Volume 51, Number 4 · March 11, 2004
The Winning Hand
By James Chace
Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom
by Conrad Black
Public Affairs, 1,280 pp., $39.95
Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship
by Jon Meacham
Random House, 490 pp., $29.95
In 1932, Walter Lippmann famously remarked that Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a 'pleasant man who without any important qualifications for the office, would very much like to be President.' Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes was said to have described FDR, who had just paid him an unexpected visit on his ninety-second birthday, as having a 'second-class intellect but a first-class temperament.' Both assessments were wrong, Lippmann's notoriously so. Holmes hardly knew FDR, and the President soon proved he had a quick mind, a retentive memory, and a strong sense of what he wanted to accomplish.
Review, 5548 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |