Upon his death, Hendrik van Loon was described in The Times obituary as 'one of the most engaging products of the marriage between Holland and the United States'. One of FDR's true and closest friends, van Loon emigrated from the Netherlands to the United States at age 20, in 1902. Working as a historian, journalist, illustrator, and radio commentator, van Loon immersed himself in American cultural life from the 1920s through the '40s, until his death three months before D-Day. Van Loon's professional relationships and friendships with such distinguished persons as Sinclair Lewis, Van Wyck...

A new and original analysis of the mission undertaken by FDR's Secretary of State during the Phoney War, Rofe's work explains the motivations and goals of Roosevelt through an analysis of the president's foreign policy and of the nature of the Anglo-American relationship of the time.

This book examines the internal controversies of the Roosevelt administration in connection with Spain during World War II, the role of the President in these controversies, and the foundations of the policy that was followed from the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War until the launching of Operation Torch in 1942.

From 1912 to 1940, social worker Harry Hopkins committed himself to the ideal of government responsibility for impoverished Americans. This look at Hopkins' life and social work career broadens our understanding of the political and cultural currents that led to the Social Security Act of 1935, the bedrock of the American welfare state. Hopkins' experiences as an advocate and administrator of work relief and widows' pensions in New York City during the Progressive Era informed his contribution to welfare legislation during the New Deal years. Written by his granddaughter June Hopkins, this...

The mutually energizing and often volatile friendship between Eleanor Roosevelt and Adlai Stevenson - unexplored in depth by scholars until this study - was one of the last century s remarkable political alliances. Both Stevenson and Eleanor Roosevelt shared a view of politics as a moral enterprise, one in which the fulfillment of its "mission" was the betterment of the human condition. This belief was the foundation upon which their legislative initiatives were constructed. Employing letters and diaries as well as contemporary media accounts, this book examines the perspectives, the...

American Catholics had long been a crucial voting bloc in the United States, particularly in the Democratic Party. With the nation mired in economic depression and the threat of war looming across the Atlantic, in 1932 Catholics had to weigh, perhaps more seriously than ever before, political allegiance versus religious affiliation. Many chose party over religion, electing Frankiln D. Roosevelt, a Protestant. No stone goes unturned in this volume, which grew out of an international conference in 1998 held at the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute in Hyde Park, New York. From the...

Drawing on his knowledge of the technical aspects of civil aviation, Alan P. Dobson's history of the international aviation system, from 1945 to the present day, stresses the hitherto unacknowledged role Franklin D. Roosevelt played in implementing the principles that came to govern the entire global aviation system.

Bringing together a who's who of Marshall scholars, this volume examines the major roles assumed by Marshall over his five-decade career - soldier; statesman and peacemaker; and leader and manager - to illuminate key issues and themes surrounding the man and his era.

In 1940, the USSR occupied and annexed Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, leading to calls by many that the Soviets had violated international law. This book examines British, US, and Soviet policies toward the Baltic states, placing the true significance of the Baltic question in its proper geopolitical context.

This book explores Eleanor Roosevelt's involvement in the global campaign for nuclear disarmament. Based on an extensive multi-archival research, it assesses her overall contribution to the global anti-nuclear campaign of the early cold war and shows how she constantly tried to raise awareness of the real hazards of nuclear testing.