Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Art of Leadership: Battling the Great Depression and the Axis Powers

Franklin D. Roosevelt faced numerous challenges during his presidency, including the Great Depression and the Second World War. He established the modern presidency with centralized powers and became an accomplished statesman. However, he was criticized for creating a welfare state, interning Japanese-Americans during the war, and caving into strategies demanded by powerful leaders that squandered countless lives and treasure. Despite winning four presidential elections with overwhelming majorities, nearly as many people reviled him as they adored him.

Format: Hardback
Length: 264 pages
Publication date: 04 April 2024
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books Ltd

After their independence and civil wars, Americans faced a greater threat than the sixteen years of global depression followed by global war from 1929 to 1945. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the president for the last dozen of those years, during which he led the nation first to alleviate the Great Depression and then led an international alliance that vanquished the fascist powers during the Second World War. Along the way, he established the modern presidency with centralized powers to make and implement domestic and foreign policies. He was naturally a master politician who eventually, through daunting trials and errors, became an accomplished statesman. For all that, historians regularly rank Roosevelt among the top three presidents. Yet, most historians and countless others criticize Roosevelt for an array of things that he did or failed to do. Conservatives lambast him for creating a welfare state and trying to pack federal courts with liberal judges, while liberals condemn him for interning 120,000 Japanese-Americans during the war and doing little to advance civil rights for African Americans. Critics blister war commander Roosevelt for caving into strategies demanded by powerful leaders that squandered countless lives and treasure in literal and figurative dead ends. These include Prime Minister Churchill's push to invade the Italian peninsula and General MacArthur's determination to recapture the Philippines. At times, his policies violated his principles. Like President Wilson during the Second World War, Roosevelt championed self-determination but not for every nation. He badgered Churchill to break up Britain's empire while bowing to Stalin's brutal communist conquest of eastern Europe. And those are just the opening barrages against Roosevelt. Although he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1934, he was criticized for not doing enough to prevent the outbreak of the Second World War. Despite these criticisms, Roosevelt remains a towering figure in American history. His leadership during the Great Depression and the Second World War helped to shape the modern world and set the stage for the prosperity and security that we enjoy today. However, his legacy is also complex and controversial, and it is important to continue to evaluate and debate his policies and actions.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781036110901