Alan Brinkley: A Brief Summary

Franklin Delano Roosevelt book by Alan Brinkley is considered to be a brilliant biography of America’s thirty-second President. As he himself noted, “No president since the nation’s founding has done more to shape the character of American government” (p. 62). Indeed, the main aim of this short biography is to highlight Roosevelt’s greatness and guile that to most went unnoticed. As Brinkley claimed and most scholars agree, “No president since Lincoln has served through darker or more difficult times,” Roosevelt is recognized as a resilient President that led the country through the worst economic crisis in history (p. 98). In addition, Brinkley aims to provide a concise, but vivid narrative of Roosevelt’s character and notable achievements,
Therefore, Brinkley discusses the main features of Roosevelt’s legacy and its impact on what we currently acknowledge as American Politics. As a matter of fact, his compelling method to prove his argument is to present Roosevelt as the “figure of myth: a man for all seasons, all parties, and all ideologies,” who did not possess an ideal personal life, but was nonetheless, considered the most powerful public figures in American politics (p. 2). Brinkley successfully and consistently assembles numerous beliefs about Roosevelt to prove his thesis, citing strong arguments by correlating positive and negative perceptions regarding his personal and political life. As Brinkley claimed, Roosevelt, on the one hand, was considered successful when he influenced American reform policies through his presidency and was known as a great defender of democracy and equality in both the United States and the world. However, Roosevelt was also known for his poor decision making that led to various injustices and social