I am re-reading the 1948 Pulitzer Prize winning book, “Roosevelt and Hopkins,” by Robert Sherwood, four-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author, screen writer, playwright, poet, critic and speechwriter in the last years of the late President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Sherwood received Pulitzer Prizes for Drama (1936, 1939, 1941), Academy Award for Best Screenplay (1947) and Pulitzer Prize for Biography (1948) for “Roosevelt and Hopkins.”
This book is one of a series of remarkable and personal accounts from people who knew and worked with FDR. Another contemporary account is “Working with Roosevelt,” (1952), by Samuel I. Rosenman, (1896-1973)- who was a senior advisor to presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman, He was also the first official White House Counsel, then called Special Counsel, between 1943 and 1946. Rosenman edited “The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt,” published in 13 volumes from 1938 to 1950. He received his Law Degree from Columbia University. Served as a Justice of the NY State Supreme Court. His granddaughter is the wife of Attorney-General Merritt Garland.
Another notable firsthand account was the three volumes of, “The Secret Diary of Harold Ickes,” (1950-2) written by FDR’s Secretary of Interior, Harold L. Ickes (1874-1952.) Ickes was a graduate of the University of Chicago, where he received his BA and LLB. He is the father of Harold M. Ickes, who was the Deputy Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton, 1993-7.
The last of these remarkable, accounts was from the unfinished writings of the late Supreme Court Justice, Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) which was written in the early 1950’s, before his untimely death in 1954., In the remarkable book, “That Man,” published in 2004, fifty years after his death, Justice Jackson offers an intimate, personal portrait of Roosevelt–on fishing trips, in late-night poker games, or approving legislation while eating breakfast in bed, where he routinely began his workday. We meet a president who is far-sighted but nimble in attacking the problems at hand; principled but flexible; charismatic and popular but unafraid to pick fights, take stands, and when necessary, make enemies. “That Man” is not simply a valuable historical document, but an engaging and insightful look at one of the most remarkable men in American history. In reading this memoir, we gain not only a new appreciation for Roosevelt, but also admiration for Jackson, who emerges as both a public servant of great integrity and skill and a wry, shrewd, and fair-minded observer of politics at the highest level.
Of course, there were many other intimates of FDR, including Louis McHenry Howe, Marguerite “Missy” Le Hand, Frances Perkins, Henry Morgenthau, Daisy Suckley, Benjamin V. Cohen, Thomas Corcoran, Edward Flynn, James Farley, Basil O’Connor his law partner, members of the Brain Trust; Raymond Moley, Adolph Berle, Rexford Tugwell, along with Henry A. Wallace and John Garner, his first two Vice –Presidents. A number of them wrote books about their time with FDR and others did not.
But, of course, the story of Hopkins and his unique relationship with Roosevelt, is told eloquently, by Robert Sherwood (1896-1955), who knew and worked with them both. Hopkins became an American statesman, an unprecedented public administrator, and finally a presidential advisor. He was the most trusted deputy to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during WWII.
Hopkins was a unique individual, who was born in Grinell, Iowa, in 1892, where he graduated from Grinnell College. His career before being hired by the then Governor of NY, Franklin Roosevelt, was not only extensive, but remarkable.
Hopkins settled in New York City after he graduated from Grinnell College. He accepted a position in New York City’s Bureau of Child Welfare and worked for various social work and public health organizations. Hopkins moved to New Orleans where he worked for the American Red Cross as director of Civilian Relief, Gulf Division. Eventually, the Gulf Division of the Red Cross merged with the Southwestern Division and Hopkins, headquartered now in Atlanta, was appointed general manager in 1921. He was elected president of the National Association of Social Workers in 1923. In 1931, New York Temporary Emergency Relief Administration chairman Jesse I. Straus hired Hopkins as the agency’s executive director. His successful leadership of the program earned the attention of then-New York Governor Roosevelt, who brought Hopkins into his federal administration after he won the 1932 presidential election.
Before the war, Hopkins directed New Deal relief programs before serving as the 8th United States Secretary of Commerce from 1938 to 1940 and as Roosevelt’s chief foreign policy advisor and liaison to Allied leaders during World War II. During his career in Washington, Hopkins supervised the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), the Civil Works Administration (CWA), and the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which he built into the largest employer in the United States.
His philosophy on the unemployed is reflected in these words: “Three or four million heads of households don’t turn into tramps and cheats overnight, nor do they lose the habits and standards of a lifetime… They don’t drink any more than the rest of us, they don’t lie any more, and they are no lazier than the rest of us…. An eighth or a tenth of the earning population does not change its character which has been generations in the molding, or, if such a change actually occurs, we can scarcely charge it up to personal sin.
Hopkins was not afraid to express his strong opinions. He reflected his concern for the poor in testimony in front of a Senate committee. He said: “People don’t eat in the long run – they eat every day.” He also stated, “That the Constitution means nothing to a starving man!” This reflects his character as much as anything else he said or did! He was accused most famously for this oft-quoted remark!
“We shall tax and tax, and spend and spend, and elect and elect!” This was first published by Frank Kent, and then by Joseph Alsop and Robert Kintner in their syndicated column as well as Arthur Krock in the New York Times. Hopkins denied he ever said that and denied “the whole works and the whole implication of it.” Later, under oath, Krock admitted that he had not interviewed any eye witnesses to the conversation.
Years later, the quote was attributed to Max Gordon, a successful Broadway producer, who had met Hopkins at the Empire City Raceway one summer’s afternoon. Also present were Heywood Broun and Daniel Arnstein. Both of them reported their version of the momentous conversation, which was extremely offhand and somewhat bored on Hopkins’ part. Neither recalled that he had made that famous, or infamous statement. According to Max Gordon’s recollection of the racetrack conversation, even though Hopkins didn’t actually say those precise words, “That’s what he meant!” That baseless canard would follow Hopkins and cause a great deal of wear and tear on him, but by 1940, more critical world events would intervene and he much more problems to deal with.
Hopkins had made many, many enemies in Washington with both anti-New Deal Republicans and conservative Democrats. He was a driven and dedicated man, who ruffled many feathers, cut through “red tape” and the bureaucracy that dominated Washington for endless years.
Later, in the days before we entered World War II, he oversaw the $50 billion Lend-Lease program of military aid to the Allies and, as Roosevelt’s personal envoy, played a pivotal role in shaping the alliance between the United States and the United Kingdom.
Hopkins enjoyed close relationships with President Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and was considered a potential successor to the president until the late 1930s, when his health began to decline due to a long-running battle with stomach cancer.
As Roosevelt’s closest confidant, Hopkins assumed a leading foreign policy role after the outset of World War II. From 1940 until 1943, Hopkins lived in the White House and assisted the president in the management of American foreign policy, particularly toward the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union. He traveled frequently to the United Kingdom, who’s prime minister, Winston Churchill, recalled Hopkins in his memoirs as a “natural leader of men” with “a flaming soul.”
Hopkins, who was noticeably ill during a visit with the president in May 1940, spent the night in a White House suite. At one time President Abraham Lincoln’s study, the suite was just down the hall from Roosevelt’s room. Hopkins lived there for the next three and a half years. When he married for the third time in July 1942, his wife, Louise, joined him and his daughter Diana in the White House. The family remained there until December 1943, when Harry rented a house in nearby Georgetown. Other members of Roosevelt’s circle, such as Rexford Tugwell and Henry Morgenthau, came to accept Hopkins’ closeness to the president as a fact of Washington life. Not everyone, however, was happy with the arrangement. Harold Ickes resented Hopkins’ insider role, and the two remained at odds for years. “I do not like him,” Ickes once noted in his diary, “and I do not like the influence that he has with the president.” Wendell Willkie, Roosevelt’s opponent in the 1940 presidential campaign, asked Roosevelt why he placed such faith in Hopkins when he knew that others resented it. The president told Willkie that if he ever became president, “You’ll learn what a lonely job this is, and you’ll discover the need for someone like Harry Hopkins who asks for nothing except to serve you.”
Winston Churchill’s initial reaction upon receiving word of Hopkins’ impending visit was, “Who?” When the tall, lean American arrived in London, however, he quickly impressed Churchill with his forthrightness. British officials who were initially taken aback by Hopkins’ rumpled appearance soon accepted him as he was. He seemed to the British to be the stereotypical American: confident, secure, and oblivious to formality. Sherwood wrote that “Hopkins naturally and easily conformed to the essential Benjamin Franklin tradition of American diplomacy, acting on the conviction that when an American representative approaches his opposite numbers in friendly countries with the standard striped-pants frigidity, the strict observance of protocol and amenities, and a studied air of lip-curling, he is not really representing America—not, at any rate, the America of which FDR was President.”
Hopkins’ visit heartened British citizens, who saw his presence as a sign of forthcoming U.S. help. Churchill confidante Brendan Bracken told the prime minister’s secretary, John Colville, that Hopkins “was the most important American visitor to this country we had ever had . . . . He could influence the president more than any living man.”
For his part, Hopkins was struck by the spirit of the British people. At a dinner given by newspaper magnate and Minister of Aircraft Production Lord Beaverbrook, Hopkins addressed the press. He described the feelings he experienced while visiting Britain’s blitzed cities and spoke of the affection and admiration that Roosevelt had for Britain. Beaverbrook later wrote that Hopkins’ ”speech left us feeling that although America was not yet in the war, she was marching beside us, and that should we stumble she would see that the President and the men about him blazed with faith in the future of Democracy.”
Scheduled for two weeks, Hopkins’ visit ended up lasting nearly six. Staying at the prime minister’s residence at 10 Downing Street, Hopkins met with government officials, business leaders, and many others, trying to assess what kind of assistance Britain needed. He toured industrial sites and shipyards, witnessed bomb damage firsthand, and was impressed with Britain’s resolve to fight. Churchill affectionately dubbed him “Lord Root of the Matter” for his ability to quickly get to the heart of problems.
Hopkins attended the major conferences of the Allied powers, including the Cairo Conference (November 1943), the Tehran Conference (November–December 1943), the Casablanca Conference (January 1943), and the Yalta Conference (February 1945)
In May of 1945, Hopkins wrote Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall that he was leaving government. Marshall replied:
You have literally given of your physical strength during the past three years to a degree that has been, in my opinion, heroic and will never be appreciated except by your intimates. For myself, I wish to tell you this, that you personally have been of invaluable service to me in the discharge of my duties in this war,. Time after time you have done for me things I was finding exceedingly difficult to do for myself and always in matters of the gravest import. You have been utterly selfless as well as courageous and purely objective in your contribution to the war effort.
This was high praise from one of the most honored and respected Americans of the Second World War and the Twentieth Century. Also, let us not forget, Marshall was not a liberal, certainly wasn’t a New Dealer or even a supporter of FDR. In fact, he and the president were on the most formal of terms. With all that said, Hopkins was the symbol of the New deal and its most ardent supporter. But, once when national defense became out most critical issue and the war reached America, Hopkins was its greatest civilian asset.
He served the Nation and the President almost to the end. His last trip was to Moscow and after that there was little life left in him. In the words of Sherwood, “Hopkins, in the end, took with him the knowledge that there were very few men who ever lived who were as fortunate as he in the possession of such enemies and such friends.” His health continued to decline, and he died in 1946 at the age of 55.
Epilogue I: I was reminded of the story of Harry Hopkins’ son Robert. In his book “Witness to History,” Castle Pacific, 2002. Bob Hopkins, who was a combat US Army photographer during WWII, told some amazing stories about his adventures covering some of the great events in history. After enlisting in the Army on October 7, 1941, he was assigned to Fort Dix. On November 29th, he received his first pass and he arranged with his father to spend it at the White House. With only $1.50 he hitchhiked to Washington in the rain. He arrived at the White House soaking wet, was ordered to take a bath by his father and after Arthur Prettyman, FDR’s valet ironed his soaking wet uniform dry, he joined Missy Le Hand, his father and the President for the usual round of martinis. After dinner, and a great deal of talk and laughter he realized it was after midnight and he had to get back to Fort Dix before reveille. He knew he couldn’t get there if he hitchhiked back so he asked his father if he could lend him five dollars for the bus. The President’s chief aide, and a cabinet member, Mr. Harry Hopkins, said he did not have it! The President said, “I’ll lend you five dollars.” Of course young Hopkins said he couldn’t possibly take it. The President insisted. Then, taking a card bearing the Presidential seal embossed in gold from a nearby table he said, “Let me give you this in case you don’t arrive on time for reveille.”
November 30, 1941
To Whom it May Concern:
Private Robert Hopkins is to be excused from reveille. He has been in consultation with the Commander-in-Chief.-signed Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Another son of Harry Hopkins was Steven, who was a US Marine PFC. He was killed in the Marshall Islands at the age of 18.
On the night of February 1, 1944. After a full day of fighting, during which he saved the lives of several comrades by shooting an enemy with a grenade, Hopkins was ordered to accompany his squad forward of the lines to set up a firing position. Nobody could see much in the dark, and a sound ahead warned of trouble. As Hopkins tried to bring his carbine to bear on the sound, a bullet struck him in the head. He died of his wounds the following morning, and was buried at sea from a hospital ship anchored in the lagoon. When news of his death reached combat correspondents, they descended upon his still-shocked company and squad asking for heroic stories. The Marines obliged, stretching the truth in some cases and obliterating it in others. Rumors that Hopkins had been killed by friendly fire were quickly put down. The story was put out over the AP Wire Service, and variations appeared in many newspapers around the country.
Epilogue II: In the days after FDR’s death, Sherwood interviewed Harold Smith, who was Director of the Budget from 1939-1946. Smith was a modest, methodical and a precise man far removed from Hopkins or Roosevelt. His judgment and integrity and common sense was trusted implicitly by the president. When asked about writing an article about the late president on the first anniversary of his death, he demurred, because he felt he was not ready to make a correct evaluation. Smith said the following: “when I worked with Roosevelt for six years – I thought as many others that he was a very erratic administrator. But now, when I look back, I can really begin to see the size of his programs. They were by far the largest and most complex programs that any President had put through. People like me had the responsibility of watching pennies could only see the five or six percent of the programs that went wrong, through inefficient organization or direction. But now I can see in perspective the ninety three or four or five percent that went right – including the winning of the biggest war in history – because of unbelievably skillful organization and direction. And if I were to write the article now, I think I’d say that Roosevelt must have been one of the greatest geniuses as an administrator that ever lived. What we couldn’t appreciate at the time was the fact that he was a real artist in government.”
Sherwood wrote on the last two pages of his massive 934 page book the following: When I was coming to the end of the long work on this book, I went to London for the final checking on some of the material I had included. I attended the unveiling by Mrs. Roosevelt of a statue of her husband at Grosvenor Square. At a later dinner at the Pilgrims Society given for Mrs. Roosevelt, Churchill expressed his solemn conviction, “that in Roosevelt’s life and by his actions he changed, he altered decisively and permanently, the social axis, the moral axis of mankind by involving the New World inexorably and irrevocably in the fortunes of the Old. His life must therefore be regarded as one of the commanding events in human destiny.” Churchill added, “The longer his life and times are studied, the more unchallengeable these affirmations I have made tonight will become!”