The New Dealers' War

Mr. Fleming talked about his book, The New Dealers' War, published by Basic Books. The book describes a flawed and troubled President Franklin D. Roosevelt who struggled to manage World War II. Starting with the leak to the press of Roosevelt’s famous Rainbow Plan, then going back to FDR’s faulty prewar diplomacy with Japan, and his various attempts to lure Japan into an attack on the U.S. Fleet in the Pacific, the book shows struggles and debates that went on in Washington, the nation, and the world as the New Dealers, led by FDR, strove to impose their will on the conduct of the War. Mr. Fleming criticized President Roosevelt’s insistence on “unconditional surrender” for Germany that perhaps prolonged the war by as many as two years, and his often uncritical embrace of and acquiescence to Stalin and the Soviets as an ally. close