Winter War: Hoover, Roosevelt, and the First Clash Over the New Deal

by Eric Rauchway

Overview

The history of the most acrimonious presidential handoff in American history -- and of the origins of twentieth-century liberalism and conservatism


As historian Eric Rauchway shows in Winter War, FDR laid out coherent, far-ranging plans for the New Deal in the months prior to his inauguration. Meanwhile, still-President Hoover, worried about FDR's abilities and afraid of the president-elect's policies, became the first comprehensive critic of the New Deal. Thus, even before FDR took office, both the principles of the welfare state, and reaction against it, had already taken form.

Winter War reveals how, in the months before the hundred days, FDR and Hoover battled over ideas and shaped the divisive politics of the twentieth century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780465094592
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	11/20/2018
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	199,562
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Eric Rauchway is a distinguished historian and expert on the Progressive and New Deal eras at the University of California, Davis. He is the author of several acclaimed books on the subject, including The Money Makers, The Great Depression and the New Deal, and Blessed Among Nations, and has contributed to the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Financial Times, the New Republic, the Los Angeles Times, Dissent, and the American Prospect. He lives in Davis, California.

Table of Contents

Introduction Narrow Margins 1

Chapter 1 Election day

November 8, 1932 19

Chapter 2 A Domestic Summit On Foreign Policy

November and December 1932 47

Chapter 3 Bolshevism In The Fields

December 1932 and January 1933 75

Chapter 4 A Matter Of Political Expediency

January 1933 105

Chapter 5 Social Justice Warrior

January and February 1933 134

Chapter 6 A Portent of Evil

January and February 1933 164

Chapter 7 The End of Our String

February and March 1933 196

Chapter 8 Inauguration Day

March 4, 1933 226

Acknowledgments 239

Notes 241

Works Cited 267

Index 279

Editorial Reviews

11/15/2018

With his latest work, Rauchway (history, Univ. of California, Davis; The Money Makers) asserts that the 1932 election of Franklin D. Roosevelt as U.S. president constituted the beginning of a political conflict that has lasted through to the present day. Rauchway maintains that both outgoing president Herbert Hoover and Roosevelt thought of themselves as pitted in an existential struggle for the future of America. Each man diametrically opposed the policies of the other but was able to do so because each possessed intimate knowledge of the other's positions. This clash over the New Deal "forced both sides to defend and elaborate" platforms from the campaign, each targeting "what he considered an existential threat to civilization." Such a vigorous political struggle came at a time of extreme unrest and political upheaval. Rauchway spends considerable time exploring how Roosevelt and his circle prepared for the White House; Hoover's persistent opposition remains a constant if less present thread. While additional attention could have been given to this political conflict, Rauchway's work is well supported by primary material. VERDICT This valuable and insightful read offers a vivid glimpse into the political and economic world of Depression-era America.—Philip Shackelford, South Arkansas Community Coll.

Library Journal

09/10/2018
Using a formal but accessible style, Rauchway (The Money Makers) explores the months between Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s electoral victory over President Herbert Hoover and his inauguration in this case study of a transition of power that proves both edifying and engaging. Rauchway asserts that from the November 1932 election to FDR’s inauguration at the beginning of March 1933, Hoover was “looking to the long term, not the current crisis” in the belief “that the future of the country depended on his return to power.” Rauchway depicts an embittered Hoover seeking to score political points to make his case for future elections instead of seeking meaningful collaborations with FDR to take on the perilous issues that beset the nation. Rauchway succeeds in detailing the major issues that Roosevelt grappled with, devoting chapters to England and France’s default on the repayment of international loans from WWI, the farm crisis, civil rights for African-Americans, Hitler’s rise to power, and the pandemic of bank runs and closures. Hoover mostly disappears during the book’s middle portions, ceding the narrative focus to FDR, which undermines the book’s central tension. But the book showcases strong scholarship, including deep engagement with archival materials, that a general audience can appreciate. This is an informative and readable history. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

"A crisp narrative of the four-month interregnum between Franklin D. Roosevelt's victory in November 1932 and his assumption of the presidency in March 1933."—The Atlantic

"Rauchway paints a vivid picture of what that looks like as he describes the Herculean efforts of outgoing Herbert Hoover to thwart incoming Franklin Roosevelt's 'New Deal.'"—New York Journal of Books

"Though scholars have not ignored those four months, the period was a spectacularly eventful one that deserves closer attention. Rauchway ... does just that in this lively, opinionated, and definitely not revisionist history."—Kirkus

"The book showcases strong scholarship, including deep engagement with archival materials, that a general audience can appreciate. This is an informative and readable history."—Publishers Weekly

"Not since the secession winter of 1860-61 had American democracy seemed so imperiled. Yet the interregnum between Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt has been largely overlooked by historians. Eric Rauchway remedies this lack in a riveting, thought-provoking book that is especially valuable at a time when political emotions are again running high."—H.W. Brands, author of Heirs of the Founders

"Winter War is a vivid narrative about the critical debate that took place at the pit of the Great Depression between presidents with starkly different visions of the nation's future. You can hear the echoes of FDR vs. Hoover blaring out from every cable news channel today. Eric Rauchway, one of America's best political historians, has written a wise story about the past that anyone who cares about the divide between progressives and conservatives should read."—Michael Kazin, professor of history at Georgetown University and author of War Against War: The American Fight for Peace, 1914-1918

"Presidential transitions matter. This brilliant book describes how the transition from Herbert Hoover to Franklin Roosevelt changed the world, and how it almost did not happen. The author explains why the trenchant debates around the New Deal still resonate in our current partisanship. Every citizen concerned about political leadership should read this book."—Jeremi Suri, author of The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America's Highest Office

"In this brilliant new book, Eric Rauchway provides powerful new insights about the making and the meaning of the New Deal. In the end, Winter War will change not just what we thought we knew about Hoover and Roosevelt, but how we have understood the origins of modern conservatism itself."—Kevin M. Kruse, author of One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America

From the Publisher

2018-09-11

A Depression-era history of an exceedingly difficult transition from one president to another.

Franklin Roosevelt crushed Herbert Hoover on Nov. 8, 1932, and assumed the presidency on March 4, 1933. Though scholars have not ignored those four months, the period was a spectacularly eventful one that deserves closer attention. Rauchway (History/Univ. of California, Davis; The Money Makers: How Roosevelt and Keynes Ended the Depression, Defeated Fascism, and Secured a Prosperous Peace, 2015, etc.) does just that in this lively, opinionated, and definitely not revisionist history. Historians are re-evaluating Hoover's reputation as a dour technocrat who failed to address the Depression. Rauchway portrays him as an energetic and workaholic man convinced that direct government relief would destroy our freedom. He described Roosevelt as an unprincipled politico who intended to inflict a radical "New Deal" on America. The author agrees, emphasizing that Hoover's prediction that Roosevelt was planning reforms was correct, but he points out that subsequent historians have generated the "myth of Roosevelt as an ignorant but blithe spirit simply trying expedients until he found some that worked." Rauchway documents the new president's consulting experts and legislators for ideas. Even before inauguration, supporters introduced several New Deal bills to the lame-duck Congress. Except for the repeal of Prohibition, all were defeated. The author paints a grim picture of a nation awash with misery and on the verge of revolution—a feeling shared by members of Hoover's administration if not Hoover himself. Many experts complain that Roosevelt stubbornly refused to cooperate during the interregnum, but "cooperation," according to Rauchway's Hoover, meant foreswearing deficit spending, government regulations, relief, public works, and currency inflation (i.e. the New Deal), which, Hoover believed, would make matters worse.

Roosevelt's iconic hundred days followed another hundred days, far more obscure but equally critical, and Rauchway's insightful history brings it vividly to life.

Kirkus Reviews