Nothing to Fear: FDR's Inner Circle and the Hundred Days That Created Modern America

This is an excellent book about the Great Depression. It is easy to read and very informative. Definitely one of the best books in regards to that era.

Nothing to Fear offers accounts of several of the early New Deal's key players such as Raymond Moley, Rexford Tugwell, Harry Hopkins, Francis Perkins, Henry Wallace, and Lewis Douglas. Some would fade from Roosevelt's circle quickly, while others would serve most of his presidency in some capacity or another. Each has an interesting story to tell and through their jobs and views, we see some of the back and forth tensions of the New Deal. The New Deal was not a campaign platform, but rather a campaign slogan that these individuals had to add to. Some of them saw the New Deal as a vehicle for a balanced budget, others saw the need for quick public works projects and immediate relief, and others were looking to establish lasting change with far reaching, permanent social programs. There were two small shortcomings to Nothing to Fear. One, some of the players seemed to disappear. I didn't actually read Nothing to Fear, but listened to it on CD. So I could not flip back to see if I had missed something with ease. But Administration players like Treasury Secretary Woodin and Ag Department staffer Rexford Tugwell did not receive the same follow-up treatment many of the other players did. Two, the book has a bit of tunnel vision regarding the individuals it has chosen to follow. As a result, it can be a bit dismissive of some other Roosevelt insiders who might have swayed his thinking such as Louis Howe (whom the author seems to really dislike), James Farley, Sam Rosenman, and even Eleanor Roosevelt. But for the individuals the book does give thorough treatment to, their stories are well told, their beliefs explored, and their goals explained. The book makes a good compliment to other 100 Days books, such as The Defining Moment.

Even those who believe they are familiar with Roosevelt and the New Deal are likely to be surprised to learn things they did not know from this book. Adam Cohen's "Nothing to Fear" is 318 pages long and is fairly easy to read and deals almost exclusively with the first 100 days of FDR's administration. In many books that cover the 12 years of the Roosevelt's presidency some of the finer details of the beginnings of his administration become obscured, particularly in comparison to FDR's stewardship of the war effort between 1941 and his death in April 1945. The reader should be struck by the similarities between the current economic crisis and the much more dire situation that faced Roosevelt upon taking office in March 1933. Although not novel, Cohen makes it clear that FDR had few fixed ideas about what to do about the Depression and was willing to try a variety of things to see what would work. Unlike Hoover, however, Roosevelt was not willing to simply let nature takes its course. Many of his initial programs, such as the Agricultural Adjustment Act and the National Recovery Act were aimed at ending the Depression by restricting competition. FDR knew little about economics, had many conservative instincts and his administration included several very conservative personalities in it, most notably Lewis Douglas (also an anti-Semite), the budget director. As Cohen tells the story, there was a battle for FDR's soul won by the liberal or progressive members of the administration, notably Agriculture Secretary Henry Wallace, Labor Secretary Frances Perkins, advisors Rexford Tugwell and Harry Hopkins. Cohen includes mini biographies of many of these figures, as well as one of Raymond Moley, FDR's principal advisor, who fell out with him in the mid-1930s. One of the most surprising things I learned from Cohen's book is that FDR was very much opposed to Federal Deposit Insurance, now one of the least controversial New Deal programs, and threatened to veto it. Politicians such as Vice President John Nance Gardner and Senator Huey Long forced the program down FDR's throat. Cohen also highlights the role of Congressional figures such as Senator Robert LaFollette, Jr. (often confused with his more famous father who died in 1925), Robert F. Wagner and Colorado's Edward Costigan (who I'd never heard of prior to reading this book) in initiating and pushing for much of the early New Deal legislation.

Adam Cohen's "Nothing to Fear" is a great read on the the New Deal. When I picked up this book, I expected to read a lot about Roosevelt himself. What makes this book great is its focus on the characters that really deserve the credit (or blame, in the eyes of conservatives). He brings about the fascinating stories of Francis Perkins, Henry A Wallace, Harry Hopkins, and the lone conservative, Lewis Douglas. Cohen especially focuses on Perkins' role, as the woman whose policies and goals were also seen through during the New Deal. These people were the ones devising policy, as Roosevelt himself was against massive public works projects originally. A great read, and a clear outline of the New Deal. It also makes the argument that although shifting away from Douglas/Hoover conservatism, it was not the socialism it could have been.

As the Obama administration picks its way through the wreckage of the last eight years, it is often said that these are the worst times since the Great Depression. While the corollary is appealing the overriding difference is that President Obama has Franklin Roosevelt and the new Deal as a guide...Roosevelt and his advisors had no such shepherd...they had to make it all up on the fly. The cover of Adam Cohen's remarkable new book, "Nothing to Fear" shows a poignantly optimistic Franklin Delano Roosevelt perched upon the back of a car seat. While his first hundred days usually depict the president at the center of activity, "Nothing to Fear" operates in reverse. The major players are featured with Roosevelt at the controls. Cohen cites each character with solid background and goes on not only to explain how each one contributed to the first hundred days but the interaction among them. It makes for great reading. At the core are men like Raymond Moley, an early close advisor to FDR, Lewis Douglas, a wealthy Arizonan who was the most conservative influence and was the person most at odds with the others, Henry Wallace, the rumpled, liberal Agriculture Secretary, and Harry Hopkins, whose farsightedness in the area of where money should be spent led him to become one of the most powerful men in Washington. But the most fascinating of all is Labor Secretary Frances Perkins. The book shines when Cohen describes her stiff New England background which she gave up to be in the service of the thousands of needy people she came to know. Perkins was only one of two cabinet members to stay with FDR through his entire twelve years in the White House (Interior Secretary Harold Ickes was the other) and her loyalty to the president was unswerving. Cohen is good at describing the tensions that existed as bills were hammered out in nighttime sessions and often had to be reworked multiple times only to be met by skeptics in Congress who threatened to derail many parts of the New Deal. It's good to remember that within a year, major criticisms of many of FDR's programs came under a harsh light and within that time period both Moley and Douglas had departed. Cohen reminds us that there were good and bad lasting effects of this fireworks of legislation....much of the farm relief turned into subsidies that over time proved bad, but out of it came Social Security and, as is practical today, the FDIC. There was a sense in 1933 that President Roosevelt ought to have been given a good deal of the benefit of the doubt to get the country moving again. Indeed, he garnered a good amount of Republican support, initially, for his policies. Congress appears to be run by "smaller" people today, and Republicans seem only functional in blocking President Obama's desire to set a new course. They would be better positioned by reading "Nothing to Fear", and to be reminded that when the United States was in a major crisis, partisanship was put aside. I highly recommend Adam Cohen's b