Franklin d roosevelt president ial library museum. Im bill harris. Im the acting director here and ive been the Deputy Director for a few years. And so we really appreciate you coming this evening to be a part of this program. And its great to welcome people back to on site here for programing id also like to thank our cspan audience who will be joining us as well and and welcome them and also you to other and new programs we have into the future. Just a bit of housekeeping here. Well speak for a little while and then when there are questions, when we get ready for questions over here is a microphone. And if youd please just queue up at that microphone so that we can get the best sound and can respond to your questions accordingly. So this evening, id like to welcome david patricia, hes the author of roosevelt sweeps nation. Fdr is 1936 landslide and the triumph. The liberal idea. Its a very good book. Ive read and i thoroughly enjoyed it. And as i was saying to david back in the green room, what i enjoy about a book and about his book is when you agree with it and when you dont agree with it, because that means youre thinking and engaging with the topic and so i think he did a really good job. Welcome, david, and were glad to have you tonight. Glad to be here. Which george, the first so well many people know you from your your various books in the past and this one and i was just curious because you frequently pick a year or a specific a very specific in time and the personalities surrounding it do how do you get to those points . What made . You pick 1936. I thought thered a story there and and there was and often these big blow out years that have not been covered a lot by people, the fellow who covered it the most. Oh, Arthur Schlesinger jr. He in his in his book on the new deal he goes into the lead up to 1936 and the election itself and whats going on just politically and historically a great deal otherwise as a stand alone kind of ill served and you know it is Franklin Roosevelt and it is the depression. And we talk about this as as keystone in american history. And so why not cover it and and also get to the get to the events around it i always like to get to the back story i like to see what else is going on beside the there was a review last week in the new york sun and it said this was a biography by indira rection. Okay meaning im covering franklin but im not i the spotlight is not on him. The time and the spotlight is you know he pops in the you know every every few chapters. So where hows he going to react to this but i also think i have to cover because im covering the nation and politics as a whole. Whats the opposition to him often the opposition defines what is going on and. So he is able make opposition to the opposition work in a masterful way because he is so masterful because hes he thinks politics 24 seven he just eats sleeps drinks it and has been forever. And hes just good at it. Well thats what strikes me about 1936 too is since it was such a blowout, you you know what the story is. It seems very straightforward, doesnt it . He was very popular. He wins reelection and what the way in which you weave opposition and it isnt just one mammoth opposition, its multiple opposers coming from all different sides and angles and directions and so the way in which its broken into character as much as issue i find fascinating as yeah. Without, without reading too much into it its like the all the white army opposing the bolsheviks in like 1918 or something and they they can get together or theyre not all on the same. Maybe theyre, theyre mensheviks, maybe theyre tsarist and all this. So the people opposing Franklin Roosevelt are, are populists like huey long and, and father coughlin and gerald l. K. Smith or might be the marxists the socialists, the socialist party themselves with Norman Thomas or the communist party. The standard of various ilk and the republicans. Theres a whole spectrum, you know, the parties you know, the parties are far more homogeneous now. But back then, not just the southern democrats versus, the western democrats in the William Jennings bryan people and the tammany democrats and the liberty democrats, the more conservative, the big Business People who are opposed to roosevelt and the republicans as the republicans are, you know, where where are they going. And 1936 is kind of the triumph and theyll be sort of knows it. No, this is it. But it is triumph of the tr bull moose republicans because you have alf landon who had supported roosevelt in 1912 when he splits the Republican Party, his running mate, frank knox, who had done the same. And even in 1932, herbert had been then one of these bull moose sayers. And then you see in the roosevelt cabinet, you see many of the of the remnants of that Movement Like harold ickes and henry in and then and people in the Administration Like donald k richburg, who have who are influential and Felix Frankfurter was was a a tr person. So this in in the political spectrum is not quite alive and well, but it is something that has to be taken into account well and were still were talking about the depression the depression eight over. Okay so whats going to happen is the glass half empty or half full . In november 1936, the Unemployment Rate is still hovering around 13, 14 . That aint good, but its best its been since 1931. So are you still going to have people discontented by what hasnt been done or what Campaign Promises havent kept or are you going to say you, know if things are right well . Franklin will think of something to make right later on. We have confidence in him and hes got to get through point and thats what i find fascinating too about the opposition and about, well, the people speaking in opposition maybe thats a better way to put it. We see it in the correspondence in our collection from the general public, but from columnists and so forth, and the vehemence of the opinion that was that formulated against him, it was one thing in 1932, it seems, when the nation was in such a state that hoover would have had a time, regardless of any whoever his opponent would have been. But after roosevelts office and and programs commence or new policies are enacted. The opposition, we think today of the vehemence of opposition, the vitriol against candidates. It is quite striking how negative of and how personal the attacks were against the president and frankly the first lady to my original subtitle was the campaign that ran on hate. Okay and so everybody sort of hates everybody and Franklin Roosevelt himself is running a very class warfare kind of Campaign Starting his state of the Union Address in december 1935, which the New York Herald tribune is very bitter regard to his business opposition, and which huey Lewis Mchenry how advisors advises franklin. You know, go it, take it to him. Thats one of his last pieces of advice. And then on the convention in his speech in philadelphia following his nomination, where hes talking, you know, we remember rendezvous with destiny, but what the phrase he really likes is economic royalists and so hes still banging on that. And then his final speech in 1936 of the campaign, his final one is at Madison Square garden, which is very and raging and very angry where hes talking, how all these forces are arrayed against him and how they hate and how they will meet their master in his second term and shocks even people like his secretary, labor frances perkins, and the ray raymond mosley, and even his supporters wondering, you know, whats the deal, it strikes me the opposition and i mean that in the broad term of the various opposers are speaking the president or at him perhaps, and hes speaking sort of beyond all of them, into the people who actually are going to be casting that ballot. Yeah. He he speaks to the american public. Mean we know that we know the fireside chats and one of the questions i get in these interviews is whats the most surprising thing that the titular and when you were doing this and this question completely befuddles me because i have too many ideas, facts in my head. But occurred to me in the last 24 hours, maybe how reticent and shy franklin was in campaigning. I noticed youre youve made it. Theres a comment in there somewhere, a quote in a. Yeah, i dont have it about about him being shy and that is not generally the way one thinks of fdr and yet often public persona is one thing. And in is quite another. Yeah, i think eleanor that that his, his keeping his feelings hidden may be a part of his shyness, but his shyness that im referring to is calculation in terms of the political warp and wolff of of the of the fabric of the campaign and theres a quote which i left in the green room. But what Franklin Roosevelt is saying is you, the American People can only stand the sight of the the same name and the headlines so much and the same voice on the radio so much before they will tire of it and get sick of it. And he realizes this and its like, boy, well, isnt he the man on the radio all the time with the chats. No he only gives about 16 of these i think. And from april. 1935 to septem ber, 1936, there are none. And he comes out in september 1936. Its like, well, isnt a big political speech . No, its because theres this mass civ second round of of not quite a dust bowl, but theres this heat wave going in the country which is frying not only the midwest, you know, and and the upper midwest, 120 degrees in north dakota and the the steel ball bending in in the buildings in new york city. So he gets on the radio to talk about this. But again for all those months hes not the radio with any of with any of of a pitch the American People and so we know alf landon wasnt the candidate in the world okay might have been a nice guy but not the best candidate and he tried go gentle on the now before who. Yeah who didnt get past fdr. Right so we dont lets not kick them too hard when hes down but hes pretty down in this campaign now. He, as is often the case, does not the political the Nomination Convention which nominated him in 1936 but you know hes whats he then going to do . He goes on vacation in colorado and he doesnt he doesnt start his campaign for weeks and weeks. But then what does the political mastermind Franklin Roosevelt do after his convention he gets on a boat, savannah, and starts flowing ing around the north atlantic on the coast of maine and, the coast of of New Brunswick for two weeks in the middle of the campaign. And eleanor and jim farley and harold ickes are all pulling their hair. You know whats going on this campaign. But again, just sort of letting the republicans kind of destroy themselves and and save his energy, really, for the for the for the for the save it for the end. Hes asked at the end after the campaign with the election returns come in, why he had missed so badly and underestimated his count in Electoral College which he which he actually and he said well that was my noted conservative streak well if youve outland and but the question is sort of to me how did they get to outlanded well sort of the way the republicans got to Richard Nixon in 1960, they had had a bloodbath in 1958 and a lot of the talent was was gone. So when you had a bloodbath in 1932, followed by a really unprecedented in 34 where the democrats are supposed to lose seats and gain seats. Theres theres not a lot of republicans out there to choose from. Herbert hoover wants to come back. He wants to get his rino. The revenge of hoover. But thats thats not going to happen. And there are some other candidates who really are not theyre not going to make the trip either. Senator borah of idaho always was very progressive and is a pal of franklin and is seen more than a few too many at the white house, conferring with him for the more conservative of republicans to fully trust him. And also, hes like 71 years old, which 71 years old is really old back then. And so hes not going to get the nomination because. The the more conservative element in the party is not going to back. And hes always been hes not a team player. Even even ideology aside. And arthur vandenberg, who is not quite ready for in michigan, a senator who is who is going to become known as the internationalist guy after world war two. And frank knox, a newspaper publisher, you see a lot of Newspaper Publishers in politic back then. I mean, really in politics, not just influencing, you know, what appears on the page. And then this alpha lantern guy, landon. Had been in oil in kansas, not in texas. And. 1930, he runs for 1932, he runs for office in kansas. And theres crazy split. Theres democratic governor and you know, he should be elected in 1932. But then there is this quack who is very and has a Radio Station where the signal that can reach to mexico from kansas and he he was the goat gland doctor so if you had a problem with a certain certain if you had certain problems youd go see him hed fix your up. If he didnt kill you or make you sick. But the election returns are basically. Its a rare three way race and it ends up with basically land in 34 to democrat 32 and this quack 30 so hes and then hes got to get reelected. 1934 and he manages that hes one of the few republicans on the statewide level to to make the trip and hes known as the kansas coolidge a nickname which really frosts him because hes not conservative at all. Hes balanced the budget. Hes cut spending. But he is a progressive republican come out. And when lorena is out traveling country getting there her to see whats going on out there in the hinterlands. She hears land and speak. In 1934 and says, boy, the democrats are going to be in real trouble because the republican governor seems to be a new but how he arises from that is situation. His career catches the ear. One of those newspapers men a publishers in in politics William Randolph hearst and all before him another guy named paul block who a very small time guy with papers in pittsburgh and new jersey and he talks to hearst and they go out they get on the big train and the private car Cissy Patterson the newspaper woman from washington, d. C. , they all go out to kansas to check this guy out and. They say, oh, hes just the most marvelous candidate. Hes guy who can who can make the trip and beat Franklin Roosevelt. Well, by the Time Convention starts and they devote all kinds of ink, the newspapers that are run hearst and also the magazines they send out, damon runyon to interview to land. And now theres their oil and water, though. Damon runyon is from colorado. Mr. Time square. And and one of the questions he asks is, do you stand on prohibition . You know because kansas still had prohibition and landed actually i dont know if landed dances around that but but the damon runyon knows what he has to do for mr. Hearst and he really dances around it so. The delegates are there the delegates are there by the time the convention arises. And and land and land and gets the nod. So weve got land and. Hes our establishment, the Republican Party nominee. Yeah. Then youve got what turns out to be a sort of array of people, a variety of ideas or program amps that promote old pensions, everything from that to well. And till unfortunately, when he was assassinated or depending on how your narrative of the book, of how ones personal view of huey long is, then you have this huey character who is now this, you know, sort of tragic figure of epic bumpkin proportions as. He is often portrayed, but he a real threat. Yeah. When he goes on the radio to blast the new deal and like 34 and 35 he draws a bigger audience than Franklin Roosevelt does with his fireside chats because no offense to Franklin Roosevelt. Well huey long is a better speaker i mean theres few people who are more entertaining than you would want to listen to, including father. There was another guy we we could get to very shortly so long had not wanted to Franklin Roosevelt in 1932 and he thought that Franklin Roosevelt was stingo as a candidate that he could actually lose to Franklin Roosevelt. But he is convinced by burton k wheeler, who is the progressive democrat, senator from montana to and when i say progressive, i mean not only small p but big p because he had run with la follette in 1924, he bolted the democrat party. But he was he was very big for Franklin Roosevelt in 32. And he convinces huey long to back roosevelt he says, i dont like you son of a , but ill vote for him and goes out and campaigns for roosevelt, the upper midwest. Because often what you do with guys that you dont want, you dont know what to do with and you want you send them to areas where you think theyll be of no effect and the democrats are stuck by what in effect huey long has in there. Well, the effort northwest mean upper midwest is a George Wallace country, too much later, another southerner, henry wallace. I didnt know George Wallace in 68. Who owned it quite well. Yes, it was. So theres a theres something that theres that theres a radical theres a radicalism up there where we think of that as a conservative area. Now, it is not. And in fact. Well, jumping ahead. So i wont go anyway. So i wont jump ahead. Sorry, but but the so long gets tired of roosevelt very quickly determines hes the to be president. Well hes always that always that and that he will run independently, split enough votes which is often the third party strategy. Its like were not so delusional that we think were going to wi