The Statecraft of Franklin D. Roosevelt with Historian David Kennedy | Hoover Institution

Quick Overview

Historian David Kennedy asserts that Franklin D. Roosevelt consistently ranks as one of the top one, two, or three most consequential American presidents alongside Washington and Lincoln because he presided over the third great societal upheaval: the Great Depression and World War II, fundamentally altering American society toward greater security and creating a more orderly international system.

Key Points: FDR consistently ranks as the number one, two, or three most consequential American presidents, grouped with Washington and Lincoln as leaders over society's three deepest upheavals (Revolutionary/Constitutional, Civil War/Reconstruction, Great Depression/WWII). Kennedy argues FDR possessed a clear vision for American society focused on creating more security, evidenced by legislation like the Social Security Act, which reduced risks associated with unemployment, old age, and investing. The first hundred days of FDR's presidency involved haphazard experimenting to counter the depression's immediate crisis (25% unemployment), but the more consequential legacy-defining period arrived later, particularly in 1935 with the Social Security Act. FDR's leadership saved the country from the twin dangers of communism and fascism, as noted by Keynes's warning that failure to implement rational liberal reform would open the path to extreme measures. The decision to adopt the 'Germany first' policy immediately after Pearl Harbor, despite Japan being the attacker, is cited as one of the greatest acts of 20th-century statesmanship, based on FDR's premise: "The defeat of Germany will mean the defeat of Japan, but the defeat of Japan will not mean the defeat of Germany." The critique that FDR gave away Eastern Europe at Yalta is countered by Kennedy, who states the dispositive decisions were ratified earlier at Tehran in 1943, as an inevitable consequence of the '90 Division Gamble' (scaling back mobilization) which ensured the Soviets would carry a larger military burden. The internment of Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor is viewed as a shameful and unconstitutional episode, complicated by falsified military records used to justify the evacuation order.