The Fall of the House of Roosevelt: Brokers of Ideas and Power from FDR to LBJ (Columbia Studies in Contemporary American History)

In the 1930s and 1940s a band of smart and able young men-Thomas G. Corcoran, Benjamin V. Cohen, William O. Douglas, Abe Fortas, and James Rowe-helped Franklin D. Roosevelt build the modern American state and a progressive political coalition that seemed invincible. These junior officers of the New Deal numbered among their favorite members of Congress the young Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas. For thirty years, through LBJ's own presidency, they functioned as his intimate "kitchen cabinet."Michael Janeway grew up with an insider view of these brokers of ideas and power because his father, economist and journalist Eliot Janeway, was a member of their circle. Janeway crafts a riveting account of how these men worked together to fuse reform impulses in the social sciences and law with political advancement. Can a progressive coalition of ideas and power come together again? __The Fall of the House of Roosevelt__ makes such a prospect both alluring and daunting. In the 1930s a band of smart and able young men, some still in their twenties, helped Franklin D. Roosevelt transform an American nation in crisis. They were the junior officers of the New Deal. Thomas G. Corcoran, Benjamin V. Cohen, William O. Douglas, Abe Fortas, and James Rowe helped FDR build the modern Democratic Party into a progressive coalition whose command over power and ideas during the next three decades seemed politically invincible. This is the first book about this group of Rooseveltians and their linkage to Lyndon Johnson's Great Society and the Vietnam War debacle. Michael Janeway grew up inside this world. His father, Eliot Janeway, business editor of __Time__ and a star writer for __Fortune__ and __Life__ magazines, was part of this circle, strategizing and practicing politics as well as reporting on these men. Drawing on his intimate knowledge of events and previously unavailable private letters and other documents, Janeway crafts a riveting account of the exercise of power during the New Deal and its aftermath. He shows how these men were at the nexus of reform impulses at the electoral level with reform thinking in the social sciences and the law and explains how this potent fusion helped build the contemporary American state. Since that time efforts to reinvent government by "brains trust" have largely failed in the U.S. In the last quarter of the twentieth century American politics ceased to function as a blend of broad coalition building and reform agenda setting, rooted in a consensus of belief in the efficacy of modern government. Can a progressive coalition of ideas and power come together again? __The Fall of the House of Roosevelt__ makes such a prospect both alluring and daunting. Cover......Page 1 Title Page......Page 4 Copyright Page......Page 5 Contents......Page 8 Preface: Public and Private......Page 10 THE PARTNERS......Page 16 1. Government by Brains Trust “GOD BLESS YOU; KEEP SCHEMING ”......Page 18 2. Tommy Corcoran and the New Dealers’ Gospel “ YOU’RE BEGINNING TO BE AN OPERATOR — HOW DO YOU LIKE THE WATER ? ”......Page 28 3. Making the New Deal Revolution “THE SENSE OF BEING SPECIAL”......Page 43 4. The Fight for the Rooseveltian Succession “DOUGLAS’S ARMY”......Page 59 Plate Section 1......Page 82 5. 1945—The New Dealers’ Government-in-Exile “I GOT THE CIRCUIT MOVING”......Page 90 IN MY FATHER’S HOUSE......Page 112 6. Rise of an Insider “WE’RE GOING TO GET HUBERT SOME DOUGH ”......Page 114 7. Ends and Means “BABY, YOU’RE SUPERB!”......Page 135 8. Forbidden Version “CONTINUE JANEWAY INQUIRY”......Page 145 RECEIVERSHIP......Page 166 9. Enter LBJ, Stage Center “AVERAGE IN HONESTY, ABOVE AVERAGE IN ABILITY”......Page 168 10. 1960—Checkmate “LOOKING BACK, THE RESULT WAS INEVITABLE”......Page 187 11. President of All the People “YOU CAN’T DEAL WITH HIM ANY LONGER”......Page 214 Plate Section 2......Page 206 12. Last Act “WE GOT YOUR MAN”......Page 237 Epilogue......Page 250 Notes......Page 256 Acknowledgments......Page 302 Index......Page 306 In the 1930s and 1940s a band of smart and able young men-Thomas G. Corcoran, Benjamin V. Cohen, William O. Douglas, Abe Fortas, and James Rowe-helped Franklin D. Roosevelt build the modern American state and a progressive political coalition that seemed invincible. These junior officers of the New Deal numbered among their favorite members of Congress the young Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas. For thirty years, through LBJ's own presidency, they functioned as his intimate ''kitchen cabinet.'' Michael Janeway grew up with an insider view of these brokers of ideas and power because his father, economist and journalist Eliot Janeway, was a member of their circle. Janeway crafts a riveting account of how these men worked together to fuse reform impulses in the social sciences and law with political advancement. Can a progressive coalition of ideas and power come together again? The Fall of the House of Roosevelt makes such a prospect both alluring and daunting.