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Winter War: Hoover, Roosevelt, and the First Clash Over the New Deal Kindle Edition

by Eric Rauchway (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.6 out of 5 stars 103
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The history of the most acrimonious presidential handoff in American history -- and of the origins of twentieth-century liberalism and conservatism


As historian Eric Rauchway shows in Winter War, FDR laid out coherent, far-ranging plans for the New Deal in the months prior to his inauguration. Meanwhile, still-President Hoover, worried about FDR's abilities and afraid of the president-elect's policies, became the first comprehensive critic of the New Deal. Thus, even before FDR took office, both the principles of the welfare state, and reaction against it, had already taken form.

Winter War reveals how, in the months before the hundred days, FDR and Hoover battled over ideas and shaped the divisive politics of the twentieth century.
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  1. Print length
    273 pages
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    English
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  4. Publisher
    Basic Books
  5. Publication date
    November 20, 2018
  6. File size
    1954 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A crisp narrative of the four-month interregnum between Franklin D. Roosevelt's victory in November 1932 and his assumption of the presidency in March 1933."―The Atlantic

"Rauchway paints a vivid picture of what that looks like as he describes the Herculean efforts of outgoing Herbert Hoover to thwart incoming Franklin Roosevelt's 'New Deal.'"―New York Journal of Books

"Though scholars have not ignored those four months, the period was a spectacularly eventful one that deserves closer attention. Rauchway ... does just that in this lively, opinionated, and definitely not revisionist history."―Kirkus

"The book showcases strong scholarship, including deep engagement with archival materials, that a general audience can appreciate. This is an informative and readable history."―Publishers Weekly

"Not since the secession winter of 1860-61 had American democracy seemed so imperiled. Yet the interregnum between Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt has been largely overlooked by historians. Eric Rauchway remedies this lack in a riveting, thought-provoking book that is especially valuable at a time when political emotions are again running high."―H.W. Brands, author of Heirs of the Founders

"Winter War is a vivid narrative about the critical debate that took place at the pit of the Great Depression between presidents with starkly different visions of the nation's future. You can hear the echoes of FDR vs. Hoover blaring out from every cable news channel today. Eric Rauchway, one of America's best political historians, has written a wise story about the past that anyone who cares about the divide between progressives and conservatives should read."―Michael Kazin, professor of history at Georgetown University and author of War Against War: The American Fight for Peace, 1914-1918

"Presidential transitions matter. This brilliant book describes how the transition from Herbert Hoover to Franklin Roosevelt changed the world, and how it almost did not happen. The author explains why the trenchant debates around the New Deal still resonate in our current partisanship. Every citizen concerned about political leadership should read this book."―Jeremi Suri, author of The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America's Highest Office

"In this brilliant new book, Eric Rauchway provides powerful new insights about the making and the meaning of the New Deal. In the end, Winter War will change not just what we thought we knew about Hoover and Roosevelt, but how we have understood the origins of modern conservatism itself."―Kevin M. Kruse, author of One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America

About the Author

Eric Rauchway is a distinguished historian and expert on the Progressive and New Deal eras at the University of California, Davis. He is the author of several acclaimed books on the subject, including The Money Makers, The Great Depression and the New Deal, and Blessed Among Nations, and has contributed to the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Financial Times, the New Republic, the Los Angeles Times, Dissent, and the American Prospect. He lives in Davis, California.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07B8DSWMB
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books (November 20, 2018)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 20, 2018
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1954 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 273 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 out of 5 stars 103

About the author

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Eric Rauchway

Eric Rauchway

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Eric Rauchway writes books about US history, and has taught at the University of California, Davis, since 2001. He has written for the Times Literary Supplement, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Financial Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Atlantic, Time, and other publications.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
103 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Michael C. Chisick
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Account of a Critical Transition in US History
Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2020
Verified Purchase
This is a detailed account of the pathetic attempt by the vainglorious, smug, arrogant, condescending, and clueless Herbert Hoover to try to manipulate incoming President Franklin Roosevelt into a self-serving trap to try to undermine Roosevelt's policies and rehabilitate his failed Presidency.
No question Hoover was a bright, well-educated man who thought well of himself, but he also sorely underestimated FDR because he was disabled. What Hoover failed to appreciate was although polio crippled FDR's legs, it left his well-tuned mind intact.
For the remainder of his life, Hoover tried to recast his actions during the closing days of his Presidency as an attempt to cooperate with FDR for the good of the nation. This book clearly establishes that to be a well-crafted, self-serving lie.
Hoover's stubborn, delusional ideology and self-regard for his own "brilliance" made him ill-equipped to deal with the rapidly evolving national banking crisis which FDR boldly and masterfully addressed upon assuming power.
3 people found this helpful
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Jeffrey
5.0 out of 5 stars Very important book given the current state of our country with Covid-19
Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2020
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The author provides an excellent preview of what the GOP ultimately became: a party for those at the top of the economic pyramid with little regard for everyone else. The Hoover administration’s policy of essentially letting everyone go bankrupt without regard for the common person sounds very familiar to the current group running the country today. For anyone interested in learning about the early days of what is now almost a political civil war between the political parties, this book is very information.

Instead of “liquidate, liquidate, liquidate” of the GOP during the 1930’s Great Depression, the Hoover-inspired Trump administration is content to send low wage workers to their deaths in the current pandemic. Let’s hope that there’s another New Deal being devised to help us out of the 2020’s Great Depression we’ve just entered.
3 people found this helpful
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JJ
4.0 out of 5 stars This is an important read, as it shows how Hover attempted to stymie FDR's progressive agenda.
Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2020
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This is definitely a read for an academic or one who is specifically interested in that brief period of history before and shortly after FDR having taken office. The author clearly puts the lie to the bogus claims that FDR had in any way been proposing and later enacting programs that Hoover had already begun to set in motion, or was even planning to implement in an attempt to dig us out of the depression, were he reelected to the presidency.
3 people found this helpful
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John Leigh
5.0 out of 5 stars Balanced and critical
Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2021
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Overall, I enjoyed the book. It is not easy being fair to Hoover or critical of FDR but it seems the book achieved it without taking sides.
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Little Teacher on the Prarie
5.0 out of 5 stars Absent graphics.
Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2019
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As soon as I picked up the book I noticed no graphics -- no pictures, no maps, no graphs or charts. This is not the only history book like that, but it amazes me that neither the author nor their editor think in those terms. I also agree with the comment that "War" in the title is an overstatement for a political struggle.
3 people found this helpful
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Captain Jag
5.0 out of 5 stars Hoover v. FDR
Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2019
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Eric Rauchway has carved out a nice niche for himself as one of the top historians of the New Deal and Great Depression. "Winter War", like "The Money Makers" and "The Great Depression and the New Deal: A Very Short Introduction" before it, is essential reading for anyone interested in the United States during the 1930s.
11 people found this helpful
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Rich Hrivnak
5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read book
Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2020
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Simply put, an amazing, well written, insightful book. I’ve read just about every book regarding FDR and the New Deal and this is one of the best.
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David Shulman
2.0 out of 5 stars Not Quite a War
Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2018
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UC Davis economic historian Eric Rauchway elevates the personal dislike between Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt into a war that would determine the future of both the Democratic and Republican parties. Simply put, he way overstates his case and demonstrates his very clear left-liberal bias. To be sure Hoover is a sore loser and acts that way, but their disagreements can hardly be characterized as “a war”.

Rauchway’s thesis is that Hoover consciously acted to abort the New Deal in the womb. To me the disagreement was far more personal than political and given the economic crisis it would have been far better for both of them to work together the way George Bush and Barack Obama did in 2008, but alas that was not the case. Beneath the surface while Hoover and Roosevelt were having their spat Hoover treasury officials Ogden Mills and Arthur Balantine were working hand-in-glove with income treasury secretary William Wooden to deal with the banking crisis. In fact Jonathan Alter in his "Defining Moment" noted that “the Hoover men essentially designed the blueprint of FDR’s rescue of the banks.” Thus if the generals were at war the lieutenants certainly were were not.

Rauchway argues that Hoover’s ideas were a precursor to the Republican southern strategy of the 1960s. To his credit he does note that the African-American vote began deserting the party of Lincoln in response to Hoover’s treatment of them during the 1927 Mississippi River Flood and his failed supreme court nomination of the racist John Parker in 1930. That is all true, but the fact remains Roosevelt sold out to the southern barons of the Senate to pass his program and it was the Republican Party that was the party of civil rights well into the 1960s and especially with the nomination of Wendell Willkie in 1940.

He also argues that Roosevelt as early as 1932 was well aware of the threat that the rise of Hitler presented to the democracies. Yet he blew up the 1933 World Economic Conference that sent a clear signal to Hitler that the U.S. was abandoning Europe. Indeed from 1933-38 was probably the most isolationist period of the 20th Century. Being worried about Hitler and acting are two different things.

Moreover while Roosevelt was worried about fascism abroad he was implementing it at home. What else can you make of the cartelization caused by the Agricultural Adjustment Act and the National Industrial Recovery Act, if not a form of proto-fascism? Moreover it was hardly progressive to plow under crops and slaughter piglets to prop up farm prices during a period of real starvation. Thankfully the Supreme Court saved us from these failed experiments.

Rauchway conveniently leaves out the crackpot ideas of Cornell economist George Warren who influenced Roosevelt on farm and monetary policies. He also ignores that one of the causes of 1920s farm crisis was the mechanization of agriculture as 40% of cropland was devoted to forage crops that were no longer needed.

Let me say that this review is not intended to be an all-out attack on the New Deal. Much good came from leaving the gold standard, banking and securities reforms and the beginning of massive public works projects. The country was in a crisis and we have to put ourselves into the shoes of the decision makers of the time, but we also have to heed Keynes admonition that “reform is the enemy of recovery.” I wish Rauchway would see things that way.
21 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Mr. T. A. Pitman
4.0 out of 5 stars Good account of an unexplored period
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 3, 2020
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A well written authoritative account of the then 4 month gap between a presidential election and inauguration. I didn’t know that FDR was nearly assassinated just before his inauguration. How history would have been different with the America First Vice President assuming power. FDR’s political skills are explained well showing how he kept to a strategic direction if not fixed or inflexible on details. Hoover’s narrow free market principles are clear and one can see how the welfare state became irreversible after the new deal and world war 2.

The book whetted my appetite, time permitting, to read another of Rauchway’s books on the new deal. I thoroughly recommend this one.
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