The Politics of Upheaval

The sheer immensity of this several-volume definitive biography of Roosevelt is staggering. To think that one man, Arthur Schlessinger, has published so much on one of the most important and controversial men in American (and, by extension, world) history, is just mind-numbing. In an age where collaborations have become the norm, the peculiarities of having a single person synthesize all of the information are especially valuable. This isn't a quick read, or even a lively one. It's an amazing amassment of information, and therefore is an invaluable reference to anyone studying this president, or this time period in American history.

"The Politics of Upheaval" ranks as one of the finest narrative historical works in American annals. Arthur Mr. Schlesinger Jr., a former John F. Kennedy presidential aide and speechwriter to Democratic presidential nominee Adlai E. Stevenson, has crafted in highly readable fashion one of the premier studies of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's groundbreaking first term.Schlesinger creates an enduring portrait of America's Depression president by presenting the challenges he faced during a tumultuous period and revealing how he surmounted them. Schlesinger cites Roosevelt's great triumphs such as passage of the Social Security Act in 1935 and the Rural Electrification Act, which brought badly needed power to farm communities leveled by the Great Depression. Schlesinger also provides a fascinating segment on the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority.In order to continue in his battle against the ravages of economic hardship, Roosevelt needed to be reelected. Despite the fact that perilous conditions continued, which Roosevelt fought to surmount, his progressive agenda enabled him to triumph over forces ranging from Senator Huey Long of Louisiana, the Union for Social Justice on the right with Congressman William Lemke, Father Coughlin, and Gerald L.K. Smith, Norman Thomas of the Socialist Party, and on the far left Earl Browder, perpetual presidential nominee of the American Communist Party. FDR boldly challenged Americans to overcome doubt, develop confidence, and work toward a better future by pulling together during a time of great adversity. Roosevelt took his message to the voters in November. He received the most tumultuous landslide victory in history by winning every state but Maine and Vermont while accumulating better than 61% of the vote in defeating the Republican nominee, Governor Alf M. Landon of Kansas.