Nicholas Wapshott - The Sphinx

I am enjoying this wonderful book and will comment as I go along.  The story of how FDR prepared the country for war in the late 30's and fought off the isolationists has been told before but never as well as this.  FDR walked such a tightrope in the late 30's as we headed toward Pearl Harbor.

There is a lot in this book about Joe Kennedy.  The author plays up the fact that JPK wanted to be President.  Of course, he was doomed to failure in this ambition.  FDR used him, abused him, toyed with him.  I love it!

The book brings out the extent of Roosevelt's tangled relationship with Joe Kennedy and what a rascal this Kennedy was.

Then there is the saga of Charles Lindbergh.  Can anything good be said about this dangerous man?

The way FDR taunted Joe Kennedy is hysterical.  P. 1

FDR isolated the isolationists slowly but surely as American opinion moved toward preparedness, and in this book the focus is on Joe Kennedy and Charles Lindbergh.  P. 124

Like President Obama FDR had to prepare the country for the war he knew was coming without any Republican help.

Lindbergh's name was certainly floated for the 1940 Republican presidential nomination.  If he had been the political type and had been elected in that year the history of Western Civilization would have markedly different.  P. 145

By December of 1939 FDR was convinced that a German and Soviet Union victory would put in jeopardy Western Civilization. P. 152

The chilling thing about reading about the buildup to our participation in World War II is that even though I know how everything turned out, I still get tense.

I can see now why and how FDR played cat and mouse with everyone as to whether he would run again in 1940.  Calling him The Sphinx was appropriate I'm sure.

Roosevelt was in a quandary as to how to deal with this disciple of appeasement.  P. 173

For reasons unclear to this day, FDR insisted on Henry Wallace as his running mate in 1940 to the chagrin of the Democratic Convention that was forced to nominate him.  P. 188

As Americans were selecting a President in the summer and fall of 1940 Great Britain stood alone against Germany.  P. 190

Hitler's attach on Russia sealed his fate.  P. 312

But I am above all grateful to Roosevelt and those who thought like him, who worked so hard to ensure that Nazism was defeated.  Had a less brilliant and persuasive leader been at the helm of the United States at this critical turning point in history, this story would have had a tragic outcome.  And it would most likely have been written in German.  P. 354