Roosevelt and Howe / Edition 1

by Jr Rollins

Overview

Roosevelt and Howe is a joint biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt and one of his principal advisors. Louis Howe was not only FDR's first political aide, but the only one who also became an intimate personal friend. Other than Harry Hopkins in the late 1930s, he was the only advisor whom Roosevelt trusted completely to serve his interests without distracting personal ambition or a shadowy private agenda. This book is the story of their separate early lives, of the rare chances which brought them together and of their totally intertwined careers after 1912. It deals with their political strategies, their division of labor in a daily partnership, and their feelings for each other, despite frequent differences about tactics. Louis Howe had a haphazard and fragmented career as an upstate New York newspaperman running a family-owned weekly and filling in for Manhattan papers in Albany during legislative sessions. Struck down by illness, Roosevelt turned to Howe to run his campaign for reelection to the New York Senate in 1912. The story carries them through Roosevelt's World War I career as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, a disappointing run for the Vice-Presidency in 1920, various attempts at business and Roosevelt's desperate brush with death from polio. It centers on the hectic twenties as Roosevelt fought to walk again and Louis struggled to make his crippled boss an eager and viable candidate for the Presidency. It follows them through a dynamic term as Governor of New York and the victorious 1932 campaign for the White House.

Howe went to the White House with the Roosevelts. He was Secretary to the President but was soon eclipsed by the enormous scope of Roosevelt's affairs and his own quickening illness. He died in 1936, just short of Roosevelt's crucial first campaign for reelection. He could not have imagined how well his protogy would do without him, yet FDR always suffered from the lack of a close, reliable intimate who could say "No" to him. This role was not filled until Harry Hopkins came to share his circle of power.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780765808561
Publisher:	Transaction Publishers
Publication date:	09/30/2001
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	530
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Alfred B. Rollins, Jr. is professor and president emeritus at Old Dominion University. He taught recent U.S. history and American political parties at State University of New York campuses and the University of Vermont. He was one of the earliest researchers in Franklin D. Roosevelt papers and the first to explore the Howe papers. He also worked with the Truman and Eisenhower papers.

Alfred B. Rollins, Jr. is professor and president emeritus at Old Dominion University. He taught recent U.S. history and American political parties at State University of New York campuses and the University of Vermont. He was one of the earliest researchers in Franklin D. Roosevelt papers and the first to explore the Howe papers. He also worked with the Truman and Eisenhower papers.

Table of Contents

I: The Winds of Fate; 1: The Champion and the Ghost; 2: Stereotype of a Crusader; 3: A Young Progressive Finds a Program; 4: Vote of Confidence—1912; 5: The Making of a “Mediaeval Gnome”; 6: The Harried Years; II: A Team in The Making; 7: Fighting Tammany with Its Own Weapons; 8: Collapse of the Progressive Dream; 9: In the Navy; 10: Business Politicians for the Navy; III: The Time of Testing; 11: The Hopeless Crusade—1920; 12: Life in Suspense; 13: Rebuilding; 14: Fight for a New Democratic Party; IV: Apprenticeship for The White House; 15: Drafted for Governor; 16: The Governor and His Team; 17: Baptism under Fire; 18: Victory in New York; 19: Relief and Reform; V: For The Victors: “Triumph and Tragedy”; 20: Planning the “Draft”; 21: The Road to Chicago; 22: “Happy Days Are Here Again!”; 23: Triumph of a Lifetime; 24: Preparing for the Challenge; 25: Trouble Shooter in the White House; 26: The Call of the Crusades; 27: Spokesman and Strategist; 28: And Quietly Sleep; 29: The Greatness of a Little Man; Bibliographical Essay; A Note About the Author