From the Publisher
David Pietrusza’s Roosevelt Sweeps Nation combines penetrating research with good illustrative anecdotes to bring the 1936 presidential election between FDR and Alf Landon into sharp focus. A marvelous and important history. Highly recommended!”
—Douglas Brinkley, New York Times bestselling author of Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America, and Professor of History at Rice University, Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities
“After recounting Roosevelt’s rise to the presidency in 1932, historian Pietrusza creates a brisk, spirited narrative, abundantly populated and bursting with anecdotes, revealing the president’s trials and turmoil as he faced reelection…A prodigiously researched and exuberantly told political biography/history.”
—Kirkus Starred Review
"A sweeping yet minutely detailed chronicle of FDR's 1936 reelection campaign . . . an exhaustive and expert chronicle of a critical American election."
—Publishers Weekly
"Presidential scholar Pietrusza (TR’s Last War) makes the most of his engrossing tale...A lively story that is rife with strong personalities and blood stirring incidents...History bugs will find this popular history appealing."
—Library Journal
“Roosevelt crafted an election strategy so strong that it has defined national campaigns of both parties ever since. Now historian David Pietrusza brings the stunning 1936 Roosevelt Sweep to life, with timely lessons for our current challenges.”
—Amity Shlaes, author of Great Society: A New History, and the New York Times bestsellers The Forgotten Man and Coolidge
“David Pietrusza has done it again—another fascinating book on a key moment in history. Franklin Roosevelt won a massive victory in 1936, cementing his New Deal permanently. Pietrusza brings FDR’s era to life and shows us how it happened.”
—Larry J. Sabato, New York Times bestselling author, and Director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics
“It is a testament to David Pietrusza’s mastery of storytelling—and his historian’s knack for finding all the good quotes—that the reader goes through Roosevelt Sweeps Nation wondering if FDR is going to pull off an election victory that happened almost a century ago. What seems in hindsight to have been inevitable was anything but at the time, and the forces against the New Deal ran the gamut from the rarefied to the ridiculous.”
—Michael Malice, author of The New Right: A Journey to the Fringe of American Politics; Dear Reader: The Unauthorized Biography of Kim Jong Il; and The Anarchist Handbook
“If every historian researched as deeply and wrote as gleefully as David Pietrusza, what a wonderful world it would be! Roosevelt Sweeps Nation is a welcome reminder that politics has always been a dirty business, practiced by flawed (and often outrageously flawed) people, and that nothing in America today is ‘unprecedented’—no matter what the pundits say.”
—Kathryn Smith, author of The Gatekeeper: Missy LeHand, FDR, and the Untold Story of the Partnership That Defined a Presidency
“With eye-popping detail and a breezy, relatable style, David Pietrusza sweeps through the political dynamics and quirky personalities pressing on FDR’s first re-election campaign in 1936. Roosevelt Sweeps Nation shows that victory was no guarantee against the ‘isms’ of socialism, fascism, and communism and the Great Depression’s devastation when the American people were still hungry for happier days. Pietrusza not only captures a pivotal campaign, but he also captures an era.”
—Jane Hampton Cook, author of The Burning of the White House: James and Dolley Madison and the War of 1812
“David Pietrusza is my favorite historian, and Roosevelt Sweeps Nation is Pietrusza at his best. Nobody can tell a better story than Pietrusza, who always shows you there’s more to the story than you thought—that there is juicy stuff hidden in our history that nobody has bothered to suss out or that has long been forgotten. This is another page-turner you won’t want to put down. At a time when Americans can use a reprieve from today’s news, Roosevelt Sweeps Nation is just what the doctor ordered. And David Pietrusza is a national treasure.”
—Matt Lewis, Senior Columnist, The Daily Beast
“Who could spin an interesting tale out of an election in which one candidate gets 62 percent of the vote and carries all but two states? David Pietrusza, the author of some of the best campaign books ever written, renders FDR’s 1936 landslide over Alf Landon into a page turner with an operatic cast of characters. Like his volumes on 1920, 1932, 1948, and 1960, Pietrusza has produced another masterpiece.”
—John Bicknell, author of America 1844: Religious Fervor, Westward Expansion and the Presidential Election That Transformed the Nation and Lincoln’s Pathfinder: John C. Fremont and the Violent Election of 1856
“The 1936 election was not just another FDR victory, but an important turning point in the nation’s history. The story David Pietrusza tells is riveting and the cast of characters is fascinating. Franklin Roosevelt was the most skillful American politician of the 20th century, and this election was a decisive affirmation of his power and appeal."
—Ron Faucheux, political analyst
“I am always stoked when I learn that a new book will soon be released by David Pietrusza, who has written the best accounts of presidential elections. The former baseball writer turned top tier historian has hit home runs in his wonderful accounts of the elections of 1920, 1932, 1948, and 1960. His upcoming account of FDR’s landslide victory of Kansas Governor Alf Landon (sorry for the spoiler) in the Depression era contest promises to explore an undiscovered gem of presidential election history.”
—POTUSGeeks Blog
"Many of us think we know the 1936 election. Not so! In this gripping, rip-roaring tale, David Pietrusza shows just how varied and deeply divisive was the Roosevelt-Landon race in all its demagogic, demographic diversity. Readers will find the author's portrayal of his characters, well-known ones like Father Charles Coughlin, Jesse Owens, William Randolph Hearst, and Alice Roosevelt Longworth—but also less familiar people like the feather-wielding asylum escapee, Frank 'Woody' Hockaday—to add hugely to our understanding of the time and its divisions over the nascent New Deal. In this exhaustive but always energizing treatment, the parallels with today's polarizing politics, especially around issues related to race, elections, polling, the media, and the role of government, are all telling. Those who think our time's challenges are unprecedented will find this deep dive a bracing corrective."
—Katherine A. S. Sibley, Professor of History and Director of American Studies, Saint Joseph's University
"A superb addition to our understanding of presidential elections, written by one of our most gifted historians."
—Prof. J. Edward Lee, Past President South Carolina Historical Association
". . . Masterfully ties together the different personalities and parties surrounding the president. . . . Pietrusza makes all this history come alive . . ."
—NY Sun
"Roosevelt Sweeps Nation is a gritty tale. Pietrusza takes us behind the scenes and reveals the true character and intentions of FDR, as well as his political allies and enemies. The result is a thrilling and informative exploration of an overlooked but important presidential election."
—The Federalist
“It has been many a moon since I had as much fun as I just did reading Roosevelt Sweeps Nation.”
—George F. Will, political commentator and author of American Happiness and Discontents
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2022-06-08
A robust chronicle of Franklin Roosevelt’s quest to stay in the White House.
After recounting Roosevelt’s rise to the presidency in 1932, historian Pietrusza creates a brisk, spirited narrative, abundantly populated and bursting with anecdotes, revealing the president’s trials and turmoil as he faced reelection. Despite the considerable achievements of the New Deal, Roosevelt’s win was not a foregone conclusion. The nation was beset by racism, antisemitism, and a fear of importing socialism or communism. Roosevelt also faced a host of formidable opponents. As one was overcome (Roosevelt’s fierce opponent Huey Long, Louisiana’s feisty governor and senator, was assassinated in 1935), another challenger popped up. Among Roosevelt’s detractors were Georgia Gov. Eugene Talmadge, who thought FDR was on a “mad course of socialism”; Dr. Francis E. Townsend, ardent promoter of old age pensions, who hated FDR’s social security plan; Father Charles E. Coughlin, a powerful and influential “Detroit radio priest,” who fomented dissension; Socialist candidate Norman Thomas; and fearsome newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst. Hearst, the author notes, “hated internationalism and dictators (although, some ominously said, not all dictators), but also taxes, unions, and anyone telling him what to do with his prized newspapers.” Pietrusza follows the aspirations of possible Republican candidates and the unlikely emergence of “lackluster” Kansas Governor Alf Landon as the party’s choice. Landon promised fiscal responsibility, and because “New Deal spending had lost its charm,” Roosevelt’s policies were ripe for criticism. Poll numbers showed a close race throughout the campaign. “As 1936 commenced,” notes the author, “Franklin possessed at least half the vote, though not nearly as solidly as he liked. If Republicans surged and third parties rumbled, he might fall into an Electoral College trap and follow Herbert Hoover into a Depression-cursed, one-term oblivion.” In the end, he prevailed splendidly, winning 71% of the Black vote, 78% of the Catholic vote, and 90% of the Jewish vote.
A prodigiously researched and exuberantly told political biography/history.
