The Roosevelt Myth

by John T. Flynn

Franklin D. Roosevelt is considered the most sainted president of the 20th century. You have to look far and wide to discover the truth about his character and policies. But as John T. Flynn noted in this landmark 1948 volume, FDR actually prolonged the Great Depression and deliberately dragged the country into a war that seriously compromised American liberties.What's more, he did this despite campaign promises to slash bureaucracy and cut spending. He ran as a small-government liberal, a fact (among a million) that has been completely forgotten today."Flynn's book is a careful account of Roosevelt's presidency. Flynn was no businessman, no Republican shill. He was a respected, old-line liberal journalist who made his name with a series of books attacking big business. That's what makes his indictment of Roosevelt all the more notable." Investor's Business DailyFlynn wrote a devastating indictment. If the contents of the book were widely known, the monuments erected in FDR's honor would be torn down forthwith.To search for Mises Institute titles, enter a keyword and LvMI (short for Ludwig von Mises Institute); e.g., Depression LvMI

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction, American History, Economics, Biography, American

441 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1948

About the author

American journalist best known for his opposition to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and to American entry into World War II.
He started at the New Haven Register, but eventually moved to New York; there he was financial editor of the New York Globe. During the 1920s and 1930s, he wrote articles for such leading publications as The New Republic, Harper's Magazine, and Collier's Weekly. He became one of the best-known political commentators in the United States. Like Oswald Garrison Villard, another key figure in the Old Right, Flynn was a leftist with populist inclinations during this period. He supported Franklin D. Roosevelt for president but criticized the New Deal. In 1939, he predicted that Social Security would be under water by 1970, and insolvent by 1980.
During the Cold War period, Flynn continued his opposition to interventionist foreign policies and militarism. An early critic of American involvement in the affairs of Indochina, he maintained that sending US troops would "only be proving the case of the Communists against America that we are defending French imperialism."
Flynn became an early and avid supporter of Senator Joseph McCarthy. This was in part because Flynn (even in his early left-wing views) had always been firmly anticommunist and in part because McCarthy shared Flynn's dislike for the Washington/New York establishment.
In 1955, Flynn had a formal falling-out with the new generation of Cold War conservatives when William F. Buckley, Jr., rejected one of his articles for the new National Review. This submission had attacked militarism as a "job-making boondoggle." Flynn retired from public life in 1960.

Reviews

[Sean Rosenthal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting Quotes:

“Roosevelt, who always viewed any criticism of himself as a perversion of true democracy, was outraged. The president of the United States wrote a personal letter to a magazine editor declaring that Flynn ‘should be barred hereafter from the columns of any presentable daily paper, monthly magazine, or national quarterly.’ Whether or not as a consequence of FDR’s spite, the New Republic dropped the column by Flynn it had been publishing since 1933, a sing things were changing in the circles of left-liberalism. In the years to come, FDR would use the FBI, the IRS, and other agencies to spy on, harass, and intimidate his critics. This—and his lying, his constant lying—more than any putative mental affliction, explains the hatred that so many cherished for Franklin Roosevelt.”

-Ralph Raico, Introduction to John Flynn’s the Roosevelt Myth

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“At 11:30 the telephone rang. It was Hoover. He told Roosevelt he was still willing, with his consent, to issue the proclamation against hoardings and withdrawals [to stop the banking panic]. He asked Roosevelt if he agreed with him there should be no closings. Roosevelt answered: Senator Glass is here. He does not think it is necessary to close the banks—my own opinion is that the governors of the states can take care of closings wherever necessary. I prefer that you issue no proclamation of this nature . . .Then Glass asked Roosevelt what he was going to do. To Glass’ amazement, he answered ‘I am planning to close them, of course.’ Glass asked him what his authority was and he replied: ‘The Enemy Trading Act’—the very act Hoover had referred to and on which Roosevelt had said he had no advice from Cummings as to its validity. Glass protested such an act would be unconstitutional and told him so in heated terms. ‘Nevertheless,’ replied Roosevelt, ‘I’m going to issue a proclamation to close the banks.’ . . . After delivering his inaugural address, Roosevelt issued a proclamation closing all banks.”

-John Flynn, the Roosevelt Myth

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“First, and most important, was the NRA and its dynamic ringmaster, General Hugh Johnson. As I write, of course, Mussolini is an evil memory. But in 1933 he was a towering figure who was supposed to have discovered something worth study and imitation by all world artificers everywhere. Such eminent persons as Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler and Mr. Sol Bloom, head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House, assured us he was a great man and had something we might well look into for imitation. What they liked particularly was his corporative system. He organized each trade or industrial group or professional group into a state-supervised trade association. He called it a corporative. These corporatives operated under state supervision and could plan production, quality, prices, distribution, labor standards, etc. The NRA provided that in America each industry should be organized into a federally supervised trade association. It was not a corporative. It was called a Code Authority. But it was essentially the same thing. These code authorities could regulate production, quantities, qualities, prices, distribution methods, etc. under the supervision of the NRA. This was fascism. The anti-trust laws forbade such organizations. Roosevelt had denounced Hoover for not enforcing these laws sufficiently. Now he suspended them and compelled men to combine.”

-John Flynn, the Roosevelt Myth

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“The reporter asked:“
“‘Mr. President, are you a Communist?’
“‘No,’ said Roosevelt.
“‘Are you a capitalist?’
“‘No.’
“‘Are you a Socialist?’
“‘No.’
“Then the young man asked what his philosophy was.
“’Philosophy?’ the President was puzzled. ‘Philosophy? I am a Christian and a Democrat—that’s all.’”

-John Flynn, the Roosevelt Myth

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“Amid all the other difficulties, the President was presented with the soldiers’ bonus bill. He vetoed that but had an arrangement with the Democratic leadership that they would pass it over his head. Thus the President could get credit for trying to kill it while the Democrats would get credit for actually passing it.”

-John Flynn, the Roosevelt Myth

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“The Republicans adopted a platform [in 1936] which did not differ much from the Democratic platform of 1932. When accused of stealing the Democratic platform of 1932, the Republicans replied ‘Why not? The Democrats have no more use for it. Moreover it is in perfectly good condition—it was never even used.’

-John Flynn, the Roosevelt Myth

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“Roosevelt over the radio said the whole question was after all a simple one—just ask yourself one question, Are you worse off now or better off than when we took office?”

-John Flynn, the Roosevelt Myth

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“The Supreme Court had invalidated not only the NRA and the AAA, but a whole string of Roosevelt’s New Deal laws. After all, there was and is a Constitution and Roosevelt had swept it aside in his impetuous drive for the numerous contradictory New Deal measures. His conception of the structure of the government was never really clear. The independence of the courts is something which all parties had accepted as a matter of course. Yet Roosevelt could suggest to Chief Justice Hughes that it might be well if Hughes discussed controverted constitutional decisions with him while he would discuss proposed legislation with the Chief Justice. The veriest law tyro would see the impropriety of this. Yet Roosevelt, in telling of the incident, described Hughes’ coolness to his suggestion as evidence of the Court’s ‘unwillingness to cooperate.’”

-John Flynn, the Roosevelt Myth

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“The reasons given by Roosevelt for his plan were wholly lacking in frankness. He did not say he wanted to pack the Court with a batch of judges who would vote as he wished. He put it entirely on the ground that because of the age and infirmities of so many judges the Court was hopelessly behind with its work . . . On the first day of the open hearings, Senator Wheeler rose and read a letter from Chief Justice Hughes, in which the Justice called attention to the fact—a fact well-known to lawyers—that the Supreme Court’s docket for the first time in many years was absolutely up to date. There were no cases lagging behind for any reason. Hughes had been not merely the presiding judge, but a competent and exacting administrator of the Court’s affairs. This letter completely punctured the whole pretense on which Roosevelt’s plan was based.”

-John Flynn, the Roosevelt Myth

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LOOK UP HOOVER’S SPEECH PAGE 188 OF BOOK

-John Flynn, the Roosevelt Myth

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“About this time [when Roosevelt was elected President] a gentleman named John A. Sargent, in Boston, who was making $7500 a year—the hard way—as an insurance salesman, saw the possibilities in [Roosevelt’s oldest son Jimmy. He managed the formation of an insurance firm called Roosevelt and Sargent . . . [Long list of entities Jimmy for the insurance from] . . .
“The Columbia Broadcasting Company was subject to a federal commission. Jimmy got its insurance. Walter Home, an insurance broker, owned property on which the Fox West Coast Theatre building stands and the lease provided that he should have the insurance. At the time Joe Schenck, the movie magnate whose concern was interested in this theater was in jail and applying for a federal pardon. Home was told that the $315,000 policy on this property had to be shifted to Jimmy . . .
“In 1934 his insurance earnings were only $37,215. His total earnings for the year were $49,i67.They were $44,668 in 1936. By 1937 they were $61,000 for the year. And in 1939 they were $100,000, or $25,000 more than his father got as President of the United States . . .
“This was graft. Let us be honest about it. That is the name for it. It was graft fully known to the President. Dudley Field Malone, Assistant Secretary of State under Wilson, called on Roosevelt to investigate his son's insurance business. The President's answer was that he would do nothing to prevent his son earning a living . . . And as the war arrived, with the vast business of the government running into countless millions with big corporations all over America, the insurance business of Roosevelt and Sargent grew by leaps and bounds. What its earnings were no one knows.”

-John Flynn, the Roosevelt Myth

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“[Franklin Roosevelt’s son] Elliott was a schematic business man and his mind turned to deals and promotions. One of Roosevelt's early acts in foreign affairs was to recognize Soviet Russia. Three months later—February 28, 1934—Elliott went into a deal with Anthony Fokker to sell the Soviet government 50 military planes for a price which would leave a commission of half a million dollars for Elliott and the same for Fokker, who told a Senate committee the price was excessive but that Elliott had enough influence with the Export-Import Bank and the Russian Purchasing Commission in this country to swing the deal at this price. Elliott was only 23 at the time . . .

“In May, 1936, Elliott Roosevelt arrived at the White House from Texas and promptly applied to the Federal Communications Commission to have these four stations transferred to Mr. Hearst. One Commission member objected but the two Democratic members were for instant approval without a hearing. The objecting member didn't like the idea of the President's son appearing before the Commission which his father had appointed. Then in a month or two the summer arrived and the objecting member left on his vacation. As soon as he was out of town and on only an hour's notice the remaining two called a snap meeting and approved the transfer. A member of the President's family called from the White House to urge the transfer ‘'because it meant so much to Elliott.’ It did indeed. He got a large sum for each of the stations transferred and was engaged as vice-president of the operating company at a large salary. Thus Elliott began his radio career . . .

“The Chicago Tribune estimated that Elliott's earnings from 1933 to 1944 inclusive amounted to $1,175,000 or roughly $100,000 a year and practically every dollar was made on the strength of his White House connection.”

-John Flynn, the Roosevelt Myth

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“[Eleanor Roosevlt] accepted the most expensive gifts from private concerns and from foreign governments seeking favors—a $10,000 mink coat from Canadian fur breeders, a gold bracelet from Emperor Haile Selassie, a gold crown from the Sultan of Morocco, arid gifts from various American trade organizations. She said flippantly: ‘The President cannot take a present from a foreign government, but I can accept a present from anybody.’ No law should be necessary to restrain a President's wife. Theodore Roosevelt had a standing rule that presents of food to him should be sent to charitable institutions and all others returned to the senders. But with the Franklin D. Roosevelts the rule seemed to be to ‘get while the getting is good.’”

-John Flynn, the Roosevelt Myth

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“However, the President had enriched his personal collection of stamps upon a very large scale. But this is not all. When a new stamp is made the first proof from the original die has an especially great market value, merely because it is so scarce. After a stamp is issued the design is revised from time to time—a change in the lettering, the insertion of a little flag, a decorative curlycue here or there. The original die proof thus becomes more and more valuable, and in stamp collecting it is the scarcity feature of an article that makes the market value. It was a custom at one time when a new commemorative stamp was issued to permit some person—perhaps the senator or governor of the state involved in the commemoration or some other person connected with it—to have the die proof. But there were some abuses in which others got them. They became very choice articles on the stamp market, worth a great deal of money. Hence when Theodore Roosevelt was President he issued an order forbidding the delivery of these die proofs to any person. When Franklin Roosevelt became President, knowing of the value of these items and being the boss of the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, he issued an order to have delivered to him a large number of die proofs going all the way back to 1896. Under this new rule they could be delivered only to him. These he put into his personal stamp collection. When he died these die proofs alone, the result of this mass raid by the President, sold for $59,000 which went into his estate. The whole stamp collection, including the die proofs and the imperforate sheets, plus his otherwise modest collection, sold for $275,000.”

-John Flynn, the Roosevelt Myth

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“The war cost I reckon at 363 billion dollars. To form some estimate of this figure it may help to recall that during the 144 years which cover the administrations of all the presidents from Washington to the first inauguration of Franklin Roosevelt, the total expenditures of the federal government equaled 117 billion dollars. Yet in the seven years from 1941 to 1947, the cost of supporting the war and its consequences alone was 363 billion—three times as much in seven years as in 144 years of our history. The total amount expended in these seven years was 463 billion. I have subtracted a hundred billion to cover the sums which our extravagant government would have spent had we not entered the war. To complete this picture we must not overlook the solemn fact that we have paid to date only one-third of this prodigious bill. The remaining two-thirds stands against us as the national debt, the interest on which alone, when the debt is all funded, will be nearly twice the cost of government before Mr. Roosevelt came to power.”

-John Flynn, the Roosevelt Myth

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“Stalin thrust a barbed shaft into Churchill's temper. In one of his numerous toasts he raised his glass and said: ‘To the swiftest possible justice for all Germany's war criminals—justice before a firing squad. I drink to our unity in dispatching them as fast as we catch them, all of them, and there must be at least 50,000 of them.’ . . .
“Churchill having taken up the challenge, Roosevelt might have been well advised to remain out of it or, if he intervened, to either support Churchill or, in any case, attempt to mollify both men. Instead he said in a jocular vein: ‘Clearly there must be some compromise . . . Perhaps we could say that instead of summarily executing 50,000 we should settle on a smaller number, say 49,500.’ The Americans and Russians laughed. The British remained silent ‘in the presence of Churchill's mounting fury.’ Stalin was delighted.”

-John Flynn, the Roosevelt Myth

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“There was but three weeks now to the American elections. That is why Roosevelt wanted his agreement [to give Poland to Stalin] kept secret ‘for the time being.’ The news of this revelation was kept away from the United States until after the election was over.”
-John Flynn, the Roosevelt Myth
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“This was to be the President's schedule and the important part about it was that he was to go on the FOUR-HOUR DAY. His working hours were from 11:00 to 1:00 and from 3:00 to 5:00, the balance of the 24 hours were for resting, lying down, getting massaged, eating his meals and sleeping . . .
“A president, too ill to do more than few hours work a day, whose hands trembled, whose energies were feeble, whose mind was weary and who, at times, was only partially conscious of his surroundings, was not the kind of representative America needed to confront the far more experienced and subtle Churchill and Stalin in the disposition of the affairs of the world. A chief of staff in Roosevelt's condition would have been summarily removed if he did not have the decency to resign. A department head in peacetime as feeble as Roosevelt would have been promptly relieved. Yet this America, so powerful in her economic energies, so tremendous upon the seas, in the air, upon the battlefield, whose might astonished the world, now, in the crucial moment of victory when she would capture or lose the fruits of the victory, put her fortunes into the hands of a drooping, jaded and haggard man, a mere shell, drifting wearily to the grave. But America did not know this.”
-John Flynn, the Roosevelt Myth

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“The net result of all these various conferences and agreements was that our government put into Stalin's hands the means of seizing a great slab of the continent of Europe, then stood aside while he took it and finally acquiesced in his conquests. We gave him the planes, tanks, motor transport, guns, oil and other supplies to the extent of over 11 billion dollars without which he would have been helpless. We withheld our attack on Fortress Europe against the advice of all our military leaders until the prize was almost in Stalin's grasp. Then in a series of conferences with him we yielded it all in return for his promise to come into the United Nations on terms which enabled him to wreck that as an instrument of settling any serious international dispute.
“It will not do to say that all we yielded was eastern Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and parts of Rumania; that as to Yugoslavia, Rumania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, Stalin took these over by violating the agreement he made with us to hold free elections. Did Roosevelt really think Stalin would hold free elections when he agreed to let the Russian dictator conduct the elections - Stalin who had been exhibiting for years his idea of ‘free elections’ in Russia.
“At the end of all this, Russia held in her hands a vast belt of land running from the Baltic sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south, comprising eleven nations with a population of 100 million people.”
-John Flynn, the Roosevelt Myth

[Zachary Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nothing like a good dash of historical revisionism, especially given the ongoing baleful influence of the cult of FDR. Flynn's style is highly accessible and even the politicians he quotes talk like they haven't been groomed by PR consultants--a refreshing change from modern political discussions. FDR is revealed here as a mortal man, trying different remedies for depression as ad hoc expedients rather than as some all-knowing supernatural force magically righting the American economy. Above all Roosevelt emerges as a typical politician--a man of small mind and loose morals who enriched himself and his friends while political games with the lives of livelihoods of millions of Americans.

[Weathervane · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Flynn explains how Roosevelt was a lying, power-hungry, incompetent man whose primary skills were the art of manipulation and political maneuvering. Enlightening, to say the least.

[Master Chief · Rating 3 out of 5]

A 400 page book that needed only 150 pages to assert its important ideas:

- FDR essentially implemented Fascism in America. His economic plans were hard to distinguish from Mussolini or Hitler. We don’t know this today because we are mired in propaganda about him.

- he also desperately tried to drag us into WW2 against our wills and ensured that Japan/Germany would attack us, prompting us to join a war we maybe never would have joined otherwise.

That’s all you need to know. Flynn calls him a retard about 1,000 times though.

[Max P · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got exactly what I was looking for out of this book: a detailed account of the Roosevelt presidency that wasn't written by those who praise everything he did without question. While this book focused a lot on Economics, I found it to be incomplete in certain areas. What about his terrible monetary policy where he actually made it illegal to hold gold? What about unlawfully detaining all Japanese citizens, putting them in American concentration camps? These two actions should be talked about more as huge black marks in the Roosevelt presidency, but they are not or only barely mentioned in this book.

With the criticisms out of the way, this book did offer many details on the failed economic thinking of FDR. Also, it touched on his obsession with power and public approval (as are most politicians) without caring about the damage it would do to the country.

John Flynn was able to present evidence in a certain light while still keeping his writing evidence-based. If it weren't for this book, we would have very few full works that don't portray FDR as America's savior.

FDR was an awful president, but he is generally regarded as one of the best in history. Evidence presented in this book and those like it keeps the debate alive, even if it wasn't published recently. Also, kudos to the Mises Institute for giving the e-book away for free at mises.org.

[Marios Antoniou · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am no FDR apologist and I am aware of the many failures of the New Deal but this book really strains credulty FDR is portrayed as a manipulative sociopath who gleefully hoped that the Great Depression would worsen under Hoover so that he could appear as a saviour. According to Flynn the New Deal was nothing but a jumbled mixture of communist and Fascist policies. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion but I cannot take a book seriously when it's full of derogatory adjectives towards everyone the author opposes. To give an example: p175. Thorstein Vebblen: 'sneering mind' 'exploiting fake illness'. Not only does he disagree ideologically with the New Deal, he criticises FDR for corruption, allowing Pearl Harbor to proceed and any other crime imaginable. Nor is Eleanor spared she is called a fraterniser of red pinks and Red-fascists. Feels like watching Limbaugh or Beck or some alt-right conspiracy theorist. If you want valid critiques of FDR I recommend any other book but this.

[Jacob Hurley · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Flynn (no relation to Michael Flynn) was a mainstream journalist of the 30s and 40s who had very bizarre ideologies, nominally a democrat but intensely anti-communist and almost monomanically distrustful of FDR; this book represents his attempts to combine all of the scandals / secrets / criticisms of Roosevelt that he had spent the entire presidency writing about into a single and comprehensive narrative epic. His main criticism and thesis is that Roosevelt's virtue is a complete falsehood covering for a disorganized and mostly ignorant political machine, and whose successes were mostly illusory. The main bread & butter of this text is (what appears to be naive and outdated) economic criticism of Roosevelt's response to the Depression via the New Deal, which Flynn complains about as incredibly heavy on spending, illiberal regulation, and inflation-causing, and whose intentions were less reparatory in intent and more concerned with preserving Roosevelt's reputation and consolidating power in the hands of the federal government. Flynn was very fixated on the parallels between FDR's regulatory programs and Mussolini's corporatist fascism, although his argument (employing abundant, if often specious, first-hand testimony) is that Roosevelt was personally ignorant about any actual policy concerns and was mostly interested in his image and power, rather than being a deliberate fascist; as for the more facile accusation of communism against FDR, Flynn seems to think that there was no communism in Roosevelt's mind, but that his many and bloated organizations were quickly infiltrated by communists, both Russian-aligned and American anarchist, as well as traditionally corrupt grafters like the remnants of Tamany Hall and other Huey Long type figures. Flynn's over-arching argument is that these things were dangerous epiphenomena to Roosevelt's greater plan, of buying reputation through obtuse federal spending, and that (circa 1940) by the time the US had entered WW2 that there was no genuine economic recovery, but rather a needless extension of the Great Depression. The second half of the book is concerned with Roosevelt's deceitful manuevers to bring the US into WW2, the continued abuse of economic regulation arising from wartime policy, and Roosevelt's deliberate failure to recognize the threat Joseph Stalin was to pose after the war. Flynn's evidence for all this is, impressively, in a wide gathering of first-hand testimonies about small scandals peripheral to the Roosevelt administration, and also anecdotal evidence provided by those personally present during FDR's presidency.

In some ways, this book is very persuasive, in that Flynn presents a comprehensive and incredibly detailed analysis of what he felt to be Roosevelt's failures, and painting a very pessimistic image about the possibility of communist/fascist encroachment in the US government as a result of FDR's style of governance as well as concerns about the consequences for Europe and the world economy as a whole. However, despite his extremely analytical and concrete style, it becomes really apparently obvious how biased and deranged a political thinker Flynn is, being indeed the same type of journalist we see in sme of our less resounding media outlets of today. One issue is his reductive image of economics, which (despite Flynn's nominal liberalism) seems greatly aligned with the early variant of our present conservativism in Herbert Hoover's militant championship of small government and economic liberties, something which I do not find inherently objectionable but which Flynn in this case uses as a blanket criticism for a depression whose causes were, to my cursory research, vastly more complex than 'business needs time & space to recover'. The abundant graft and corruption in small scale American institutions that Flynn exposes here is, while interesting, often difficult to tie to Roosevelt, and moreover seems like a strategy of obscuring the actual New Deal policies and their over-arching effectiveness. Finally, a great deal of Flynn's criticisms take the form of painting Roosevelt as an ignoramus, blithely unaware of what was happening, which he usually sources from anecdotes of his peers who describe him as a relatively blase person; I'm not sure such anecdotes are at all sufficient to evidence the internal happenings of Washington DC, especially during a time where secrecy and discretion were of utmost importance to political proceedings.

This book, however, is at least amusing in its polemic tone (which at times reaches an almost Carlylean poetic style, although rarely for long) and its wide investigation of political institutions of the past; it's also delightful to see that the journalists of the past were as prone to disingenuity, convoluted arguments, and derangement syndromes as ours are today. If you are accustomed, as am I, to reading political journalism with a discerning eye and amused by the game of sorting out the journalist's delusions from reality, this book is not at all a bad read for those looking to learn about the FDR administration from start to finish.

[Davy Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I applaud Flynn for taking the out-gunned conservative side on FDR and the New Deal.

1948 hardback, 5th printing. Devin-Adair.

[Don Incognito · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't decided how extensively to review this book now that I'm finished. (It's a quick read for being a 445-page heavily detailed political/history text. I read it in nine days, which is an unusually high speed for me.)

This book was originally written in 1948, and was given a postscript in 1956 (I read the 1956 edition); the author lived through events he described. His book is an attempt to debunk the myth of Franklin Roosevelt's greatness and the myth of the New Deal's effectiveness in ending the Great Depression. (Whether due to his influence or not, the belief that the New Deal ended the Great Depression is probably already debunked to some extent, because when I was in high school in the mid-90s, my history and government teachers both stated clearly that the Depression was ended by WWII, not the New Deal. But Roosevelt is still seen as one of the greatest of American presidents.)

This book begins with the day of Roosevelt's first inauguration, and covers his entire presidency chronologically up to his death.

Salient details:

Roosevelt had no understanding whatsoever of economics, including the various economic factors that caused the Depression and what economic solutions were likely to effect economic recovery.

Roosevelt was not any sort of progressive, leftist, or Communist sympathizer. He had no political principles of any kind. He was interested only in whatever would bring him votes, political support, and he was an expert in that area. In short, he was nothing more than a politician, possibly the most skilled politician in American history.

Because of these two things--his total lack of understanding of economics, and his lack of political ideology--Roosevelt allowed two types of people to influence him as advisers and hangers-on in his administration:
1. Economic quacks: people who recommended foolish solutions for repairing the badly damaged American economy. With his lack of economic knowledge, Roosevelt was unable to identify bad advice, and the advice probably most influential him was the recommendation for spending unlimited amounts of money. This was based on a silly theory that government debt consists of the people's debt to themselves and is therefore meaningless.

[To be continued when I have enough concentration to finish. If you want to see my raw notes, send me a message.]

In the meantime, I offer these quotations:

"The Capitalist system can operate at its highest efficiency only when it is managed in accordance with those economic laws suited to its special character."

"The seeds of that disaster [the Great Depression] were first sown in New York State, of which Roosevelt was governor."

"The reader will fail to grasp the full meaning of these events unless he understands the origin of the depression. It was not in any sense a failure of the free enterprise system--generally referred to as Capitalism. It resulted from a group of grave abuses which afflicted that system."

"He [Roosevelt] had practically no understanding of the natural laws which provide the energy for private enterprise. His knowledge of economics was a total blank. He was essentially a politician."

"We liberated Europe from Hitler and turned it over to the mercies of a far more terrible tyrant [Stalin] and actually tried to sell him to the people as a savior of civilization."

"He [Harry Hopkins] was one of those maladjusted and surly creatures whose code was churned up out of his angry soul. He was a thoroughly bad character who would have been at home in an earlier manifestation in the court of Louis XV."

"What Roosevelt needed was some rational and healthy advice on how to bring the nation out of the chaos into which it had fallen. Instead he found himself under the influence of a collection of revolutionary spirits who were aflame with the hope not of bringing a recovery of the free system but of completing its ruin and building on the wreckage some form of socialist heaven."

The one thing I disliked is that on one or two occasions Flynn blatantly and unnecessarily insults Eleanor Roosevelt.

[Davis Hipps · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Roosevelt Myth is truly an amazing book. By that I mean: the book is engagingly written, impeccably sourced, and provides some new astonishment about the life and times of FDR on almost every page (of over 400)!

First published in 1948, just 3 years after Roosevelt's death, The Roosevelt Myth draws from a large number of memoirs written by the President's family, Cabinet members, Aides, and Advisors, as well as the author's own work as a reporter during the time in question. The book mostly deals with the time from FDR's first Presidential campaign to his death, with just a bit about the times before and after also included. As I mentioned in the preceding paragraph, there's a new astonishment on almost every page. These days FDR is hailed by people from all across the current political spectrum as one of our greatest presidents, if not the greatest. In this book, however, researched and written so close to the times in question, the myth that has become the received wisdom about FDR is laid bare.

I honestly faced times where I had trouble putting this book down. The writing is compelling, and, while necessarily negative, does not come across as mean-spirited. It is the work of a reporter laying out the facts for his readers in order to uncover the truth that had, even then, already begun to be buried by the myth. I cannot recommend it enough.

[Ken · Rating 5 out of 5]

This isn't my first book on FDR, but certainly confirmed much of what I have read from later authors as well as offered new light on the character of the man. I already knew that FDR was a habitual liar, but I didn't realize how shallow were his principles and certainly not how deceitful he was. I could never find how anyone, especially the intelligentsia, could rank him among the top 5 presidents of all time with the exception of potentially being someone who help the US get through the war. This book totally destroyed even that concession I have been willing to grant. It certainly pains me to now realize the depths of betrayal this man has tainted our country to the Communist march throughout the world post-WWII.

[Robert Brents · Rating 5 out of 5]

This carefully documented book makes it indisputably clear that FDR was a pathological liar, a sciopathic egomaniac and an intellectual flyweight who did NOT get America out of the Great Depression, but rather, made it worse and longer than it had to have been. I'm reading about "the depression you've never heard of" that took place between 1920 and 1921. If either Hoover or Roosevelt had been paying attention to the lessons of that economic crisis, they could have learned that the Great Depression could have been triaged and over faster if they had done only three things: (1) REDUCED the size of government; (2) Cut taxes; and (3) Cut tariffs.

[Allen Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good read. Well documented. You will never get this truth from any left leaning media or any socialist leaning politician or teacher.

[Arvid · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had read my father's copy long, long ago, back when I was in high school, have read it a couple of times since then, and, at last, just read it again. My father, a Great Depression/WWII-era Army Air Forces veteran ("The Greatest Generation"), of course lived through all of what Flynn writes about as a youth and young adult. His father was fortunate in having had a good and (relatively) secure job from the mid-1930s on, but even so, with depressed wages, pennies had to be pinched constantly.

Those of us who were in the earlier part of the Boomer generation learned, in full color, about the Roosevelt of the myth Flynn discusses, the titan who, with a gimlet eye and firm jaw, strode through the misery and wreckage of, first, the Great Depression and then unimaginably horrific war, and did this striding with ever mounting glory in each step.

Flynn is quite a good writer. One of his gifts was to know how to throw a punch that seemed like the proverbial mailed fist in a velvet glove, but actually the velvet glove is nowhere in sight. His scholarship is excellent, his sources difficult to deny, and he was there as a noted and excellent journalist through the whole thing.

Even though the thrust of the book is right on target, there are a few things that Flynn doesn't get exactly right, most notably his strong implication that FDR at least knew about and likely conspired to precipitate the attack on Pearl Harbor. At the time, there was very strong reason to hold this view, and many still do; however, much research has been done since the book was originally written (1948) and after Flynn's book revision of 1956. These seems no doubt, in light of all available evidence (I have read much of it), that Roosevelt did not do this however much he desired the U.S. to join the war.

There is what I would call overwhelming evidence to support this, the most impressive being what we might well call the definitive work on the subject of the run-up to Pearl Harbor: _At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor_, by Gordon W. Prange. Published in 1981, this 873-page tome is beyond exhaustive in its scope and coverage and includes the results of extensive interviews by the author, who had been Chief of the Historical Section in Japan under Gen. MacArthur, of nearly every surviving Japanese officer involved with the Pearl Harbor attack plus interviews with all sorts of involved Americans.

This book is part of a three-book Prange series--_December 7, 1941: The Day the Japanese Attacked Pearl Harbor_ and _Pearl Harbor: The Verdict of History_ being the other two)--that comprehensively cover the run-up to, the day of, and the aftermath of Pearl Harbor. I have all three and have read the latter two twice carefully and the first one multiple times, also carefully. Whatever Roosevelt's other faults--and they seem legion--Prange makes an overwhelmingly compelling case against his dastardly involvement.

There are other compelling sources, too, one of which I'll cite here because it is short and more likely to be read than Prange's huge book. Also, it is free to read by going to this website (functional at the time this review was written): https://www.archives.gov/publications.... The little work is called "How Roosevelt Attacked Japan at Pearl Harbor: Myth Masquerading as History," by R.J.C. Butow, an article published in _Prologue_, the quarterly magazine of the National Archives and Research Administration. Butow is Professor Emeritus of Japanese history at the University of Washington. He meticulously uses original sources here. I liked this so well that I printed it, sized it, and had it spiral-bound at Office Depot. It is only 34 small-format pages long, about half of which are the end notes.

Despite this Pearl Harbor misstep by Flynn, he is quite correct about FDR's yearning to get the country into the war, given that massive deficit spending was the only thing left for Roosevelt to use to mask the Depression, which he had failed at every turn to resolve. But because there was only so many domestic ways huge wads of money could be spent, a world war was a godsend for someone needing to dispense multiple billions of dollars willy-nilly.

And, yes, I have read other FDR biographies (e.g., most recently, _Traitor to His Class_, by H.W. Brands, 2009), so mine are not the effusions of someone hunkered in a cave while throwing darts at a Roosevelt portrait framed in a toilet seat. Those who still kneel at the altar of FDR will be outraged by this book even as they grit their teeth and admire the writing. It is amazing how someone can be such a comprehensive disaster on a worldwide stage and yet still be discussed in hushed and worshipful tones.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book took me a long time to read.  This fact does not make the book a bad one, but it does demonstrate that a particular context exists when it comes to my reading of materials.  If I have a physical copy of a book I will take it with me.  If a book is from the library and its due date is fixed, I have a high degree of motivation to finish off a book in a timely fashion.  Neither of those was the case here.  A friend of mine from online recommended a book about FDR, and I was able to find it online.  Of course, finding it online was one thing.  Reading it was an entirely different thing, especially since this book is more than 400 pages long and is a detailed discussion of FDR's flaws as a president and as a man.  It is hard, reading this book, to view FDR as anything more than the worst president in the history of the American republic, whether one looks at the efficacy of his policies or the character of the man.  The author makes FDR look overall like a man without honor and hits the point over and over and over again.

In terms of its contents, this work is divided into three smaller books.  The first of these books, containing eight chapters, looks at the Trial--and Error, of the first two new deals that took place over the course of FDR's first term as FDR won office, engaged in wild experimentation during his first 100 days, dealt with the banking crisis, and let the wild rabbits of deficit spending run forth.  The second part of the book, containing ten chapters, looks at the confusion of FDR's second term, including the forgotten depression of 1937, FDR's ill-advised war on the courts, the misadventures of such folks as Harry the Hop, various shock troops (!) of the New Deal, and the odd duck Henry Wallace, as well as FDR's break with the past by seeking a third consecutive term.  The third and final part of the book then contains fifteen chapters that look at Dr. Win-the-war and the various chicanery and Communist influence that took place under his watch, as well as the financial corruption of his family and the way that Stalin was able to dominate the diplomatic aspects of the war.  All in all, this book tells a sorry count of an administration that was based from first to last on sleight of hand and mendacity.

What lessons can be learned from this book aside from what sort of scoundrel FDR was?  There are at least a few lessons.  For one, the moral conduct of presidents can at least be inferred by what behavior they demand from their families.  The fact that FDR was okay with his wife and children using the Roosevelt name for their own corrupt business dealings suggests that he was okay with crony capitalism, which in fact he was.  This book also demonstrates one of the more fascinating aspects of American contemporary political problems, where those on the left within the United States engage in crony capitalism that is, in fact, fascist in nature while labeling any who are hostile to Communism in one or another form as being fascists or Nazis.  The aspect of projection by which actual fascists try to label their conservative critics as fascists is something that I have always been puzzled by, but the author convincingly shows that this tendency was present even within World War II during the FDR administration and is a problem that has lingered among such leftists ever since then.  Likewise, the addiction of the American economy to militarism can also be laid at FDR's charge, as it is his responsibility that the military-industrial complex got to be such a problem to begin with.

[krhealeo2 · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Emperor who had no clothes was encumbered completely with selfish schemes of self glorification and self enrichment.

When one reads this book in the year 2020 and sees the desperate current condition of our country right now they can only be cognizant that the seeds of our present difficulties were planted and selfishly nurtured by this vain narcissist, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The Democrat party was perfectly willing to concede to Roosevelt's lust for power at any cost, and, rather than learn any lessons, has instead adopted the same headlong grasp for power even at the risk of finishing the destructive course FDR so foolishly thrust upon our country. Every Democrat president elected since Roosevelt have only managed to lower the bar to its current dismal state, seemingly each vying to outdo Roosevelt in the diminishment and weakening of America. Sadly, the Republicans have not been any better. In 2020 it is no longer a question of whether our country will self destruct, but when.

[JW · Rating 3 out of 5]

A classic anti-Roosevelt polemic. Originally published in 1948 with a postscript added in 1956, the book is a primer on how liberal and conservative were defined in twentieth century America: whether you supported or opposed the New Deal. Thus John T. Flynn was considered to be a progressive prior to the coming of FDR, but because of his opposition to Roosevelt he has been designated a conservative. More accurately, he was Old Right for his opposition to an interventionist foreign policy continued into the Cold War era, making him an odd man out among mainstream conservatives. Still, Flynn shared the conservative critique of the New Deal’s deficit financing. What’s fascinating is the book’s discussion of the financial shenanigans of Elliot, James and Eleanor Roosevelt. Also, Flynn makes clear what other authors may soft peddle: Franklin Roosevelt’s tenuous relation to truth. Flynn condemns what others celebrate: how quickly Roosevelt could change policies.

[Thomas D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book

[Daniel Yi · Rating 5 out of 5]

FDR ran as a fiscal conservative in the 1932 election and excoriated Hoover for being a spendthrift. And that’s just the start of the unraveling of the myth of Roosevelt…

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A revealing look into the life and policies of one of our most famous presidents. While there are likely many things that could be said in favor of the myth Flynn here attempts to deflate, some of his criticisms are undeniable. Roosevelt massively increased the size of our government and our debt, severely weakened constitutional protections against government overreach, (can anyone say, "Commerce Clause?") involved us in a war resulting in the death of thousands of American soldiers, (not to mention foreign civilians) and rather than improving Europe's lot thereby, he turned over half of Europe to a worse tyrant than Hitler. All this, despite his repeated (lying) assurances to the American public that he would do nothing of the kind. Further, the communist influence on his regime are still being explored and revealed to this day.

America has never been the same since Franklin Roosevelt. We are no longer the "capitalist" or free nation we claim to be. Even if we grant that Roosevelt's socialist economic or military policies "worked," I find it hard to believe that there was no better way.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy and engaging, I learned a lot about why the President did/does what he did/does, and how good intentions are no excuse for unintended consequences. A common thread between F.D.R.'s and B.H.O.'s political theory is the arrogance of hubris; the President knows what's best for us, and he's willing to use coercion to prove it. Those of you who like more government rather than less, read this book, and then evaluate the guy you elected for president recently. Unfortunately, we're lacking attractive and honorable politicians from any of the major parties. And while you're at it, read Hayek's "The Road to Serfdom" as well.

[Brad · Rating 5 out of 5]

"It was a good deal like appointing one of Al Capone’s mob to make a study of the gangster problem."

Enjoyable witty writting, must read for all those who praise FDR as the greatest president. What great policies he had, such as ordering farmers to mow down one third of their crops to keep prices high while people are jobless and hungry waiting in the bread lines. Or how about the terrible criminal who pressed a suit for 5 cents less then what the NRA dictated https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkNRU...

Why oh why do people love this man

[Curtis Bentley · Rating 3 out of 5]

You likely won't find much new here. We've had over 60 years now for people to fight about Roosevelt. But this book was written shortly after his death (I believe), either just after (or maybe even during) WWII, when Roosevelt's stature was a great as it's ever been. As you read it, you can feel the author's need to try and cut Roosevelt down to size. I wasn't overly impressed, but a good read to try an understand a minority perspective of the times.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an eye-opener! This man was not the hero you think he was. This book was written not long after Roosevelt's presidency, so the author refers to many people and events that I was unfamiliar with, but I could follow it enough to be amazed at the propaganda that was and still is fed to the American public about this man. Our country is still reeling from his experiments, and is further headed down the path he wandered into.

[Charles M.]

A very different look at the Franlin D. Roosevelt persidency form a government insider. Flynn argues that FDR's New Deal programs did nothing to change the Great Depression and in fact, turned the American capitalism system into that of socialism, etc.

[Jessica Applin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have written many papers one the new deal, and the "court packing" scheme. I always found this book to be the right balance to the others I was reading.

[Bob Bingham · Rating 5 out of 5]

First published in 1948, but now in reprint edition. Really clears the air about FDR and his close associates.