THE DEFINING MOMENT – Jonathan Alter

This is a look into the first 100 days of Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency in 1933. It covers the run-up to it as well, and the early life of the man who made the “First 100 Days” a thing for American political nerds.  This book goes into FDR’s early upbringing as a privileged and confident young man. It also showcases the polio diagnosis that deprived him of most use of his legs for the rest of his life.  We see FDR working through that challenge (picking up some empathy for common people along the way). The narrative continues through his early political career. Throughout, it accentuates the boldness with which he took to his many endeavors. With that same boldness, he took on the challenge to do something, everything, anything to overcome the Great Depression that began under his predecessor.  FDR went about restoring public confidence, jump-starting the economy and avoiding further decay.  His administration was willing to try a great many things. They did so – even at the risk of going too far or leading themselves into a failed program – in an attempt to find what worked.  I get the overwhelming impression of a “throw it all at the wall and see what sticks” strategy.  It may have been the only play to prevent the collapse of capitalism.  Alter describes the fear at the time and the willingness of many in America to welcome a dictator to take the helm. 

And yet he resisted the urge toward authoritarianism (for the most part). FDR instituted the New Deal set of programs to save capitalism, a system in which many Americans had lost faith.   Labor movements were agitating in the aftermath of the Great Depression.  Socialists gained steam once again, in a way not seen since the Red Scare of 1919. Many people feared (as they had at the end of the First World War) that a revolution in America was possible.  The New Deal erected a cease-fire between workers and capital. This helped to stave off that incipient revolution and create a new era of prosperity. But was that era of prosperity doomed to fail under such an arrangement, once labor grew weak? That cease-fire lasted for decades before faltering again under Nixon, Reagan and beyond.

Alter’s book was a brisk and interesting read for those who like political biographies or The West Wing.  It’s less appealing if you want to understand Roosevelt’s longer-term impact. Same goes for any in-depth speculation about the roads not taken.  I read it during Joe Biden’s First 100 Days, once again haunted by what we could have accomplished, but never did.