0
Your cart

Your cart is empty

Books > Biography

Buy Now

The Defining Moment - Fdr's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope (Paperback) Loot Price: R472
Discovery Miles 4 720
The Defining Moment - Fdr's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope (Paperback): Jonathan Alter

The Defining Moment - Fdr's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope (Paperback)

Jonathan Alter

 (sign in to rate)
Loot Price R472 Discovery Miles 4 720

Bookmark and Share

Expected to ship within 10 - 15 working days

This is the story of a political miracle -- the perfect match of man and moment. Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office in March of 1933 as America touched bottom. Banks were closing everywhere. Millions of people lost everything. The Great Depression had caused a national breakdown. With the craft of a master storyteller, Jonathan Alter brings us closer than ever before to the Roosevelt magic. Facing the gravest crisis since the Civil War, FDR used his cagey political instincts and ebullient temperament in the storied first Hundred Days of his presidency to pull off an astonishing conjuring act that lifted the country and saved both democracy and capitalism.

Who was this man? To revive the nation when it felt so hopeless took an extraordinary display of optimism and self-confidence. Alter shows us how a snobbish and apparently lightweight young aristocrat was forged into an incandescent leader by his domineering mother; his independent wife; his eccentric top adviser, Louis Howe; and his ally-turned-bitter-rival, Al Smith, the Tammany Hall street fighter FDR had to vanquish to complete his preparation for the presidency.

"Old Doc Roosevelt" had learned at Warm Springs, Georgia, how to lift others who suffered from polio, even if he could not cure their paralysis, or his own. He brought the same talents to a larger stage. Derided as weak and unprincipled by pundits, Governor Roosevelt was barely nominated for president in 1932. As president-elect, he escaped assassination in Miami by inches, then stiffed President Herbert Hoover's efforts to pull him into cooperating with him to deal with a terrifying crisis. In the most tumultuous and dramatic presidential transition in history, the entire banking structure came tumbling down just hours before FDR's legendary "only thing we have to fear is fear itself" Inaugural Address.

In a major historical find, Alter unearths the draft of a radio speech in which Roosevelt considered enlisting a private army of American Legion veterans on his first day in office. He did not. Instead of circumventing Congress and becoming the dictator so many thought they needed, FDR used his stunning debut to experiment. He rescued banks, put men to work immediately, and revolutionized mass communications with pioneering press conferences and the first Fireside Chat. As he moved both right and left, Roosevelt's insistence on "action now" did little to cure the Depression, but he began to rewrite the nation's social contract and lay the groundwork for his most ambitious achievements, including Social Security.

From one of America's most respected journalists, rich in insights and with fresh documentation and colorful detail, this thrilling story of presidential leadership -- of what government is for -- resonates through the events of today. It deepens our understanding of how Franklin Delano Roosevelt restored hope and transformed America.

"The Defining Moment" will take its place among our most compelling works of political history.

General

Imprint: Simon & Schuster
Country of origin: United Kingdom
Release date: May 2007
First published: May 2007
Authors: Jonathan Alter
Dimensions: 236 x 156 x 27mm (L x W x T)
Format: Paperback - Trade
Pages: 432
ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-4601-9
Categories: Books > Language & Literature > Biography & autobiography > General
Books > Biography > General
Promotions
LSN: 0-7432-4601-2
Barcode: 9780743246019

Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate? Let us know about it.

Does this product have an incorrect or missing image? Send us a new image.

Is this product missing categories? Add more categories.

Review This Product

No reviews yet - be the first to create one!

You might also like..

Disciple - Walking With God
Rorisang Thandekiso, Nkhensani Manabe Paperback  (1)
R280 R239 Discovery Miles 2 390
Now You Know How Mapetla Died - The…
Zikhona Valela Paperback R350 R328 Discovery Miles 3 280
Killing Karoline - A Memoir
Sara-Jayne King Paperback  (1)
R325 R305 Discovery Miles 3 050
100 Mandela Moments
Kate Sidley Paperback R250 R223 Discovery Miles 2 230
Bloed, Dunner as Water - Suid-Afrika se…
Charne Kemp Paperback R350 R328 Discovery Miles 3 280
The Legend Of Zola Mahobe - And The…
Don Lepati, Nikolaos Kirkinis Paperback  (1)
R380 R356 Discovery Miles 3 560
The Accidental Mayor - Herman Mashaba…
Michael Beaumont Paperback  (5)
R270 R154 Discovery Miles 1 540
This Is How It Is - True Stories From…
The Life Righting Collective Paperback R265 R245 Discovery Miles 2 450
Winged Messenger - Running Your First…
Bruce Fordyce Paperback  (1)
R331 Discovery Miles 3 310
Albertina Sisulu
Sindiwe Magona, Elinor Sisulu Paperback R433 Discovery Miles 4 330
Magda - My Journey
Magda Wierzycka Paperback R350 R323 Discovery Miles 3 230
Vusi - Business & Life Lessons From a…
Vusi Thembekwayo Paperback  (3)
R325 R305 Discovery Miles 3 050

See more

Partners