The Politics of Upheaval 1935-36

Description

The Politics of Upheaval, 1935-36, volume 3 of Pulitzer Prize-winning historian & biographer Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.'s Age of Roosevelt series, concentrates on the turbulent concluding years of Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1st term. A measure of economic recovery revived political conflict & emboldened FDR's critics to denounce "that man in the White house." To his left were demagogues—Huey Long, Father Coughlin & Dr. Townsend. To his right were the champions of the old order—ex-president Herbert Hoover, the American Liberty League, & the august Supreme Court. For a time, the New Deal seemed to lose its momentum. But in 1935 FDR rallied & produced a legislative record even more impressive than the Hundred Days of 1933—a set of statutes that transformed the social & economic landscape of American life. In 1936 FDR coasted to reelection on a landslide. Schlesinger has his usual touch with colorful personalities & draws a warmly sympathetic portrait of Alf M. Landon, the Republican candidate of 1936.