Happy Days Are Here Again: The 1932 Democratic Convention, the Emergence of FDR--and How America Was Changed Forever [Hardcover]

Steven Neal (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 6, 2004

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.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

While contemporary nominating conventions have lost nearly all of their political importance, becoming instead an extended infomercial designed to promote long-ago-selected presidential candidate, such was not always the case. In Happy Days Are Here Again, the late Chicago Sun-Times columnist Steve Neal tells the story of the 1932 Democratic convention which led, after a tumultuous series of machinations and backroom deals, to the nomination of New York Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It may be surprising, given Roosevelt's three terms in the White House and near mythic status in political history, to learn that the nomination was far from a sure thing. Neal details the challenges mounted by Newton Baker, John Nance Garner, and Al Smith, any of who could have just as easily emerged victorious. Although Roosevelt had more delegates than the others candidates entering the Chicago convention, it wasn't enough to lock up the top spot. Gaining the support to put him over the top required Roosevelt's camp giving the vice-presidential post to Garner, with whom Roosevelt shared no special affinity, and making special arrangements with Joseph P. Kennedy and William Randolph Hearst. Plenty of other famous names drift in and out of Neal's narrative, including Amelia Earhart, Duke Ellington, John Dos Passos, and Huey Long. But the most fascinating figure is Roosevelt, severely physically disabled but capable, with the help of a sympathetic and complicit press corps, to create an image of robust health to go with his considerable charisma. Followers of modern politics, not used to seeing such drama played out so late in the campaign season, will be intrigued by the older way of selecting a party nominee and readers of history will be interested to learn how a presidency as legendary as Roosevelt's could arise from a situation as convoluted as the 1932 convention. --John Moe

From 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.
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; First Edition edition (July 6, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060013761
• ISBN-13: 978-0060013769
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,191,634 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FDR - The likely, but not foreordanied candidate..., August 6, 2004

By 

Eric Hobart (La Center, WA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Happy Days Are Here Again: The 1932 Democratic Convention, the Emergence of FDR--and How America Was Changed Forever (Hardcover)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The very name conjures up images of a Great President, a great governor, and a great man who overcame physical challenges to become that great leader.

In his final book, Steve Neal has given us the story of the 1932 Democratic National Convention, where FDR was nominated for President for the first time.

Neal does a fantastic job of giving us biographical sketches, including political philosophies, of the contenders for the nomination, and then dives right into the excitement of the convention itself.

FDR may have been the leader in delegate count at the start of the convention, but that did not mean he had the nomination all wrapped up. Unlike today's conventions, Democratic conventions prior to 1936 required a 2/3 majority to nominate the candidate. FDR did not have a 2/3 majority when the convention opened, thus necessitating his political operatives to wheel & deal in order to secure the nomination.

It is this political wheeling & dealing that makes the book so wonderful & readable. The back room efforts with Ritchie and Baker, and the deal made with John Nance Garner that secured the nomination for FDR are given ample attention in this book.

I found that I had a terribly hard time putting the book down once I started reading it. It is well written, and an absolute must read for any FDR afficinado.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging look at FDR and U.S. Politics, February 19, 2005

By 

K.A.Goldberg (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Happy Days Are Here Again: The 1932 Democratic Convention, the Emergence of FDR--and How America Was Changed Forever (Hardcover)

This is a gripping narrative of the 1932 Democratic Convention in Chicago, which nominated Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) of New York for President. Today Mr. Roosevelt (1882-1945) is widely recognized as a great leader, elected four times despite having polio, the man who launched the New Deal programs that changed America and who led the USA through most of World War II. But here we see that the front-running Roosevelt was on shaky ice at the 1932 convention because candidates then needed a 2/3rds vote for the nomination. FDR faced powerful opposition from former nominee Al Smith, house speaker John Nance Garner, Governor Albert Ritchie, Newton Baker, and other powerful figures. Of course, Roosevelt had strong allies, including Louisiana's notorious Huey Long, plus key advisors Louis Howe and James Farley. The author describes the strengths and weaknesses of the major players, setting the stage for the drama that unfolded. Readers also see how FDR's lieutenants offered Garner the Vice Presidency in a near-desperation move after the third ballot that worked and kept Roosevelt's coalition from unraveling. All this occurred at a convention where Democrats knew they were likely winners against President Hoover in November due to the onset of the Great Depression.

Author Steve Neal is political correspondent for the Chicago Sun-Times, and he's written a superb narrative. Some may question whether FDR's coalition at the 1932 convention was as tenuous as Neal suggests, but few will fail to be engaged by this remarkable story.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When Conventions Still Mattered, August 29, 2004

By 

Steve Iaco (northern new jersey) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Happy Days Are Here Again: The 1932 Democratic Convention, the Emergence of FDR--and How America Was Changed Forever (Hardcover)

I read this book in the midst of the '04 convention season, and welcomed the journey back to a time when political parleys actually meant something.

The late Chicago journalist Steve Neal (he passed on in February) recounts the '32 Chicago convention that propelled FDR on the path to the White House and immortality.

FDR's nomination was no sure thing, despite his entering the Chicago convention with a strong majority of delegates. Indeed, Neal shows how close FDR came to being denied the nomination, as past Democratic frontrunners like Champ Clark (1912) and William McAdoo (1924) had before him. At the time, Democratic candidates needed to amass two-thirds of the delegates to cinch the nomination -- a threshold that assured Southern states a voice in the selection of a candidate, and made for protracted, multi-ballot fights (more than 100 in '24) and brokered conventions. FDR abolished the two-thirds rule (replacing it with a simple majority standard) and only two subsequent Democratic conventions went past the first ballot.

An eclectic cast of characters loomed large in the machinations that secured FDR's nomination -- for example, Joe Kennedy and WR Hearst, who cleared a path for Cactus Jack Garner to be given the VP slot; Huey Long, whose support was ironic in light of The Kingfish's later vitriolic attacks on FDR, and Big Jim Farley, FDR's brilliant campaign manager. But no one played a more central role than McAdoo, Woodrow Wilson's son-in-law and Treasury Secretary. No fan of FDR's, he swung the deeply divided California delegation into the New York Governor's camp at the decisive moment. This deft maneuver thwarted the ambitions of FDR's bete noir, Al Smith (who had foiled McAdoo hopes in '24) and McAdoo's old nemesis Newton Baker, who was the likely beneficiary of a deadlocked convention. (At one point, FDR offered to throw his support to Baker.)

This book takes its title from the FDR campaign's theme song. But I was surprised to learn that "Happy Days Are Here Again" was actually a substitute when the original theme song --"Anchor's Away" (paying homage to FDR's stint as assistant Navy Secretary) -- was deemed too subdued for the raucous Chicago partisans.

Political junkies looking for a short reprieve from the '04 presidential sweepstakes would do well to pick up Neal's new book. It'll transport you back to a time when political conventions still mattered.