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• FDR
Jean Edward Smith

Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2008 - 880 pages

average customer review:based on 43 reviews
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   highly recommended  highly recommended






FDR ='s GREATNESS.

This biography of one of America's greatest Presidents, is by far, the finest one I have read about the late President. With readable sweep and grandeur, Jean Edward Smith documents the life this American patrician who became one of the great advocates and movers on behalf of America's EVERYMAN.

With the now well known statement, that, "..the only thing we have to fear is fear itself...", FDR inaugurated a restructuring of the American political, social, financial, and economic landscape. This "re-democratizing" and "political activism" on behalf of the average American, was grander, more important, and more profound than those Progressive policies of FDR's distant cousin President Theodore Roosevelt. Those things our 21st Century society take for granted, i.e., Social Security, unemployment insurance, collective bargaining, minimum wage, et als., were the creatures of FDR's NEW DEAL.

A risk taker, with his fingers on the pulse of the American public, FDR molded federal policy that was designed to benefit the general population. Whether consciously, or un-consciously, FDR actualized the Constitution's Preamble, extending and redefining the terms. FDR and the New Deal took the single sentence of the Preamble, "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.", and breathed new life into it and the American ideal. With his vision and reinterpretation of the powers of the Presidency and the demands of the Preamble, he and his Congress transformed our nation into a modern state. The impact of his efforts still resound in our everyday lives. While there are those politicians who willingly and willfully are attempting to dismantle the social safety net al and economic advances of the New Deal, the greatness and common logic of the New Deal valiantly resist the selfish motivations of these political hacks, nihilists and Neo-Cons. Spewing their vile assertions that the past and current human existence is without objective meaning, purpose, comprehensible truth, or essential value, these petty and "mission-driven" Neo-Con nihilists are attempting to belittle, ridicule, and destroy the benefits derived by our society as a direct result of the New Deal and Roosevelt's vision. One need only review the egalitarian results of the New Deal, and compare them to the barren waste-land offered by these so-called "reformers" to understand their motives and the false promises offered by them.

FDR also led this nation through the most horrific world conflagration in human history. With a steady hand, the instincts of a fox, and the confidence of a winner, he harnessed the vast potential of our nation, led the free world to victory, and converted a 2nd rate power into the most powerful nation in the world.

These accomplishments took leadership and vision. Sadly, those qualities are not seen in our so-called political leadership today. We as a nation have settled for mediocrity as the standard of excellence. We have done so not by choice, but rather because true leaders have taken to shunning the political arena. And why?...perhaps because the new political arena has no sense of "right and wrong", limits, and the inability to distinguish what is of national importance and what is of little or no importance. Privacy and discretion have taken a back seat to the lurid and "marketable". The genius of FDR was that he was able to DEFINE the national issues, and EDUCATE the public regarding those issues through honest political debate and communication with the American public. Today?..Issues are defined by "focus groups" and politicians, (in the worst sense of the word), tailor their "opinions" to best position them for so-called success and "electability". They fail to lead, but rather follow the basest instincts of the public. Rather than educate, the politicians pander to the narrow-sightedness of these political fringes, and create a patch-work quilt of consensus through negativity rather than through VISION.

So where does that leave us today? By learning from the past we hopefully can more effectively define our future. Reading this magnificent biography and understanding what courage and leadership are will hopefully propel us to set our sites on genuine leadership and not the "sugar-fix" of media generated "stars" and "political leaders". If nothing else, reading this work will confirm for the reader what Presidential Greatness truly is.



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Biographer Creates an Objective Look of FDR

I had a chance to take Dr. Smith in a class at Marhsall University. The class included a close look at the publication process of FDR, reading and discussing an unedited copy of the work, and writing our own research papers on some aspect of FDR's life. I was truly amazed at the style and readability of this even-handed version of FDR's life. I consider myself truly lucky to have gotten a sneak peek of this one!









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The definitive biography on Franklin Delano Roosevelt

FDR, by Jean Edward Smith, proves that no highly significant historical figure or event is beyond a great writer's ability to improve a particular body of literature. Indeed FDR is a towering work of both writing and scholarship. Smith again proves he is one of our foremost biographers and captures, in a very evenhanded way, the very essence of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Indeed, this writing is up there with David Herbert Donald's Lincoln. Both took on truly larger than life topics and did so with energy and vigor.

The footnoting in FDR is highly extensive and the curious reader will look at many of them and make notes to read on additional topics as Smith piques the interest of any with any significant interest in Roosevelt. He, like Lincoln, was the President in a time where it is difficult to imagine, even for his critics, another person assuming the role. Smith explains and documents almost all of FDR's life and gives very plausible reasons for his rather radical views at the time, especially for one with his Hudson River pedigree. He tackles his many physical challenges, his relationship with his peripatetic wife Eleanor (see Doris Kearns Goodwin's No Ordinary Time) , his affair with Lucy Mercer Rutherford, his intimate relationship with Churchill (see Jon Meacham's Franklin and Winston) and his reliance on a cast of eclectic personal and political operatives over the years. All of his public years are well covered, perhaps even more so his early years in New York politics.

There is very little, if nothing to criticize about this book. One could make an argument that Smith tried too hard to keep it a readable 636 pages with and additional 221 pages of notes and an exhaustive bibliography. Maybe two volumes would have improved this work, but that is sheer conjecture. This book must be read by all with more than a passing interest in 20th Century American history. Simply sublime.


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Masterful, Engrossing Biography

Smith's "FDR" is now indispensable for anyone interested in the 20th century and FDR's role in it and in the life of the United States should read this with great pleasure and increased understanding of one of the towering figures in our history and in the history of the world. "FDR" is a masterful synthesis of shelves and shelves of books about him, giving the reader the essence of him as a man and politician and leader. Readers undoubtedly learn things about him they don't already know unless they are FDR scholars. Smith gives the warts their due along with some hair-raising blunders (Supreme Court packing, failing to bring Dean Acheson and Cordell Hull to heel for actions that helped clear the way for Japan's warmongers to attack Pearl Harbor) and shabbiness (especially the internment of Japanese Americans at the start of World War II). Smith includes what seems in retrospect like an enormous amount of detail, but it doesn't bog down or slow the smooth, rapid pace of his narrative. I found it difficult to put down once I started reading and stayed up past my bedtime more than once, fascinated by what I was learning. I have wondered for years how my parents could have been fervent members of the That-Man-In-The-White-House crowd, and I ended "FDR" still puzzled that they could not discern his greatness. (The back of the book has copious source notes, a bibliography, and an index.)


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This is a great book- whether you admire FDR or not

This is an outstanding book about the life of Franklin Roosevelt. I'll refrain from any comments on the FDR presidency (I happen to think he was our greatest President) to comment that this book is inciteful, honest and a great read. This book is well organized, crisply written and compelling. Smith refrains from writing a hagiography ala McCullogh's Truman and gives us an honest appraisal of a most fascinating public figure. I hope this book and its author get the recognition it deserves.


reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, page 8, 9



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