United States History - 20th Century - 1901 to 1945, United States History - 20th Century - General & Miscellaneous, Executive Branch, United States History - 20th Century - Wars & Conflict, U.S. Politics - History, U.S. Elections

Happy Days Are Here Again

Name: Happy Days Are Here Again
Author: Steven Neal
ISBN: 9780060013769

by Steven Neal

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Overview

Franklin Roosevelt was one of our greatest and most beloved presidents — and yet he almost didn't get his party's nomination during his first run for the White House. Happy Days Are Here Again re-creates the crazy scheming, backroom plotting, and infighting of the 1932 Democratic convention — a major historical event that took place over just a few days but determined the course of American politics for generations.

The extraordinary Chicago convention of 1932, rendered so vividly and dramatically by award-winning biographer Steve Neal, was one of the most suspenseful in our nation's history. Roosevelt may have entered the Chicago convention with the highest number of delegates, but the structure and rules of the nomination process prevented him from being a shoe-in. In fact, there were several viable contenders — among them Al Smith, Newton D. Baker, John Nance Garner, and Albert C. Ritchie — who also could have faced Herbert Hoover in the upcoming general election. With the Depression under way, it was not lost on those at this particular convention that they were not only selecting a nominee but also a president.

Among the dazzling and influential personalities Neal weaves into this high-stakes drama are Joseph P. Kennedy, William Randolph Hearst, Huey Long, Bernard Baruch, Will Rogers, Clarence Darrow, Amelia Earhart, Duke Ellington, and John Dos Passos. All of these players gathered during a Chicago summer to do battle over the leadership of their party and, consequently, the White House.

Happy Days Are Here Again calls on a wealth of primary sources and new information to provide a fresh perspective on this crucial moment in history, yet it is written with the exciting narrative pull of a novel. Ultimately, this is the untold story of the pivotal contest that remade the Democratic Party, marking the end of an era and the birth of modern America.

About the Author, Steven Neal

Steve Neal, a longtime political columnist for the Chicago Sun Times, is the author of ten books, including Harry and Ike: The Partnership That Remade the Postwar World, Dark Horse: A Biography of Wendell L. Willkie, and Eleanor and Harry: The Correspondence of Eleanor Roosevelt and Harry Truman. Mr. Neal died in February 2004.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

This book by recently deceased Chicago Sun-Times columnist Neal (Harry & Ike: The Partnership That Remade America) constitutes an excellent and instructive narrative of the Democrats' 1932 Chicago convention and the complicated personal and political mechanics resulting in the nomination of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. On the face of it, the story is simple. Governor Roosevelt of New York went into the convention with an early majority of delegates, but not the two-thirds needed to lock up the nomination against opponents Al Smith and John Nance Garner. On the third ballot, Garner allowed his delegates to be thrown to Roosevelt. In return, Garner received the vice-presidential nomination. But many tangled tales of side allegiances and backroom dealing lie behind the apparent quid pro quo, such as Joseph P. Kennedy-a man with presidential aspirations of his own-convincing media mogul William Randolph Hearst to free his bought-and-paid-for delegates and send them over to FDR. Other players in Neal's fascinating text include Will Rogers (who received 22 votes from the Oklahoma delegation on the second ballot), Amelia Earhart (a Democratic national committeewoman) and Bernard Baruch. 16-page b&w photo insert not seen by PW. Agent, Deborah Grosvenor. (On sale July 6) Forecast: With A-list blurbers (including Bill Clinton, Edward Kennedy and Scott Turow), this excellent book should have above-average sales for a work of history. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A careful, always interesting portrait of Franklin Roosevelt's rise to national power. Roosevelt, writes Chicago Sun-Times political columnist Neal (Harry and Ike, 2001, etc.), had been preparing himself for a run for the presidency for years, and he was convinced that 1932 would see a turn away from the nation's 12-year spell of conservative rule. Although he had served as a popular and heavily favored governor of New York, Roosevelt was disliked by the Democratic Party's leadership, the "Old Guard," and was thus forced to take his campaign out to the primaries-17 in all, from New Hampshire to California. By the time of the July convention in Chicago, Roosevelt was the frontrunner, with particular strength in the South and West; in those days, it was presumed that the leading contender would descend triumphantly on the convention once invited by acclaim to do so, leaving it to the also-rans to haggle over bits and pieces of the platform. But in 1932, Roosevelt faced a remarkable slate of opponents, among them another New York governor, Al Smith; John Nance Garner, the colorful Speaker of the US House of Representatives; conservative Maryland governor Albert Cabell Ritchie; GE and RCA chairman Owen D. Young; and onetime secretary of war Newton D. Baker, who particularly commanded FDR's respect (he wrote to a backer, "Newton would make a better President than I would!"). Roosevelt weathered their opposition, as well as that of the party leadership and a cabal of plotters back home, while stumbling to find the winning position on such complicated national issues as Prohibition, which he supported even as, according to a 1932 poll, "73.5 percent of the American public favored repeal." Not byforegone conclusion, and with plenty of scrapping, FDR did indeed descend triumphantly upon the city-and thence to national prominence. A study in the William Manchester tradition, particularly welcome in this year of conventions and backroom deals. Agent: Deborah Grosvenor