FDR - Jean Edward Smith [192]
* Roosevelt laid on the service at the last moment. “I think a thought to God is the right way to start off my administration,” he told Jim Farley. “A proper attitude toward religion, and belief in God, will in the end be the salvation of all peoples. For ourselves it will be the means of bringing us out of the depths of despair into which so many have apparently fallen.” Jim Farley’s Story 36. Also see Farley, Behind the Ballots 208.
* Frances Perkins, who observed FDR at close range for many years, said “he had no doubts. He just believed with a certainty and simplicity that gave him no pangs or struggles. The problems of the higher criticism, of the application of scientific discoveries to the traditional teachings of the Christian faith and the Biblical record, bothered him not in the least. He knew what religion was and he followed it. It was more than a code of ethics for him. It was a real relationship of man to God, and he felt as certain of it as of the reality of his life.” The Roosevelt I Knew 141 (New York: Viking Press, 1946).
* The 1933 inaugural ball was the first since William Howard Taft’s in 1909. Wilson was too sanctimonious to permit such indulgence, and Harding apparently lacked the self-confidence to resume the practice. In 1925 and 1929 the Republican National Committee organized unofficial celebrations, but Coolidge and Hoover ostentatiously stayed away and there was no formal ball as such.
FIFTEEN
ONE HUNDRED DAYS
I think this would be a good time for a beer.
—FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, MARCH 12, 1933
ANALOGIES BETWEEN MILITARY and political campaigns are often overdrawn, but what FDR did in rescuing the country in the first hundred days bears comparison with what General Ulysses S. Grant did in preserving the Union. Both men accepted responsibility, delegated freely, and radiated a confidence that inspired their subordinates to do their best. Roosevelt’s decisive action to save the banking system during the week following his inauguration resembles Grant’s steadfast resolution in the face of impending disaster on the battlefield. At Donelson, Shiloh, and the Wilderness, federal forces had been soundly whipped, and caution dictated a Union withdrawal. Grant counterattacked and carried the day. In March 1933 the nation’s financial structure was in chaos and disarray. Roosevelt kept his head, quietly took charge, and gave marching orders to his subordinates. “This Nation asks for action, and action now,” he said, and he was as good as his word.1
Roosevelt came to Washington armed with two proclamations: one calling Congress back to the capital for a special session;2 the other declaring a bank holiday under the dormant provisions of the wartime Trading with the Enemy Act. On the morning of the inauguration, FDR asked incoming attorney general Homer Cummings to determine whether the act remained in force. At the same time he requested Treasury secretary Woodin to draft emergency legislation that would permit the banks to reopen in an orderly manner. Those tasks assigned, Roosevelt settled back to enjoy the inaugural festivities. Cummings spent the day at the Department of Justice reading the legislative history of the Trading with the Enemy Act, while Woodin, with Raymond Moley in tow, repaired to the Treasury, where Hoover’s team still held forth. When the cabinet was sworn in early Saturday evening, Cummings told FDR he was satisfied that the act remained in effect. Woodin said he could produce a bill for Congress by Thursday.
Roosevelt took both reports at face value. The shape of Woodin’s bill was unclear, but FDR was content to leave the drafting to the secretary. As Sara had told Jim Farley,