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Jonathan Alter

The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope Hardcover – Bargain Price, May 2, 2006

by Jonathan Alter (Author)

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Print length

432 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Simon & Schuster
Publication date

May 2, 2006
Dimensions

6.4 x 1.3 x 9.4 inches
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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000Q6GY1W
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster; First Edition (May 2, 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.5 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.4 x 1.3 x 9.4 inches

Customer Reviews:
282 ratings

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Jonathan Alter

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Jonathan Alter (b. 1957, Chicago, Illinois) is a best-selling author, longtime television commentator, award-winning columnist, Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker and comedy producer.

Alter is the author of three New York Times bestsellers: "The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope" (2006), named one of the New York Times 100 "Notable Books of the Year"; "The Promise: President Obama, Year One" (2010), which went to number three on the Times bestsellers list; and "The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies" (2013). He is also the author of "Between the Lines: A View Inside American Politics, Media and Culture" (2008), a collection.

A former columnist and senior editor at Newsweek (1983-2011), Alter is a political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. In 2019, he co-produced and co-directed "Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists," an HBO documentary, which won the 2020 Emmy for Best Historical Documentary. In 2013-2014, he co-produced, with Garry Trudeau, "Alpha House," an Amazon original comedy series. He lives in Montclair, New Jersey with his wife, Emily Lazar, a producer.

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Customer reviews

5 star		74%
4 star		19%
3 star		5%
2 star		1%
1 star		1%

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Carl DalBon

Dedicated Leadership

Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2020

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FDR has always been characterized as a great man. Alter brings that to the fore in his compelling look at the first 100 days of FDR's first term. Yes he was a politician, and politics was as dirty then as it is now. Alter shows how Roosevelt transcended politics and used unparalleled leadership skills to lead a desperate nation out of a wallowing morass of desperation. Truly a joy to read

6 people found this helpful

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K. L Sadler

We Need Another FDR...

Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2014

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I've read so much about World War II, about Churchill, and bits and snippets about FDR. But I didn't know much about FDR's first hundred days and what he accomplished then. I have mixed feelings about the man. I'm inclined to admire him for what he managed to accomplish through sheer will. He was a canny politician and diplomat. As a Deaf person, I admire him for doing so much in spite of his disability. I still don't approve of his handling of his wife, or his extramarital affairs. I know my Dad who grew up during his Presidency, didn't like FDR, but he really never gave me any good reasons for it.

The more I read about the history of the Depression, and the aftermath of WWI...and what was happening with the economy, the more I am convinced that we absolutely needed someone like FDR to come along to manage things as he did. This isn't to say he didn't make mistakes. He definitely did. Both during the Hundred Days, and during the War (that cost the lives of both Americans and others). But...given the horrible recession we just went through and how bad things are with the economy now, it would have been nice if we had someone of FDR's caliber to bring the enthusiasm and 'hope' that FDR brought to the U.S. at that time. He could have been a dictator as the author brings up time and again. But he avoided that like the plague. But he got things done. Which is more than any other president within the last 20 years has been able to do.

This book was excellent, well researched, and very enjoyable to read. I wish Alter had written some other history books, but he has only written political books about Obama, about whom I have absolutely no desire to read...no one will consider him to be the political or economic 'genius' that FDR was

5 people found this helpful

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Good but disappointing in many of the details

Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2009

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I want to give a highly qualified recommendation for this book. If you love FDR and intend to read a good many books on him, I suggest adding this to your list. If you intend, however, to read only a few books on FDR, I suggest reading other books instead. I've read nearly 20 books on FDR at this point and would put this very far down the list of the most essential books. As a supplement to those other books, this book serves just fine. But it does present a somewhat quirky and sometimes inaccurate portrait of FDR.

Before continuing, which books would I recommend instead? For the 100 days and the New Deal, I would recommend Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.'s three-volume work on the New Deal and William E. Leuchtenburg's FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT AND THE NEW DEAL 1932-1940. These provide both more detail and more insight into the major legislation going into the New Deal. Schlesinger's work is very long, but definitely worth the time. Although it deals with the war years, Doris Kearns Goodwin's NO ORDINARY TIME -- FRANKLIN AND ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: THE HOME FRONT IN WORLD WAR II makes splendid reading and provides some of the best and sanest analysis of the various individuals making up the extended Roosevelt family. Frank Freidel's books are wonderful, whether the original unabridged multi-volume biography or his one-volume condensation. Kenneth Davis and Geoffrey Ward both have written splendid multi-volume biographies as well, and both can be highly recommended. If I could recommend only one author on Roosevelt, it would probably be John MacGregor Burns, whose two works on Roosevelt -- ROOSEVELT: THE LION AND THE FOX and ROOSEVELT: THE SOLDIER OF FREEDOM -- stand at the pinnacle of FDR studies. He also wrote the classic LEADERSHIP, in which Roosevelt features prominently. The best one-volume biography that was not a condensation of a multi-volume work is Jean Edward Smith's FDR, a recent book that I strongly recommend. Finally, I have not read H. W. Brands's new biography A TRAITOR TO HIS CLASS, but am quite curious to do so.

I would definitely put Alter's book well behind all of these. Even after reading all of these, I found many new insights in Alter's book and I learned a great many things that I didn't already know. Nonetheless, the book has to be used with caution. Alter is a serial exaggerator and is sometimes oddly selective in sifting through the evidence concerning various aspects of Roosevelt and those around him. To take just one example, he states that Lorena Hickok was the great love of Eleanor's life. No doubt she was an important person for a rather brief period, but the Roosevelt children were hardly prudish in discussing their parents' respective love lives and most denied that there was anything romantic between Hick and Eleanor (with the addendum that they were in fact sceptical that she was capable of a physical relationship with anyone, that she was someone who looked upon sex as an exceptionally unpleasant undertaking). Jean Edward Nathan barely mentions Hickok in his biography and other biographers feel that Hickok's role in Eleanor's life has been exaggerated. On the other hand, some of her children felt that Eleanor did have an affair with Earl Miller, the New York state trooper that Alter barely mentions. Yet it is quite certain that Miller and Eleanor were almost inseparable companions for the last thirty-five years of her life, even when he married. After she left the White House and relocated in New York, for instance, Miller took an apartment in the same building. Just as Missy Lehand was FDR's constant companion, so Earl Miller was Eleanor's. This is what I mean when I say that Alter is selective. He has to know that there is a mountain of evidence detailing just how close Eleanor and Earl Miller were, but to mention this would undercut the case for how crucial Hick was to Eleanor. At most one could argue that Hick was to Eleanor as Lucy Mercer was to Franklin, while Earl Miller was Eleanor's equivalent to Missy Lehand.

Another example of Alter's tendency to exaggerate is the portrait he paints of Roosevelt going into the election and his first term. He works overtime to quote every possible individual who saw FDR as a frivolous dilettante incapable of leading the nation, intentionally ignoring the equally large number of individuals who saw FDR as the logical person to be president and lead the country in a time of crisis. Anyone doubting that FDR had many passionate and well-informed supporters need only read the first volume in Schlesinger's trilogy, THE CRISIS OF THE OLD ORDER. Yes, many, like Walter Lippmann, thought FDR a lightweight, but there was anything but unanimity on him. Besides, FDR won in a landslide. It wasn't just a case of people voting against Hoover, but a substantial number of people voting for someone they felt was eminently qualified to be president.

Alter is correct that FDR was not doctrinaire or an ideologue about the content of the New Deal, but this overlooks the fact that he brought into the White House a radically new conception of the role of government in dealing with the problems facing the American people. Unlike Hoover, Coolidge, and Harding (three of the weakest presidents in American history), FDR believed that government had a crucial and direct role to play in all of the major problems confronting American life. FDR understood that there is no Invisible Hand that would intervene to coordinate the efforts of individual in a market economy (actually, Adam Smith didn't believe that either - in the passage where he introduces the idea of the Invisible Hand Smith expresses astonishment that uncoordinated actions did not ALWAYS lead to unwelcome results - this is very far from the idea foisted on Smith that the Invisible Hand always produces happy results) but that government had to intervene to minimize the harm caused by unregulated greed. In speech after speech and conversation after conversation leading up to his election and inauguration FDR iterated and reiterated this vision. So, while he was intentionally somewhat loose on the details, he was crystal clear that the only entity that could solve the crisis was government, not the private sector or the market. Alter acknowledges this even while underplaying it.

No doubt many of Alter's exaggerations are due to dramatic license. He shapes FDR's story in order to create a more dynamic story. He also seems to enjoy debunking widely shared myths. He wants to portray FDR as not as qualified to be president as most accounts. Yet to do this he has to downplay such things as his work in the New York legislature and his many, many years as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, which at the time was one of the largest entities of the federal government.

So, I return to my original point. There are many interesting moments in Alter's book, but it is not a balanced, nuanced portrait of FDR. He leaves out details that would challenge the picture he is trying to paint and persistently ignores contrary evidence. I definitely recommend the book, but only if one has read a substantial number of the many other very good books on FDR. The only thing that elevates this somewhat in popular interest would be that on 60 MINUTES Barack Obama cited this as one of the two books that he was reading as he was preparing to enter the Office of President. But I would recommend the other book - Jean Edward Smith's biography - far more strongly than I would this.

26 people found this helpful

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JC1969

A Long Shadow in American History

Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2014

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A pleasant read--Mr. Alter's approach reminded me of "Only Yesterday." Sufficient documentation exists to establish this as a serious work; however, it is not so exhaustive that one must be a serious historian to attempt it. Mr. Alter also provides excellent portraits of various key individuals in President Roosevelt's administrations. He clearly establishes the wisdom, authority, and skill of Ms. Frances Perkins in his administrations efforts to reverse the Depression and then, more importantly, in the design and then passage of the Social Security Program. One might assume that this is a paean for what many see as the inception of American liberalism. While Mr. Alter's treatment is respectful, he also provides adequate information for the reader to see that different perspectives existed during President Roosevelt's first term of office and that different perspectives exist regarding the impact--both long and short--of that first term.

3 people found this helpful

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Marcelle Louise

Great gift!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 22, 2022

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Got it as a Christmas present and the person enjoyed reading it. Quick delivery and book was in good condition.

永遠のチャレンジャー

＜恐怖心＞に挑んだ大恐慌下の「決定的瞬間」を学ぶ

Reviewed in Japan on March 27, 2009

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政権発足後＜最初の百日間＞に焦点を当てた著者は、この短期間での遂行実績がフランクリン・デラノ・ルーズベルト政権の浮沈や改革の成否を決定づけたと見ている。

大恐慌下の暗闇にさまよう米国民の心から「不安」という名の＜恐怖心＞を取り払う必要性を訴え、国民が結束すれば失ったものを再び取り戻せると説いたルーズベルト大統領の登場によって、書名(「決定的瞬間」)どおりに、まさしくその時、歴史が動いたのだ。

一級品の気質(first-class temperament)と機知(wit)と親しみやすさ(intimacy)がルーズベルトが信任を勝ち得た秘訣であったという。戦時大統領として連続当選し、強力な指導力を発揮するルーズベルトの前半生は、しかし挫折と失望の繰り返しだった。

一人息子ゆえのマザコン少年期。ハーバード名門クラブに入会を拒否された生涯に亘る痛恨事。海軍次官時代には不名誉な醜聞事件に巻き込まれ、追い討ちをかけるように、小児麻痺(polio)による下肢機能の悪化で歩行困難な身の上となる。選挙後のマイアミ遊説では間一髪で銃弾を免れた。

前任大統領フーバーらがルーズベルトをひ弱な政治家と看做したのも、身体に抱えた大きなハンディキャップに幻惑されたせいだろう。だが、ルーズベルトは絶望の淵で踏み止まり、逆境に鍛え上げられた不屈の精神は、エレノア夫人の言う「考えるのではなく、決断する大統領」にまで彼を押し上げる。

公共事業や民兵部隊編成による雇用促進策、迅速な金融支援対策、困窮農民向け補助金拠出、社会保障制度の創出など規制政策ニューディールへの評価は分かれるが、大統領の粘り強さが、適性国民として日系米国人を強制収容所に隔離するという歴史上の汚点を残しながらも、第二次世界大戦での対独対日勝利の道筋をつけたことは否めない。

ラジオで国民との対話を試みる一方、趣味の切手収集やミッキーマウス映画に夢中となる。実は迷信家で、13日でなくても金曜日出発の旅程を避けたり、会合の人数を気にしていたという可笑しく子供っぽい点が、米国民から愛された所以なのだろう。

本書は、親切な脚注、貴重な写真頁、就任演説の付録、著者注釈と参考文献名、索引がついた優れた政治史研究書であるばかりでなく、ともすれば掴みどころのないルーズベルトの魅力に迫った野心的試みの評伝である。

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The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope Hardcover – Bargain Price, May 2, 2006

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