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1932: The Rise of Hitler and FDR - Two Tales of Politics, Betrayal, and Unlikely Destiny
Nominated for the American Library Association (ALA)'s Notable Books Council's 2015 Notable Books List Two Depression-battered nations confront their destiny in 1932, going to the polls in their own way to anoint new leaders, to rescue their people from starvation and hopelessness. America elects a Congress and a president--ebullient aristocrat Franklin Roosevelt or tarnished "Wonder Boy" Herbert Hoover. Decadent, divided Weimar Germany suffers two rounds of bloody Reichstag elections and two presidential contests -- doddering reactionary Paul von Hindenburg against rising radical hate-monger Adolf Hitler.
The outcome seemed foreordained--unstoppable forces advancing upon crumbled, disoriented societies. A merciless Great Depression brought greater--perhaps hopeful, perhaps deadly -- FDR's New Deal and Hitler's Third Reich.
But neither outcome was inevitable.
Readers enter the fray through David Pietrusza's page-turning Roosevelt's fellow Democrats may yet halt him at a deadlocked convention. 1928's Democratic nominee, Al Smith, harbors a grudge against his one-time protege. Press baron William Randolph Hearst lays his own plans to block Roosevelt's ascent to the White House. FDR's politically-inspired juggling of a New York City scandal threatens his juggernaut. In Germany, the Nazis surge at the polls but twice fall short of Reichstag majorities. Hitler, tasting power after a lifetime of failure and obscurity, falls to Hindenburg for the presidency -- also twice within the year. Cabals and counter-cabals plot. Secrets of love and suicide haunt Hitler.
Yet guile, ambition--and terror--may yet still prevail.
1932's breathtaking narrative covers two epic stories that possess haunting parallels to today's crisis-filled vortex. It is an all-too-human tale of scapegoats and panaceas, class warfare and racial politics, of a seemingly bottomless depression, of massive unemployment and hardship, of unprecedented public works/infrastructure programs, of business stimulus programs and damaging allegations of political cronyism, of waves of bank failures and of mortgages foreclosed, of Washington bonus marches and Berlin street fights, of once-solid financial empires collapsing seemingly overnight, of rapidly shifting social mores, and of mountains of irresponsible international debt threatening to crash not just mere nations but the entire global economy.
It is the tale of spell-binding leaders versus bland businessmen and out-of-touch upper-class elites and of two nations inching to safety but lurching toward disaster. It is 1932's nightmare -- with lessons for today.
The outcome seemed foreordained--unstoppable forces advancing upon crumbled, disoriented societies. A merciless Great Depression brought greater--perhaps hopeful, perhaps deadly -- FDR's New Deal and Hitler's Third Reich.
But neither outcome was inevitable.
Readers enter the fray through David Pietrusza's page-turning Roosevelt's fellow Democrats may yet halt him at a deadlocked convention. 1928's Democratic nominee, Al Smith, harbors a grudge against his one-time protege. Press baron William Randolph Hearst lays his own plans to block Roosevelt's ascent to the White House. FDR's politically-inspired juggling of a New York City scandal threatens his juggernaut. In Germany, the Nazis surge at the polls but twice fall short of Reichstag majorities. Hitler, tasting power after a lifetime of failure and obscurity, falls to Hindenburg for the presidency -- also twice within the year. Cabals and counter-cabals plot. Secrets of love and suicide haunt Hitler.
Yet guile, ambition--and terror--may yet still prevail.
1932's breathtaking narrative covers two epic stories that possess haunting parallels to today's crisis-filled vortex. It is an all-too-human tale of scapegoats and panaceas, class warfare and racial politics, of a seemingly bottomless depression, of massive unemployment and hardship, of unprecedented public works/infrastructure programs, of business stimulus programs and damaging allegations of political cronyism, of waves of bank failures and of mortgages foreclosed, of Washington bonus marches and Berlin street fights, of once-solid financial empires collapsing seemingly overnight, of rapidly shifting social mores, and of mountains of irresponsible international debt threatening to crash not just mere nations but the entire global economy.
It is the tale of spell-binding leaders versus bland businessmen and out-of-touch upper-class elites and of two nations inching to safety but lurching toward disaster. It is 1932's nightmare -- with lessons for today.
544 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2015
37 people are currently reading
424 people want to read
About the author
David Pietrusza
36 books31 followersDavid Pietrusza’s books include 1920: The Year of Six Presidents; Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series; 1948: Harry Truman's Improbable Victory and the Year that Transformed America's Role in the World; 1960: LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon: The Epic Campaign that Forged Three Presidencies; and 1932: The Rise of Hitler and FDR—Two Tales of Politics, Betrayal, and Unlikely Destiny. Rothstein was a finalist for an Edgar Award in the Best Fact Crime category, and 1920 was honored by Kirkus Reviews as among their "Books of the Year." Pietrusza has appeared on Good Morning America, Morning Joe, The Voice of America, The History Channel, ESPN, NPR, AMC, and C-SPAN. He has spoken at The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, The National Baseball Hall of Fame, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, the Harry S Truman library and Museum, and various universities and festivals. He lives in Scotia, New York. Visit davidpietrusza.com
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
i-quit
January 31, 2018I tried for a really long time but I just can not get into this one. It should be exactly what I am interested in, both FDR and Hitler, but no matter how long I set it aside and then try to read again later, it is simply not working for me.
March 15, 2020
Not bad, but I wanted to like this one more. Basically, there are two books in one: the first is about FDR’s election in 1932, and the second is about the Nazis’ rise to power over multiple elections by 1932. It is one chapter about each topic back and forth throughout.
My favorite parts were about the WWI and post-WWI years of Hitler, Hitler and women including Eva Braun, President Hoover’s failed regime, the relationship between FDR and Eleanor, and Democrat internal politics. My least favorite part was the German political side...there were just too many names going back and forth and I found myself slightly confused at times.
This is a pretty good book, but not as good as “1920” or “1948” from Pietrusza.
My favorite parts were about the WWI and post-WWI years of Hitler, Hitler and women including Eva Braun, President Hoover’s failed regime, the relationship between FDR and Eleanor, and Democrat internal politics. My least favorite part was the German political side...there were just too many names going back and forth and I found myself slightly confused at times.
This is a pretty good book, but not as good as “1920” or “1948” from Pietrusza.
April 2, 2023
Disappointing, fairly long-winded book on two world leaders who were opposed to one another during WWII. The author points out that Roosevelt was not the leader we remembered, his love affair with his wife’s social secretary (Lucy Mercer), and his hard driven rise to become president of the United States against fairly major odds. Eking out a victory for governor by just over 25,000 votes out of four million, it propelled the wealthy man forward. The author points out that Roosevelt was friends with Herbert Hoover, supported him for president. It was interesting to read that despite Hoover’s work on the economy, how his stock declined with the stock market and his previous strong views of success gave way to people pilling on him – and his presidency.
Pietrusza also outlines the start of Hitler’s rise, born in Austria but interested in the other side of the boarder – in Germany. The author points out that, “Keeping Hitler from his easel were two avocations: devouring the daily newspapers and political debates.” Only operas and pastries kept him away from his quest for power, according to the author. The author speaks of Hitler’s gaining in political strength and how he “become the rock star of German political orators.” While he did not have an economic program, he certainly had his grievances. The author spoke of Hitler being a “youth movement” that was aided by violence, including the brown shirts. The business community and Catholic Church opposed him. Yet, the Nazi party exploded in the early 1930’s, moving the party from just over 800,000 votes to nearly 6.4 million votes, from ninth place to second place. Large rallies highlighted the spirited leader and some industrialists started to come to Hitler’s side.
It was interesting that the author reported that Goebbels had not always been antisemitic, and even dated a half-Jewish teacher at one point. That changed by the mid-20’s.
Roosevelt was a dark horse to oppose Hoover; Clevelander Newton D. Baker was the rising star. Interesting, Hoover had hoped his opponent would be the wheel-chair bound Roosevelt. Roosevelt lost state after state – Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Indiana, Texas and California. But Roosevelt fought back and started winning delegates. Against the tradition, he started to campaign throughout the United States. One person said, “Roosevelt has most of the delegates but no friends; the others have most of the friends but no delegates.”
It was interesting to hear about how African American votes were up in the air. Traditionally Republican, they started to question the commitment of Republicans when they couldn’t pass an anti-lynching bill. Yet, Roosevelt’s VP candidate was a southern without a good record on civil rights. In 1932, the number of Black GOP delegates to half of what it was in the past. Later Roosevelt courted the Black vote.
The fight was more difficult that we later thought. In Detroit, Henry Ford posted this notice in his plants: “We are convinced that any break in Hoover’s program would hurt industry and employment. To prevent times from getting worse and to help them to get better, President Hoover must be re-elected.” The GOP bought two hours of air time and filled it with President Coolidge and business people. Still, Roosevelt won, capturing 57.4% of the vote.
The two sides were set for the Second World War.
This book lacked the focus of the author’s earlier book I read about the 1920 presidential election, which was more clear and brought more new information to the reader.
Pietrusza also outlines the start of Hitler’s rise, born in Austria but interested in the other side of the boarder – in Germany. The author points out that, “Keeping Hitler from his easel were two avocations: devouring the daily newspapers and political debates.” Only operas and pastries kept him away from his quest for power, according to the author. The author speaks of Hitler’s gaining in political strength and how he “become the rock star of German political orators.” While he did not have an economic program, he certainly had his grievances. The author spoke of Hitler being a “youth movement” that was aided by violence, including the brown shirts. The business community and Catholic Church opposed him. Yet, the Nazi party exploded in the early 1930’s, moving the party from just over 800,000 votes to nearly 6.4 million votes, from ninth place to second place. Large rallies highlighted the spirited leader and some industrialists started to come to Hitler’s side.
It was interesting that the author reported that Goebbels had not always been antisemitic, and even dated a half-Jewish teacher at one point. That changed by the mid-20’s.
Roosevelt was a dark horse to oppose Hoover; Clevelander Newton D. Baker was the rising star. Interesting, Hoover had hoped his opponent would be the wheel-chair bound Roosevelt. Roosevelt lost state after state – Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Indiana, Texas and California. But Roosevelt fought back and started winning delegates. Against the tradition, he started to campaign throughout the United States. One person said, “Roosevelt has most of the delegates but no friends; the others have most of the friends but no delegates.”
It was interesting to hear about how African American votes were up in the air. Traditionally Republican, they started to question the commitment of Republicans when they couldn’t pass an anti-lynching bill. Yet, Roosevelt’s VP candidate was a southern without a good record on civil rights. In 1932, the number of Black GOP delegates to half of what it was in the past. Later Roosevelt courted the Black vote.
The fight was more difficult that we later thought. In Detroit, Henry Ford posted this notice in his plants: “We are convinced that any break in Hoover’s program would hurt industry and employment. To prevent times from getting worse and to help them to get better, President Hoover must be re-elected.” The GOP bought two hours of air time and filled it with President Coolidge and business people. Still, Roosevelt won, capturing 57.4% of the vote.
The two sides were set for the Second World War.
This book lacked the focus of the author’s earlier book I read about the 1920 presidential election, which was more clear and brought more new information to the reader.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 24, 2015
'1932' is the newest in a long line of 'Annal Histories' by David Pietrusza, whose more recent work ('1920: The Year of the Six Presidents', '1948', etc.) has focused on watershed election years in presidential politics.
In his latest outing, Pietrusza returns to a personality that had been a bit player in one of his previous books and a ghost in another: the stricken yet effervescent Governor of New York, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Pietrusza's Roosevelt is a breath of fresh air, not yet the statesman-president and war commander who saved the country from certain doom during the Great Depression, he is calculating, cautious, every bit the master politician and charmer that students of political history know him to be. Of particular note in Pietrusza's treatment of Roosevelt is his refusal to varnish over FDR's interactions with either the Hon. James Michael Curley or the Hon. 'Gentleman Jimmy' Walker, the ne'er-do-well mayors of Boston and New York City, who, in their own ways, held his nomination in their hands. Here, too, comes William Gibbs McAdoo (a man forgotten to history who likely shouldn't be), Raymond Moley, Adolf Berle, Jim Farley, Lorena Hickcock, and the rest, brought to colorful, dynamic life.
Interestingly, Pietrusza departs from his earlier historical retellings of annual presidential contests by taking his readers across the stormy Atlantic and setting them smack-dab in the center of Germany's Weimar Republic during the Age of Anxiety and the birth of the Nazi Party. Here I found myself well-served by having read Richard J. Evans's magisterial 'The Coming of the Third Reich' previously, if only to keep straight the game of political musical chairs that was going on within both the Nazi Party and the larger German political fracas. Though here, too, Pietrusza doesn't festoon his second protagonist, the itinerant artist-cum-political roustabout-cum-outsized megalomaniac Adolph Hitler in a dark cape and a moustache-twirl.
Certainly, Hitler is given his due as a show in search of an audience, and this, I think, is where the book is strongest. By comparing both Roosevelt and Hitler, we are shown how truly similar they were as political animals -- both charming, both magnetic, both conniving, and both absolutely committed to being all things to all men. The differences between the two, Pietrusza points out, are many, but perhaps most on-the-nose is his pointing out that Hitler only ever wanted to destroy German society and remake it in his image; in contrast, Roosevelt resisted calls to dictatorship in a quest to gird, support, and expand the American way of life.
This is, as the title implies, a record of only one year during a watershed period. We aren't treated to an overview of the legislative bonanza during FDR's vaunted First Hundred Days, nor are we present at the carnival of horrors in the Reichstag that led to the Enabling Act, the Night of the Long Knives, and German dictatorship. Those are topics for another time and other books.
Winston Churchill once said that meeting Franklin Roosevelt was a bit like popping your first bottle of champagne. Reading David Pietrusza's a bit like that, too. You should try it.
In his latest outing, Pietrusza returns to a personality that had been a bit player in one of his previous books and a ghost in another: the stricken yet effervescent Governor of New York, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Pietrusza's Roosevelt is a breath of fresh air, not yet the statesman-president and war commander who saved the country from certain doom during the Great Depression, he is calculating, cautious, every bit the master politician and charmer that students of political history know him to be. Of particular note in Pietrusza's treatment of Roosevelt is his refusal to varnish over FDR's interactions with either the Hon. James Michael Curley or the Hon. 'Gentleman Jimmy' Walker, the ne'er-do-well mayors of Boston and New York City, who, in their own ways, held his nomination in their hands. Here, too, comes William Gibbs McAdoo (a man forgotten to history who likely shouldn't be), Raymond Moley, Adolf Berle, Jim Farley, Lorena Hickcock, and the rest, brought to colorful, dynamic life.
Interestingly, Pietrusza departs from his earlier historical retellings of annual presidential contests by taking his readers across the stormy Atlantic and setting them smack-dab in the center of Germany's Weimar Republic during the Age of Anxiety and the birth of the Nazi Party. Here I found myself well-served by having read Richard J. Evans's magisterial 'The Coming of the Third Reich' previously, if only to keep straight the game of political musical chairs that was going on within both the Nazi Party and the larger German political fracas. Though here, too, Pietrusza doesn't festoon his second protagonist, the itinerant artist-cum-political roustabout-cum-outsized megalomaniac Adolph Hitler in a dark cape and a moustache-twirl.
Certainly, Hitler is given his due as a show in search of an audience, and this, I think, is where the book is strongest. By comparing both Roosevelt and Hitler, we are shown how truly similar they were as political animals -- both charming, both magnetic, both conniving, and both absolutely committed to being all things to all men. The differences between the two, Pietrusza points out, are many, but perhaps most on-the-nose is his pointing out that Hitler only ever wanted to destroy German society and remake it in his image; in contrast, Roosevelt resisted calls to dictatorship in a quest to gird, support, and expand the American way of life.
This is, as the title implies, a record of only one year during a watershed period. We aren't treated to an overview of the legislative bonanza during FDR's vaunted First Hundred Days, nor are we present at the carnival of horrors in the Reichstag that led to the Enabling Act, the Night of the Long Knives, and German dictatorship. Those are topics for another time and other books.
Winston Churchill once said that meeting Franklin Roosevelt was a bit like popping your first bottle of champagne. Reading David Pietrusza's a bit like that, too. You should try it.
February 17, 2017
An exciting tale with an impressive amount of research. The author delivers what he promised, focusing on the political careers of both men without going into other subjects of the age that are not relevant to understand both men as politicians.
The format where both stories are running in parallel increases the epicness of this tale. You know both men are going to clash in the greatest war in the history of the world and you saw them battling for power unaware of each other.
Hitler on one side, has always been determined to get everything since he started his political career and is aiming for nothing less than the chancellery. He is focused on the masses, travels a lot to meet as much people as possible and faces election after election; he is used to big crowds and to fight for every street, every block and every city.
On the other hand, Roosevelt, had a more conventional political career, he was born as part of the establishment, was part of a long political tradition and had powerful friends. He was focused on getting delegates and rich people, even using public money to advance his political prospects and sustaining dubious friendships with corrupt politicians and entities like the KKK. He spends just a little time trying to gain the masses and most of the work is doing by the Democratic party while his rival has been extremely weakened in his four years of Presidency.
You can devise the ambitions and power of Hitler almost since the beginning, while Roosevelt is a man that is still short of what he would become in the future. It 1932 Hitler was at his full potential, with all the bad implications that means while Roosevelt was a man still in the making that still has a long way to become the leader of the free world.
The format where both stories are running in parallel increases the epicness of this tale. You know both men are going to clash in the greatest war in the history of the world and you saw them battling for power unaware of each other.
Hitler on one side, has always been determined to get everything since he started his political career and is aiming for nothing less than the chancellery. He is focused on the masses, travels a lot to meet as much people as possible and faces election after election; he is used to big crowds and to fight for every street, every block and every city.
On the other hand, Roosevelt, had a more conventional political career, he was born as part of the establishment, was part of a long political tradition and had powerful friends. He was focused on getting delegates and rich people, even using public money to advance his political prospects and sustaining dubious friendships with corrupt politicians and entities like the KKK. He spends just a little time trying to gain the masses and most of the work is doing by the Democratic party while his rival has been extremely weakened in his four years of Presidency.
You can devise the ambitions and power of Hitler almost since the beginning, while Roosevelt is a man that is still short of what he would become in the future. It 1932 Hitler was at his full potential, with all the bad implications that means while Roosevelt was a man still in the making that still has a long way to become the leader of the free world.
August 12, 2019
I've enjoyed other election books by Pietrusza (especially his book on the 1920 election) But I have a number of complaints about this one...
I get the concept of trying to draw a parallel between 1932 in America and 1932 in Germany. It's interesting in concept. But in practice, it doesn't work. To alternate between chapters where Roosevelt is dealing with how to react to Jimmy Walker's corruption in NYC and you're watching the horror of Hitler rise to power in Germany is pretty jarring. It also makes Pietrusza's penchant for political minutiae look pretty trivial. Why do I care about some obscure fight for delegates in Maine when... you know... Hitler is coming to power in Germany!
I've read 4 of Pietrusza's books now and I think I'm on pretty good footing when I say that he has ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA how to weave one of the biggest stories of 20th century American history (the struggle for black civil rights) into his writing. African Americans occasionally pop up as bit players in this drama. It wouldn't matter except the references can be both enticing and maddening at the same time.
I don't understand the need for Pietrusza to delve into the sex life of every major historical character he writes about. Hitler is gross enough without speculation about what the nature of his relationship with his niece was. If Pietrusza had cut out the salacious details, this book could have been shorter and just as historically valuable.
I get the concept of trying to draw a parallel between 1932 in America and 1932 in Germany. It's interesting in concept. But in practice, it doesn't work. To alternate between chapters where Roosevelt is dealing with how to react to Jimmy Walker's corruption in NYC and you're watching the horror of Hitler rise to power in Germany is pretty jarring. It also makes Pietrusza's penchant for political minutiae look pretty trivial. Why do I care about some obscure fight for delegates in Maine when... you know... Hitler is coming to power in Germany!
I've read 4 of Pietrusza's books now and I think I'm on pretty good footing when I say that he has ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA how to weave one of the biggest stories of 20th century American history (the struggle for black civil rights) into his writing. African Americans occasionally pop up as bit players in this drama. It wouldn't matter except the references can be both enticing and maddening at the same time.
I don't understand the need for Pietrusza to delve into the sex life of every major historical character he writes about. Hitler is gross enough without speculation about what the nature of his relationship with his niece was. If Pietrusza had cut out the salacious details, this book could have been shorter and just as historically valuable.
February 24, 2017
Great concept but very poor writing. The way the authors weaves quotes make it difficult to read.
January 12, 2025
A really good book, as all of David Pietrusza's are.
This follows the parallel paths to power of Franklin Roosevelt and Adolf Hitler. Both came to ultimate power in 1932, which set them up for a major collision in 1941.
But all of that was in the future. At the beginning of the book, FDR was known more for his cousin Theodore than for his own accomplishments. Hitler was completely unknown.
Chapter by chapter, back and forth, we see how each followed their path, battling and negotiating along the way. It's a slow walk, recounting the political moments and elections (multiple in Hitler's case) that set the stage.
Personal information is also part of this book, which brings you closer to the two. We also learn more about the people who surrounded them.
I gave this one less than 5 because of a few puzzling typos, like "grizzly" instead of "grisly" and "Anchors Away" instead of "Aweigh."
This follows the parallel paths to power of Franklin Roosevelt and Adolf Hitler. Both came to ultimate power in 1932, which set them up for a major collision in 1941.
But all of that was in the future. At the beginning of the book, FDR was known more for his cousin Theodore than for his own accomplishments. Hitler was completely unknown.
Chapter by chapter, back and forth, we see how each followed their path, battling and negotiating along the way. It's a slow walk, recounting the political moments and elections (multiple in Hitler's case) that set the stage.
Personal information is also part of this book, which brings you closer to the two. We also learn more about the people who surrounded them.
I gave this one less than 5 because of a few puzzling typos, like "grizzly" instead of "grisly" and "Anchors Away" instead of "Aweigh."
July 3, 2017
All in all, this one wasn't quite what I was expecting or hoping for. It was heavier on the politics and not as much on the back stories and other events happening at the time. And it goes, I suppose by necessity, pretty far back in time, prior to 1932. So, while there were nuggets throughout, and overall it was interesting, at times it got a bit tedious. Still a worthwhile read, especially in light of what's happening in the world today.
March 22, 2020
A good book, but one thing drove me CRAZY. The author has a habit of putting parentheses in too many spots, and I found this VERY distracting. He could have easily incorporated it into the sentence in the regular way, or made a new sentence out of it. It destroyed the flow of the paragraph by interrupting the initial thought.
Apart from that, very interesting book, comparing Hitler and FDR in a pivotol year for both.
Apart from that, very interesting book, comparing Hitler and FDR in a pivotol year for both.
November 1, 2022
An interesting backstage look at the machinations and backroom deals behind the rise to power of both Hitler and FDR. Perhaps excessively personalist in its take on what drives politics, but offers a striking perspective on the chaos and violence of Weimar Germany and FDR's rather shallow approach to campaigning, along with shining a light on key factors in American politics in 1932 that have faded in the history books like the Bonus Army and the closing stages of Prohibition.
January 20, 2023
Amazing book. I love the in-depth analysis and documentation of Hitler's rise to power was a subtle, slow burn of incompetence, selfishness, and arrogance. Powerful men wanting to overthrow their rivals leads to one of the most vial men on the planet take complete control of a country and her army. Between Hitler and FDR's opposite walks to power and eventual destiny, it is difficult to criticize the past for "not seeing it coming."
August 9, 2024
What a slog! It started off in the 1920s, which was interesting because I learned things about Hoover I hadn't known before. But then it just halted at 1932 and spun its wheels for the rest of the book. Every conversation, every primary opponent, every polling result. It didn’t get to anything interesting that either FDR or Hitler actually did after taking power. Only their campaigns in 1932. Well-written, but very, very dry. For a long book, the author neglected to include the interesting parts.
April 23, 2018
Interesting format following the parallel careers of these two until 1932. Of course differences but similarities to. Many, many aspects of both lives were quite surprising. The detailed politics was lost on me.
October 8, 2018
A very solid book. A nice change of perspective from The Conquerors (by Beschloss, years ago), Franklin and Winston (Meacham), 1917: Lenin and Wilson (Herman). There wasn't a lot of new material in this book, but it's an interesting read and a well written text.
February 25, 2020
A very informative write from David. Excellently researched and informs a reader of the paths these historical figures reached in 1932. A lot of stunning facts and occurrences on both men keep the attention and anticipation in what may transform next. Definitely a most in-depth read.
October 30, 2020
This book looks at the parallel careers of FDR and Adolph Hitler during the pivotal year of 1932. This is the year when they both rose to power.
February 2, 2021
Here's my joint review of 1932 and Jay Winik's 1944:
1932 and 1944: Two new books shine
spotlight on success, failure of FDR
By John Bicknell
Franklin Delano Roosevelt loved to keep secrets.
He didn’t want the public to know he was bound to a wheelchair, so he went to elaborate lengths to hide his inability to walk on his own. And when he was dying, his doctors hid it from the public. Even Roosevelt himself didn’t want to know.
Secrets of a different sort lie at the heart of two new books about Roosevelt the candidate and Roosevelt the president, with a special guest appearance by Adolf Hitler, before he became der fuehrer.
David Pietrusza’s 1932: The Rise of Hitler and FDR–Two Tales of Politics, Betrayal, and Unlikely Destiny and Jay Winik’s 1944: FDR and the Year That Changed History bookend the Roosevelt presidency and perhaps the most tumultuous dozen years of the 20th century. Both are well written, well researched from secondary sources and good reads. But they are very different books.
Pietrusza has become the premier chronicler of 20th century presidential campaigns, and his books on the elections of 1920, 1948 and 1960 are models of the breed.
The story of FDR’s campaign for the presidency that is the heart of 1932 is in that vein, but the simultaneous rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany adds both a complicating and clarifying parallel story.
The two men shared some significant similarities — indomitable wills, close attachments to doting mothers and a common moment in history in which economic distress drove rapid and extreme political change.
But it doesn’t serve the reader well to dwell on the similarities. It is the differences that matter, and they are much in evidence as the year 1932 unfolds.
Both FDR and Hitler are running campaigns, and Pietrusza’s easy, informal style moves back and forth between the two expertly. Without falling into the usual Roosevelt hagiography, he portrays the desperate hope at the center of the U.S. presidential election, distinct from the despair that drives the German parliamentary maneuvering.
In the end, Pietrusza’s book sheds some light on Roosevelt’s secrets while foreshadowing the events driven by Hitler that dominate Winik’s book.
In 1944, the ebullient and optimistic FDR of the summer of 1932, a man consumed by the desire to save his country from economic ruin, is replaced by an FDR who is sick, tired and confronting challenges that were almost unimaginable even in the darkest days of the Great Depression.
The war is all but won, and Roosevelt is assured of re-election to a fourth term. The campaign merits only a handful of pages. But the destruction of Europe’s Jews continues unabated, and dominates Winik’s narrative.
His retelling of the escape from Auschwitz of Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler and the tortuous — and ultimately futile — attempt to sound the alarm in the West is riveting.
And as the evidence of the unspeakable atrocities mounts, Roosevelt seems less the titan astride the world stage, which he had been for a decade, than a feeble old man not up to the challenge of confronting this final evil.
“Roosevelt was larger than life and endowed with exquisite timing; nothing seemed beyond his reach, or his ability to solve, or his imagination,” Winik writes. “Except one thing — a Holocaust increasingly unfolding in plain sight. He could never see beyond the exigencies of winning the war and crafting a postwar structure of peace.”
Winik goes to great lengths to indict Roosevelt on the charge of abandoning the Jews of Europe to their fate, but in the end refuses to convict him. In Winik’s version, the usual suspects — the State Department generally, the anti-semitic Assistant Secretary of State Breckenridge Long in particular, and bureaucratic inertia — take the fall for the pitiless American response that predated 1944 by several years.
It’s too bad. Winik’s dubious absolution of Roosevelt detracts from this otherwise superb and sobering rendering of the heartbreaking events of that crucial year.
1932 and 1944: Two new books shine
spotlight on success, failure of FDR
By John Bicknell
Franklin Delano Roosevelt loved to keep secrets.
He didn’t want the public to know he was bound to a wheelchair, so he went to elaborate lengths to hide his inability to walk on his own. And when he was dying, his doctors hid it from the public. Even Roosevelt himself didn’t want to know.
Secrets of a different sort lie at the heart of two new books about Roosevelt the candidate and Roosevelt the president, with a special guest appearance by Adolf Hitler, before he became der fuehrer.
David Pietrusza’s 1932: The Rise of Hitler and FDR–Two Tales of Politics, Betrayal, and Unlikely Destiny and Jay Winik’s 1944: FDR and the Year That Changed History bookend the Roosevelt presidency and perhaps the most tumultuous dozen years of the 20th century. Both are well written, well researched from secondary sources and good reads. But they are very different books.
Pietrusza has become the premier chronicler of 20th century presidential campaigns, and his books on the elections of 1920, 1948 and 1960 are models of the breed.
The story of FDR’s campaign for the presidency that is the heart of 1932 is in that vein, but the simultaneous rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany adds both a complicating and clarifying parallel story.
The two men shared some significant similarities — indomitable wills, close attachments to doting mothers and a common moment in history in which economic distress drove rapid and extreme political change.
But it doesn’t serve the reader well to dwell on the similarities. It is the differences that matter, and they are much in evidence as the year 1932 unfolds.
Both FDR and Hitler are running campaigns, and Pietrusza’s easy, informal style moves back and forth between the two expertly. Without falling into the usual Roosevelt hagiography, he portrays the desperate hope at the center of the U.S. presidential election, distinct from the despair that drives the German parliamentary maneuvering.
In the end, Pietrusza’s book sheds some light on Roosevelt’s secrets while foreshadowing the events driven by Hitler that dominate Winik’s book.
In 1944, the ebullient and optimistic FDR of the summer of 1932, a man consumed by the desire to save his country from economic ruin, is replaced by an FDR who is sick, tired and confronting challenges that were almost unimaginable even in the darkest days of the Great Depression.
The war is all but won, and Roosevelt is assured of re-election to a fourth term. The campaign merits only a handful of pages. But the destruction of Europe’s Jews continues unabated, and dominates Winik’s narrative.
His retelling of the escape from Auschwitz of Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler and the tortuous — and ultimately futile — attempt to sound the alarm in the West is riveting.
And as the evidence of the unspeakable atrocities mounts, Roosevelt seems less the titan astride the world stage, which he had been for a decade, than a feeble old man not up to the challenge of confronting this final evil.
“Roosevelt was larger than life and endowed with exquisite timing; nothing seemed beyond his reach, or his ability to solve, or his imagination,” Winik writes. “Except one thing — a Holocaust increasingly unfolding in plain sight. He could never see beyond the exigencies of winning the war and crafting a postwar structure of peace.”
Winik goes to great lengths to indict Roosevelt on the charge of abandoning the Jews of Europe to their fate, but in the end refuses to convict him. In Winik’s version, the usual suspects — the State Department generally, the anti-semitic Assistant Secretary of State Breckenridge Long in particular, and bureaucratic inertia — take the fall for the pitiless American response that predated 1944 by several years.
It’s too bad. Winik’s dubious absolution of Roosevelt detracts from this otherwise superb and sobering rendering of the heartbreaking events of that crucial year.
August 26, 2015
I want to start by commending the author on the extraordinary amount of time and and research he must have put into the writing of this book. This is likely to be the most comprehensive book ever to be written on this specific topic.
The book is presented in a concise timeline. The chapters alternate between US and Germany, allowing us to see how events unfolded, intertwined, and affected one another.
While this book is essentially about the coinciding rise of Hitler and FDR, there are a whole lot of other people involved and featured here. At the beginning of the book, there is a glossary of names along with brief biographies. A good chunk of the book isn't as much focused on Hitler and FDR as it is on the people surrounding them. We see how these other players within various political parties influenced situations and changed outcomes.
For me, the overwhelming attention to detail made for a slightly tedious read. Every campaign tidbit seemed to be included here. Some of this was interesting, but the minutiae began to numb my brain. I also felt the writing lacked an engaging narrative, making it feel too much like a recitation of facts. I don't think this book is particularly well suited to the casual reader. It is, however, ideal for anyone fascinated by the politics of the era.
One other thing to note: This book shows as 544 pages in print. Don't let this number deter you. I would guess that it's actually about 400 pages of reading. I read this one my Kindle, and the content ended at 62%. The remainder of the book is devoted to notes, organized by chapter.
*I was provided with an ebook copy by the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.*
The book is presented in a concise timeline. The chapters alternate between US and Germany, allowing us to see how events unfolded, intertwined, and affected one another.
While this book is essentially about the coinciding rise of Hitler and FDR, there are a whole lot of other people involved and featured here. At the beginning of the book, there is a glossary of names along with brief biographies. A good chunk of the book isn't as much focused on Hitler and FDR as it is on the people surrounding them. We see how these other players within various political parties influenced situations and changed outcomes.
For me, the overwhelming attention to detail made for a slightly tedious read. Every campaign tidbit seemed to be included here. Some of this was interesting, but the minutiae began to numb my brain. I also felt the writing lacked an engaging narrative, making it feel too much like a recitation of facts. I don't think this book is particularly well suited to the casual reader. It is, however, ideal for anyone fascinated by the politics of the era.
One other thing to note: This book shows as 544 pages in print. Don't let this number deter you. I would guess that it's actually about 400 pages of reading. I read this one my Kindle, and the content ended at 62%. The remainder of the book is devoted to notes, organized by chapter.
*I was provided with an ebook copy by the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.*
December 28, 2015
Thorough research is exemplary, but 185 footnotes in 19 pages (as an example) seems a bit much.
December 29, 2015
I really enjoyed reading this book. As usual David Pietrusza writes a well researched book, that adds insight into the histories of we'll known people. I give this book 4.25 stars.
February 25, 2016
It is interesting to compare and contrast the circumstances leading up to the elections of these two very different men in the same year.
December 13, 2016
If you like "Big Man" history full of teleological thinking and skin-deep analysis this is the book for you.
January 25, 2017
Written like a thriller, this is a great comparison in leadership, tenacity and guile. Generously sprinkled with quotes and anecdotes. Highly recommended
March 21, 2020
A little bit breezy, but a good overview. Pietrusza clearly loves elections. Full review: tylerwolanin.com/blog/2019/11/21/what...
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