Title

The New Dealers' war : Franklin D. Roosevelt and the war within World War II

Description

Solidly challenging the idea that World War II was a good war," The New Dealers' War offers a drastically new look at the conflict that has dominated the history of the twentieth century. For many Americans, Franklin Delano Roosevelt's role in leading the United States throughout most of World War II has made him one of America's most venerated presidents. Biographers have all but lionized FDR for his war leadership, a tendency that has been reinforced lately as Americans celebrate the riches of memory by saluting the generation that won that titanic global conflict with blockbuster movies and best-selling books. But, as Thomas Fleming reminds us, memory is not history, and in The New Dealers' War, he reveals an entirely different Roosevelt from the one that most people like to remember." "Unquestionably, The New Dealers' War is one of those rare books that will force readers to rethink what they think they know about one of the most pivotal events in the American past. It will surely spark debate about FDR's role in shaping the course of history in the twentieth century."--BOOK JACKET.

Identifier

945312

465024645

Creator

Fleming, Thomas J

Source

Brian Lamb Booknotes Collection

Gift of Brian Lamb, 2011.

Catalog record

Language

eng

Date

2001

Program air date: August 26, 2001

Publisher

Basic Books

George Mason University. Libraries. Special Collections & Archives

Text

Transcription of Annotations
Notes from front endpapers: Thurs, June 18, 2 p.m. - "Unconditional surrender - what impact? - Harry Hopkins' importance. - You call FDR devious, deceitful. - Have you seen the movie 'Pearl Harbor'? - Was FDR hostile to Churchill, Germany, France, De Gaulle, but not Stalin? - What are our primary sources for FDR's attitude towards Stalin and W.C.? - Fall of the Prophet, p. 214. - When did you work for Fulton Omsler? Who was he? What impact did he have on you? - Truman: when did you spend several days with him? What did he think of FDR? - 1) Rainbow Five: war plan Dec. 4, 1941. - FDR promised "no war", p. 2. - Ickes wanted us to get in war through Japan; cut off of oil to Japan starts war. - The Tribune - Chesly Manly, reporter; Col. Robert McCormick. - Major Wedemeyer - you talked with him in 1986 - was he the leaker? - 2) Purple intercepts - FDR knew Japanese [would] attack soon. - Hitler tried to avoid provoking U.S. into war. - Burton K. Wheeler - the leaker to Chesly Manly. - 1200 pages of FBI report made available to Fleming. - FDR's complicity with leak - Wedemeyer. - Germans could see from Rainbow Five [that] U.S. military wouldn't be ready until '43. - FDR - trickery, p. 41 - fires J. O. Richardson, Admiral - get Navy out of Pearl Harbor. - FDR - you say he had to trick the people into it, the war. - 3) FDR performance in Depression - magnificent, p. 50. - FERA/HOLC/AAA/WPA/PWA/SEC'CCC/TVA/NRA - wage and price controls established by NRA. - 4) p. 94: Henry Wallace, frustrated; his diary: FDR "wants to dominate"; FDR "bad administrator"; who were the "dollar-a-year-men"? - Wallace despised them. - 5) FDR wanted to defeat Hitler first - war appealed to East Coast anglophiles. - 6) New Dealers "coddled Labor Unions", p. 136. - FDR: after Pearl Harbor [he] made cutting references to isolationists. - 7) Operation Torch - N. Africa. - 8) Book from Casablanca - sick FDR - beginning of decline. - 10) Detroit: 1/2 million new workers - 6900 blacks came from South. Whites tried to prevent them from moving into their neighborhoods - major riots occurred in June '43, p. 231. - 11) Jews: British knew what Germans were doing - didn't want to admit because of code breaking, p. 256. - FDR: "He had seduced America into the war with clever tricks, one step forward, one step back double talk, and the last resort - provocation of Japan. "Deceit had been at heart of the process." - Notes from title page: "12) Relationship between Cordell Hull and Sumner Welles, p. 281. FDR took Welles, instead of Hull, with him to an Atlantic Charter Conference. Russian ambassador Litvinov handed list of State Dept. people Russia wanted out [to Welles]. 13) p. 305: Chip Bohlen goes to Tehran as FDR's interpreter. Stalin tells Hull at dinner after they defeat Germany, Russia will [help] U.S. defeat Japan. - Churchill had underlying hostility to Stalin. FDR had underlying hostility to Churchill and British Empire. Teheran marked end of friendship between FDR and W.C. (Dec. 1, 1943). - p. 330: Dr. Bruenn examined FDR at Bethesda; found congestive heart failure - slow down daily routine; White House tried to cover up condition." - Notes from back endpapers: "15) p. 366: 1944: Massive bombing of Berlin by AAF - morale bombing; General Carl Spaatz decided not to pursue morale bombing. - 16) p. 390: Harold Ickes and Henry Morgenthau oppose another term for Henry Wallace. - FDR liked William D. Douglas - didn't think much of Henry W. - FDR's choice: Jimmy Byrnes; Sidney Hillman lead CIO-PAC, had a number of Communists. - 17) Generals tried to kill Hitler - failed - at Rastenburg. - Morgenthau report: divide Germany into 4 parts; ship all 20 to 40 year olds to Asia to work - FDR in sympathy. - 18) 1944 election: Bremerton speech: had severe chest pains, angina, heart disease - Dewey running against "old men". - 19) After winning 1944 FDR wrote letter to Jesse James, asks him to resign, so he could [?] Henry Wallace Sec. of Commerce. - Jones defied FDR publicly - Truman responsible for confirmation, insisted commerce be split from RF Corporation. - 20) Harry T. appoints John Snyder as federal Home Administrator - a signal to New Dealers their reign was over. - Truman endorses Unconditional Surrender. - p. 214: Jesse Jones vs. Henry Wallace, V.P. - Commerce Sec. / Reconstruction Finance Corp. - Milo Perkins , Exec. Dir. of Board of Economic Warfare (BEW). - Rubber controversy: Brazil rubber vs. synthetic. - Wallace goes to South A., wants to support a world for common man. - Perkins' 18 yr. old son is killed. - Jimmy Byrnes - Office of War Mobilization - FDR asks him to settle dispute. - Wallace "just didn't get the message" - Perkins addresses entire staff, attacks Jones; article comes out about his being "high priest of his own mystic cult", p. 228. - FDR abolishes BEW. - The '44 tax till vetoed by FDR, overridden by Congress, after which Barkley resigns as majority leader. - FDR sick and depressed, p. 342. - 1944: War Labor Board: no strike clause for unions; Montgomery Ward CEO Sewell Avery wouldn't bargain - Govt. take-over. - Wendell Willkie needs Wisconsin for nomination, gets no delegates - Dewey / MacArthur / Stassen - WW withdraws, p. 352. - Sidney Hillman: Pres. of Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, invented the Political Action Committee. - Wallace: "FDR's habit of lying". - Henry Wallace's diary - where is it, what's in it? - Big lie demos told American people in 1944 campaign about FDR's health." -- Annotations by Brian Lamb in the margins and underlining of pertinent phrases throughout the book.

Subject

"Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945."

"Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945--Military leadership."

"Presidents--United States--Biography."

"World War, 1939-1945--United States."

Relation

Original Booknotes interview

Rights

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