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Copyrighted Material Chapter One FDR BIOGRAPHIES Kenneth E. Hendrickson, Jr Historians have long debated whether history is a science or an art, and some have concluded that the question is moot because science and art are closely related. In History as Art and as Science: Twin Vistas of the Past (Hughes 1964: 2), E. K. Carr argued that, “Scientists … and historians are … engaged in different branches of the same study: the study of man and his environment … the object … is the same: to increase man’s under- standing and mastery over his environment.” While this assessment may seem logical and persuasive at first glance, it is, in fact unsustainable. True, there may be some similarities between the goals of historians and scientists, but the similarities are, at best, superficial and in no way tie the two disciplines together. There is nothing scien- tific about history. It is a form of literature; it is a highly sophisticated but utterly unscientific art. Unlike the scientific process where objectivity is the essential ingredient and all examinations of the same evidence must produce the same result, the historical process is inevitably subjective. All historians – sometimes by design, sometimes unintentionally, but neverthe- less in all cases – impose themselves upon their subjects and the cumulative result is often chaos. That is, the outcomes produced by various historians dealing with theCOPYRIGHTED same topic are never the same MATERIAL and thus result in confu- sion. Put another way, if one examines all the historical literature on a given topic, the answers to the fundamental question of how human beings seek to understand and control their environment are never clear. Moreover, in no subdiscipline of history is this phenomenon more obvious than in biog- raphy, and no subject of biography has generated more literary chaos than Franklin Delano Roosevelt. A Companion to Franklin D. Roosevelt, First Edition. William D. Pederson. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2011 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd. PPederson_c01.inddederson_c01.indd 1 112/31/20102/31/2010 11:06:22:06:22 AAMM 2 KENNETH E. HENDRICKSON, JR Roosevelt became the subject of historians and other writers long before his death, has continued to attract attention to the present time, and with- out doubt will be targeted by many writers with various agendas well into the future. The total number of books on Roosevelt is staggering. In addi- tion to biographies, there are works dealing with topics such as the Great Depression, World War II, and general politics, and all of them, of course, include some biographical material. But this chapter, for the most part, deals only with those works intended to be biographical in the strictest sense of the word. Even this approach leads to more than 80 books, and not all of them are discussed. Instead, the most important biographies are selected and divided into four categories: those written by professional his- torians, journalists, close associates, and relatives. The discussion of them suggests the imperfect nature of Roosevelt biographical literature. Historians Emil Ludwig comes first in the discussion. A Pole who lived at various times in Poland, Switzerland, the United States, and Germany, he could be classified as either a historian or a journalist, but I have chosen to include him with the former because of the quantity and quality of his biographical and historical works. His biography, Roosevelt: A Study in Fortune and Power (Ludwig 1938 – English translation by Maurice Samuel), was released in the United States in 1938. Though he attempted to enshrine Roosevelt’s greatness as the savior of the capitalist system and democracy, the result is overly sentimental and not especially persuasive. Nearly a decade and a half lapsed before another historian attempted a Roosevelt biography, but once Frank Freidel began, he maintained his interest in Roosevelt for the remainder of his life After spending most of his academic career at Harvard, he concluded it at the University of Washington. His four-volume biography appeared over the course of 20 years. First was Franklin D. Roosevelt: The Apprenticeship (1952), followed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt: The Ordeal (1954), Franklin Delano Roosevelt: The Triumph (1956), and FDR: Launching the New Deal (1973). The delay in the publication of the fourth volume was caused by the controversy that blazed about the New Deal during the Red Scare of the 1950s and the search for additional documents. While generally sympathetic to Roosevelt, Freidel’s work is also critical when the need is obvious, in such cases, for example, as the Supreme Court fiasco and his intervention in the congres- sional election of 1938. It is one of the best written and most comprehen- sive of all the FDR biographies and remains today an excellent example of biographical literature, although it is not definitive. The next historian to publish a Roosevelt biography was James McGregor Burns. Professor Burns is a well-known presidential biographer and an PPederson_c01.inddederson_c01.indd 2 112/31/20102/31/2010 11:06:22:06:22 AAMM FDR BIOGRAPHIES 3 authority on leadership studies, serving as the Woodrow Wilson Professor Emeritus, of Political Science at Williams College. His two-volume biogra- phy is Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox (1956) and Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom, 1940–45 (1970) The second volume won a Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award in 1971. The former is a fine example of historical literature, in which Burns evaluates FDR as a leader and politician during the Great Depression. Finding both weakness and strength, many fans of the president did not like the book; nevertheless, it was for the most part well received by reviewers. In Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom, Burns once again exhibited his skill as a literary craftsman. More critical of FDR than in the first volume, he describes the president as a deeply divided man who provided inadequate leadership to a fragmented nation. He censures Roosevelt especially for his treatment of the Japanese Americans and his insensitivity to civil liberties. Professor Dexter Perkins was known throughout the western world as a prominent authority on US history. During his long career, he taught at the University of Rochester, Cornell University, the University of London, and Cambridge. He was the official US historian at the San Francisco Security Conference that preceded the organization of the United Nations in 1945. His biography, entitled The New Age of Franklin Roosevelt, 1932–1945 (1956), is an account of FDR’s leadership through the Great Depression and World War II. Though only 193 pages, mostly anecdotal, not based on primary sources, and bereft of anything unknown up to its date of publica- tion, it is a well-balanced, fair-minded summary of what many have styled the beginning of America’s modern era. It is also beautifully written and thus attracted many readers who were not likely to seek out the massive multi-volume works of other well-known authors. One of those who, like Frank Freidel, successfully attempted a huge multi-volume biography was Kenneth S. Davis, who graduated from Kansas State University in 1934 with a degree in journalism and received a Master of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1935. He taught journalism at New York University, was a war correspondent during World War II, and later taught history at both Kansas State and the University of Kansas. Though a biographer of Charles Lindbergh, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Adlai Stevenson, his best known biography is on FDR. Davis intended to produce five volumes, but the last was never com- pleted due to his illness and death in 1999. Volume I, FDR: The Beckoning of Destiny, 1882–1928 (1972) is based largely on secondary sources, mainly from Burns and Freidel, but also includes some new information. The major thesis of this book is that character develops and persists; it does not appear full blown at birth, nor does it change to meet each new responsibility. He pictures Roosevelt not as a hero, but as a man whose character exhibited significant flaws. FDR: The New York Years, 1928–1932 (1985) features Roosevelt as governor of New York and as candidate for the Democratic PPederson_c01.inddederson_c01.indd 3 112/31/20102/31/2010 11:06:22:06:22 AAMM 4 KENNETH E. HENDRICKSON, JR presidential nomination. Again, the author is both sympathetic and critical. The best parts of this volume are the description of Roosevelt’s assembling of the Brains Trust and its persuasive argument that Roosevelt represented a significant political alternative in 1932. He entitled volume III FDR: The New Deal Years, 1933–1937 (1986). Here, he focused on the period known to historians as the First New Deal, considering issues such as currency reform, banking, agriculture, labor, the regulation of labor relations, wel- fare, and especially social security. Roosevelt, says Davis, was essentially conservative in his outlook and succeeded not because of any particular piece of legislation, but because of his grasp of his historic role. His approach to practically all problems was both pragmatic and erratic. FDR: Into the Storm, 1937–1941 (1993), was Davis’s fourth and last volume. It covers the efforts to sustain the New Deal, the Supreme Court controversy, the failed purge of conservative Democrats, the successful bat- tles over wages and hours, farm tenancy, housing bills, and the third-term struggle. With respect to the latter, Davis is at his best as an analyst. For example, he shows that Roosevelt knew Wendell Willkie represented a seri- ous threat, but was mistaken in his belief that Willkie was a puppet of the far right. Davis is very critical of the president for his handling of events leading up to US entry into World War II.
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