Uniting America: How FDR and Henry Stimson Brought Democrats and Republicans Together to Win World War II

Democratic president Franklin Roosevelt and Republican secretary of war Henry Stimson formed the “most important bipartisan political alliance in American history,” according to this meticulous study. Journalist Shinkle (Ike’s Mystery Man) contends that Stimson, a “sharp-tongued, free-thinking Republican” who had previously served in the cabinets of Republican presidents William Howard Taft and Herbert Hoover and was critical of FDR’s New Deal policies, made a successful partner for Roosevelt as he sought his third term in 1940 not in spite of their political differences, but because of them. Stimson helped garner bipartisan support for such controversial measures as the 1941 Lend-Lease Act and served as an effective back channel to FDR’s Republican foes. At a time when many Americans were reluctant to enter WWII, Stimson’s aggressive stance on confronting fascism in Europe and Asia allowed “FDR to remain close to the center of the national debate,” according to Shinkle, who acknowledges that for all their foreign policy successes, the two failed to effectively contend with racial matters, including the wave of anti-Black violence that swept the country in 1943 in response to desegregation efforts. Stuffed with detail yet fluidly written, this is an expert study of wartime politics and the value of bipartisanship. (Oct.)