The Definitive FDR
Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox (1882–1940) and Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom (1940–1945)
James MacGregor Burns
CONTENTS
Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox (1882–1940)
PREFACE
PART ONE
THE EDUCATION OF A POLITICIAN
I A Beautiful Frame
The Seed and the Soil
Groton: Education for What?
Harvard: The Gold Coast
II Albany: The Young Lion
Uncle Ted and Cousin Eleanor
The Race for the Senate
The College Kid and the Tammany Beast
Farmer-Labor Representative
III Washington: The Politician as Bureaucrat
A Roosevelt on the Job
Tammany Wins Again
War Leader
IV Crusade for the League
Challenge and Response
1920—The Solemn Referendum
The Rising Politician
PART TWO
THE RISE TO POWER
V Interlude: The Politician as Businessman
Ordeal
Dear Al and Dear Frank
Summons to Action
VI Apprenticeship in Albany
The Politics of the Empire State
The Anatomy of Stalemate
The Power of Party
VII Nomination by a Hairbreadth
The Political Uses of Corruption
Battle at the Grass Roots
The Magic Two-Thirds
VIII The Curious Campaign
The Fox and the Elephant
The Stage Is Set
Roosevelt on the Eve
PART THREE
RENDEZVOUS WITH DESTINY
IX A Leader in the White House
“A Day of Consecration”
“Action, and Action Now”
“A Leadership of Frankness and Vigor”
America First
X President of All the People?
An Artist in Government
The Broker State at Work
The Politics of Broker Leadership
Rupture on the Right
XI The Grapes of Wrath
The Little Foxes
Labor: New Millions and New Leaders
Left! Right! Left!
XII Thunder on the Right
Thunderbolts from the Bench
Roosevelt as a Conservative
Roosevelt and the Radicals
XIII Foreign Policy by Makeshift
Good Neighbors and Good Fences
Storm Clouds and Storm Cellars
The Law of the Jungle
The Politician as Foreign Policy Maker
XIV 1936: The Grand Coalition
The Politics of the Deed
“I Accept the Commission”
“We Have Only Just Begun to Fight”
Roosevelt as a Political Tactician
PART FOUR
THE LION AT BAY
XV Court Packing: The Miscalculated Risk
Bombshell
Guerrilla Warfare
Breaches in the Grand Coalition
Not with a Bang but a Whimper
XVI The Roosevelt Recession
Cloudburst
Palace Struggle for a Program
Roosevelt as an Economist
XVII Deadlock on the Potomac
Squalls on Capitol Hill
The Broken Spell
Too Little, Too Late
XVIII Fissures in the Party
The Donkey and the Stick
The Struggle for Power
Roosevelt as a Party Leader
XIX Diplomacy: Pinpricks and Protest
Munich: No Risks, No Commitments
The Storm Breaks
Roosevelt as a Political Leader
PART FIVE
THROUGH THE TRAPS
XX The Soundless Struggle
The Sphinx
The Hurricane of Events
“We Want Roosevelt!”
XXI An Old Campaigner, a New Campaign
The Hoarse and Strident Voice
Lion versus Sea Lion
The Two-Week Blitz
The Future in Balance
Epilogue The Culmination
Roosevelt as War Lord
Roosevelt as Peace Leader
Democracy’s Aristocrat
Warrior’s Home-Coming
A NOTE ON THE STUDY OF POLITICAL LEADERSHIP
IMAGE GALLERY
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
CHAPTER BIBLIOGRAPHIES WITH BASIC BOOK LIST
INDEX
Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom (1940–1945)
PREFACE
PROLOGUE Fall 1940
HYDE PARK
LONDON
BERLIN
TOKYO
WASHINGTON
PART ONE THE MISCALCULATED WAR
The Struggle to Intervene
THE NEW COALITION AT HOME
LEND-LEASE: THE GREAT DEBATE
“SPEED—AND SPEED NOW”
ROOSEVELT’S WHITE HOUSE
The Crucibles of Grand Strategy
HITLER: THE RAPTURE OF DECISION
CHURCHILL: THE GIRDLE OF DEFEAT
KONOYE: THE VIEW TOWARD CHUNGKING
ROOSEVELT: THE CRISIS OF STRATEGY
STALIN: THE TWIST OF REAL POLITIK
Cold War in the Atlantic
ATLANTIC FIRST
RUSSIA SECOND
GOVERNMENT AS USUAL
RENDEZVOUS AT ARGENTIA
Showdown in the Pacific
THE WINDS AND WAVES OF STRIFE
THE CALL TO BATTLE STATIONS
A TIME FOR WAR
RENDEZVOUS AT PEARL
PART TWO DEFEAT
“The Massed Forces of Humanity”
A CHRISTMAS VISITOR
SENIOR PARTNERS, AND JUNIOR
THE SINEWS OF TOTAL VICTORY
The Endless Battlefields
DEFEAT IN THE PACIFIC
THIS GENERATION OF AMERICANS
THE WAR AGAINST THE WHITES
The Cauldron of War
REPRISE: RUSSIA SECOND
ASIA THIRD
THE LONG ARMS OF WAR
THE ALCHEMISTS OF SCIENCE
The State of the Nation
THE ECONOMICS OF CHAOS
THE PEOPLE AT WAR
THE POLITICS OF NONPOLITICS
The Flickering Torch
THRUS ACROSS THE ATLANTIC
WALK WITH THE DEVIL
ROOSEVELT: A TURNING POINT?
PART THREE STRATEGY
Casablanca
THE GAMING BOARD OF STRATEGY
TOWARD THE UNDERBELLY
THE FIRST KILL
The Administration of Crisis
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
THE TECHNOLOGY OF VIOLENCE
ROOSEVELT AS CHIEF EXECUTIVE
The Strategy of Freedom
“A WORLD FORGED ANEW”
THE BROKEN PLEDGE
THE KING’S FIRST MINISTER
ROOSEVELT AS PROPAGANDIST
Coalition: Crisis and Renewal
THE MILLS OF THE GODS
CAIRO: THE GENERALISSIMO
TEHERAN: THE MARSHALL
PART FOUR BATTLE
The Lords of the Hill
A SECOND BILL OF RIGHTS
THE REVOLT OF THE BARONS
THE SUCTION PUMP
The Dominion of Mars
SECRECY AND “SEDITION”
THE MOBILIZED SOCIETY
THE CULTURE OF WAR
The Fateful Lightning
CRUSADE IN FRANCE
PACIFIC THUNDERBOLTS
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ROOSEVELT AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF
The Grand Referendum
AS A GOOD SOLDIER
A NEW PARTY
A GRAND DESIGN
THE STRANGEST CAMPAIGN
FOR YOU ARE THE MAN FOR US
The Ordeal of Strategy
EUROPE: THE DEEPENING FISSURES
CHINA: THE EDGE OF THE ABYSS
ROOSEVELT AS GRAND STRATEGIST
CHRISTMAS 1944
PART FIVE THE LAST HUNDRED DAYS
The Supreme Test
“THE ONLY WAY TO HAVE A FRIEND …”
THE KING OF THE BEARS
ASIA: THE SECOND SECOND FRONT
With Strong and Active Faith
EUROPE: THE PRICE OF INNOCENCE
ASIA: NEVER, NEVER, NEVER
“THE WORK, MY FRIENDS, IS PEACE”
EPILOGUE Home-coming
FREEDOM’S ONCE-BORN
DEMOCRACY’S ARISTOCRAT
VOYAGER’S RETURN
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
CHAPTER BIBLIOGRAPHIES WITH BASIC BOOK LIST
INDEX
About the Author
Roosevelt
The Lion and the Fox (1882–1940)
CONTENTS
PREFACE
PART ONE
THE EDUCATION OF A POLITICIAN
I A Beautiful Frame
The Seed and the Soil
Groton: Education for What?
Harvard: The Gold Coast
II Albany: The Young Lion
Uncle Ted and Cousin Eleanor
The Race for the Senate
The College Kid and the Tammany Beast
Farmer-Labor Representative
III Washington: The Politician as Bureaucrat
A Roosevelt on the Job
Tammany Wins Again
War Leader
IV Crusade for the League
Challenge and Response
1920—The Solemn Referendum
The Rising Politician
PART TWO
THE RISE TO POWER
V Interlude: The Politician as Businessman
Ordeal
Dear Al and Dear Frank
Summons to Action
VI Apprenticeship in Albany
The Politics of the Empire State
The Anatomy of Stalemate
The Power of Party
VII Nomination by a Hairbreadth
The Political Uses of Corruption
Battle at the Grass Roots
The Magic Two-Thirds
VIII The Curious Campaign
The Fox and the Elephant
The Stage Is Set
Roosevelt on the Eve
PART THREE
RENDEZVOUS WITH DESTINY
IX A Leader in the White House
“A Day of Consecration”
“Action, and Action Now”
“A Leadership of Frankness and Vigor”
America First
X President of All the People?
An Artist in Government
The Broker State at Work
The Politics of Broker Leadership
Rupture on the Right
XI The Grapes of Wrath
The Little Foxes
Labor: New Millions and New Leaders
Left! Right! Left!
XII Thunder on the Right
Thunderbolts from the Bench
Roosevelt as a Conservative
Roosevelt and the Radicals
XIII Foreign Policy by Makeshift
Good Neighbors and Good Fences
Storm Clouds and Storm Cellars
The Law of the Jungle
The Politician as Foreign Policy Maker
XIV 1936: The Grand Coalition
The Politics of the Deed
“I Accept the Commission”
“We Have Only Just Begun to Fight”
Roosevelt as a Political Tactician
PART FOUR
THE LION AT BAY
XV Court Packing: The Miscalculated Risk
Bombshell
Guerrilla Warfare
Breaches in the Grand Coalition
Not with a Bang but a Whimper
XVI The Roosevelt Recession
Cloudburst
Palace Struggle for a Program
Roosevelt as an Economist
XVII Deadlock on the Potomac
Squalls on Capitol Hill
The Broken Spell
Too Little, Too Late
XVIII Fissures in the Party
The Donkey and the Stick
The Struggle for Power
Roosevelt as a Party Leader
XIX Diplomacy: Pinpricks and Protest
Munich: No Risks, No Commitments
The Storm Breaks
Roosevelt as a Political Leader
PART FIVE
THROUGH THE TRAPS
XX The Soundless Struggle
The Sphinx
The Hurricane of Events
“We Want Roosevelt!”
XXI An Old Campaigner, a New Campaign
The Hoarse and Strident Voice
Lion versus Sea Lion
The Two-Week Blitz
The Future in Balance
Epilogue The Culmination
Roosevelt as War Lord
Roosevelt as Peace Leader
Democracy’s Aristocrat
Warrior’s Home-Coming
A NOTE ON THE STUDY OF POLITICAL LEADERSHIP
IMAGE GALLERY
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
CHAPTER BIBLIOGRAPHIES WITH BASIC BOOK LIST
INDEX
ILLUSTRATIONS
(Cartoons depicting the Roosevelt era, interspersed throughout the book, are not listed here. All of the photographs are from the archives of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library at Hyde Park, N. Y.)
‘THE MOLD OF A HYDE PARK GENTLEMAN’
Franklin D. Roosevelt and his father, 1883 Mother and son, 1893
Young Franklin with his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, Newburgh, N.Y., July 13, 1890
‘A SECURE WORLD’
Three-year-old Franklin and his dog preparing for a ride at Hyde Park
Fourth-string football player at Groton, 1899
A YOUNG LAWYER AND HIS COUSINS
Cousin Eleanor (fifth cousin once removed) in 1906, one year after their marriage
Cousin Jean Delano, sailing at Campobello, around 1910
FAMILY AFFAIRS
Franklin Roosevelt with his wife, his mother, and his daughter, Anna, on
Daisy, the pony, 1911
The family in Washington, 1916—Elliott, James, Franklin Jr., John, Anna
Eleanor, with their mother and father
A ROOSEVELT ON THE JOB
His first political post, in the New York Senate, 1911
Assistant Secretary of the Navy at the Navy Yard, New York, 1913
ARMISTICE WITH TAMMANY
Roosevelt with Charles F. Murphy, his old Tammany adversary, and John A. Voorhis at Tammany Hall, July 4, 1917
‘SOMETHING OF A LION, SOMETHING OF A FOX’
The rising politician campaigning for Vice-President on the 1920 Democratic ticket—at Dayton, Ohio
On crutches in 1924, with John W. Davis, who won the presidential nomination, and Al Smith, who lost it, after Roosevelt’s “happy warrior” speech
‘A NEW DEAL FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE’
The Democratic nominee for President arriving by plane in Chicago with his family, July 2, 1932, to address the convention
‘NOTHING TO FEAR BUT FEAR ITSELF’
At the Democratic convention, July 4, 1932, with Louis McHenry Howe and his campaign manager, James A. Farley
The President and his First Lady after arrival in Washington, D. C, March,
1933, before his first inauguration
’A MAN OF MANY ROLES’
F.D.R. at a dinner for James A. Farley, Feb. 15, 1937, w
ith Henry A. Wallace,
Cordell Hull, and Henry A. Morgenthau
A dismal fishing cruise off Miami during the recession, with Robert H. Jackson,
Harry Hopkins, and Harold Ickes, Nov. 29, 1937
After hot dogs and a picnic at Hyde Park, President and Mrs. Roosevelt wave farewell to the King and Queen of England at the railroad station, June 11, 1939
‘THE INNER CIRCLE’
The President and his secretaries: Marguerite Le Hand, Marvin H. McIntyre, and Grace Tully, Hyde Park, Nov. 4, 1938
The President and his cabinet: Henry A. Morgenthau, Secretary of the Treasury; Homer S. Cummings, Attorney General; Claude Swanson, Secretary of the Navy; Henry A. Wallace, Secretary of Agriculture; Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor; Harry H. Woodring, Secretary of War; Cordell Hull, Secretary of State, Sept. 27, 1938
‘THE CHAMP’
The campaign, 1932
The press, aboard campaign train, Sept. 13, 1932
The crowds, at Newburgh, N. Y., Nov. 4, 1940
The polling booth, with his wife and mother at Hyde Park’s Town Hall, Nov. 8, 1938
The inauguration, Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes administering the oath of office, Jan. 20, 1937
THE ROOSEVELT SMILE
A drought year—but when Roosevelt spoke, it rained—Charlotte, N. C, Sept.
10, 1936
Roosevelt laughing at his crippled legs to put others at ease, Hollywood Bowl, Sept. 24, 1932
‘NEVER … A MAN WHO WAS LOVED AS HE IS’
At Warm Springs, Ga., Dec. 1, 1933
COMMANDER IN CHIEF
The President reviewing the fleet from the U.S.S. Houston at San Francisco, July 14, 1938
A prince, wrote Machiavelli, must imitate the fox and the lion, for the lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves. Those that wish to be only lions do not understand this. Therefore, a prudent ruler ought not to keep faith when by so doing it would be against his interest, and when the reasons which made him bind himself no longer exist. If men were all good, this precept would not be a good one; but as they are bad, and would not observe their faith with you, so you are not bound to keep faith with them.
For
Jan
David
Timothy
Deborah
Antonia
PREFACE
THIS BOOK IS, FIRST of all, a political biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt. It treats much of his personal as well as his public life, because a great politician’s career remorselessly sucks everything into its vortex—including his family and even his dog. How did Roosevelt become what he was? Why was he so effective in winning power? How strong a leader was he in the long run? Where did he fail, and why? What meaning does his life hold for Americans and for American statecraft today?
This book is also a study in political leadership in the American democracy. It focuses chiefly on the man, but it treats also the political context in which he acted, for my approach is based on the central findings of social scientists that leadership is not a matter of universal traits but is rooted in a specific culture. We can understand Roosevelt as a politician only in terms of his political, social, and ideological environment, the way he shaped his society and in turn was shaped by it.