Happy Days Are Here Again: The 1932 Democratic Convention, the Emergence of FDR--And How America Was Changed Forever

by Steve Neal

Book Overview

Political conventions in years past were more than pep rallies for preselected candidates -- they were suspenseful, no-holds-barred battles for the nomination. In 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060013761
• ISBN13: 9780060013769
• Release Date: July 2004
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.2" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Titans of an Era

The highlight of Steve Neal's book is not its excellent telling of the convention maneuvering or arcane party rules that led to FDR's nomination in 1932. The best part of the book is the mini-bios it offers of the titans of the Democratic Party in the early 1930s. That includes figures history remembers in rich detail like 1928 nominee Al Smith and former Treasury Secretary William McAdoo. It also includes less well known figures such as Chicago Mayor Cermak and former War Secretary Newton Baker. The mini-bios, told in successive chapters during the book, present a great cast of characters. Those characters than operate in the environment of the convention Neal presents. The one character that remains elusive in Neal's telling, perhaps because he is somewhat detached from the convention wrangling in New York, is FDR himself.

Oh the Drama

Before they became the highly polished love fests that they are today political conventions were high drama events that often caught the imagination of the country. There were fights over the platform, the convention rules and credentials with the members of almost every convention deciding which delegations to seat when more than one delegation showed up from the same state. Then after all that the convention would get around to nominating a candidate for president. The Republicans had their share of contested conventions but it was usually the Democratic convention where most of the fireworks were to be found. The Democrats you see had the 2/3 rule, which meant that a candidate had to get 2/3 of the delegate votes in order to be nominated and over the years that rule had on many occasions put a stop to the candidacy of many front-runners. The 2/3 rule and its history gave great pause to Franklin Roosevelt and his staff because FDR came into the 1932 Chicago convention with well over half of the votes but no where near 2/3 of the votes and there was a very strong stop FDR movement afoot. Mr. Neal looks at this drama in detail and tells the story is such a way as to bring the reader up onto the edge of his seat in anticipation of just what might happen next. Quite an accomplishment when you consider that the reader already knows who will win when it is all said and done. The author takes each of the major contenders and leads the reader through a brief history of their candidacy and their career in public service and some of these guys like Alfalfa Bill Murray are colorful to say the least. Among the major players at this convention were political legends Al Smith, Joe Kennedy, John Nance (Cactus Jack) Garner, William Randolph Hearst, Clarence Darrow, Jane Adams and Cordell Hull. Two of the major players at this convention Chicago Mayor A.J. Cermak and Louisiana Governor Huey Long were not only extremely colorful but also bound for assassination. In February of 1933 a bullet meant for Roosevelt would fell Cermak who had opposed FDR and in 1935 Huey Long who had been instrumental in holding the South for FDR in 1932 but had since turned against him was felled in the Louisiana State House. With characters like these to work with Neal has a great cast for his story and he does them all justice. Mr. Neal has written a gripping account of this watershed convention and it is an account that no history lover or political junkie will want to pass over. He has captured the back room wheeling and dealing, the energy and the high drama of the convention floor as the Democratic Party charted the course of its future. Despite knowing how the story ends you will find it very difficult to put this book down.

Engaging look at FDR and U.S. Politics

This is a gripping narrative of the 1932 Democratic Convention in Chicago, which nominated Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) of New York for President. Today Mr. Roosevelt (1882-1945) is widely recognized as a great leader, elected four times despite having polio, the man who launched the New Deal programs that changed America and who led the USA through most of World War II. But here we see that the front-running Roosevelt was on shaky ice at the 1932 convention because candidates then needed a 2/3rds vote for the nomination. FDR faced powerful opposition from former nominee Al Smith, house speaker John Nance Garner, Governor Albert Ritchie, Newton Baker, and other powerful figures. Of course, Roosevelt had strong allies, including Louisiana's notorious Huey Long, plus key advisors Louis Howe and James Farley. The author describes the strengths and weaknesses of the major players, setting the stage for the drama that unfolded. Readers also see how FDR's lieutenants offered Garner the Vice Presidency in a near-desperation move after the third ballot that worked and kept Roosevelt's coalition from unraveling. All this occurred at a convention where Democrats knew they were likely winners against President Hoover in November due to the onset of the Great Depression. Author Steve Neal is political correspondent for the Chicago Sun-Times, and he's written a superb narrative. Some may question whether FDR's coalition at the 1932 convention was as tenuous as Neal suggests, but few will fail to be engaged by this remarkable story.

When Conventions Still Mattered

I read this book in the midst of the '04 convention season, and welcomed the journey back to a time when political parleys actually meant something. The late Chicago journalist Steve Neal (he passed on in February) recounts the '32 Chicago convention that propelled FDR on the path to the White House and immortality. FDR's nomination was no sure thing, despite his entering the Chicago convention with a strong majority of delegates. Indeed, Neal shows how close FDR came to being denied the nomination, as past Democratic frontrunners like Champ Clark (1912) and William McAdoo (1924) had before him. At the time, Democratic candidates needed to amass two-thirds of the delegates to cinch the nomination -- a threshold that assured Southern states a voice in the selection of a candidate, and made for protracted, multi-ballot fights (more than 100 in '24) and brokered conventions. FDR abolished the two-thirds rule (replacing it with a simple majority standard) and only two subsequent Democratic conventions went past the first ballot. An eclectic cast of characters loomed large in the machinations that secured FDR's nomination -- for example, Joe Kennedy and WR Hearst, who cleared a path for Cactus Jack Garner to be given the VP slot; Huey Long, whose support was ironic in light of The Kingfish's later vitriolic attacks on FDR, and Big Jim Farley, FDR's brilliant campaign manager. But no one played a more central role than McAdoo, Woodrow Wilson's son-in-law and Treasury Secretary. No fan of FDR's, he swung the deeply divided California delegation into the New York Governor's camp at the decisive moment. This deft maneuver thwarted the ambitions of FDR's bete noir, Al Smith (who had foiled McAdoo hopes in '24) and McAdoo's old nemesis Newton Baker, who was the likely beneficiary of a deadlocked convention. (At one point, FDR offered to throw his support to Baker.) This book takes its title from the FDR campaign's theme song. But I was surprised to learn that "Happy Days Are Here Again" was actually a substitute when the original theme song --"Anchor's Away" (paying homage to FDR's stint as assistant Navy Secretary) -- was deemed too subdued for the raucous Chicago partisans. Political junkies looking for a short reprieve from the '04 presidential sweepstakes would do well to pick up Neal's new book. It'll transport you back to a time when political conventions still mattered.

FDR - The likely, but not foreordanied candidate...

Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The very name conjures up images of a Great President, a great governor, and a great man who overcame physical challenges to become that great leader. In his final book, Steve Neal has given us the story of the 1932 Democratic National Convention, where FDR was nominated for President for the first time. Neal does a fantastic job of giving us biographical sketches, including political philosophies, of the contenders for the nomination, and then dives right into the excitement of the convention itself. FDR may have been the leader in delegate count at the start of the convention, but that did not mean he had the nomination all wrapped up. Unlike today's conventions, Democratic conventions prior to 1936 required a 2/3 majority to nominate the candidate. FDR did not have a 2/3 majority when the convention opened, thus necessitating his political operatives to wheel & deal in order to secure the nomination. It is this political wheeling & dealing that makes the book so wonderful & readable. The back room efforts with Ritchie and Baker, and the deal made with John Nance Garner that secured the nomination for FDR are given ample attention in this book. I found that I had a terribly hard time putting the book down once I started reading it. It is well written, and an absolute must read for any FDR afficinado.