FDR: The War President, 1940-1943: A History

by Kenneth Sydney Davis

Book Overview

FDR: The War President opens as Roosevelt has been re-elected to a third term and the United States is drifting toward a war that has already engulfed Europe. Roosevelt, as commander in chief,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679415424
• ISBN13: 9780679415428
• Release Date: November 2000
• Publisher: Random House
• Length: 848 Pages
• Weight: 2.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.7" x 6.4"

Customer Reviews

An inscrutable mystery......

To the layman, FDR's name is associated with Pearl Harbour dilemma and the consequential entry of USA into WWII. We have read the memoirs of Winston Churchill and seen impassioned appeals (some were even desperate) by the Allied player (France's Reynaud and England's WC) to the American President to interfere. Yet the appeals never effectively addressed the American public opinion. The French never understood how FDR could be a `leader' in his country and at the same time stood powerless to make decisions. The French, in the bloody and crowded events that encroached them in first half of 1940, could not fully appreciate the American System. But the British did. The public opinion in the USA, during 1939 and 1940, was one that when the allied had an edge in any battle against the Germans `so what, you see anyway they can win without us (USA)' when Germany was winning, the thinking was `Okay, since it's all over we better stay out, there is nothing we can do anymore'. American public opinion was divided and pacifists regarded the French appeals to `come to their rescue', emotionally hysterical. The French must have known how far was FDR bound by the congressional limits that formulated USA foreign policies. FDR could not have possibly made his decision apart from the American system, based on personal whims, notably when re-elections were due. FDR was bound to make American voters to see how far he was not missing any opportunity-however small- to prevent an all-out war. We should remember that before the war FDR had asked the Congress to approve his request for arms embargo to any country in a condition of `aggression' and the Congress refused unless the embargo applied to all countries concerned. Many American felt the Nazi had been forced to fight a war they never wanted. British propaganda machines were able to convince a big chuck of the public opinion in the USA that the Nazi had actually betrayed the Versailles Treaty (Post WWI). Wall Street and money mongers were also supporting this thesis. When Germany signed non-belligerent pact with USSR, many pacifists in America claimed that the war between the Europeans was imperialist in nature and urged FDR not to enter forcibly into it. FDR was even accused by the very few American Communists that he was indeed planning to do this. Although the French wanted them to come sooner than later, Churchill was convinced that in the end America would go to war, and he knew how far FDR depended on the public opinions at home. In his memoirs WC recounted that Lord Lothian (British Ambassador to USA) saw FDR and discussed `among other things, the danger facing America if a) some part of the British fleet fell to the Germans hand in the event of Nazi victory and 2) what are the chances of USA `being at war with Hitler' 3) FDR reiterated that `much depended not only on American Public Opinion but also on whether before that time dictators had taken some action which compelled the USA to go to war in self-defen

Thoughtful and provocative

It's a shame that Professor Davis did not live to complete his massive biography of FDR. But what he left is a most thoughtful and provocative account of how Roosevelt steered a reluctant country into a war it had to wage. Davis is skeptical of FDR's management of the war effort -- the president's compulsive manipulation of his staff, his over-reliance on self-interested industrialists for war production, and, above all, the woeful lack of response to the Holocaust. But Professor Davis is not a revisionist -- he makes it clear that the Americans had to fight World War II to stop Nazi-fascism and preserve Western civilization, and that no one else on the American scene could have taken the country in that direction. In "The War President," Professor Davis builds on the strengths of his previous volumes with his enlightening commentary on the impact of modernity and technology on presidential leadership. And he adds to his sketches of the figures who played a role in FDR's life -- Churchill, Harry Hopkins, Wendell Willkie and many others. I hated to see the book end, but the final scene is very poignant, with the President spending a New Year's Eve watching the film Casablanca as he is sending Americans to fight in North Africa.

Not quite the greatest

It was a pleasure to read Kenneth Davis' excellently written, fifth volume of his FDR biography. Starting with the re-election in 1940, Davis takes us through events until the end of 1942. His warm relationship with Churchill is convincingly drawn as is his rather naive perspective on Stalin. His oddities, such as a leaning towards Vichy France in the early days, are not disguised. FDR's brokering of the debate in the US between those who wanted a frontal assault on Fortress Europe and those who preferred a more cautious approach is described in brilliant detail. The president's refusal to do much constructive about the Holocaust is explained by Davis as caution rather than personal anti-semitism. In retrospect, we can see that FDR's achievement was to transform a recession hit US into the arsenal of democracy. More's the pity we shall not get volume six as the author died in 1999 before he had time to write it.

Fifth volume in a magical FDR biography

I've purchased and enjoyed the four preceding Kenneth Davis studies on Franklin Roosevelt and this volume continues a masterful biographical effort. Davis' books are extremely detailed and if you have a peripheral interest in Roosevelt, he would probably not be the historian of choice. The minutiae he provides is a delight Roosevelt fans who love the slightest tid-bit on their hero. His research methods are sober, industrious and trustworthy, his FDR-bias generally masked.The strength of this study is the focus upon FDR's masterful manner of maneuvering an isolationist power into war. The chapters on Lend-Lease, while not providing any new information, still make for riveting reading. The Churchill-FDR political and military partnership is also explored in depth, with Churchill justly taking some heavy criticism for some of his decisions and meddlesome efforts into the Allied offense against Hitler.The only criticism is that Davis does not focus sufficiently on FDR as a human being and the vast importance of Eleanor Roosevelt is somewhat obsfucated. I would have liked to have seen some exploration into Eleanor's relationships with Lorena Hickock and Earl Miller, and a greater emphasis on FDR's relationship with Missy LeHand, his secretary. Still, Davis' effort is an excellent continuation on his epic Roosevelt biography. I can't wait for the concluding volume.

Excellent study of FDR's personality and leadership

In the first part of this wonderful biography, Davis attempts to go inside FDR's often-elusive personality at the conclusion of the 1940 election, and, amazingly enough, succeeds in giving us a very credible depiction of the inner thoughts of a leader in crisis. Davis then explores Roosevelt's leadership, which often amounted to drift, and what must have been mind-boggling frustration in trying to lead the country, united, into war against Hitler. The mistakes and personal deficiencies of the man are clearly pointed out, including his absurd pro-Vichy policy and animosity for De Gaulle, and his repeated failures in administration, but one is left with a greater understanding of what were perhaps FDR's finest hour and his deepening relationship with Churchill in together saving democracy and destroying one of the two or three worst tyrants of the Century. Neither could have done it alone, and it is hard to see how any other pair could have succeeded as well as they did---certainly not Wendell Wilkie or any other Republican, and not Henry Wallace, despite his considerable talents.