FDR's Republicans

Domestic Political Realignment and American Foreign Policy

By (author) Robert E. Jenner

Publication date:

02 December 2009

Length of book:

234 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

Dimensions:

240x164mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9780739136126

FDR's Republicans illuminates the debate over foreign policy that took place in the United States prior to World War II. Robert E. Jenner approaches this issue from the perspective of Republican members of the House and Senate, who eventually came to support the interventionist position of a Democratic president. Unlike other diplomatic histories of this period, FDR's Republicans focuses on domestic components of the foreign policy debate, combining historical analysis and political theory.

Jenner recounts the Republican Party's internationalist roots under McKinley, the split of 1912, and the defeat of the League of Nations in deference to its agrarian progressive wing. Taking both a local and national approach, he provides in-depth analysis of the party's reaction to the FDR landslides of 1932 and 1936, the party's resurgence in 1938, FDR's aggressive defense of the New Deal, and the decline of the party's agrarian progressive faction. The result is a broader explanation of the battle that raged between isolationists and interventionists as well as the failure of policy makers to deter fascism at an earlier date.

1 Contents
2 Acknowledgments
Chapter 3 Introduction
Chapter 4 1. Farmers, Foreign Policy, and Party Politics Prior to 1930
Chapter 5 2. The Progressive Tide and Foreign Policy, 1930-1936
Chapter 6 3. Decline of the West and Resurgence in the East, 1936-1938
Chapter 7 4. Receding Progressivism and Foreign Policy, 1939
Chapter 8 5. The Rapid Decline of Agrarian Progressive Foreign Policy, 1939-1940
Chapter 9 6. Grassroots Politics and the Repeal of Neutrality, 1941
Chapter 10 Conclusion
11 Chronology of Events
12 Appendix A: Voting Tables
13 Appendix B: Biographical Sketches
14 Bibliography
15 Index
16 About the Author

By analyzing the milieu of factors influencing the Republican Party during its years as a political outcast, the New Deal era, Robert Jenner has charted a fresh path on a road well traveled. This excellent study reminds us of both the primacy of domestic politics in the formation of foreign affairs and the need for bipartisanship and pragmatism in the defense of freedom. The moral of Jenner's story resonates today.