The names of most of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's cabinet
members are well known. Anyone familiar with FDR's administration
will remember Henry Morgenthau, Jr., Cordell Hull, Harold Ickes,
Frances Perkins, Henry Wallace, and James Farley. One member of
that circle, however, has remained a virtual unknown: Harry H.
Woodring, the recalcitrant Secretary of War who was forced by
Roosevelt to resign from the cabinet. It is doubtful that the story
of any of Roosevelt's cabinet members is more interesting than that
of Woodring. With the breakdown of world peace in the 1930s, the
matter of national defense became a major concern, and the United
States military establishment became increasingly important.
Woodring's role in Washington during this time was a critical one;
his dealings with Roosevelt were extensive, and on many key issues
his influence was considerable. Why, then, his lack of notoriety?
The simple fact is that until now almost nothing has been written
of Woodring's service as Secretary of War. He was one of the few
individuals closely associated with Roosevelt who did not write an
autobiography, memoirs, or some other personal account of what took
place during those years. Keith D. McFarland is the first scholar
to have had access to Woodring's personal papers. Drawing from this
new material, as well as from Woodring's official correspondence
and from personal interviews with the members of Woodring's
immediate family and dozens of Woodring's associates, he provides
in this volume the careful study that has long been needed.
McFarland first traces Woodring's early political career in Kansas.
As a Democratic Governor from 1931 to 1933, Woodring worked
successfully with the Republican-dominated legislature to alleviate
many of the physical and economic hardships facing residents of the
state during the Depression, Nevertheless, he lost his bid for
re-election to Alf M. Landon. When Roosevelt won the presidency
that same year, he appointed Woodring as Assistant Secretary of
War. Woodring served the country well on the national level. He was
influential to expanding the Army Air Corps and in making practical
the Army's industrial and military mobilization plans. After the
death of George Dern in 1936, Roosevelt demonstrated his confidence
in Woodring by appointing him Secretary of War. The conflict
between Woodring and the President arose over the sending of
American military supplies and equipment to foreign nations. It was
Woodring's job as secretary of War to see that the War Department
adhered to the neutrality legislation of the 1930s. Roosevelt
believed that the United States should aid the enemies of Hitler,
even if such action did not adhere to the spirit of the neutrality
legislation. Upon the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939, FDR did
everything he could to supply Britain and France with American arms
and munitions. Woodring was caught between is loyalty and devotion
to the President and his sincere belief that the chief executive's
program would endanger the nation's security. Maintaining that it
was tactically unsound to give away supplies at a time when the
U.S. Army was in desperate need of such items, Woodring made
concerted efforts to prevent the implementation of FDR's program.
The President was forced to ask him to resign. Few American
Presidents have been more respected and admired than Franklin D.
Roosevelt. There has been a tendency to disregard, ignore, or
ridicule those administrative officials who disagreed with his
actions and objectives. In relating the viewpoint of a
distinguished, patriotic American who strongly opposed FDR's
policies and tried to change them, this book provides a clearer
understanding of politics and government in pre-World War II
America.
General
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