Franklin Roosevelt and the Great Constitutional War

Franklin Roosevelt and the Great Constitutional War PDF Author: Marian Cecilia McKenna
Publisher: Fordham Univ Press
ISBN: 9780823221547
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 654

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Book Description
This important book is a detailed reinterpretation of one of the most explosive events in modern American politics - Franklin Roosevelt's controversial attempt in 1937 to "pack" the Supreme Court by adding justices who supported his New Deal policies. McKenna traces in unprecedented detail theorigins of FDR's plan, its secret history, and the President's final failure. Drawing on a remarkable range of sources McKenna provides the definitive account of a turning point in American political and legal history.

Franklin Roosevelt and the Great Constitutional War

Franklin Roosevelt and the Great Constitutional War PDF Author: Marian Cecilia McKenna
Publisher: Fordham Univ Press
ISBN: 9780823221547
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 654

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Book Description
This important book is a detailed reinterpretation of one of the most explosive events in modern American politics - Franklin Roosevelt's controversial attempt in 1937 to "pack" the Supreme Court by adding justices who supported his New Deal policies. McKenna traces in unprecedented detail theorigins of FDR's plan, its secret history, and the President's final failure. Drawing on a remarkable range of sources McKenna provides the definitive account of a turning point in American political and legal history.

The Supreme Court Reborn

The Supreme Court Reborn PDF Author: William E. Leuchtenburg
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199839387
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 363

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Book Description
For almost sixty years, the results of the New Deal have been an accepted part of political life. Social Security, to take one example, is now seen as every American's birthright. But to validate this revolutionary legislation, Franklin Roosevelt had to fight a ferocious battle against the opposition of the Supreme Court--which was entrenched in laissez faire orthodoxy. After many lost battles, Roosevelt won his war with the Court, launching a Constitutional revolution that went far beyond anything he envisioned. In The Supreme Court Reborn, esteemed scholar William E. Leuchtenburg explores the critical episodes of the legal revolution that created the Court we know today. Leuchtenburg deftly portrays the events leading up to Roosevelt's showdown with the Supreme Court. Committed to laissez faire doctrine, the conservative "Four Horsemen"--Justices Butler, Van Devanter, Sutherland, and McReynolds, aided by the swing vote of Justice Owen Roberts--struck down one regulatory law after another, outraging Roosevelt and much of the Depression-stricken nation. Leuchtenburg demonstrates that Roosevelt thought he had the backing of the country as he prepared a scheme to undermine the Four Hoursemen. Famous (or infamous) as the "Court-packing plan," this proposal would have allowed the president to add one new justice for every sitting justice over the age of seventy. The plan picked up considerable momentum in Congress; it was only after a change in the voting of Justice Roberts (called "the switch in time that saved nine") and the death of Senate Majority Leader Joseph T. Robinson that it shuddered to a halt. Rosevelt's persistence led to one of his biggest legislative defeats. Despite the failure of the Court-packing plan, however, the president won his battle with the Supreme Court; one by one, the Four Horsemen left the bench, to be replaced by Roosevelt appointees. Leuchtenburg explores the far-reaching nature of FDR's victory. As a consequence of the Constitutional Revolution that began in 1937, not only was the New Deal upheld (as precedent after precedent was overturned), but also the Court began a dramatic expansion of Civil liberties that would culminate in the Warren Court. Among the surprises was Senator Hugo Black, who faced widespread opposition for his lack of qualifications when he was appointed as associate justice; shortly afterward, a reporter revealed that he had been a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Despite that background, Black became an articulate spokesman for individual liberty. William E. Leuchtenburg is one of America's premier historians, a scholar who combines depth of learning with a graceful style. This superbly crafted book sheds new light on the great Constitutional crisis of our century, illuminating the legal and political battles that created today's Supreme Court.

Commander in Chief

Commander in Chief PDF Author: Eric Larrabee
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1682471748
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 740

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Book Description
Few American presidents have exercised their constitutional authority as commander in chief with more determination than Franklin D. Roosevelt. He intervened in military operations more often and to better effect than his contemporaries Churchill and Stalin, and maneuvered events so that the Grand Alliance was directed from Washington. In this expansive history, Eric Larrabee examines the extent and importance of FDR's wartime leadership through his key military leaders—Marshall, King, Arnold, MacArthur, Vandergrift, Nimitz, Eisenhower, Stilwell, and LeMay. Devoting a chapter to each man, the author studies Roosevelt's impact on their personalities, their battles (sometimes with each other), and the consequences of their decisions. He also addresses such critical subjects as Roosevelt's responsibility for the war and how well it achieved his goals. First published in 1987, this comprehensive portrait of the titans of the American military effort in World War II is available in a new paperback edition for the first time in sixteen years.

Supreme Power

Supreme Power PDF Author: Jeff Shesol
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393064743
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 673

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Book Description
Chronicles Franklin Roosevelt's battle with the Supreme Court, which culminated in him trying to suppress its conservative justices by expanding the size of the court, an attempt which failed and divided the Democratic party.

The Second Bill of Rights

The Second Bill of Rights PDF Author: Cass R. Sunstein
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0786736011
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
In 1944, Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave a State of the Union Address that was arguably the greatest political speech of the twentieth century. In it, Roosevelt grappled with the definition of security in a democracy, concluding that "unless there is security here at home, there cannot be lasting peace in the world." To help ensure that security, he proposed a "Second Bill of Rights" -- economic rights that he saw as necessary to political freedom. Many of the great legislative achievements of the past sixty years stem from Roosevelt's vision. Using this speech as a launching point, Cass R. Sunstein shows how these rights are vital to the continuing security of our nation. This is an ambitious, sweeping book that argues for a new vision of FDR, of constitutional history, and our current political scene.

The Court at War

The Court at War PDF Author: Cliff Sloan
Publisher: PublicAffairs
ISBN: 1541736451
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 462

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Book Description
The inside story of how one president forever altered the most powerful legal institution in the country—with consequences that endure today By the summer of 1941, in the ninth year of his presidency, Franklin Roosevelt had molded his Court. He had appointed seven of the nine justices—the most by any president except George Washington—and handpicked the chief justice. But the wartime Roosevelt Court had two faces. One was bold and progressive, the other supine and abject, cowed by the charisma of the revered president. The Court at War explores this pivotal period. It provides a cast of unforgettable characters in the justices—from the mercurial, Vienna-born intellectual Felix Frankfurter to the Alabama populist Hugo Black; from the western prodigy William O. Douglas, FDR’s initial pick to be his running mate in 1944, to Roosevelt’s former attorney general and Nuremberg prosecutor Robert Jackson. The justices’ shameless capitulation and unwillingness to cross their beloved president highlight the dangers of an unseemly closeness between Supreme Court justices and their political patrons. But the FDR Court’s finest moments also provided a robust defense of individual rights, rights the current Court has put in jeopardy. Sloan’s intimate portrait is a vivid, instructive tale for modern times.

The Essential Franklin Delano Roosevelt

The Essential Franklin Delano Roosevelt PDF Author: Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Publisher: Gramercy
ISBN: 9780517122891
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
THE MAJOR ADDRESSES AND MESSAGES OF THE 32ND PRESIDENT HIGHLIGHT HIS ADMINISTRATIONS'S RESPONSE TO THE GREAT DEPRESSION - THE LANDMARK INITIATIVES OF THE NEW DEAL-AND TO THE MAJOR EVENTS OF WORLD WAR II. IN ADDITION TO ADDRESSES HE MADE AS THE GOVERNOR OF NY, THERE ARE ALL OF ROSSEVELT'S PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURAL ADDRESSES, MANY STATE OF THE UNION MESSAGES TO CONGRESS, POLITICAL CONVENTION SPEECHES, AND FUND RAISING SPEECHES TO AID VICTIMS OF INFANTILE PARALYSIS, AS WELL AS HIS MOST IMPORTANT FIRESIDE CHATS, DURING WHICH HE SPOKE INFORMALLY TO RADIO LISTENERS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY. ALSO INCLUDED ARE MESSAGES HE SENT TO HITLER, MUSSOLINI, AND HIROHITO IN ATTEMPTS TO PREVENT THE OMINOUS OCCURRENCES IN EUROPE AND THE PACIFIC FROM IGNITING A GLOBAL WAR. PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT'S BROADCAST SPEECHES REACHED MILLIONS OF AMERICAN, WHO LEARNED IMMEDIATELY AND IN DETAIL ABOUT MOMENTOUS EVENTS AND SUCH SIGNIFICAN NEW DEAL PROGRAMS AS THE NATIONAL RECOVERY ADMINISTRATION, THE CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS, THE WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION, AND THE TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY. IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE JAPANESE ATTACKED U.S. NAVAL FORCES AT PEARL HARBOR, THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HEARD THE PRESIDENT DECLARE THAT DECEMBER 7, 1941, WAS A DATE WHICH WILL LIVE IN INFAMY. LATER OVER THE RADIO HE ANNOUNCED THE RESULTS OF THE TEHERAN AND YALTA CONFERENCES, HIS MEETINGS WITH WINSTON CHURCHILL AND JOSEPH STALIN.

Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal

Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal PDF Author: William E. Leuchtenburg
Publisher: Harper Perennial
ISBN: 9780061836961
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
When the stability of American life was threatened by the Great Depression, the decisive and visionary policy contained in FDR's New Deal offered America a way forward. In this groundbreaking work, William E. Leuchtenburg traces the evolution of what was both the most controversial and effective socioeconomic initiative ever undertaken in the United States—and explains how the social fabric of American life was forever altered. It offers illuminating lessons on the challenges of economic transformation—for our time and for all time.

V Is For Victory

V Is For Victory PDF Author: Craig Nelson
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1982122935
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF 2023 “Belongs in the library alongside the histories and biographies of Martin Gilbert, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and David McCullough.” —Doug Stanton, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Horse Soldiers In this epic and definitive history of the American home front during World War II, New York Times bestselling historian Craig Nelson reveals how FDR won the support of a nation antagonistic to war in Europe and pushed both government and industry to build “the arsenal of democracy”—the secret weapon that won the war. In 1938, the United States was so politically isolationist and pacifist that its defense forces were smaller than Portugal’s. That same year, Franklin Delano Roosevelt ordered the federal government to spark a dramatic expansion in domestic airplane production, and this minor effort—three years before the attack on Pearl Harbor—would in time become what Roosevelt called “the arsenal of democracy,” the full-throttle unleashing of American enterprise and ingenuity that was the secret weapon for victory in World War II. Signaled by Roosevelt’s public fight with Lindbergh—known as the Great Debate—victory at land, sea, and air across the globe began at home. In this “richly detailed, highly readable account of presidential leadership in perilous times” (New York Journal of Books), Craig Nelson traces how under FDR, the United States rose from poverty and solitude to defeat the greatest evils of the 20th century. By transforming what Americans thought they could achieve, FDR’s efforts ended the Great Depression; conquered the fascists of Germany, Italy, and Japan; birthed America’s middle-class affluence and consumer society; led to jet engines, computers, radar, the military-industrial complex, Big Science, and nuclear weapons; triggered a global economic boom; and turned the U.S. military into a worldwide titan—with America the undisputed leader of world affairs. While the arsenal of democracy has come to mean this miracle of American industry, when Roosevelt said it, he meant the miracle of the American people. Revealing an era when Detroit was Silicon Valley; Ford was Apple; and Sears, Roebuck was Amazon, while filled with reflections on our own time, V Is for Victory draws on five years of research to create a powerful and essential narrative largely overlooked in conventional histories of the war but which, in Nelson’s skilled, authoritative hands, becomes an illuminating and important work destined to become an American history classic.

FDR v. The Constitution

FDR v. The Constitution PDF Author: Burt Solomon
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0802719570
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description
In the wake of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's landslide re-election of 1936, the popular president-never anything but self-confident-unaccountably overreached. Deeply frustrated by a Supreme Court that had blocked many of his New Deal initiatives, FDR proposed to enlarge it from 9 justices to 15. The now-famous "court packing scheme" divided Roosevelt's own party and inflamed the country at large, and it failed-humiliatingly for FDR-because the president could persuade neither the public nor the Senate of its virtues. And yet, ironically, he could claim ultimate victory, for the Court that emerged from the revolution of 1937-its majority shifted from conservative to liberal-lasted for the next 68 years, until the recent Bush appointments have tilted it back. Historian Burt Solomon, deeply steeped in Washington's lore, skillfully chronicles one of the great set pieces in American history, illuminating the inner workings of the nation's capital as the three branches of our government squared off. The Supreme Court has generated many fascinating and dramatic stories, but none more so than that of the 168 days during which one of our greatest presidents attempted to outmaneuver the Constitution-an action that inevitably calls forth parallels with the present.