Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

As early as the 1950s, scholars began to write on the pre-presidential career of Franklin D. Roosevelt. However, despite the popularity of Roosevelt's iconic status in American politics and the American presidency ( Leuchtenburg 2001 ), publications on the early career of FDR are not nearly as prevalent as publications on the life of Abraham Lincoln. The existing literature, while adequate, continues to show gaps in knowledge and interpretation. Further work on the early career of the 32nd president would enrich and extend knowledge into this relatively undeveloped aspect of his life. The first studies of Franklin D. Roosevelt were written by close associates ( Lindley 1931 ; Moley 1939 ; Tully 1949 ), but within a half dozen years following his death, historians began to prepare lengthy, often multi-volume, studies of him. The first generation of Franklin Roosevelt biographers, writing in the 1950s, were deeply committed to the political agenda of Roosevelt and the New Deal. Frank Freidel (1952–90) , Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr (1957) , and James McGregor Burns (1956) wrote sympathetic and appreciative studies of Roosevelt, and their interpretation remained relatively unchallenged, especially in textbooks of US history, for the next 20 years. Beginning in the 1960s, but especially in the post-Watergate era, historical writing on Roosevelt was more critical. Kenneth Davis crafted ... log in or subscribe to read full text