Roosevelt Sweeps Nation

FDR’s 1936 Landslide and the Triumph of the Liberal Ideal

By: David Pietrusza

Narrated by: Jack de Golia

Award-winning historian David Pietrusza boldly steers clear of the past narrative regarding Franklin Roosevelt’s unprecedented 1936 re-election landslide, weaving an enormously more intricate, ever more surprising tale of a polarized nation; of America’s most complex, calculating, and politically successful president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, at the very top of his Machiavellian game; and the unlocking of the puzzle of how our society, our politics, and our parties fitfully reinvented themselves.

With in-depth examinations of rabble-rousing Democratic US Senator Huey Long and his assassination before he was able to challenge FDR; powerful, but hated newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst, who blasted FDR’s “Raw Deal”; wildly popular, radical radio host Father Coughlin; the steamrolled passage of Social Security and backlash against it; the era’s racism and anti-Semitism; American Socialism and Communism; and a Supreme Court seemingly bent on dismantling the New Deal altogether, Roosevelt Sweeps Nation is a vivid portrait of a dynamic Depression-Era America.

Crafting his account from an impressive and unprecedented collection of primary and secondary sources, Pietrusza has produced an engrossing, original, and authoritative account of an election, a president, and a nation at the crossroads. The nation’s stakes were high…and the parallels hauntingly akin to today’s dangerously strife-ridden political and culture wars.

©2022 David Pietrusza (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing

Enlightening

I thought I knew a lot about FDR. This was most enlightening. Everyone will learn details they hadn’t heard before. Very enjoyable listening. The narrator even pronounced the names correctly (all but Gannett).

Excellent read.

Another gem by David Pietruza. Really enjoyed the narration by Jack de Golia. Interesting slice of political history.