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The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope | 
| Author: Jonathan Alter
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy New: $10.88
You Save: $5.12 (32%)
Rating:  47 reviews
Sales Rank: 511
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 432
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 0743246012
Dewey Decimal Number: 973
EAN: 9780743246019
Publication Date: May 8, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
Jonathan Alter's bestselling and critically acclaimed account of how FDR lifted the country from despair and paralysis and transformed the presidency for all time.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 42 more reviews...
 At the hour of deepest crisis May 8, 2006
51 out of 55 found this review helpful
The picture Alter paints of the United States on March 5,1933 as FDR is about to make his First Inaugural is truly frightening. It is a country in which banks are closing in which there is rampant and growing unemployment, a country which has lost confidence in itself, in the institutions of democracy and its leaders. And therefore there are many including the most influential columnist of the time Walter Lippman who are contemplating the need for dictatorship.
Alter arrestingly describes how at this moment FDR prepared himself to take power. He had rejected a Hoover offer to undertake 'joint emergency' measures in the interim between his election and his taking office. He understood that drastic reform measures must be taken. In the course of his Inaugural the famous " The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" Roosevelt begins the dramatic action which will rescue American democracy.
Alter carefuly describes the the seven and a half months between Franklin D. Roosevelt's election as president and the end of the special session of Congress that quickly became known as the "Hundred Days.He describes the background of Roosevelt and how he was groomed for political greatness. And he too provides a dramatic and moving understanding of how Roosevelt won the hearts of the American people.
This is a riveting read, and most highly recommended.
Bold action
Revisiting The Depression In 1933 May 7, 2006
46 out of 57 found this review helpful
There are countless books on the most influential president of the 20th century : Franklin D. Roosevelt who guided America through the Great Depression and World War II. Geoffrey Ward's two volume study (1985 & 1989) of the pre-presidential Roosevelt focus upon the man while Conrad Black's "FDR : Champion of Freedom" (2003) is a 1000+ page political biography. Now Mr. Alter does a more focus study of the famous first 100 Days of his presidency in 1933 (and from which all future presidents are measured).
Mr. Alter assumes that the reader has no prior knowledge of FDR and the first half of the book re-visits familiar biographical territory of FDR's first 50 years. This is a prologue to his discussion of the 100 Days when FDR and his staff improvised legislation proposals on failing banks, failing farms, unemployment (hovering at 25%), etc. for passage by the Congress. The author is a skilled storyteller who will hold the reader's interest for a drama that unfolded over 70 years ago. "The Defining Moment" is an excellent introduction to the historical moment that FDR turned into legend.
Great to contrast with current situation.... May 7, 2006
35 out of 53 found this review helpful
It makes you wonder what it would be like if we actually had a competent leader when we faced the horrors of 9/11 and the Katrina disaster. We probably would have invaded the right country and brought the terrorists to justice and put the whole country to work rebuilding the gulf coast (in a Tennessee Valley Authority type progran) which united and benefits all involved.
Alter Defines Our Moment May 27, 2006
19 out of 24 found this review helpful
Defining Moment - Jonathan Alter
Jonathan Alter has recorded the first hundred days of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Presidency in a purist, accurate and well researched writing. We learn that Roosevelt was flawed, at best. He had a huge ego, in spite of his non-working legs due to polio. He loved the art of one-upmanship and brought it to an extreme level repeatedly, especially when dealing with his adversaries. Roosevelt had devious qualities, an enormous sense of humor and a need to get things done. He would delegate but would track the results of his assignment.
The defining moment for Roosevelt - the character quality that set him apart was his ability to listen, having surrounded himself with men who did not agree with his plans and policies. In fact, he welcomed the "devils advocate" routine he developed among his cabinet members and staff. Most particularly, was his ability to discard an idea when it was presented to him as a lousy one. Taking no offense, but attempting to learn from the dialogue, he quickly and happily abandoned a plan he might have spent hours or days devising. His determination was in the trying and success. Nothing else.
It was a different time in 1933. Our world was not so fraught with fear of crime, fear of foreigners. Unlocked doors and freedom to roam was the norm. The only fear that existed was economical after the Great Crash of 1929. This is where Roosevelt would step up to the plate and make bold moves to TRY to improve the state of the economy. If it did not work, he was perfectly content to say so and try something else. It was the trying that endeared the citizenry to him.
During the crisis at hand, closing of banks, no circulating cash, fear of the country failing to recover, Roosevelt used the magic of his voice to calm the citizens and brought about a confidence in his Presidency. He commenced a twice a week press conference in the oval office for over 100 reporters. Remember, the press was print at that time. His openness to answer questions and availability unmatched ever in the office, the media was quickly endeared to him, which, of course, was then reflected in their news reports. When Roosevelt began his fireside chats over radio, he designed the words he wrote and spoke, from observing or conversing with the laborer, the clerk, the janitor. He instinctively knew he had to understand their lives and what they were experiencing, before he could fix the problems.
It is certainly a time in our history we would not want to re-live, except by example. How different our lives would be today if the legislators worried about the welfare of the constituents as Roosevelt did, instead of the where the next donation to their campaign might stem. How different the leadership in foreign policy, education, immigration and the economy would be if our president had even an inkling of what it was like to be a farmer in Iowa, a bank clerk in Atlanta, a mason in Boston or even a waiter at the Watergate Hotel Restaurant. Yes, how different our lives would be if only the government - all three branches, knew what it was like living in America and not in their aerie lofts.
 The Triumph of Hope - an appropriate subtitle August 11, 2006
19 out of 24 found this review helpful
As I first started to read this book, my initial emotion was frustration - frustration that I had selected a book that I thought was about the first Hundred Days of FDR's administration but instead was a biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
As I continued through the book, I became more & more upset - I wasn't really learning anything about the Hundred Days. My frustration reached its climax when I finished reading the first 200 pages and FDR hadn't even been inaugurated into office as the 32nd President yet.
Yet my frustration quelled over the last 150 pages of the book. I enjoyed the way Alter described FDR's Presidency, and how those hundred days (and the next 4000+ days) really were a triumph of hope for people. Franklin Roosevelt, the man, took (as Alter put it) the "dying ember" of hope and transmutated it into a brilliant, glowing fire showcasing the American spirit and the desire to rebound from the depths of the Great Depression.
Alter explains how the formulation of such important "alphabet soup" agencies as the CCC, the TVA, and the NRA were critical to FDR leading the people of America back to their belief that America would survive, America could do it, and America will prosper despite the economic turbulence.
"The Defining Moment" is not an accurate title - Roosevelt's life was brief, but this book encompasses about 80% of his life (in as much detail as can be given in an almost 350 page narrative). There was no "defining moment" spelled out in this book - Alter needed to spend more time explaining the true significance of the first hundred days and less time delving into the biographical details of his subjects' early years.
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