If you walk into any decent used bookstore, you'll find a shelf groaning under the weight of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He’s everywhere. You’ve got the multi-volume scholarly doorstoppers by Arthur Schlesinger Jr., the psychological profiles, and the hyper-focused accounts of just his "First Hundred Days" or just his relationship with Winston Churchill. It’s overwhelming. Honestly, most people just give up and buy a shorter summary. But if you want the soul of the man—the polio, the politics, and the sheer, unadulterated "Dutch" stubbornness—you have to talk about FDR by Jean Edward Smith.
It’s a massive book. Over 800 pages. But it moves like a thriller because Smith understands something other biographers often miss: Roosevelt wasn't just a politician; he was a bit of a conjurer.
What Smith Gets Right That Others Miss
Jean Edward Smith wasn't interested in just listing dates. He wanted to solve the riddle of how a pampered kid from Hyde Park, who basically grew up as a Victorian prince, became the savior of the working class. Most historians treat FDR’s polio as a tragic detour. Smith treats it as the forge. He argues, quite convincingly, that without the paralysis, Roosevelt remains a lightweight. He was a bit of a playboy, a C-student at Harvard, and someone who leaned heavily on his family name. Then, 1921 happened.
The "New Deal" didn't start in Washington. It started in the sulfur baths of Warm Springs, Georgia.
Smith shows us a man who literally could not stand up without heavy steel braces, yet he convinced an entire nation he was the strongest person in the room. It’s a masterclass in psychological resilience. Smith’s writing style is punchy. He doesn’t use twenty words when five will do. He tells you Roosevelt was a "superb intuitive politician." That’s it. No fluff.
The Complexity of the Marriage
We have to talk about Eleanor. You can't understand the Roosevelt legacy without the messiness of their private lives. Smith handles the Lucy Mercer affair with a refreshing lack of sentimentality. He doesn't judge; he just shows the fallout. After the affair was discovered in 1918, the marriage became a political partnership—perhaps the most powerful one in human history—but the romantic spark was extinguished.
- Eleanor became his "eyes and ears," traveling where he couldn't.
- Franklin provided the platform for her social activism.
- They lived separate lives while building a unified front.
Smith captures the loneliness of this arrangement. He describes a man surrounded by people—advisors, secretaries, family—who was essentially a solitary figure. It’s a haunting image.
FDR by Jean Edward Smith and the Power of the Presidency
One of the big takeaways from the book is how much Roosevelt changed the actual job of being President. Before him, the federal government was this distant thing that mostly delivered mail and collected some tariffs. After FDR, the government was in your kitchen. It was providing your pension through Social Security. It was paying you to build trails in national parks through the CCC.
Smith is clearly a fan, but he isn't a sycophant. He digs into the "Court Packing" scheme of 1937 with a critical eye. He calls it what it was: a massive blunder born of arrogance. Roosevelt had just won a landslide reelection and thought he was invincible. He wasn't. The book shows how even a political genius can read the room completely wrong.
Then there's the dark side. The internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Smith doesn't gloss over Executive Order 9066. He presents it as a catastrophic failure of leadership and a stain on the FDR legacy. This nuance is why the book stays relevant. It doesn't try to make Roosevelt a saint. It makes him a human who held the world on his shoulders.
Why the 2007 Publication Still Holds Up
You might wonder why a book from nearly twenty years ago is still the gold standard. History doesn't change, but our perspective on power does. Smith’s background as a political scientist gives the biography a structural integrity. He explains the "how" of the New Deal, not just the "what."
He walks us through the banking crisis of 1933. People were literally hiding cash under mattresses. The entire capitalist system was about to go poof. Roosevelt’s first "Fireside Chat" wasn't just a cozy radio talk; it was a psychological intervention. Smith’s pacing during these chapters is incredible. You feel the tension. You feel the desperation of a country on the brink.
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The World War II Years: The Ultimate Administrator
When the book shifts to the war, it focuses heavily on Roosevelt as the "Commander-in-Chief." Smith argues that FDR’s greatest wartime skill wasn't strategy—it was picking the right people. He trusted George Marshall. He managed the egos of MacArthur and Patton.
He also managed Churchill.
The relationship between the two leaders is often romanticized as a perfect "Special Relationship." Smith adds some grit to that. He shows the friction. Roosevelt was ready to dismantle the British Empire; Churchill was ready to die to save it. Smith paints FDR as the pragmatist who knew that the post-war world belonged to the U.S. and the Soviet Union, much to Churchill’s chagrin.
Dealing with the "Spheres of Influence"
The Yalta Conference chapters are some of the most debated in the book. By 1945, Roosevelt was dying. He looked like a ghost. Critics say he "gave away" Eastern Europe to Stalin. Smith pushes back. He argues that the Red Army was already there. Short of starting World War III against our own ally, there wasn't much FDR could do. It’s a cold, hard look at realpolitik.
How to Approach This Massive Work
If you’re going to dive into FDR by Jean Edward Smith, don’t try to speed-read it. It’s not a beach read. It’s a slow-burn character study.
- Read the Introduction Carefully: Smith sets his thesis early. He views FDR as the quintessential "Pragmatic Progressive."
- Focus on the 1920s: Most people skip to the Presidency. Don’t. The chapters on his recovery from polio are the heart of the book.
- Check the Citations: Smith’s research is impeccable. He draws from the Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park in ways that provide fresh anecdotes even for history buffs.
There’s a reason this book won the Francis Parkman Prize and was a finalist for the Pulitzer. It’s the definitive one-volume account. It’s authoritative. It’s fair.
Actionable Insights for History Lovers
If you want to truly understand the Roosevelt era after reading Smith’s biography, your next steps should be tactile.
- Visit Hyde Park virtually or in person: Seeing the "Springwood" estate helps you realize the wealth FDR walked away from to champion the "Forgotten Man."
- Listen to the original Fireside Chats: Smith describes the tone, but hearing Roosevelt’s actual voice—the cadence, the confidence—adds a layer of understanding to Smith’s analysis of his "radio personality."
- Contrast with Smith’s other works: If you like his style, read his biography of Grant or Eisenhower. He has a specific "great man" theory of history that is fascinating to track across different eras.
- Cross-reference the New Deal programs: When Smith mentions the WPA or the TVA, look at your own local history. Chances are, there is a bridge, a post office, or a park in your town built by the people Roosevelt put to work.
Roosevelt died in April 1945, just months before the end of the war. Smith describes the funeral train moving through the country, with thousands of people standing by the tracks, weeping. They weren't just crying for a President. They were crying for the man who told them they had "nothing to fear but fear itself" when they were at their lowest. Jean Edward Smith captures that bond better than anyone else ever has. It’s a monumental achievement in biographical writing.
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Next Steps for Deepening Your Knowledge
To fully grasp the impact of the Smith biography, compare his portrayal of the 1932 Democratic Convention with Roosevelt's own public papers from that era. Pay close attention to the "Commonwealth Club Address"—it is the philosophical backbone of the New Deal that Smith frequently references. Additionally, exploring the Eleanor Roosevelt papers provides the necessary counter-perspective to the "political marriage" dynamic Smith outlines so sharply. This allows for a more three-dimensional view of the administration's internal moral compass.