster” Kansas Governor Alf Landon as the party’s choice. Landon promised fiscal responsibility, and because “New Deal spending had lost its charm,” Roosevelt’s policies were ripe for criticism. Poll numbers showed a close race throughout the campaign. “As 1936 commenced,” notes the author, “Franklin possessed at least half the vote, though not nearly as solidly as he liked. If Republicans surged and third parties rumbled, he might fall into an Electoral College trap and follow Herbert Hoover into a Depression-cursed, one-term oblivion.” In the end, he prevailed splendidly, winning 71% of the Black vote, 78% of the Catholic vote, and 90% of the Jewish vote.

A prodigiously researched and exuberantly told political biography/history.