2. American Messiahs, WP, May 26, 1935.
3. This and the following paragraphs rest heavily on John Franklin Carter’s perceptive sketch in American Messiahs, WP, May 21, 22, 1935.
4. NYT, February 5, 19, 1934.
5. NYT, April 29, October 28, November 12, 26, 1934.
6. NYT, March 4, 1935.
7. NYT, March 4, 5, 6 (Arthur Krock), 12, 1935; Press Conference 237, September 11, 1935, Complete Presidential Press Conferences of Franklin D. Roosevelt, intro. Jonathan Daniels (New York: Da Capo Press, 1972), 6:150, 157.
8. See, e.g., Walter Lippmann column in the Los Angeles Times [hereafter LAT], February 6, 1935.
9. T. Harry Williams, Huey Long: A Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1970), remains the classic biography of Long. See also T. Harry Williams, Romance and Realism in Southern Politics (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1961).
10. For the patent medicine story, see Dreamers and Dissenters (Hearst Documentary Film, no longer in circulation; copy in possession of the author); for Long’s belief in his plan, see Williams, Huey Long, 695–696.
11. Harold L. Ickes, The Secret Diary of Harold L. Ickes, Vol. 1: The First Thousand Days, 1933–1936 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1953), 462. Years later, James Farley, Behind the Ballots: The Personal History of a Politician (New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1938), 249–250, recalled his estimate as 3 million votes.
12. NYT, January 5, 1935; text of the speech at American Presidency Project, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu.
13. Lippmann column, LAT, January 6, 1935.
14. FDR to Frankfurter, June 11, 1934, in Roosevelt and Frankfurter: Their Correspondence, 1928–1945, ed. Max Freedman (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1967), 222. On Brandeis’s relationship with FDR and the New Deal, see also Melvin I. Urofsky, Louis D. Brandeis: A Life (New York: Pantheon Books, 2009), ch. 28.
15. Press Conference 181, February 6, 1935, Complete Press Conferences, 5:98; John C. Culver and John Hyde, American Dreamer: The Life and Times of Henry A. Wallace (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000), 155–157; Bernard Sternsher, Rexford Tugwell and the New Deal (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1964), 203–207.
16. Raymond Clapper column, WP, April 19, 1935.
17. Arthur Krock column, NYT, June 5, 1934; FDR to Frankfurter, June 11, 1934, in Freedman, Roosevelt and Frankfurter, 222; Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., The Politics of Upheaval (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1960), 405–406; Frances Perkins, The Roosevelt I Knew (New York: Viking Press, 1946), 226.
18. NYT, June 6, 10, 1934.
19. FDR, “Fireside Chat 7: On the Works Relief Program and Social Security Act,” April 28, 1935, American President, http://millercenter.org/president/speeches/speech-3304 (audio available).
20. The gold-clause cases are ably summarized in Schlesinger, Politics of Upheaval, 255–260.
21. NYT, May 7, 1935.
22. This paragraph and the following description of the argument are based on the news account in WP, May 4, 1935. See also Amity Shlaes, The Forgotten Man (New York: Harper Collins, 2007), 239–245.
23. NYT, May 28, 1935.
24. Bruce Allen Murphy, The Brandeis-Frankfurter Connection (New York: Oxford University Press, 1982), 55–56; Schlesinger, Politics of Upheaval, 280.
25. Press Conference 209, May 31, 1935, Complete Presidential Press Conferences of Franklin D. Roosevelt, intro. Jonathan Daniels (New York: Da Capo Press, 1972), 5:309–337.
26. Press Conference 209, May 31, 1935, Complete Press Conferences, 5:309–337.
Chapter 17: Rendezvous with Destiny
1. Press Conference 211, June 7, 1935, Complete Press Conferences, 5:355.
2. “The Presidency: Home Stretch,” Time, June 24, 1935, http://www.time.com.
3. “The Congress: Ex-precedent,” Time, June 3, 1935, http://www.time.com.
4. For the message text, see NYT, June 20, 1935; Mark Leff, The Limits of Symbolic Reform: The New Deal and Taxation, 1933–1939 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), chs. 1–2.
5. NYT, June 21–25, 1936; Leff, Limits of Symbolic Reform, ch. 3.
6. WP, July 6, 1935; NYT, July 6, 1935.
7. See, e.g., NYT, June 30 (Arthur Krock), July 10, 14 (Krock), 15, 18, 21, 28 (editorial), 1935); R. L. Duffus, “A Jaded, Harassed Congress Seeks Relief,” NYT Magazine, August 18, 1935, 3–4; Press Conference, July 17, 1935, Complete Press Conferences, 6:32–33. For a classic scholarly account of the “second hundred days,” see William E. Leuchtenburg, Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1932–1940 (New York: Harper & Row, 1963), ch. 7.
8. NYT, August 11, 15 (FDR signing statement), 1935; Frances Perkins, “Social Security: The Foundation,” NYT Magazine, August 18, 1935, 1–2, 15; Long quoted in NYT, July 9, 1935. See, more generally, Roy Lubove, The Struggle for Social Security, 1900–1935 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1968); Daniel Rodgers, Atlantic Crossings (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998), esp. ch. 10.
9. See Allan H. Meltzer, A History of the Federal Reserve, Vol. 1: 1913–1951 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003), 463–486, for this and subsequent paragraphs. On Eccles specifically, see NYT, November 11, 12 (feature story and editorial), 25, 1934; Marriner S. Eccles, Beckoning Frontiers (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1951).
10. Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., The Politics of Upheaval (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1960), 321.
11. WP, August 9, 1935.
12. Harry S. Truman, Memoirs, Vol. 1: Year of Decisions (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1955), 150–151.
13. Leff, Limits of Symbolic Reform, 138–145.
14. Leff, Limits of Symbolic Reform, Table I, 12, 93.
15. The six “major” bills that had failed to clear Congress were the Walsh government contracts bill, requiring federal contractors to abide by the relevant provisions of NRA codes; a shipping subsidies bill; a commodities exchange regulation bill; the World Court protocols; an appropriation for various New Deal agencies; and a food and drug bill, tepidly backed by the administration. NYT, August 28, 1935. For Krock quote, see Krock column, NYT, August 25, 1935.
16. NYT, August 8 (Arthur Krock), 12, 17 (Krock), 28, 1935.
17. NYT, July 9 (Arthur Krock), August 2, 1935.
18. For the letters and accompanying story, see NYT, September 7, 1935.
19. Harold L. Ickes, The Secret Diary of Harold L. Ickes, Vol. 1: The First Thousand Days, 1933–1936 [hereafter Secret Diary, I] (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1953), 423 (August 27, 1935); T. Harry Williams, Huey Long: A Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1970), 843–847.
20. Williams, Huey Long, 862–876.
21. NYT, September 10, 11 (Arthur Krock), 1935.
22. Addresses can be accessed in the online version of FDR’s Public Papers at the American Presidency Project, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu.
23. NYT, January 4, 5, 1936, for text of the speech and commentary.
24. NYT, January 5, 1936.
25. Schlesinger, Politics of Upheaval, 472.
26. Schlesinger, Politics of Upheaval, 473.
27. For the American Institute for Public Opinion [Gallup] poll and follow-up stories, see WP, January 5, 6, 1936.
28. Ickes, Secret Diary, I, 524 (January 24, 1936).
29. Leff, Limits of Symbolic Reform, 169–185; Schlesinger, Politics of Upheaval, 505–509; John Morton Blum, From the Morgenthau Diaries: Years of Crisis, 1928–1938 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company), 305–319.
30. For statistics on work relief, see Donald S. Howard, The WPA and Federal Relief Policy (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1943), esp. Appendix Table I, 854–855.
31. “The Fortune Quarterly Survey: III,” Fortune (January 1936): 46–47, 141–157; Ickes, Secret Diary, I, 465 (November 9, 1935); Melvin G. Holli, The Wizard of Washington: Emil Hurja, Franklin Roosevelt and the Birth
of Public Opinion Polling (New York: Palgrave, 2002), 68–75.
32. For the full text of the Republican platform, see NYT, June 12, 1936. On Landon generally, see Donald McCoy, Landon of Kansas (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1966).
33. The banner is pictured in Anne O’Hare McCormick, “Republican Party Is Captured by Main Street,” NYT Magazine, June 14, 1936, 3–4.
34. NYT, June 22, 24, 25, 1936.
35. See NYT, June 28, 1936, for a description of the speech and its setting; see Schlesinger, Politics of Upheaval, 584, for FDR’s reaction to his fall.
36. FDR, “Acceptance Speech for the Renomination for the Presidency, Philadelphia, Pa.,” June 27, 1936, American President, http://millercenter.org/president/fdroosevelt/speeches/speech-3305 (audio available).
37. NYT, June 28, 1936.
38. Samuel I. Rosenman, Working with Roosevelt (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1952), 105.
39. WP, July 12, 1936; Ickes, Secret Diary, I, 640–641.
40. See Ickes, Secret Diary, I, 639, for FDR’s opinion of Landon; WP, July 20, 22, 26, 27, August 1, 14, 15, 1936.
41. FDR, “Fireside Chat 8: On Farmers and Laborers,” September 6, 1936, American President, http://millercenter.org/president/fdroosevelt/speeches/speech-3306 (audio available).
42. WP, October 18, 1936; see NYT, July 9, 10 (editorial), 17, 24, 25, 27, 28 (editorial), August 28, 30, September 4, 6, 11, 15, 21 (editorial), 26, October 17, 18, 28, 1936.
43. Howard, The WPA, 854; WP, September 11, 1936; NYT, October 18, 25, 1936.
44. See WP, September 12, 1936, for the progressive conference. For the coalition, see, e.g., Schlesinger, Politics of Upheaval, 591–597; Samuel Lubell, The Future of American Politics, 3rd rev. ed. (New York: Harper & Row, 1965).
45. Lippmann in LAT, October 21, 1936; WP, July 20 (editorial), September 12 (Franklyn Waltman), 1936; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 27, 1936; The Economist (October 3, 1936), as summarized in NYT, October 13, 1936.
46. Schlesinger, Politics of Upheaval, ch. 33.
47. See WP, November 1, 1936, for the final Gallup survey; Farley is quoted in Time, November 9, 1936, 14.
48. FDR, “Speech at Madison Square Garden,” October 31, 1936, American President, http://millercenter.org/president/speeches/speech-3307.
49. WP, November 1, 1936.
Chapter 18: “Panic and Lack of Confidence”
1. This and following accounts of the speech draw on the text available at FDR, “Annual Message to Congress,” January 6, 1937, American Presidency Project, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=15336.
2. The second inaugural (no audio) can be accessed at either FDR, “Inaugural Address,” January 20, 1937, American Presidency Project, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=15349, or FDR, “Second Inaugural Address,” January 20, 1937, American President, http://millercenter.org/president/fdroosevelt/speeches/speech-3308.
3. News articles and opinion pieces in NYT, January 13, 14, 15, 17, 1937, summarize the reorganization plan and reaction to it. See also the editorial roundup in WP, January 17, 1937. An excellent scholarly analysis of the larger political implications of executive reorganization is Sidney M. Milkis, The President and the Parties (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), pt. 1.
4. WP, January 5 (news article and column by Franklyn Waltman), 12, 1937.
5. WP, January 23, 1937; LAT, February 5, 1937 (Walter Lippmann).
6. NYT, February 6, 1937.
7. See NYT, February 6, 13, 1937, for Wilson veterans and Moley opposition; Lippmann’s columns can be followed in LAT, e.g., February 5, 10, 12, 16, 17, 19, 24, 1937. Burt Solomon, FDR v. The Constitution (New York: Walker & Company, 2009), is a fine recent account of the controversy.
8. Solomon, FDR v. The Constitution, 23; NYT, March 2, 1937.
9. Solomon, FDR v. The Constitution, 103; WP, February 28, 1937 (Robert Albright).
10. WP, February 14, 1937.
11. NYT, March 5, 1937.
12. FDR, “Fireside Chat 9: On ‘Court-Packing,’” March 9, 1937, American President, http://millercenter.org/president/fdroosevelt/speeches/speech-3309 (audio available).
13. WP, March 7, 28, 1937.
14. For the text of the Hughes letter, see NYT, March 23, 1937.
15. Roger K. Newman, Hugo Black: A Biography (New York: Pantheon Books, 1994), esp. chs. 6, 16–17.
16. NYT, September 18, 1937; FDR, “Fireside Chat 13: On Purging the Democratic Party,” June 24, 1938, American President, http://millercenter.org/president/fdroosevelt/speeches/speech-3314.
17. Ellis W. Hawley, The New Deal and the Problem of Monopoly (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1966), chs. 11, 14.
18. NYT, July 4, 1937.
19. For skepticism about unions in general and the sit-downs in particular, see the Gallup poll results in WP, January 19, August 12, September 7, November 14, 20, 1938. Irving Bernstein, Turbulent Years (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1969), ch. 10, provides, almost literally, a blow-by-blow account of steel worker organization. For mainstream reporting on the Memorial Day incident, see NYT and WP, both May 31, 1937.
20. Complete Presidential Press Conferences of Franklin D. Roosevelt [hereafter Complete Press Conferences], intro. Jonathan Daniels (New York: Da Capo Press, 1972), 9:280–283, 304–307 (both April 15, 1937).
21. Press Conference, June 29, 1937, Complete Press Conferences, 9:467.
22. WP, September 4, 1937.
23. Both the WPA employment numbers and AFL unemployment estimates that follow in this chapter are taken from Donald S. Howard, The WPA and Federal Relief Policy (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1943), Table 1, 845–857.
24. On the Truman-Wheeler investigation and its background, see Alonzo L. Hamby, “‘Vultures at the Death of an Elephant’: Harry S. Truman, the Great Train Robbery, and the Transportation Act of 1940,” Railroad History 165 (autumn 1991): 6–36; for FDR’s interest, see Harold L. Ickes, The Secret Diary of Harold L. Ickes, Vol. 2: The Inside Struggle, 1936–1939 [hereafter Secret Diary, II] (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1954), 249–250 (November 13, 1937).
25. NYT, December 21, 1937 (steel industry); Howard, The WPA, 855 (unemployment).
26. NYT, December 18, 19, 22, 1937; James T. Patterson, Congressional Conservatism and the New Deal (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1966), ch. 6; Ickes, Secret Diary, II, 260 (December 6, 1937), 339–340 (March 17, 1938).
27. On Keynes’s wider public and private life, I have generally followed Robert Skidelsky’s John Maynard Keynes: The Economist as Savior (New York: Viking Press, 1993) and John Maynard Keynes: Fighting for Freedom, 1937–1946 (New York: Viking Press, 2001).
28. Keynes to W. W. Stewart, November 14, 1937, and Keynes to the editor, Times (London), January 1, 1938, both in The Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes, ed. Donald Moggridge (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), 21:426–434.
29. Keynes to Leonard Elmhirst, October 20, 1937, Elmhirst Papers, Dartington Hall, Totnes, Devon, United Kingdom (administered by Devon Record Office, Exeter); Leonard Elmhirst to ER, December 11, 1937, ER Papers, cited in Joseph P. Lash, Eleanor and Franklin: The Story of Their Relationship (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1971), 468–469.
30. NYT, December 28, 31, 1937; Ickes, Secret Diary, II, 282–285 (January 1, 1938); WP, December 30 (Franklyn Waltman).
31. Keynes to FDR, February 1, 1938, FDR Papers, PPF 5235, FDRL.
32. Ickes, Secret Diary, II, 229 (October 14, 1937), 317 (February 13, 1938).
33. FDR to Keynes, March 5, 1938, FDR Papers, PPF 5235, FDRL; Keynes to FDR, March 25, 1938, in Moggridge, Collected Writings, 21:440.
34. FDR, “Fireside Chat 12: On the Recession,” April 14, 1938, American President, http://millercenter.org/president/fdroosevelt/speeches/speech-3313 (audio available); for the WPA, see NYT, December 19, 1937 (Delbert Cla
rk).
35. On public attitudes toward spending, see Gallup polls published in WP, April 1, 17, May 6, June 17, November 20, 25, 1938.
36. FDR, “Annual Message to Congress,” January 3, 1938, reproduced in NYT, January 5, 1938, and available at American Presidency Project, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=15517.
37. Hawley, The New Deal and the Problem of Monopoly, chs. 22–23.
38. NYT, December 16, 1937.
39. Ira Katznelson, Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time (New York: Liveright, 2013), esp. pt. 2, perceptively explores the ambivalence of Southern Democrats toward the New Deal.
40. NYT, March 31, 1938.
41. FDR, “Fireside Chat 13: On Purging the Democratic Party,” June 24, 1938, American President, http://millercenter.org/president/fdroosevelt/speeches/speech-3314.
42. Patterson, Congressional Conservatism and the New Deal, ch. 8.
43. See, e.g., stories in WP, June 19 (George Gallup), September 9, 10, November 4, 1938.
44. NYT, August 12, 13, 30, 1938.
45. NYT, August 17, 1938.
46. FDR, “Radio Address on the Election of Liberals,” November 4, 1938, in Public Papers, American Presidency Project, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/mediaplay.php?id=15568&admin=32. For Landon speech, see WP, November 1, 1938.
47. WP, November 10, 1938 (Robert Albright).
48. Lippmann’s evolving attitude toward FDR and the New Deal is neatly summarized in Ronald Steel, Walter Lippmann and the American Century (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1980), 319–326; WP, April 22, 1937. A version of Lippmann’s talk was printed as his regular column, LAT, April 24, 1937.
49. See the Gallup polls in WP, January 5, February 13, March 27, April 3, May 1, June 10, July 22, August 3, 7, 14, November 4, 16, 27, December 4, 14, 1938.
Chapter 19: Winds of War
1. John Maynard Keynes to FDR, March 25, 1938, in The Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes, ed. Donald Moggridge (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), 21:440.
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