She rarely dined with her husband, even when both were home. Roosevelt was never part of the governing process and, politically, as much handicap as asset. He makes a strong case that, while a major figure during his White House years, Mrs. He outlines the gulf that developed between Roosevelt and his wife, Eleanor, even before his romance with Lucy Mercer. Bush’s term, the Decider but the Deviser of measures from the dramatic 100 Days of 1933 to the Lend-Lease agreement that kept Britain afloat in World War II.īut Smith goes beyond policy successes to present the man, making clear his ambition for the presidency far preceded his 1921 polio attack and demonstrating his lifelong skill in working with and playing off both allies and rivals.
While many specifics are familiar, it is easy in this day of big presidential staffs and delegated authority to forget the extent to which presidents such as FDR shaped the substance and strategy of their presidencies. Little is factually new, but he provides superb perspective and captures the upbeat persona of the man whose leadership saved the nation from economic collapse, defeated Nazi tyranny and created the prosperous powerhouse that is the modern United States.
All the more reason to recall that cheerful man who could not walk, who could not stand unassisted, yet who remained supremely confident as he calmly guided the nation into a prosperous, peaceful future.”Īnd Smith, taking full advantage of the many FDR sources from earlier biographies to the papers of the era’s principals, has written a marvelous book, though it surely helps to have so engaging a subject. The extent to which the United States was threatened is scarcely remembered. Sixty years after FDR’s death, he says in the preface, “The Great Depression, the New Deal and World War II are fading memories. Grant, explains his decision to write one this way: Jean Edward Smith, a Marshall University professor best known for an acclaimed biography of Ulysses S. Roosevelt, the subject of more than any modern president?
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