United States History - 20th Century - 1901 to 1945, Executive Branch, Navy & Naval History, U.S. Politics - History, United States Armed Forces

FDR and the U. S. Navy

Name: FDR and the U. S. Navy
Author: Edward J. Marolda
ISBN: 9780312211578

by Edward J. Marolda

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Overview

Franklin Delano Roosevelt had a lifelong love for the United States Navy. Inspired as a youth by the U.S. Fleet's dramatic impact on the global stage, and its use overseas by his illustrious cousin, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin quite naturally focused his eyes on the sea. FDR and the U.S. Navy presents the work of prominent biographers and historians who analyzed Franklin D. Roosevelt's long, close, and eventful association with the United States Navy, in war and peace, from the turn of the century to the end of World War II. The contributors show how as President during the 1930s, FDR endeavored with naval leaders, not always successfully, to build a combat-capable fleet and to deter the aggressor nations of Europe and Asia. The essays argue that one of Franklin Roosevelt's greatest achievements was his direction as Commander in Chief of the U.S. Navy and the other American armed forces during World War II, when the very survival of the nation was at stake. This book is the product of a day-long conference, entitled "Franklin D. Roosevelt and the U.S. Navy," that was held on October 22, 1996 at the U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation's Heritage Center on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC. It is both a powerful tribute and an important historical work on FDR.

About the Author, Edward J. Marolda

Edward J. Marolda is the Senior Historian of the Naval Historical Center. He is the author of numerous books.

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Editorials

Library Journal

The product of a day-long conference held in 1996 at the U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation Heritage Center, this book examines Roosevelt's profound impact on the modern U.S. Navy. Like his cousin Teddy, FDR served as assistant secretary of the navy. When he became president in 1933, the country was going through the Depression, and no appropriations for ships or new men had been made for quite some time. FDR sensed the advent of war, either with Germany or Japan or both, and did his best to modernize the hidebound naval forces. Many of the top admirals distrusted him; most were conservative Republicans who disliked his reforms, resented his "interference" in naval policy, and could not believe that the United States was headed for another war within ten years. Offering detailed documentation of an aspect of Roosevelt's presidency that may not be well known to some readers, this book should be in every collection of FDRiana and modern U.S. naval history.--Stanley Itkin, Hillside P.L., New Hyde Park, NY

Booknews

Historians and biographers present 11 papers from an October 1996 conference in Washington, DC. They describe the US president's close association with the US Navy from the beginning of the 20th century through the end of World War II. Their topics include World War I, reinventing the naval enlisted man, relations with the Japanese Navy up to Pearl Harbor, strategy and statecraft with the admirals, the orchestration of global strategy, and operations in the Pacific and the Atlantic and European theaters. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.