‘1932: FDR, Hoover and the Dawn of a New America’
By Scott Martelle
Citadel, 368 pages

As Scott Martelle discloses in his Author’s Note, his “short sections of diaries and newsreels were inspired by devices John Dos Passos used in his magisterial U.S.A. trilogy.” The result is a historical narrative cross-cut with passages that belong, as well, in biographies and novels.

Mr. Martelle recounts the familiar story of a nation mired in the Depression, the growth of the labor movement, and the rise of figures like Huey Long and Father Coughlan — not to mention less well-known figures like the leader of the Bonus Army of veterans demanding early redemption of their service bonus certificates, Walter Waters, and the head of the American Communist Party, William Z. Foster.

Douglas MacArthur is portrayed disobeying President Hoover’s order to keep peace, because the general was convinced that the veterans were led by communists (not so). Troops pushed out thousands of veterans from their Washington, D.C., encampments, using tear gas and bayonets. The hapless Hoover, unwilling to confront the insubordinate MacArthur, became an easy target for critics already upset that he had not done enough to put the American people back to work.

MacArthur is a minor character compared to Hoover and FDR, who are a fascinating study in contrasts. Hoover did not like politics, thought he knew better than most people (he usually did), and won a resounding victory in 1928 on his first run for elective office. A superb administrator who fed the hungry masses in World War I Europe, he nonetheless believed in limited government and was skeptical that the U.S. economy would renew itself through any sort of centralized planning.

Before 1932, Hoover and FDR were on good terms, even though Hoover regarded FDR as a lightweight. So did renowned journalist Walter Lippmann, who wrote scornfully about FDR and his political prospects. Even in Hoover’s last days in office, he thought he could manipulate the president-elect into the Republican way of thinking about how to restore confidence in the nation’s business.

Hoover hated to campaign, and it exhausted him; FDR loved to campaign, and it invigorated him. He deftly stage-managed every public appearance so that people never got a good look at his paralyzed legs. What they saw was that powerful torso, and what they heard was a voice that seemed to speak to each American directly.

Hoover’s critics tried to turn his experience abroad against him, including his residence at London, fomenting the first birther movement, bruiting it about that he was actually a British citizen. Yet he forbid any mention of Roosevelt’s disability, even as FDR’s operatives confiscated photographs that might disclose his physical impairment.

For all of FDR’s careful planning and cagey political intelligence, Mr. Martelle shows that Roosevelt’s triumph was by no means inevitable. Unlike modern presidential nominees who usually arrive at conventions with enough votes to win, FDR and his minions right up to the last minute had to employ crafty maneuvers to prevail.

Few understood in 1932 how the forces of democracy and fascism were converging, yet Mr. Martelle quotes from Nelly Cowley’s March 18 diary at Tucson, Arizona: “The Nazis were victorious in Sunday’s election in Germany. This will make Hitler virtually dictator. He is in favor of breaking the Versailles Treaty so it may mean another war.”

The quoted diaries near the end of “1932” provide snapshots of what it was like for FDR to assume office at a harrowing time. He could succeed, Mr. Martelle seems to imply, not only by fulfilling the hopes of those who had supported him but also by appealing to those who did not.

Thus William E. Warfield of Fort Wayne, Indiana, wrote in his diary:

“Chilly and gloomy today. All thoughts and eyes have been directed toward Washington where the nation is inducting into office a new chief who promises a New Deal. I heard him take the oath of office and also heard his address over the radio. I think he is capable and very anxious to bring this country out of its worst Depression. I did not vote for him but I think he will make a good president.”

Mr. Rollyson’s work in progress is “Making the American Presidency: How Biographers Shape History.”