The New Dealers' War: F.D.R. and the War Within World War II

by Thomas Fleming

Acclaimed historian Thomas Fleming brings to life the flawed and troubled FDR who struggled to manage WWII. Starting with the leak to the press of Roosevelt's famous Rainbow Plan, then spiraling back to FDR's inept prewar diplomacy with Japan, and his various attempts to lure Japan into an attack on the U.S. Fleet in the Pacific, Fleming takes the reader inside the incredibly fractious struggles and debates that went on in Washington, the nation, and the world as the New Dealers, led by FDR, strove to impose their will on the conduct of the War. Unlike the familiar yet idealized FDR of Doris Kearns Goodwin's No Ordinary Time, the reader encounters a Roosevelt in remorseless decline, battered by ideological forces and primitive hatreds which he could not handle-and frequently failed to understand-some of them leading to unimaginable catastrophe. Among FDR's most dismaying policies, Fleming argues, were an insistence on "unconditional surrender" for Germany (a policy that perhaps pr

Genres: History, World War II, Nonfiction, American History, Politics, Biography, War

561 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

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There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Thomas James Fleming was an historian and historical novelist, with a special interest in the American Revolution. He was born in 1927 in Jersey City, New Jersey, the son of a World War I hero who was a leader in Jersey City politics for three decades. Before her marriage, his mother, Katherine Dolan Fleming, was a teacher in the Jersey City Public School System.

After graduating from St. Peter's Preparatory School in Jersey City, Fleming spent a year in the United States Navy. He received a Bachelor's degree, with honors, from Fordham University in 1950. After brief stints as a newspaperman and magazine editor, he became a full-time writer in 1960. His first history book, Now We Are Enemies, an account of the Battle of Bunker Hill, was published that same year. It was a best-seller, reviewed in more than 75 newspapers and featured as a main selection of the Literary Guild.

Fleming published books about various events and figures of the Revolutionary era. He also wrote about other periods of American history and wrote over a dozen well-received novels set against various historical backgrounds. He said, "I never wanted to be an Irish American writer, my whole idea was to get across that bridge and be an American writer".

Fleming died at his home in New York City on July 23, 2017, at the age of 90.

Reviews

[Charlene Mathe · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me ten hours or so to read this book, and I pretty much read it straight through. Thomas Fleming's narrative is vivid and engaging, like a story teller. But you will learn more history than from reading a similar length textbook (561 pages+35 pages of notes AND an excellent index). Fleming engages you with the character, counselors, dilemmas and politics of War President, Franklin D. Roosevelt. Never an FDR fan, these pages gave me a greater appreciation of his challenges and strengths, even while it exposed some of his outrages.
Some of the takeaways:
* FDR was more gravely ill than history has appreciated; for extended periods limited to 20 work hours a week. For years, his personal doctor misdiagnosed congestive heart failure as bronchitis.
* Did FDR know about the Pearl Harbor attack in advance? Fleming makes the case that FDR baited Japan to make a first strike, expecting an attack in IndoChina not Pearl Harbor-- "to be hit, but not hurt." Lacking national support for military intervention on behalf of Britain, FDR calculated that Hitler could be goaded into declaring war on America. Baiting Japan into declaring war was step One in FDR's strategy to get America behind the war. Step Two: FDR leaked the "Rainbow Five" war plans that proposed America could not mobilize a war effort until 1943. As FDR expected, Hitler concluded from the leaked plans that he should challenge America before the projected readiness in 1943.
* America was catastrophically unprepared for war. Most of her war planes had been destroyed by Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor and in the Philippines. Troops suffered major losses in the field that were concealed from the nation.
* FDR's policy of "Unconditional Surrender" may have extended the war on both fronts. Unconditional surrender and "morale bombing" of civilian targets increased the resistance of defeated populations. He refused repeated overtures from German generals seeking to overthrow the Third Reich, and resisted surrender initiatives from Japan that were qualified by retention of the emperor.
* America's bureaucracies were infested with Communist agents, including FDR's closest aid, Harry Hopkins; senior administrative assistant to the president Lauchlin Currie; Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Harry Dexter White; Office of Strategic Services personal assistant to the director Duncan Chapman Lee; and State Department Office of Special Political Affairs agent Alger Hiss, who accompanied FDR to the critical Yalta conference. Venona transcripts identified 329 Soviet agents inside the U.S. government during WWII, while America and Britain "did not have a single agent in Moscow."
* Most shocking to me was that FDR denied the evidence of his own eyes--pictures and eye witness reports--proving thousands of Polish military officers buried in the Katyn Forest were the victims of an exceptionally cruel massacre at the hands of the Red Army. Waiving off this evidence, FDR handed the Polish people over to Uncle Joe Stalin, along with all the rest of Eastern Europe. FDR was confident that he could charm and manage Stalin; but it was Uncle Joe who played FDR (not Churchill, who was frozen out of the negotiations). It was Stalin who set Tehran and Yalta for the two Allied conferences. Both locations were an enormous challenge for the ailing FDR to travel, and demonstrated that Stalin was calling the shots.
* How did Harry Truman get on the Democrat ticket as FDR's running mate, rather than the incumbent Henry Wallace? Why did FDR leave Truman out of the loop of information pertinent to the Oval Office?? How did Truman handle the challenges of office and transition to peacetime economy?
Fleming's vivid portrayals of White House personalities and politics in the FDR era, the information and disinformation provided the public, and the complexities of government for the powerful and for the people, provoke an appreciation of the events, players and politics of our own time. The book will make you think, and probably make you think a little differently in some cases.

[Arminius · Rating 5 out of 5]

The New Dealers War is an interesting book on the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR). FDR ran against Herbert Hoover. He laid blame at the man he once had complimented. FDR’s plan to defeat the Depression was to through programs at it. Today a number of New Deal programs (as they were named) exist. These include the Federal Deposit Insurance (FDIC) which insures deposits of your money in the bank for up to $250.00. Also, Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), Fannie Mae's purpose was to purchase loans from private lenders, freeing up capital so those lenders could fund new loans. In addition, National Labor Relations Board, it was create a new agency dedicated to enforcing employee rights. Securities and Exchange Commission was another surviving New Deal program. The main goal of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 was to restore consumer confidence in the securities markets. The law established the Securities and Exchange Commission to regulate and oversee brokerage firms, stock exchanges, and other agents. The Social Security Act is the most known New Deal program. The U.S. government established an agency to register citizens for benefits, to collect taxes on both employers and employees to fund the benefits, and to distribute those funds to beneficiaries. Social Security helped not only the elderly, but also the blind, the unemployed, and dependent children by giving money to these groups. The final one is the Tennessee Valley Authority. The Tennessee Valley Authority still provides power to 10 million people in seven states and oversees a combination of hydroelectric, coal-fired, and nuclear power plants.

While they are lasting successes he also had problems with the Supreme Court. They struck down two big programs the National Relief Act (NRA) and the Agricultural reform Act (AAA) as unconstitutional. In fact, a total of 24 programs were deemed unconstitutional.
In 1940, FDR ran for a third term. He defeated Wendell Willkie, however more Republicans come into the congress and they started to dismantle many of the New Deal programs. The most punishing of FDR’s programs was the issuing of an executive order imposing an income tax of 100% on income over $25,000. Congress rescinded this. Congress also abolished the Civilian Conservation Core and the Works Progress Administration.
While he was getting his New Deal policies demolished. He was running our War effort against Germany and Japan. There is very suspect reasons for us getting into a War with Japan. It appears we provoked Japan into attacking us so we could get into the War with Germany.
The War with Japan went horribly wrong for the US at the beginning.
Japanese landed near Singapore and entered Thailand, the Japanese invaded the Philippines and also seized Guam. The Japanese also had invaded Burma, Hong Kong, and Luzon in the Philippines. The British lost at Borneo. General Douglas MacArthur had to withdraw from Manila to Bataan; Japanese took Wake Island. The British surrendered at Hong Kong. Manila was declared an open city however the Japanese had bombed Manila. We eventually take control of the War. Or superior Military leadership won the war for us despite FDR’s meddling.
As 1943 approached FDR was getting sickly looking. He ran for reelection in 1944. He managed to win the nomination however the Democratic Leaders didn’t want Henry Wallace, due to his controversial Liberal politics, to be President after FDR’s impending death. So they made FDR take Harry Truman as his Vice president.

FDR had practically ignored Truman when he was Vice President.
In a sly deceiving way, he made sure nobody criticized the Soviet Union. Despite the Soviet Union taking over the Baltic States, Romania and Yugoslavia. Plus murdering 10,000 Poles. He kept these acts secret apparently wishing for a Soviet attack on Japan to happen.

Another blunder he made was he insisted unconditional surrender from Germany. High ranking Germans tried to negotiate with the United States and the President. The unconditional surrender had made the Germans fight harder because they would lose everything to the conquering nations if they accepted an unconditional surrender. This act was responsible for 80,000 deaths that could have been averted. He apparently had a hatred for the Germans and a love affair with the Russians.
Finally FDR died on April 12, 1945. Harry Truman took over and he had to make enormous decisions. The Japanese refusal to surrender caused Harry Truman to use, our greatest new weapon the atomic bomb, on Japan. On August 6, 1945 the plane the Enola Gay left the Mariana Islands and headed to Japan then dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima. Devastation occurred. Temperatures reached 5400 degrees Fahrenheit. Human bodies were burnt to char and stuck to the streets. In the Six mile circumference anyone who stood outside died instantly. Over the next 5 years 60,000 victims died due to radiation poison. In total 145,000 people were estimated to have died as a result of the Atomic Bomb. On August 10 another atomic bomb was dealt to Nagasaki delivering the same devastating result as Hiroshima did.

In the last chapter Thomas Fleming, the author, spells out FDR’s dismissal performance in the presidency. First, FDR concealed his intention to go to War then what became what is known as the Rainbow Five emerged in the papers. It was FDR’s War plans which included sending 5 million soldiers to fight Germany. Second, his provocative policies had lured Japan into attacking us. In fact. FDR is quoted as saying “I know they were going to hit us but I wasn’t suspecting it would be so hard. Third, FDR’s policy of unconditional surrender caused legitimized, terror bombings of civilians and the use of the atomic bomb. Fourth, he ignored the plight of the Jewish extermination attempts made by Adolph Hitler. Fourth, he is love affair with the Soviets coupled by his hatred of Germany. And finally, running a 4th time for the presidency when his health was failing miserably.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was more than happy to go along with the “historical consensus” that Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a good (great?) President. I honestly cannot remember who told me to read this specific book, but it really rocked by world and introduced a whole new level of skepticism of, well, everything in my life. Today, between this book and Amity Shales’s The Forgotten Man, there’s really no excuse left for FDR worship, and that the case isn’t closed on it at this point (especially post-stimulus), well…

[Heath · Rating 2 out of 5]

An hysterical demonization of FDR. Very interesting and closely researched, but also unrelentingly biased and relies on a great deal of titillating hearsay, after stating explicitly in the Prologue that he wishes to 'liberate history from memory'. Entertaining precisely in the respects that it is *not* a history: hearsay and anecdotes are fun, but Fleming's analyses derived therefrom are inconsistent, illogical, deeply biased, and betray a number of assumtions about right/left, capitalism, etc. which are current in FOX News editorials but not reflective of the ideological realities of 70 years ago. Often tries to end his chapters in stentorian tones which ring largely hollow because his judgment is clearly not the objective Voice of History he attempts to invoke, but a partisan with a somewhat confused agenda and mediocre execution. To Fleming all moderates or liberals of any stripe are knaves or fools; any evidence to the contrary which he can neither elide nor avoid, he simply descibes as 'inexplicable' or 'paradoxical'.

[David Shaffer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished Thomas Fleming’s, The New Dealers’ War: F.D.R. And The War Within World War II. An interesting book that largely occurs against the backdrop of World War II, but essentially is a political and secondarily a diplomatic history.

The book describes how Franklin Roosevelt as a preeminent politician did all he could to pull the United States out of the Great Depression slowly cajole and push to convince the citizens to enter World War II which ultimately occurred by Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and Germany’s declaration of war on the United States.

The War was largely a political war between the adamant new dealers and Franklin Roosevelt’s unorthodox leadership style, which was often undermining to those he put into power in a large variety of alphabet soup agencies and changing positions with what sometimes appears to be the changing of political whims. Roosevelt always portrayed himself a left of center politician who slowly replaced many many of his most liberal appointees and cabinet members and 2 Vice Presidents with more conservative and business oriented individuals.

The secondary war was with those who wholeheartedly believed in communism and the Soviet Union as a friendly nation paving the way of the future, those fervent anti-communists and those willing to make any bargains to beat the Germans and the Nazi Regime and Imperial Japan.

Ultimately Roosevelt led both wars with the same style he believed he was right and could through sheer will convince his political opponents and Stalin to follow his lead, but ultimately the stress of leading the country through war and the Great Depression overwhelmed his body and ultimately paid the price of a weakened body and early death.

A found this book to be extremely interesting and unusual in the focus of a World War II on non military aspects of the war.

A solid 4 star read.

[Kevin O'Keeffe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is probably one of the most important books on both U.S. history, and the western Allied role within the Second World War, ever to be written. Many books claim to demonstrate that the execrable war criminal, Frank Roosevelt, was a traitor who permitted the Japanese to bomb Pearl Harbor, in order to generate public enthusiasm for a formal U.S. entry into the Second World War (whether motivated by some weird, ideological fixation on an anti-fascist worldview, a more perfidious desire to impose an American global imperium, or perhaps both), but in my experience (which is admittedly not definitive), this is so far the ONLY book which provides real, concrete evidence to that effect. In fact, several days prior to the attack, the Portuguese Ambassador visited the White House, with an express warning of an imminent attack on our naval & air facilities in both Hawaii and The Philippines. If Portuguese intelligence could ferret out this story, and in light of the fact we had broken every single code (Naval, Army, Diplomatic, Maritime, etc.) the Japanese had, how realistic is it to suppose American officials were ignorant of this attack (and simply made a sincere mistake, when they ignored the warnings of the Portuguese Ambassador)? Not bloody likely, I'd say.

The book otherwise goes on to paint a very dreary picture of the treacherous, lying, cynicism which pervaded the "New Dealer" war machine of the early 1940s.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Politics over 80 years ago concerning the most important event in human history (to date) sound eerily similar to politics of today. FDR also wasn’t the man I was taught he was in high school, many things that come to light here are problematic, the biggest of which is his absolute capitulation towards the soviets which was despicable. Katlyn, the oppression of all Soviet citizens and the crushing grip the soviets were forming over Eastern Europe and FDR just gave him what he wanted, was it because he was sympathetic towards the communists? Was it because he believed he could strong arm them into liberal democracy? Or was it because he was a sick and ailing man near then end and was too afflicted to think different than the course he had already set, such is also likely the case with the ridiculous policy of unconditional surrender that likely cost millions more lives.

Sad to know that our politics and the backroom dealing, or even a party propping up a clearly dying candidate (seen today as well) in an effort to win is more important than making decisions that are good for the American people.

We can only hope that tomorrow will be a little better than today.

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

What is intended as a critical review of the Roosevelt Administration immediately before and during WW2 loses much of its integrity due to the author’s implacable desire to make us all understand that FDR and everyone associated with him was absolutely, completely, and totally wrong about absolutely everything. Anything critical of FDR is accepted as Gospel; any defense is shrugged off. The few times FDR is grudgingly acknowledged to have been right read like they were added later at the editor’s insistence. Vast and unsupported alternate histories are spun where the war was avoided or won early or the Holocaust prevented or Stalin reined in if only FDR hadn’t personally screwed everything up. In his quest to denounce the policy of unconditional surrender, Fleming would have us believe that there was an immense network of Hitler hating Germans waiting to overthrow the Nazis at a moments notice if only Roosevelt had abandoned his “German hatred” (ludicrously described repeatedly as “racism”). This is in spite of the rather obvious fact that the one time anti-Hitler forced moved against the Fuhrer, the plot collapsed almost instantly. No “failure” of FDR’s is too small: Fleming mentions several times as some great scandal the fact that FDR refuses to consult with Herbert Hoover about postwar Europe. Fleming makes many of the same errors he accuses the New Dealers of; for example, he rightly excoriates FDR and Henry Wallace for likening conservatives to fascists but immediately conflates New Deal socialists with Stalinists. Lastly, he suffers from serious hero worship of Harry Truman, which only increases the tendency to make Roosevelt look worse by comparison.
There’s plenty to criticize about FDR: the Japanese internment, his chaotic administrative style, his naïveté towards Stalin, his tendency to be secretive, deceitful, and occasionally vindictive. Someone should write that book.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

A work of historical reconnaisance with massive scope. From the New Deal to post-WWII dealings with the Soviet Union, Fleming paints a massive portrait of the inner-political wars of the Roosevelt administration and beyond. As modern observers so far detached from the goings-on of old, we tend to over-simplify the complexities and non-uniformity of the actors inside historical events. Fleming cuts through this, getting to the heart of personal and political conflicts in the White House and abroad, relying on a massive amount of primary sources, including conversations with generals and Harry Truman himself.

Curtis Yarvin fans will find this book helpful.

[Dan S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come

[Mike Glaser · Rating 4 out of 5]

An eye-opening book that takes a contrarian view to the usual take on FDR’s war time leadership. Thomas Fleming lays out a pretty convincing argument that political expediency drove most of the direction that FDR gave to the war and this in turn made the war harder for the US to win. He is especially critical of the “unconditional surrender “ policy that Roosevelt sprung on the Allies although here I have some sympathy for the policy as it was critical in maintaining US morale as the war moved into 1944-1945. Mr. Fleming is on stronger ground with his other criticisms and that is why I highly recommend this book.

[Sean Rosenthal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting Quotes:

"As the Japanese slowly realized that they were not going to get any oil [after America's covert oil embargo of Japan beginning August 1941], Tokyo's hard-liners argued that this was proof that the Americans were trying to humiliate them. They began planning to use their military power to get oil--and much more. It is hard to believe that Roosevelt, if he was reading the Purple intercepts, did not see war as an inevitable outcome of this covert policy."

-Thomas Fleming, the New Dealers' War

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really great book that covers everything I thought I knew about FDR and so much more. Mr. Fleming digs deep to find clear evidence of the war mongering waged by the New Dealers of the day. It is incredible to think what could have been if the seeking of an "unconditional surrender" was not done. A terrible shame and history should really not be so kind to FDR and his ilk.

[Robert Papas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thomas Fleming spares no one in the Roosevelt administration in this important book. While Sean McMeekin's "Stalin's War" shows how the Soviet Union's leadership reduced Roosevelt to subservience in Big Three negotiations and global politics while FDR thought he was showing the opposite, this book cites chapter and verse about domestic political calculations during the war.

The facts are simple but staggering: the United States supplied fully one-third of the Red Army in the field in 1945, an army numbering about three million combat troops, while assisting Britain, and equipping its own forces in both Europe and the Pacific.

The context for this staggering feat of production is explained in detail in Fleming's book, but it also deals with intense internal rivalries within his administration along with Roosevelt's own health woes in an encompassing look at American politics during the war years.

It is not kind. Roosevelt's machinations are exposed for all to see, with the story of Harry Truman's selection as his 1944 running mate receiving special attention in light of known Communist penetration of the Roosevelt administration, especially in its diplomatic corps, and discusses Vice President Henry Wallace's sympathies, which were far to the left of even Roosevelt's. Along the way, we learn about the policies and people under successive Democrat administrations which first lost the free world Eastern Europe, then lost it China and nearly lost it Korea.

If you're interested in a Roosevelt hagiography, skip this book. If you're interested in learning some well-hidden secrets about FDR, dig in and keep an open mind.

[Dan Savickas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a gripping narrative of World War II and the drama within the FDR administration. It could be read for the intrigue alone. But, the history is what makes this book so compelling. There were so many opportunities missed to avoid the war altogether and then to mitigate its destructiveness. Perhaps the most striking is how conciliatory FDR was towards Stalin and how many of his top officials not only sympathized with the Soviets, but actively promoted Stalin’s interests in the US. This is a damning portrait of the 32nd President. As tragic as it was to read, I found myself looking forward to getting back to it each day after work.

[Carrie Laben · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's appropriate to not want to canonize FDR - the fact he was president by itself shows that he was no saint - but the author here tilts to the other side a bit, straining at gnats and swallowing camels in the course of putting FDR's often ambiguous actions in the worst light. In addition, time has revealed that whatever else he may have been Roosevelt was by-and-large right in his mistrust of the American businessman as a moral and political force, making some of Fleming's objections to the New Deal seem a bit less obvious than he clearly thinks they are.

[Mathieu Gaudreault · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great book.

Shows how FDR lured the USA in ww2, was naive to the soviets not by being communist but in his foolish attitude that his personal charm could "get at" Stalin and the soviets infiltration of the US goverment like Alger Hiss and Dexter White.

The pages about the physical detoriation of FDR is gripping and we see how FDR unconditional surrender policies affected for the worst the post war situation. Also this book show that Harry Truman was an under appreciated and realistic POTUS.

[Tomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book on the problems FDR faced regarding his domestic policies as well as the issue of WWII. I am quite convinced that “unconditional surrender” was a bad idea. I have never been a big FDR fan, and this book gave me more reasons to dislike him.

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book took me a long time to read. Very detailed, but readable.

[Erskine · Rating 3 out of 5]

My opinion of this book was very mixed. On the one hand, I thought Fleming put forth a number of valid criticisms of FDR, and his handling of WWII. The most telling, imo, was FDR's failure to understand the nature of Stalin and the Soviet Union, that they were our enemy every bit as much as Nazi Germany.

Fleming failed to convince me, however, that FDR was somehow responsible for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, nor was I convinced that it was a mistake to insist on the unconditional surrender of Germany.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fleming's book on FDR and the New Dealers covers a wide variety of topics and hits on many interesting details about the New Dealers. A great read that digs in depth into the fight during the fight that most people overlook and/or overlooked. An easy read for a biography/historical novel. Anyone interested in FDR should read this novel.

[Alec Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

An overview of the FDR administration and how it got the US into and prosecuted the world war. Very interesting to re-visit that time to see how divided the country was about war, and how we now use WWII as the great patriotic venture while ignoring its context.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

The final chapter titled Ashes of Victory where the author draws countless erroneous conclusions drags this book down to 4-stars. Otherwise it is an interesting account of the oft chaotic, cynically dysfunctional and sycophantic world of FDR.

[Mark]

This is one of a number of books that seek to prove that FDR put the fleet at Pearl to bait the Japanese. This book gives more background on his decision than the others.

[Rose]

973.91 Fle