Great read, marred slightly by Gore myth

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	• FDR Jean Edward Smith Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2008 - 880 pages average customer review:based on 36 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

I loved this book!

A great book about a great and not so great man. I was surprised of his and his wife's treatment of their children. They both had so many other interests that I wonder who actually raised their children. Mr. Smith gives a well rounded, but very detailed account of FDR's life, including both the good and bad decisions he made. The only drawback I would note are the footnotes. I had to have a bookmark for the text and for the footnote section. In doing so, it took me a lot longer to read. I have recommended this book to several people since finishing.

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Great read, marred slightly by Gore myth

It's unseemly for a scholar like Jean Edward Smith to perpetuate the myth that Al Gore claimed to have invented the Internet. Talk about a cheap shot!

On the other hand, I don't find this book the hagiography others have called it. Indeed, Smith takes FDR to task, for his attempt to "pack" the Supreme Court; for his tin ear for economics, when he prematurely tightened budget policy in 1937, plunging the nation into "the Roosevelt Recession"; for his refusal to back anti-lynching laws; and for his attempt to intervene in state politics against those he regarded as not supportive enough of his New Deal.

I admire the way Smith tries to unravel the relationship between FDR and Eleanor. Husband irresistable, wife not very much fun. Inevitable infidelity. Eventual modus vivendi. Sound familar? After the polio, Eleanor was not the kind to lap dance for Franklin, though apparently Princess Martha of Norway was.

In both Depression and war years, Roosevelt was not "the decider," as some presidents try to portray themselves, but the master of promoting outstanding deciders, from Hopkins, Morganthau and Ickes, to Marshall, Stimson and Eisenhower. The fact remains that Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a great president, and for Smith to recognize this, even to celebrate it, does not detract from his scholarship.

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inspriing

I chose FDR because I knew so little about him, he died before I was born and I had always been intrigued by what I knew of his life. I read it over a 2 month time span. I loved every page, it was so well written. When he died, I felt like I had lost a favorite uncle. We sure could use someone with his vision now!

Fantastic

This was a remarkably readable account of the 20th century's greatest president. Lord knows FDR wasn't perfect, and Smith doesn't shy away from discussing those points, which include FDR's court packing plan, the effort to squeeze out conservatives in elections, backing away from government assistance in the midst of recovery, and most importantly signing off on Japanese internment after the Pearl Harbor attacks. Stunning mistakes indeed. But FDR's successes were far grander. It's easy to recite the standard litany of Roosevelt successes, which Smith does well, but we also learn that FDR was a more caring, intelligent, and involved person than he has often been described as. Of some things that FDR has been criticized for, Smith offers evidence to support the need for a more nuanced appreciation of FDR's skills. First, though people often claim that the New Deal didn't end the Great Depression - it was WWII that did that - Smith accurately points out that millions of Americans benefitted from the New Deal. Second, realizing that everyone wishes FDR did more for black suffering in the US, Smith makes an interesting point in noting that FDR's true base of support for lending support to the British cause against Nazi aggression was Southern conservative Democrats. That is, if FDR pushed civil rights, he could not have taken important steps to help the Brits against Hitler. Third, though Smith didn't really go after the claims that FDR allowed Pearl Harbor to be attacked, it's clear from Smith's excellent summary of the lead up to the Japanese attack that FDR clearly allowed no such infamous thing to happen. Finally, Smith forcefully defended FDR's handling of the Holocaust. Ultimately there wasn't much more FDR could have done.
If I had to point out any flaws in the book, I guess the last couple of chapters seemed to be more rushed than necessary. It's as if Smith became a bit tired of the project. I suppose there's some legitimacy to the approach, for FDR himself was worn down at the end of his presidency - and life. A nice epilogue summing up FDR's achievements would have also been sweet, but it wasn't necessary.

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

One of today?s premier biographers has written a modern, comprehensive, indeed ultimate book on the epic life of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In this superlative volume, Jean Edward Smith combines contemporary scholarship and a broad range of primary source material to provide an engrossing narrative of one of America?s greatest presidents.

This is a portrait painted in broad strokes and fine details. We see how Roosevelt?s restless energy, fierce intellect, personal magnetism, and ability to project effortless grace permitted him to master countless challenges throughout his life. Smith recounts FDR?s battles with polio and physical disability, and how these experiences helped forge the resolve that FDR used to surmount the economic turmoil of the Great Depression and the wartime threat of totalitarianism. Here also is FDR?s private life depicted with unprecedented candor and nuance, with close attention paid to the four women who molded his personality and helped to inform his worldview: His mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt, formidable yet ever supportive and tender; his wife, Eleanor, whose counsel and affection were instrumental to FDR?s public and individual achievements; Lucy Mercer, the great romantic love of FDR?s life; and Missy LeHand, FDR?s longtime secretary, companion, and confidante, whose adoration of her boss was practically limitless.

Smith also tackles head-on and in-depth the numerous failures and miscues of Roosevelt?s public career, including his disastrous attempt to reconstruct the Judiciary; the shameful internment of Japanese-Americans; and Roosevelt?s occasionally self-defeating Executive overreach. Additionally, Smith offers a sensitive and balanced assessment of Roosevelt?s response to the Holocaust, noting its breakthroughs and shortcomings.

Summing up Roosevelt?s legacy, Jean Smith declares that FDR, more than any other individual, changed the relationship between the American people and their government. It was Roosevelt who revolutionized the art of campaigning and used the burgeoning mass media to garner public support and allay fears. But more important, Smith gives us the clearest picture yet of how this quintessential Knickerbocker aristocrat, a man who never had to depend on a paycheck, became the common man?s president. The result is a powerful account that adds fresh perspectives and draws profound conclusions about a man whose story is widely known but far less well understood. Written for the general reader and scholars alike, FDR is a stunning biography in every way worthy of its subject.

From the Hardcover edition.

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