The Plots Against the President (26 page)
  96 “another game of chicken”: Alter, 199.
  96 “I decided to cut it short”: Roosevelt, quoted in Freidel, 192â93. Varying accounts of this pre-inaugural exchange between Roosevelt and Hoover can also be found in Tully, 64; James Roosevelt and Sidney Shalett, 250ff.; and Moley,
First New Deal
, 148.
  96 “It would be putting it mildly”: James Roosevelt and Sidney Shalett, 250â51.
  96 “treated like a schoolboy”: Tully, 64
  96 “was one of the damndest” ⦠“earliest lessons”: James Roosevelt and Sidney Shalett, 250â51.
  96 “squabbling like children”: Alter, 200.
Chapter Eighteen: Fear Itself
  97 “Oh Lord”: Freidel, 198.
  97 “almost impenetrable”: Tugwell,
Brains Trust
,
62
.
  98 “Here was a president”: Shlaes, 146.
  98 “grim as death”: James Roosevelt and Sidney Shalett, 253.
  98 “Protocol or no protocol”: Roosevelt, quoted in Tully, 68.
  99 “This” ⦠“is a day of
national
consecration”: For descriptions of the inauguration, see Manchester, Freidel, Leuchtenburg (
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal
), Black, Brands, and Alter. For the address itself, see Rosenman,
Public Papers
, 2:11ff.
  99 “The radio networks”: Manchester, 1:91.
100 “sacred ground”: Martin, 12.
100 “President Roosevelt's words”: Freidel, 208.
101 “FOR DICTATORSHIP”: Alter, 4.
101 “A lot of us have been asking”:
New York Daily News
, March 5.
101 “Nothing is so much”: Cook, 1:494.
Chapter Nineteen: Bank Holiday
102 “The President outlined”: Perkins, quoted in Freidel, 215.
103 “leant recklessly”: Alan Brinkley, “The New Deal, Then and Now.”
103 “Behind the plain desk”: Clapper,
Washington Daily News
, March 6, 1933.
104 “With so many banks” ⦠“eye-popping”: Alter, 4.
104 “As new commander”: Ibid.
104 “dictator talk”: Ibid., 5. Jonathan Alter found this draft at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library, which “had never been referred to or quoted by historians before.”
104 “all men and women”: Roosevelt, quoted in Davis, 3:35.
104 “For the first time”: Josephson,
Money Lords
, 154.
104 “Hoover had taken everything”: Manchester, 1:92.
105 “almost a springtime mood”: Schlesinger, 2:6.
105 “If he had burned down”: Will Rogers,
New York Times
, March 6, 1933.
105 “persuading, leading, sacrificing”: Roosevelt, quoted in Bernstein, 5.
105 “If I fail”: Roosevelt, quoted in Manchester, 1:95.
105 “very, very solemn”: Hickok, 103â4.
106 “One had the feeling”: Eleanor Roosevelt, quoted in Alter, 222.
106 “feared the kind of desperation”: Cook, 2:27.
106 “Mayor Cermak, last evening”: Picchi, 133.
Chapter Twenty: I Want to Keel All Presidents
107 For the most comprehensive accounts of the legal proceedings against Zangara, the federal investigation into his political ties, his own memoir, his interrogation by police, Chapman's recollections, etc., see Picchi, which is the only full-scale exploration of the case, as well as contemporaneous press accounts. Also, see the FBI “Zangara” file.
107 “Why do you want to kill?”
Miami Herald
, February 16, 1933.
107 “When we arrived”: Zangara, quoted in Picchi, 45.
108 “something of a linguist”:
Miami Herald
, February 16, 1933.
108 “normal in every respect”: Picchi, 49.
109 “perverse character” ⦠“psychopathic personality”: Donovan, 165.
109 “a sane man”: Shappee, 106.
109 “They certainly mete out justice”: Cermak, quoted in Brands, 281.
109 “round up” ⦠“Zangara class”:
Miami Herald
, February 20, 1933.
109 “The people could not understand”: Zangara confession, quoted in Picchi, 253.
109 “Your Honor” ⦠“You see I suffer”: Zangara testimony at first arraignment. Quoted in Picchi, 116.
110 “Oh judge”: Ibid. See Picchi, 121.
Chapter Twenty-one: Old Sparky
111 “Not my fault” ⦠“Sure I sorry”: Zangara, quoted in Picchi, 138.
111 “sea of lawn and flowers”: Gottfried, 328.
112 “as a result of the bullet”: Shappee, 106.
112 “These ones take care of me”: Zangara, quoted in Picchi, 142.
112 “Supposed to kill the chief” ⦠“I want to kill all capitalists”: Zangara, quoted in Davis, “Incident in Miami,” 95.
112 “Assassins roaming at will”: Thompson, quoted in Davis, “Incident in Miami,” 95.
113 “I want to kill the president” ⦠“You is crook man too:” Zangara in second trial. Quoted in Picchi, 166.
113 “a being”: Chapman, quoted in Picchi, 221.
113 “I am not making a hero”: Dr. Ralph N. Green, quoted in Picchi, 190.
114 “With a courtly bow”: Chapman, quoted in Picchi, 223.
114 “Viva Italia”: For details of the Zangara execution, see Picchi, 190ff.
114 “The execution of a man”: Chapman, quoted in Picchi, 217.
114 “Had Giuseppe Zangara”: Geoffrey Ward, quoted from endorsement of Picchi.
Chapter Twenty-two: A Good Beginning
117 “confidence in the leadership” ⦠“such broad powers”: Davis, 3:37.
118 “well in the background”: Ahamed, 453.
118 “were just a bunch of men”: Moley,
After Seven Years
, 191.
118 “It won't frighten people”: Moley,
First New Deal
, 172.
119 “rescue the moribund corpse”: David M. Kennedy, 135.
119 “Only Roosevelt” ⦠“Confusion, haste”: Moley,
After Seven Years
, 191.
119 “I am told”: First press conference, March 8, 1933, Alter, 253ff. Freidel, 224ff.
119 “on background” ⦠“off the record”: Freidel, 224â25.
119 “the most amazing”: Leuchtenberg,
FDR Years
, 144.
120 “We hope” ⦠“The real mark” ⦠“We cannot write”: Freidel, 224â25.
121 “all kinds of junk”: The diary of George Harrison, quoted in Josephson,
Money Lords
, 148.
121 “the last remaining strength”: Moley,
After Seven Years
, 155.
121 “Our first task”: Roosevelt, quoted in Davis, 3:55.
121 “I cannot too strongly”: Roosevelt, quoted in Schlesinger, 2:7.
121 “his goddamned banker friends” ⦠“little county seat banks” ⦠“sonofabitch” ⦠“be more civil!”: Williams, 626â28.
121 “The President drove the money-changers”: David M. Kennedy, 136.
122 “had running through it”: Davis, 3:35.
122 “superbly risen”:
Wall Street Journal
. March 13, 1933.
Chapter Twenty-three: Time for Beer
124 “If the Congress chooses” ⦠“been on the road” ⦠“immediate action”: Rosenman,
Public Papers
, 49â51.
124 “Talk of balancing”: Long, quoted in Freidel, 244.
124 “to explain clearly”: Davis, 3:59.
124â125 “I decided I'd try”: Roosevelt, quoted in Stiles, 245. As so often happened, Raymond Moley would take credit for writing the famous and wildly successful first fireside chatâa claim Roosevelt hotly denied.
125 “the President wants to come into your home”: Davis, 3:60.
125 “almost as good”: Miriam Howell, quoted in Doherty, 77.
125 “I want to talk for a few minutes”: Rosenman,
Public Papers
, 63â65.
126 “Our President took”: “Will Rogers Claps Hands for the President's Speech,”
New York Times
, March 14, 1933.
126 “People edge”: Dos Passos, “The Radio Voice.”
127 “Consummate politician”: Smith, “How F.D.R. Made the Presidency Matter.”
127 “the result of a unified plan”: Moley,
After Seven Years
, 369.
127 “Future plays”: Roosevelt, quoted in Hofstadter,
American Political Tradition
, 431.
127 “I think this would be a good time”: Roosevelt, quoted in Freidel, 245.
127 “I recommend to the Congress”: Rosenman,
Public Papers
, 66â67.
128 “the government is going to muscle in”: Dialogue from the film
Gabriel Over the White House
.
128 “the amount of beer”:
Newsweek
, April 15, 1933. Quoted in Winslow, 57.
128 “In the midst of the Depression”: Terkel, quoted in Alter, 277.
128 “Roosevelt is the greatest leader”: Wolfskill and Hudson, 143.
Chapter Twenty-four: A Gang of Common Criminals
129 “For the first time”: Perkins, quoted in Schlesinger, 2:22.
129 “A bank rescue plan”: Ahamed, 456.
130 “The bankers were aware”: Josephson,
Money Lords
, 155.
130 “sort of a love fest”: Ibid., 153.
130 “White-shoe Wall street”: Fraser,
Every Man
, 431.
130 “in imposing succession”: Pecora, 3â4.
131 “undesirable or worthless” ⦠“Securities houses” ⦠“we must break” ⦠“old and young liberals” ⦠“marched his staff”: Schlesinger,
Congress Investigates
, 4:2555â56.
132 “less than lordly” ⦠“flushed with annoyance”: Davis, 3:138.
132 “preferred list” ⦠“our close friends”: Pecora findings, quoted in Davis, 3:139â40.
132 “It is nothing more or less”: Landon, quoted in Schlesinger, 2:436.
132 “When it comes to money”: Couzens, quoted in Barnard, 264.
133 “bloated masters of fortune”: Long, quoted in Williams, 633.
133 “each one stolen”: Long, quoted in MacPherson, 120.
Chapter Twenty-five: Traitor to His Class
134 “unscrupulous money changers”: Roosevelt's first inaugural address, reprinted at http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres49.html.
134 “fewer than three dozen”: Roosevelt, quoted in Fraser,
Every Man a Speculator
, 448â49.
134 “economic oligarchy”: Roosevelt speech to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, September 23, 1932. Hofstadter,
American Political Tradition
, 429.
135 “traitor to his class”: A famous, but unattributed, quote from the era.
135 “captains of Wall Street”: Pecora, 293.
135 “The testimony had brought”: Ibid., 283.
136 “had brought about the transfer”: Josephson,
Money Lords
, 164.
136 “a happy springtime”: Ibid., 156.
136 “Your action in going off gold”: Russell Leffingwell to Roosevelt, October 2, 1933, quoted in Leuchtenburg,
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal
, 51.
136 “baloney dollar”: Josephson,
Money Lords
, 163.
136 “trying to cure tuberculosis”: Norman Thomas, quoted in Wolfskill and Hudson, 119.
136 “Mr. Roosevelt is nothing more”: William Z. Foster, quoted in Wolfskill and Hudson, 122.
137 “Although some people mistakenly”: Wolfskill and Hudson, 133.
137 “the wild boys of the road”: The name of the 1933 Hollywood film depicting the masses of unemployed youth menacingly roaming the land.
137 “the way I did on beer”: Moley,
After Seven Years
, 173.
138 “Fascism, Hitlerism”:
Time
, April 3, 1933.
138 “utter rubbish”: Roosevelt, quoted in Black, 281.
138 “See that they have good food”: Stiles, 264â65.
138 “to prevent a similar tragedy”: Eleanor Roosevelt, quoted in Cook, 2:45.
138 “played his master card”: Rollins, 387.
138 “in there and talk”: Stiles, 264â65.
139 “I got out”: Eleanor Roosevelt,
This I Remember
, 113.
139 “Hoover sent the army”:
New York Times
, May 17, 1933.
139 “It's like selling yourself”: Freidel, 265.
139 “had been anxiously”: Rollins, 386.
140 “leaving no doubt”: Alter, 299.
140 “At each camp”: Freidel, 266.
140 “All you have to do”: Rosenman,
Public Papers
, 322.
Chapter Twenty-six: A Balanced Civilization
141 “highly appropriate”: Hickok, “New âFirst Lady,' Made Solemn by Inaugural, Lays Plans to Simplify White House Life; To Cut Expense,” Associated Press, March 5, 1933.
142 “Saturday night”: Freidel, 268.
143 “Wouldn't anybody” ⦠“one-man show”: Manchester, 1:97.
144 “Dear Mr. President”: Correspondence quoted in Manchester, 1:99.
144 “opened the New Deal floodgates” ⦠“No president”: Smith.
144 “Having overcome that”:
New York Times
, March 26, 1933, quoted in Freidel, 288.
145 “To destroy a standing crop”: Wallace, quoted in Manchester, 1:102.
146 “a supreme effort” ⦠“the most important and far-reaching”: Rosenman,
Public Papers
, 246.
147 “the burden of telling the whole truth”: Roosevelt, quoted in Schlesinger, 2:441.
147 “Roosevelt is an explorer”: Churchill, 294.
147 “a balanced civilization” ⦠“the population balance”: Schlesinger, 2:319.
147 “contradictory character”: Elliott Roosevelt,
F.D.R.: His Personal Letters
, 1:318.
148 “confronted with a choice”: Tugwell, quoted in Schlesinger, 2:22.
148 “how close were we to collapse”: Johnson, quoted in Schlesinger, 2:22.