I recently reread Goodwin’s book in which she recounted the war years, 1940 through 1945, from the perspective of the American Presidency. Both Franklin and Eleanor were remarkable people who in their unique ways dedicated their lives to helping our country. 

 

FDR made two unique contributions:(1) he helped steer the country through the Great Depression, saving our democracy and capitalism. (2) he coaxed an isolationist nation first into supplying arms to England in that country’s lonely battle against Nazi Germany and then taking up arms itself. FDR did a remarkable job of transforming the United States into an industrial power that became the arsenal of democracy. Stated differently, while World War II provided the Keynesian prescription to throw off the shackles of the Great Depression, our economy had recovered enough after 1933 that we were not economically moribund. 

 

Eleanor worked tirelessly to defend the interests of underprivileged—protecting workers’ rights, representing the poor, struggling for civil rights reforms, promoting women’s rights, and advocating more liberal immigration policies to save European’s Jewry. Eleanor served as FDR’s eyes and ears providing realistic insights. 

 

Let me give an example of Eleanor’s insights. During World War II, most of the country felt that America’s miners were traitors because they went on strike. Eleanor provided balance. She had seen first hand the abysmal working conditions in the mines. In 1943, close to 65,000 miners died because of industrial accidents. The mineworkers were underpaid and overcharged by company stores. She pointed out that after paying their debts to the company’s stores, miners paycheck could be as low as 3 cents. In part, because of her first hand reports, Franklin unsuccessfully vetoed  anti-union legislation and pushed for a compromise between the company and the union.

 

FDR was indeed a remarkable person. At one level, he certainly enjoyed himself—nightly cocktail parties, frequent card games, spending hours on his stamp collection, and relishing social gossip. On the other hand, on all the big issues his vision was excellent: He overcame widespread objections to providing military aid to Britain allowing that island nation to survive. People such as Ambassador Joseph Kennedy and other isolationists opposed British Prime Minister Churchill and military aid to Britain. From June 1940-June 1941 Britain struggled virtually alone against the seemingly indomitable Nazi war machine.  After the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, Roosevelt insisted on providing this communist pariah lend lease aid. This gave the Soviets a lifeline when most experts expected a Russian collapse. After America suffered devastation from the Pearl Harbor attack, Roosevelt correctly prioritized our military might to focus first on Germany and secondly on Japan. Lastly, Roosevelt did a magnificent job of organizing America’s industrial might so that we produced tanks, airplanes, and arms on an unprecedented scale. By1944, America’s production capacity was 4-5 times that of our Axis enemies.

 

No Ordinary Time provided an intimate portrait of the personal lives of Franklin, Eleanor and the many residents of the White House during World War II. Harry Hopkins, possibly Roosevelt’s closest associate, lived for close to four years in the White House. Goodwin highlighted that while Eleanor and Franklin had enormous respect for each other’s talents, they truly lived independent lives. Eleanor ardently resented FDR’s placating of Southern politicians’ racists policies, because of their firm alliance to his military goals. Also, the chairmen of most of the important Senate and House committees were Southerners. Sadly, while Eleanor was a magnificent person (a heart of gold), she was not easy to live with. In brief, she was “all work, and no play.”

 

Goodwin did a wonderful job of threading between the personal turmoil of the characters (Hopkins life and death struggle with cancer, 5 Roosevelt children had 19 marriages, Missy LeHand’s personal sacrifices to keep FDR motivated despite the depressions caused by his polio) and the remarkable advances of the country. In 1939 America had the world’s 19th largest army, being even behind Belgium and the Netherlands.

 

While partisan politics was prevalent during Roosevelt’s presidency, we certainly did not suffer from today’s dysfunction.  I find it personally tragic that in confronting the challenges of healthcare, budget, tax reform, etc.  the legislative agenda will presumably be passed on strict party lines.

 

My greatest worry is that under President Trump, America is either alienating many of our post World War II allies or withdrawing into isolationism. While “making America great again” or representing Pittsburg not Paris make effective sound bites to his supporters, I believe strongly that only through international cooperation can we effectively tackle the world’s immense challenges—climate change, refugee problems, terrorism, Russia’s international ambitions and slow economic growth. Fortunately, European leaders such as Andrea Merkel, Emmanuel Macron, and Theresa May are responsible. However, Germany, France, and/or Great Britain could rebuke their leadership styles given Europe’s challenges. 

Repeatedly, Trump rejects multi-state cooperation. On the other hand, I am not aware of any international agreements that the current administration has executed.