FDR's Mentors: Navigating the Path to Greatness

by Michael J. Gerhardt

A unique and illuminating exploration of the key relationships that shaped Franklin Delano Roosevelt into one of America’s most definitive leaders and impacted his influence on the world stage, from presidential historian Michael J. Gerhardt, the acclaimed author of Lincoln’s Mentors and principal adviser in the official annotation of the Constitution at the Library of Congress.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt wasn’t a born leader. He became one. As a boy, he was in poor health, was insecure, and an average student at best. Growing into manhood, the lessons he learned came not from books but from influencers of his lifetime, beginning with Endicott Peabody, the most renowned US headmaster of the twentieth century. He instilled in Roosevelt a confidence and strength that empowered the young student and propelled him to greatness as one of the most revered presidents of the United States.

For Roosevelt, Peabody was only one of a small number of people who helped him develop the skills and temperament that enabled him to overcome the devastating effects of polio, to lead the nation through two crises, and to secure America’s leadership in the world. In FDR’s Mentors, Michael Gerhardt tells the extraordinary stories of the men and women who had a vital impact on Roosevelt’s life, career, and pragmatic personality: his distant cousin Teddy; his wife Eleanor; President Woodrow Wilson; journalist Lewis Howe; Winston Churchill; and New York Democratic Party leader Al Smith.

From the creation of the New Deal through Roosevelt’s war with the Supreme Court to the attack on Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt persevered with never-ending grit, grace, limitless optimism, and patience. It is thanks to the invaluable personal connections, inspiration, and wisdom of those who shaped and informed FDR’s historic presidency—one that has become a model of resilience and, in turn, an influence on every president who has followed in his path.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Presidents

368 pages, Hardcover

Published April 23, 2024

Reviews

[Angie Gazdziak · Rating 2 out of 5]

Many thanks to the publisher for the copy of the book I received in a giveaway. All opinions are my own.

This is impeccably researched and quite comprehensive; it probably could've been double the length and gone into even greater detail about the various mentors and confidants FDR had throughout his life. I wish that more emphasis and time had been given to Lucy Mercer and Eleanor Roosevelt. That felt like a pretty large oversight.

This is fairly dry and at times I felt like it was hard to keep up. Definitely worth a read for a history or WWII buff, but probably a slog for a casual reader or someone who likes to read biographies.

[Sherry Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very interesting, intriguing, historical read! I enjoyed the pictures shared in the book also. Pictures can tell a lot!

[Bargain Sleuth Book Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many thanks to NetGalley and the Kensington Books for the digital ARC of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I’m not going to rehash the synopsis above, but ostensibly, this book talks about the people who most influenced Franklin Delano Roosevelt throughout his life and how that shaped his presidency. This book works best during the first third, when a closer look is taken at Roosevelt’s young life. He was home-schooled until he was 14 and then sent to Groton. He did not fit in but formed a lifelong friendship with the head of the school, Endicott Peabody.

I really appreciated the fact that an historian concentrated on FDR’s relationship with Theodore Roosevelt, especially during his younger years. Most books just casually mention that they were fifth (or was it sixth) cousins and TR gave his brother’s daughter, Eleanor away to Franklin when they married. What is revealed is that FDR spent time with Teddy throughout his life and greatly admired his distant cousin. Most modern biographies have a tendency to imply Franklin did not get too interested in TR until he became president and decided he wanted to follow his relative’s career path. This book reveals the summer visits the young Franklin took to Oyster Bay to visit Theodore and how his admiration grew throughout his formative years.

There were other influences in FDR’s life, like Woodrow Wilson, Winston Churchill, and Al Smith. What doesn’t get as much time as it should warrant is the impact of the women in Roosevelt’s life: his wife, Eleanor, his mother, Sara, Frances Perkins, Daisy Suckley, Missy LeHand, etc. I’d like to see a book focusing on the women someday, much like the book just written about the women in Theodore Roosevelt’s life.

After FDR was elected President, the book details various battles and victories and defeats through his time in office. Here I felt the book lost the narrative a little bit. Sure, the information was interesting and some matters like trying to pack the Supreme Court were in more detail than other historical works, but little time was spent going back and analyzing how or why FDR made the choices he made based upon the life lessons learned from his mentors. There are a few times when the author analyzes several aspects of Franklin’s personality, such as avoiding conflict whenever possible and seemingly agreeing with whomever he was talking to, and then making a different decision.

There’s also this periodic comparing and contrasting of Roosevelt’s time in office with Abraham Lincoln’s. Not since 5th grade, when our class was divided into two camps to debate who was the better president, have I seen such frequent mentions of Lincoln and Roosevelt in the same breath. I’m not sure if it’s because the author wrote a similar work regarding Lincoln’s mentors, but sometimes I thought it was a bit of a stretch.

Overall, though, I still found this a very good book for lovers of presidential history or the Roosevelts in general. It does a good job of providing a new angle on understanding Roosevelt’s decisions as an elected official. I’m happy to add it to my ever-growing library.

For more reviews, visit www.bargain-sleuth.com

[Levi Horton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michael J. Gerhardt’s FDR’s Mentors bills itself as an exploration of the people who shaped Franklin D. Roosevelt, but that premise barely survives the first 100 pages. After a promising start, the book abandons its focus on mentorship and morphs into a run-of-the-mill biography. If the author wanted to write a straightforward life story of FDR, fine—but why dress it up as something else? The shift is jarring, and by the time I reached the middle of the book, I had to double-check that I was still reading FDR’s Mentors and not just another generic Roosevelt biography.

And if this was going to be just another FDR biography, it should have at least been thorough. Instead, Gerhardt skims past major aspects of Roosevelt’s presidency, most egregiously the internment of Japanese Americans. That moment in history deserved a real examination, but here, it’s practically an afterthought. Other key events are similarly rushed, leaving the book feeling more like a greatest-hits compilation than a meaningful study of Roosevelt’s leadership. If Gerhardt was going to drop the mentorship angle, he could have at least given us a more complete picture of FDR’s presidency instead of cherry-picking the easier moments.

I’ll give credit where it’s due—I did learn a few things about Roosevelt along the way. But let’s be honest, I could have gotten the same insights from any standard FDR biography without the bait-and-switch premise. The writing is fine, and the book starts strong, but it ultimately fails to deliver on its central idea. Three stars might be incredibly charitable, but I’ll give it for the concept, even if the execution left me rolling my eyes.

[SydnieRaeDaile · Rating 2 out of 5]

Writing this with a caveat, in that I have not and do not normally read biographies and only read this one as I won it from a Goodreads giveaway. I will give credit to the author for the immense amount of research that he must have undertaken to write this book. However I found it occasionally a little hard to keep up with what was going on and who was who. I did not enjoy how the chapters were split into years but then occasionally would go off on a tangent with a person which would go out of the time range.
I would still recommend this book to a variety of people. It was a wealth of knowledge and had some interesting facts and stories.

[Vickie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for anyone that loves history, biographies, or politics. Reading this book, one realizes that truly great Presidents are not brought up in a vacuum but have a group of people that influence them on the way to that station. FDR had many mentors, some less well-known now, but nonetheless important to the way he learned to communicate with others. He also learned in his first term how to compromise with those that were less than willing to go along with his wishes. Reading this book made me realize how far we have come.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Goodreads and Kensington Books for the ARC


I'm not sure that always holds its focus on his mentors, but this is a pretty solid look at FDR's political career. Certainly there are connections made to mentors but this book feels more like a political biography than anything else
I can't say I've read much about FDR so I can't say if there are better works out there, but I would soon this is a pretty good starting point for someone who wants to learn about FDR.

[Pablo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Here's why I'm giving this book 2 stars: It's called "FDR's Mentors", it has 3 pictures on the cover of the supposed mentors, but really the book is a biography of FDR, not a book about his mentors. That's a significant difference. If I was expecting to read a biograph of FDR, I would've given it a higher rating.

This 9 chapter book is laid out chronologically, along the lines of significant epochs in FDR's life. Because of that, some chapters cover only 1 year, while others cover 10 or more. This is the first book on FDR I've read, and I feel I learned a lot about him and his thinking, about his growth as a person and a politician. His mentors are mentioned. Their influence is noted. But this book isn't about them. It's about FDR. Other than Louis Howe who was part of FDR's campaign and inner circle for a long time, the other mentors get short thrift.

This book is studded with endnotes. My usual practice with endnotes is to steal a quick glance at them when I hit the first note. Frequently subsequent notes reference the same material so I remember that I don't need to check again until note x. Here's a funny thing in the last chapter with endnotes 23 and 25: the same quote, with 2 different sources. Hmm.

[James Junke · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an organizing principle “mentors” does not work entirely for someone as self assured as FDR. As the putative mentee he often did not listen to their advice. A fallible but remarkable president. Not sure the parallel to Lincoln worked. Some glaring mistakes of proofreading. Still an interesting read.

[Isabella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave this as a gift to my dad and he loved it. It is a phenomenal glimpse into the life of one of the most important presidents in American history.

Thank you to Goodreads and the publisher for the copy. All thoughts and opinions belong to my dad.

[AMAO · Rating 5 out of 5]

💯💯💯💯💯

[Serena Mancini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Captivating deep dive into the people who shaped FDR and influenced many decisions he made as President of the United States. Highly recommend for history buffs.