The New Dealers' war : Franklin D. Roosevelt and the war within World War II

Amazon.com Review Always fiercely contested on matters of domestic policy, Franklin Roosevelt faced even more opposition when it came to international relations. His first two terms in office coincided with the rise of a powerful isolationist movement that urged the government not to involve itself in foreign entanglements. That movement, coupled with strongly anti-British sentiment that owed much to America's large Irish and German populations, hampered Roosevelt's efforts to set the nation on the side of England when it became apparent in the late 1930s that a European war loomed. To placate his opposition, Thomas Fleming charges in The New Dealers' War , Roosevelt promised "that he would never send American soldiers to fight beyond America's shores." Yet, Fleming continues, on December 4, 1941, the Chicago Tribune revealed the existence of elaborate war plans involving the landing of an American force 5 million strong in Europe by 1943. The revelation gave isolationists fits, of course, but their criticism was effectively silenced three days later when a Japanese force attacked Hawaii. In declaring war on Japan and its allies, Roosevelt's New Deal administration imposed what Fleming considers to have been an unreasonable demand for the unconditional surrender of the Axis powers. That demand, he believes, compromised internal resistance to the enemy regimes. Its prosecution also legitimized the use of what Fleming calls "hateful tactics" such as the bombing of civilian targets and the use of nuclear weapons. Fleming's revisionist study will be of greatest interest to those already inclined to the view that Franklin Roosevelt tricked his country into fighting Fascism. Other readers may take issue with his ad hominem, ideological arguments. Either way, his provocative thesis is sure to promote debate. --Gregory McNamee From Publishers Weekly Fleming, who previously endeavored to rehabilitate the villainous Aaron Burr in Duel, now attempts even more absurd revisionism. Franklin Roosevelt has been lauded by most historians most brilliantly by Eric Larrabee in his book Commander in Chief (1987) as a shrewd political and military strategist who conducted both aspects of WWII with great guile, wit and efficiency. Fleming, however, portrays FDR as an inefficient and oafish warmonger spoiling for battle amid world political, economic and social tensions he did not understand. Fleming revives the well-worn canard that FDR wanted, needed and invited the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Then he quibbles with the notions of "unconditional surrender" and "total war" imposed on the Axis powers, speculating that some compromise should have been reached. Fleming fails to see what Roosevelt and Churchill (who called him "the most skilled strategist of all") clearly did that Hitler and his allies represented not just standard political and military aggression but a new dark age. Fleming implies that Stalin posed an even larger threat to culture and history, but that the left-wingers of Roosevelt's New Deal government were not disposed to see his evil. In truth, Roosevelt had few illusions when it came to the Soviets. Realizing their potential to be either formidable foes or formidable friends, he chose the latter at the same time reminding the sometimes disapproving Churchill that one occasionally needed to fight fire with fire. Photos not seen by PW. (May 1) Forecast: The controversy that will undoubtedly ensue on this book's publication should drive sales up. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Solidly Challenging The Idea That World War Ii Was A Good War, The New Dealers' War Offers A Drastically New Look At The Conflict That Has Dominated The History Of The Twentieth Century. For Many Americans, Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Role In Leading The United States Throughout Most Of World War Ii Has Made Him One Of America's Most Venerated Presidents. Biographers Have All But Lionized Fdr For His War Leadership, A Tendency That Has Been Reinforced Lately As Americans Celebrate The Riches Of Memory By Saluting The Generation That Won That Titanic Global Conflict With Blockbuster Movies And Best-selling Books. But, As Thomas Fleming Reminds Us, Memory Is Not History, And In The New Dealers' War, He Reveals An Entirely Different Roosevelt From The One That Most People Like To Remember. Unquestionably, The New Dealers' War Is One Of Those Rare Books That Will Force Readers To Rethink What They Think They Know About One Of The Most Pivotal Events In The American Past. It Will Surely Spark Debate About Fdr's Role In Shaping The Course Of History In The Twentieth Century.--book Jacket. The Big Leak -- The Bid Leaker -- From Triumph To Trauma -- The Great Dichotomy -- Whose War Is It Anyway? -- Some Neglected Chickens Come Home To Roost -- In Search Of Unconditional Purity -- War War Leads To Jaw Jaw -- Fall Of A Prophet -- What'd You Get, Black Boy? -- Let My Cry Come Unto To Thee -- Red Star Rising -- Shaking Hands With Murder -- Goddamning Roosevelt And Other Pastimes -- Democracy's Total War -- Operation Stop Henry -- Death And Transfiguration In Berlin -- The Dying Champion -- Lost Last Stands -- A New President And An Old Policy -- Ashes Of Victory. The Big Leak -- The Big Leaker -- From Triumph To Trauma -- The Great Dichotomy -- Whose War Is It Anyway? -- Some Neglected Chickens Come Home To Roost -- In Search Of Unconditional Purity -- War War Leads To Jaw Jaw -- Fall Of A Prophet -- What'd You Get, Black Boy? -- Let My Cry Come Unto Thee -- Red Star Rising -- Shaking Hands With Murder -- Goddamning Roosevelt And Other Pastimes -- Democracy's Total War -- Operation Stop Henry -- Death And Transfiguration In Berlin -- The Dying Champion -- Lost Last Stands -- A New President And An Old Policy -- Ashes Of Victory. Thomas Fleming. Includes Bibliographical References (p. ) And Index. Acclaimed historian Thomas Fleming brings to life the flawed and troubled FDR who struggled to manage WWII. Starting with the leak to the press of Roosevelt's famous Rainbow Plan, then spiraling back to FDR's inept prewar diplomacy with Japan, and his various attempts to lure Japan into an attack on the U.S. Fleet in the Pacific, Fleming takes the reader inside the incredibly fractious struggles and debates that went on in Washington, the nation, and the world as the New Dealers, led by FDR, strove to impose their will on the conduct of the War. Unlike the familiar yet idealized FDR of Doris Kearns Goodwin's No Ordinary Time, the reader encounters a Roosevelt in remorseless decline, battered by ideological forces and primitive hatreds which he could not handle-and frequently failed to understand-some of them leading to unimaginable catastrophe. Among FDR's most dismaying policies, Fleming argues, were an insistence on "unconditional surrender" for Germany (a policy that perhaps prolonged the war by as many as two years, leaving millions more dead) and his often uncritical embrace of and acquiescence to Stalin and the Soviets as an ally. For many Americans, Franklin Delano Roosevelt is a beloved, heroic, almost mythic figure, if not for the "big government" that was spawned under his New Deal, then certainly for his leadership through the War. The New Dealers' War paints a very different portrait of this leadership. It is sure to spark debate. Tom Fleming takes the reader on a journey through the fractious struggles and debates that went on in Washington and the world as the New Dealers, led by F.D. Roosevelt, strove to impose their will on the conduct of the War. He paints a controversial and very different portrait of FDR's leadership