The Democrat’s Republicans

A Review of Robert E. Jenner’s FDR’s Republicans: Domestic Political Realignment and American Foreign Policy

Robert E. Jenner was born in Weaton, Illinois, a mainly Republican society, which influenced many of his political view points. Jenner received his Ph.D. in Diplomatic History at the University of Maryland, College Park. Jenner’s professional endeavors have included college teaching, research, documentary filmmaking, and television productions.

BY JOSH NORDSTROM

During the 1930s, the political scene experienced the fall of the Republican Party and the rise of the Democratic after years of Republican dominance. The conservative nature of Herbert Hoover during the Great Depression led to the sway from Republican support to Democratic support. The people living during the time of the Great Depression called for great change in foreign and domestic policies. Because the conservative Herbert Hoover failed to bring about the reforms that Americans felt the Great Depression demanded. Public support shifted from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party. Franklin Delano Roosevelt began the new era of Democratic political domination. In his book FDR’s Republicans: Domestic Political Realignment and American Foreign Policy, Robert E. Jenner focuses on how the Republican senators began supporting the more liberal actions of FDR in the domestic and foreign policy areas.

Jenner designates these particular Republicans that supported FDR’s policies and reforms as FDR’s Republicans. Jenner names the congressmen in the book to show how the Republican Party began to support FDR’s policies. Throughout the book, Jenner includes information about these congressmen to show how the separate congressmen supported different aspects concerning foreign policy, domestic policy, and agrarian discontent. Jenner opens up the book by discussing foreign policy, farmers and politics prior to the 1930s. One main aspect that he focuses on during this part of the book is the idea of tariffs. The tariff issue is the oldest foreign policy that divides the political parties between rural farmers and urban businessmen. Big business benefitted from high tariffs because the high tariffs protected their product by making European imports the same price as, if not more expensive than American produced goods. But for rural farmers, high tariffs increased the price of exporting goods to Europe, making the farmers rely on American consumers. High tariffs also stalled European exports to the United States, and thus Europeans lacked the U.S. dollars to purchase American goods. Another main focus of Jenner during the beginning parts of the book is on World War I. World War I led the Republicans away from the support of globalism. Globalism is the idea that in the period before the “Great War” that the United States should “shift from a marginal role in world affairs to an active and influential role.”1 On top of the declining support for globalism, the American people began to oppose the idea of going to war again. Jenner argues that the decline of the Republican Party in the years before 1930 directly resulted from the of loss of support of “constituent groups whose support had been crucial to their success: agrarians, urban labor, and African Americans.”2 After the Civil War, these groups supported the Republican Party because of their policies. But after World War I, these groups began to question the Republican Party’s policies that led them into a horrific war. Jenner reasons that the loss of the support of these groups proved detrimental to the Republican Party in the next few decades.

In the middle part of the book from chapters 2 to 4, Jenner addresses the attempts by the Republican Party to mollify and retrieve the loss of the support of agrarians, urban labor, and African Americans after the realignment that followed the Democratic victory in the election of 1932. Jenner writes about the rise of the common man and how the Republican Party reformed its policies to incorporate the tide change as the progressive tide swept onto the political scene. The recently praised wealthy class was “henceforth no longer idolized but rather pilloried and mocked in popular culture.”3 Jenner explains this decline in support for the wealthy man as a direct result of the stock market crash and the Great Depression because the rich, big business owners and land owners were blamed for the crash. With the fall of the wealthy class, Jenner highlights the importance of the forgotten man. Jenner uses this term to broadly represent the working class and the poor agrarian farmers that had been forgotten about in politics. But with what Jenner calls the rise of the “forgotten man,” these once forgotten American people emerged with an enhanced power in American politics. The reason behind this is the fact that the progressive Republicans saw this rise in power of the common man as an opportunity to gain support for the Republican Party. But the election of 1932 still resulted in a Democratic landslide because of the fact that Herbert Hoover was running for president rather than a man who supported these political views of the progressive republicans. For this reason, Jenner talks about the division in the Republican Party between the progressive Republicans who looked to supporting the forgotten man and the “big business Republican stalwarts of the east coast”4 who supported the declining wealthy, big business class. These progressive Republicans in the party gained more support from the agrarian farmers and the working class as they sought to better the conditions for the “forgotten man,” while the main Republican Party held strong to their typical beliefs. Rationalists would argue that during the Great Depression political parties would modify their policies in order to overcome the problem at hand, but the Republican Party failed to innovate new policies and “held fast to its philosophy of pioneer individualism and self-help as an answer to the ravages of the Great Depression.”5 Jenner argues that this focus of the Republicans on the “forgotten man” and more progressive ideals lead to congressional support for Democrat of Franklin Roosevelt.

Finally, toward the end of the book, Jenner focuses on the realignment among the party system caused by Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency and the effects of World War II. Jenner refers to the Republican Party’s realization that in order to gain more support during the 1930s, it would have to accept a more progressive policy. The realignment of the Republican Party allowed its rise after the Democratic landslide in the previous two elections. The realignment of the Republican Party forced Franklin Roosevelt to realign his own policies in order to sustain support for himself. Jenner argues that because of the rise of the Republican Party and its attempts to roll back the New Deal in early 1939, Franklin Roosevelt failed to bring enough attention to the threat of Hitler and fascist aggression. Comparing Roosevelt’s domestic policies to his foreign policies, Jenner points out that Roosevelt was more liberal in his domestic reforms than his foreign policies concerning World War II. Jenner felt that Roosevelt focused too heavily on the New Deal and did not give enough attention to rise to power of the Hitler in Europe. After the invasion of neutral Poland by Germany, Roosevelt started taking a more conciliatory approach to the war in Europe. But Roosevelt still faced the conservative Republicans that held a strong belief in isolationism. Although these Republicans opposed going to war against Hitler and supported remaining out of foreign affairs, the majority of American people had a “fatalistic sense that inevitably the United States would become full-fledged belligerent in the war.”6 Yet, Jenner points out the oddly slow reaction of Roosevelt and the American people reacting against the fascist aggression in Europe. Jenner explains how “the historical traditions, social tensions, and domestic political realignments that prevailed during those years muddied the debate and obscured the clarity of judgment that otherwise might have supported a deterrent to fascist aggression.”7 Jenner then goes on to explain that there were the forward-thinkers that brought about the new idea of managing foreign affairs to protect the United States and the people of the world. Jenner concludes his book by reviewing his thesis and the reasons behind his belief in FDR’s Republicans. He credits FDR’s Republicans with changing the ideology of the future of the Republican Party. An ideology bent towards a more liberal nature rather than the typical conservative nature of the Republican Party.

Jenner’s thesis comes from the question that he had when he first began researching, which is how Republicans in Congress came to support Franklin Roosevelt and allow him to pass all of his reforms. Jenner begins answering this question by talking about the fall of the Republican Party during the years before the 1930s. Jenner talks about how the loss of support from the agrarian farmers, African Americans, and working class hurt the success of the Republican Party. Jenner argues that one of the main reasons the Republican Party had so much success in the years after the Civil War and up to the 1930s was the support from these group of people. Then, Jenner goes on to address how the Republicans attempted to reach out to these groups during the 1930s to help the party gain power back. Jenner points out that not all of the Republican Party supported realignment, the idea of reaching out to the “forgotten man,” the working class and agrarian farmer people. This led to the division of the party between the Republicans that supported becoming more liberal, who Jenner labels as progressive Republicans, and the Republicans that supported big business, who Jenner labels the conservative Republicans. Because the progressive Republicans felt that the Republican Party during the 1930s failed to adjust to the needs of the country, these men began to support Franklin Roosevelt and his reforms. Jenner calls these forward-thinking men FDR’s Republicans. As a side note, Jenner discusses his discovery to the answer of another question which is why it took Franklin Roosevelt so long to get involved in World War II and stop the fascist aggression. In the book, Jenner concludes that Franklin Roosevelt stayed out of Europe for so long was because he was so focused on domestic policies. Jenner believes that it was FDR’s Republicans that led the United States into the war and saved the world from the domination of Hitler. Overall, Jenner writes a well-crafted book that explains the idea of FDR’s Republicans.

But while coming to his conclusion, Jenner makes a few assumptions. First, he assumes that the entry of America into World War II was the right decision. He also assumes that it would have made a difference in the war if the United States had entered earlier. Having written this book in the 21st century, Jenner’s thesis and assumptions are influenced by the time period that he wrote during. Writing about the Great Depression and the U.S. involvement in foreign affairs, Jenner was obviously influenced by the recent events in the United States. The economic crisis that the America has faced in the past few years strongly influenced Jenner’s decision to write about the time period of the Great Depression. In witnessing the modern economic crash, Jenner realized how much the Great Depression related to this modern day crisis. On top of his curiosity about FDR’s Republicans, Jenner saw this economic crisis as an opportunity to write with the public’s attention. The controversial war in Iraq also influenced Jenner to write about U.S. foreign policy.

While writing this book, Jenner shows great skill in his research and his knowledge of the time period. The amount of time and research that Jenner put in to writing this book shows through by the clarity of the book and by the number of sources Jenner references. At the end of each chapter, a long list of footnotes and sources that he used during the particular chapter makes up at least three to four pages. Jenner also shows a different point of view than that typical of modern day historians. The idea that Franklin Roosevelt’s Republicans pushed the United States into World War II differs from what traditionally is taught in school. On the other hand, Jenner falls short when it comes to writing an engaging book, simply listing facts and conclusions with a serious tone. But the audience that Jenner is writing to isn’t the type of audience that wants to be entertained, but wants to learn. Although, an entertaining book that you learn from is always more engaging.

According to Jenner, the 1930s marked a change in the Republican Party because of the strength of the progressive Republicans. When the Great Depression hit, the wealthy class began to lose power because it was blamed for the crash. The working class and the poor agrarian farmers, also known as the “forgotten man,” began to rise to power and call for domestic reforms during the Great Depression. They wanted to better the conditions for the lower class that had been forgotten about in the years preceding the Great Depression. Although the working class called for these particular reforms, the Republican Party “failed to innovate and held fast to its philosophy of pioneer individualism and self-help as an answer to the ravages of the Great Depression.”8 But Jenner believes that the progressive Republicans chose not to follow their political party’s policies and chose to support Franklin Roosevelt’s reforms. He argues that FDR’s Republicans, being forward-thinkers, changed the course of the Republican Party.

The 1930s as a whole marked a change in the thinking of Capitalist American and the domestic policies of the United States government. Before the Great Depression, most people supported the idea of a laissez-faire economy in which the government had no control of big business and shouldn’t intervene in the economy. But as big businesses began developing monopolies and the consumers, workers, and farmers began to suffer, the result was a shift to more government presence in the economy. The idea of government interference in the economy still hunted the American people until the Great Depression. After the people realized that the Great Depression was a result of the economy getting out of hand, they began to lean toward government involvement in the economy. With big business raising prices because of monopolies and banks giving out more loans than the amount of money they had, the United States economy crashed and burn. Because of the Great Depression, the people became open to the liberal reforms of Franklin Roosevelt, which gave government more active power in the economy.

In his book about FDR’s Republicans, Jenner masterfully answers the question of how the typical Republican Party produced such strong supporters of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He crafts together years of research and study to educate the reader on the unusual topic of FDR’s Republicans. He sparks an interest in the reader by showing that reader that so much of history has yet to be analyzed. Jenner shows the reader an important moment in the history of the United States and the Republican Party. He glorifies the democrat’s republicans, FDR’s Republicans.

Endnotes

Student Bio

Josh Nordstrom is a well-rounded high school student. He plays both football and lacrosse. He successfully balances his athletics, academics, church, and family throughout his high school. Josh Nordstrom also takes pride in being heavily involved in his church.