Dear Marion,

Our letters crossed, as it were in the mail. Remarkably,
even with e-mail, such conincidence is possible!
Before the accounts that I read four days ago disappear
entirely from memory, I want to address your question
about the New Deal. 

The enthusiasm, the bright hope that Roosevelt's charisma was
able to inspire. His knack for making the "average American"
feel cared for and respected. Similar to, but much more powerful
than Bill Clinton's "I feel your pain." The contrast with the
aloof and dispassionate engineer Herbert Hoover, stigmatized
by Al Smith (the unsuccessful 1928 presidential candidate) when
Smith compared Roosevelt's sending Eleanor to socialize with
the Veterans Bonus Marchers on the Mall, which on a previous
encampment, Hoover had evicted with soldiers. Smith is reported
as saying that Hoover sent the troops, but Roosevelt sent his
wife. Schlesinger makes much of the fear of revolution, prevalent
at the time of the 1933 inauguration. He recounts that although
Roosevelt excoriated the bankers in public, behind the scenes he
relied on them to restore the banking system, - much like today.
Schlesinger revels in Roosevelt's openness to new ideas, his
readiness, even eagerness to experiment. Describes the extraordinary
intelligence of the "Brain trust" and others that Roosevelt
recruited to help him govern. Realist and cynic though I am, I
found Schlesinger's account endearing. His enthusiasm is mildly
contagious. Almost made me want to be young again (but not quite).
I couldn't put out of my mind the ships laden with Jewish refugees
to which Roosevelt denied asylum, not the hundreds of thousands of
Japanese forced from their homes and interned for years, nor the
unavoidable, but nonetheless unholy alliance with Josef Stalin.
In sum: I'm no good at hero-worship.
Jochen