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Resumos (1) – FDR
Segue o resumo, em inglês, do livro sobre a vida do ex-presidente americano Frankling Delano Roosevelt.
Book Sumary: "FDR" by Jean Edward Smith
"FDR", by biographer Jean Edward Smith, is the life story of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
In the book’s preface, Smith states, "The riddle for a biographer is to explain how this Hudson River aristocrat, a son of privilege who never depended on a paycheck, became the champion of the common man."
In attempting that explanation, Smith starts by revealing Roosevelt’s ancestry. Although the male Roosevelts in his lineage were born with money, they did little to either increase their fortunes or hint at the influence on the world that Franklin would one day exert. Typically, the women that they wed brought more wealth and vitality to the marriage. FDR’s father James lost Rebecca, his first wife of 23 years and mother of FDR’s half brother James or "Rosy", to heart disease when he was 48. Four years later, he married Sara Delano, who at 26 was half his age.
On January 30, 1882, fifteen months after their wedding, the couple’s only child was born. James wished to name the baby boy Isaac after his father; Sara did not like the name and wanted to name him Warren for her own father. It took two months to resolve the difference of opinion in the new mother’s favor, during which time Sara’s nephew Warren Delano IV had died. Feeling it would be inappropriate to use that name for her baby so soon after the death, Sara chose Franklin Delano after her uncle.
Sara took on much of the responsibility of raising her son, whether at the Hyde Park family estate, yearly trips to Europe, or their summer home on the island of Campobello. She was the most influential person of his youth, and retained an important role in his life until her death in 1941. After a mild heart attack in 1890, James deteriorated physically. As he became less of a companion for Franklin, the young boy and his mother became even closer.
FDR entered boarding school at Groton when he was fourteen and enrolled at Harvard four years later. His father died of heart attack on December 8, 1980 while Franklin was a Harvard freshman.
Months later, President William McKinley was assassinated and Theodore Roosevelt, a distant cousin of FDR, succeeded him in office.
At the end of his third year at Harvard, Franklin was elected to the prestigious position of president of the "Crimson", the student newspaper. Roosevelt also experienced romance three times while at Cambridge, coming close to proposing marriage the third time.
When that relationship ended, he met and eventually married Anna Eleanor Roosevelt on March 17, 1905 following a two-year courtship. Eleanor was a niece of President Theodore Roosevelt and a fifth cousin once removed of Franklin.
At the time of his marriage, FDR was in his first year of law school at Columbia. His mother gave the couple two gifts of property — first, a townhouse adjoining one she occupied on Park Avenue as a Christmas present, although she kept title to both. Later, Sara gave her son and daughter-in-law a thirty-four-room house neighboring the Roosevelt house on Campobello and called it a wedding gift.
The young couple had six children: Anna; James; Franklin Delano, Jr, who died before he was 8 months old; Elliott; another Franklin Delano, Jr; and John. Eleanor admitted to having been unprepared for motherhood and delegated much of the care of her children to servants. FDR enjoyed playing with his children, but left the day-to-day parenting to his wife.
Roosevelt joined a law practice in 1907, but found his true passion when he became involved in politics in 1910. He brought enthusiasm and energy to his first campaign for New York State Senate, hiring a car and driver to carry him along the back roads of the three counties of the district. Running as a Democrat, he defeated the Republican incumbent John Schlosser.
In his early days in office, FDR involved himself more in political infighting than the social issues for which he would later become known. He gained national attention for his role in a revolt of Democratic state senators against Tammany Hall, the state’s Democratic political machine, regarding an election of a United States Senator from New York. However, in the wake of the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory that led to workplace reform, Roosevelt played no role, even being absent when resulting legislation to limit the hours in a workweek for women and children was passed.
The author, while generally casting Roosevelt in a favorable light, does not do so exclusively. He concludes that Franklin’s colleagues in the state capitol disliked him in those early years. FDR’s quotes regarding events like his clash with Tammany Hall or his neglect of workplace reform noted above differ from Smith’s telling of the story. Smith notes such differences and describes Roosevelt’s penchant for altering his historical role using phrases like "excluding unpleasant facts" and a "myth Roosevelt could not resist embellishing".
When it was time for Roosevelt to run for reelection in 1912, he realized he had to make peace with the political bosses of Tammany Hall to secure the party nomination, which he did. He subsequently fell ill with typhoid fever; bedridden, he turned his campaign over to "New York Herald" reporter Louis Howe, who would later run FDR’s campaigns for governor and president. In a favorable election for his party, Roosevelt won his state senate seat while Woodrow Wilson was elected President.
Roosevelt was appointed assistant to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels in Wilson’s administration, and took Louis Howe to Washington as an aide. Roosevelt honed his skills as a politician while in this post. He contemplated a run for the office of Governor of New York in 1914, but lacking public endorsements from President Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt, determined he didn’t have the requisite support to run.
When World War I began in Europe in July of 1914, Roosevelt was still at his Navy post in Washington. Soon after, he announced his candidacy for US Senator from New York, but was defeated in the Democratic primary by a candidate picked by Tammany Hall. Thereafter, Roosevelt reconciled with Tammany.
The United States sought to stay neutral in the war; for a time, it was successful. President Wilson won reelection in 1916 by the slimmest of margins, in part because voters of western states appreciated that he had kept them out of the conflict thus far. But German U-boats increased their activity, and after they torpedoed and sunk several American freighters, Wilson requested a declaration of war against Germany and Congress complied on April 6, 1917.
Franklin wished to join the military, Theodore encourage him to do so, but President Wilson, Secretary Daniels, and others convinced him that he was more valuable to his country in his current position. He remained in the Navy Department, performing his job well. FDR declined to run for the New York governorship in 1918.
During the war, Franklin and Eleanor drifted apart. Most of his time was spent in Washington, while she spent summers at Campobello with her children. In the summer of 1916, Franklin began a love affair with Lucy Mercer, who had been hired part-time as a social secretary for his wife. Though numerous people were aware of the relationship, it was handled discreetly. As the romance with Mercer blossomed, his marriage became more strained.
The situation climaxed in September of 1918 when Eleanor found Lucy’s love letters in Franklin’s bags. The couple prepared to separate, but Sara Roosevelt and Louis Howe interceded to preserve their marriage. Eleanor’s condition for remaining with FDR was that he agree not to see Lucy again. The affair did not become public knowledge until the 1960s.
Eleanor emerged from the marital crisis a more public person. Franklin became older, wiser, and a more devoted family man.
As Wilson’s health and his presidency declined, politicians looked to the 1920 election. Some suggested the idea Roosevelt running for Vice President on a Democratic ticket with Herbert Hoover, but Hoover declared himself to be a Republican. James Cox, governor of Ohio, became the party’s nominee for president and chose FDR to be his running mate. The ticket lost a one-sided November election to Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge.
Undeterred, Roosevelt went to work on Wall Street for Fidelity & Deposit Company of Maryland. He took Louis Howe with him and added Marguerite "Missy" LeHand to his staff. She would become his most trusted confidante in his professional life, working with him until suffering a stroke in 1941.
In late July of 1921, Franklin was exposed to the polio virus at a boy scout camp in New York. A little more than a week later while vacationing at Campobello, he was stricken with fever and paralysis of his lower body. After a pair of misdiagnoses by a family doctor and an elderly surgeon on the island, the illness was finally diagnosed as poliomyelitis.
His condition eventually improved, but FDR remained paralyzed from the waist down. With his legs fitted with fourteen-pound steel braces, he learned to move on crutches, but he could not stand on his own or move his legs independently. At home at Hyde Park, Franklin used a wheelchair of his own design and moved between floors via a manual-powered trunk elevator. The extent of his paralysis was not publicly revealed.
Over the next several years, Roosevelt spent much of his time on the water near the Florida Keys, first on a rented houseboat, then on a secondhand, seventy-one-foot long houseboat purchased with a partner and renamed the Larooco. During his months on board, Missy LeHand was with him far more frequently than Eleanor.
Later, he found that swimming in mineral-water pools at Warm Springs, GA soothed his legs. He organized backers, purchased the Merriweather Inn and converted it to a facility for paralysis victims, and had a cottage built for himself. Driving an automobile converted such that FDR could drive it using hand controls he designed, he regained some of his lost independence.
Through trial and error, Franklin found how he could best compensate for his inability to walk in public. Supported by a person such as one of his young sons on one arm, he used a crutch under the other. In time, he learned that substituting a cane for the crutch appeared more natural.
Convalescing at Warm Springs, Roosevelt was content to steer clear of political races aside from speaking on behalf of others, notably at the Democratic conventions in 1924 and 1928. However, recognizing that their ticket needed help, the Democrats persuaded him to be their candidate for Governor of New York in 1928. Initially thought to be a big underdog, FDR won his election by just over 25 thousand votes from 4 million plus.
Jean Smith describes Roosevelt as an "artist" in the way he took to running the state and later the country. FDR had a gift for analyzing a problem and deciding what needed to be done without worrying about his decision.
Roosevelt’s term as governor began in prosperity, but in October of 1929, the stock market crashed, farm prices plummeted, and factory production slumped severely. Though most expected the downturn was a brief aberration, FDR was among the first to recognize the gravity of the Depression. Ironically, it also brought opportunity — the White House might now be winnable by a Democrat in 1932.
Because of Franklin’s physical limitations, Eleanor often served as his proxy for speaking engagements. "ER", as Smith frequently refers to her, was a different type of First Lady, both in Albany and in Washington. She had her own work with organizations such as the Red Cross and women’s rights groups. She also taught, wrote, and campaigned effectively on behalf of both Franklin and others. And as Franklin had Missy LeHand to be a constant companion, Eleanor had Earl Miller, a New York State Police sergeant originally assigned as her bodyguard. Smith includes the opinions of others as to the exact nature of their relationship, but the conclusion is left in doubt.
FDR won reelection in a blowout governors race in 1930; attention then shifted to the 1932 presidential election. Questions about his physical fitness for office surfaced, but were dispelled in part by a story in "Liberty" magazine reporting that Roosevelt had been examined by a team of doctors and found perfectly capable of meeting the demands.
Louis Howe and James Farley organized Roosevelt’s campaign. FDR was nominated on the 4th ballot of the convention, in part because he gained the support of the Texas and California delegations by promising the vice presidenctial nomination to John Garner. In an unprecedented move, Roosevelt flew to the Democratic Convention in Chicago to make his acceptance speech. Here, he first announced his New Deal.
In a campaign in which Roosevelt seemingly did everything right while incumbent Herbert Hoover did everything wrong, FDR won the 1932 Presidential Election in a landslide.
Smith illustrates the dire economic circumstance existing in the United States at the end of the Hoover administration in the aftermath of the election.
While waiting for his upcoming inauguration on March 4, 1993, Roosevelt cruised the Caribbean for eleven days. Returning to Miami on February 15, he spoke to a gathering of 20,000 members of the American Legion in an outdoor park from the back of his car. After his speech, 32-year-old Giuseppe Zangara fired five shots at Roosevelt. None hit the president-elect, but Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak, who was talking with FDR, suffered a wound that would claim his life on March 6. Four other bystanders were struck but survived. Smith notes the remarkable calm displayed by Roosevelt in the aftermath of the event.
The author recounts all that the Roosevelt administration accomplished after taking office in the midst of a bank crisis. Highlights include: steps to protect the banking system and the money supply; the Agricultural Adjustment Act to reduce farm surpluses; the Civilian Conservation Corps; securities regulation; railroad rehabilitation; homeowner mortgage relief; and establishing the Tennessee Valley Authority and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
FDR was able to institute new programs and get legislation passed, in some cases in a matter of days, by first renewing confidence. He regularly spoke to an American radio audience via his "Fireside Chats". Roosevelt put his beliefs into action, and he once said, "Take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it and try another. But above all, try something." Where the previous administration waited and hoped conditions would improve, FDR was spurred to action.
Some of his attempts did fail. The Public Works Administration didn’t stimulate the economy. Problems existed in the Social Security Act of 1935. However, he continued to push forward with new programs, like the Works Progress Administration and Rural Electrification Administration.
Roosevelt was confident of reelection in 1936. The campaign received a blow when Louis Howe died from an illness on April 18 of that year. Nonetheless, FDR triumphed over Republican Alfred Landon by an even greater margin than he’d enjoyed in 1932.
President Roosevelt’s first huge defeat came when he attempted to reorganize the judiciary in 1937. Unhappy because the Supreme Court had struck down six pieces of legislation of the New Deal, he tried to push through a bill that would have allowed him to add justices to the Supreme Court. Even though the measure met with opposition, he tried to force it through Congress and lost support from both the public and his own party when it was defeated by a 20 to 70 vote in the Senate.
In 1937, he slashed federal spending. The drain on the recovering economy was too great, causing the so-called "Roosevelt recession" in the following two years.
The President targeted four Democratic senators who had voted against him on the Supreme Court measure, openly pushing his own candidates to oppose them in Democratic primaries in 1938. All won reelection, and FDR’s interference deepened the rift in his own party.
For a time, it appeared that Roosevelt would not run again in 1940, but as World War II broke out and the position of the Allies steadily declined in Europe, he felt an obligation to serve. Despite bad feelings over the past several years, Roosevelt received his party’s nomination, as did his unpopular choice for a running mate, Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace. The Republican candidate was Wendell Willkie; Roosevelt was voted to a third term.
Roosevelt needed to balance the requirements of appeasing those who did not want the United States to become involved in the war, the need to assist Great Britain, struggling to hold on in the aftermath of the defeat of France, and preparing the country for a conflict that looked increasingly likely as relations with Japan eroded. The U.S. had imposed an embargo against the Japanese in response to Japan’s aggression in China.
The period was difficult for FDR personally as well; Missy LeHand suffered a stroke and would die three years later, and his mother Sara passed away.
Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 resolved the political dilemma; the U.S. was at war. As in the previous decade when facing economic crisis, Roosevelt’s leadership buoyed his country. He composed his own speech, and delivered it before Congress the next day, asking for a declaration of war. It took Congress but 33 minutes to act with a single dissenting vote.
Although Roosevelt had not asked for a declaration of war against Germany, that point became moot when Hitler announced that the Third Reich was at war with the United States. Sir Winston Churchill visited the White House to plan a joint war effort. He and Roosevelt would become best of friends in the course of World War II and plans for the peace to follow.
Roosevelt made mistakes in fighting the War as he had in fighting the Depression. Smith calls his internment of Japanese Americans "one of the shabbiest displays of presidential prerogative in American history". But his skills in problem solving, decision making, and organization served the country well during wartime.
Initially, the war went poorly for the Americans. But the naval victory at Midway was a turning point in the Pacific. After the Normandy invasion on D-Day, June 6, 1944, the Allies took the offensive in Europe.
The demands of being commander in chief during wartime, with grueling schedules and international travel, took a toll on Roosevelt. Despite declining health, he was elected to a 4th term in 1944 over Thomas Dewey. His physical condition worsened steadily after the election. On March 30, 1945 he arrived in Warm Springs, and he was there when he died on Thursday, April 12, 1945.
Smith includes several quotes in reaction to the news of his death, including the following by political opponent Senator Robert Taft:
"He dies a hero of the war, for he literally worked himself to death in the service of the American people."
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