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By David M. Kennedy
Oxford University Press, 936 pp, 1999
You may have noticed that I haven't posted
a book review in a while. The latest was over a month ago, in fact. That's
because I've been doggedly slogging through this epic tome of American
history.
When I say epic, I mean big, not
necessarily great. It's very much a left-wing, semi-revisionist work, with
some interesting detours. For example, Kennedy repeats the revisionist
canard that the United States spurned sincere Japanese peace overtures and
thus goaded Japan into Pearl Harbor. We asked for it, in other words. But
Japan was essentially a military dictatorship (the emperor held little
real power) that wished to dominate and conquer as much of Southeast Asia
as it could, including China. It asked the U.S. to sit idly while it
conquered China, and in return Japan would give up any further territorial
ambitions in Southeast Asia. The U.S. refused, and rightly so, because it
had no assurances that Japan would keep its word. In fact, Japan needed
the oil rich Philippines to fuel its war machine. But that was
the substance of Japan's so-called peace efforts. In other words, Japan
started the war but the U.S. was responsible because it opposed Japan's
machinations. This is ridiculous.
Kennedy is a little stronger when
discussing the New Deal's effect on the Depression. He rightly points out
that FDR's economic schemes did not end the Depression - World War 2 did
that. Kennedy claims that the New Deal's success lay not in promoting
economic growth but in providing security (hence the book's title) and
necessary structure to the economy. The New Deal was more of a reform
plan, as opposed to an economic stimulus plan. Of course, that's not how
FDR and the New Dealers described it, but FDR rarely let the truth get in
the way of his proposals. I should have counted how many times Kennedy
says that FDR "dissembled," or was "disingenuous." FDR
lied an awful lot, folks.
Kennedy also makes clear that FDR
considered the Constitution an impediment to the New Deal. FDR grew
increasingly frustrated as the Supreme Court consistently struck down New
Deal programs. So he proposed to enlarge the court, under the guise of
improving efficiency, but everyone knew he was trying to pack the court
with ideologically friendly justices who would be FDR lackeys. The scheme
was doomed to fail from the start, because the Court, at the time, was
held in very high esteem by the American people (I doubt that's the case
now). So the court could have ignored FDR's challenge, but instead it did
an about-face and started ruling in favor of New Deal legislation. Thus
the Court sold its constitutional soul to FDR and the New Deal.
Kennedy does do a good job of describing
the abject suffering so many Americans endured during the Depression. It
sounds rather quaint when we complain about economic downturns, or stock
market losses, or even recession. None of that comes close to matching the
Depression. Tens of millions of normally productive and hard-working
people were unemployed. Farmers suffered plummeting agricultural prices.
Thousands of banks closed. Economic production withered. Many lived at
bare subsistence levels. Please think of that next time we whine and moan
about our economy growing at "only" two percent or retailers
"suffer" through a Christmas shopping season that actually
increased 1.5 percent over last year.
But World War 2 changed everything. It
brought jobs and production boomed. After the war, America was a different
country, strong, confident, prosperous, and a world power. It seemed like
the Depression never happened. While the war ravaged numerous nations, the
American homeland actually benefited. The war laid the foundation for the
50s and 60s boom years.
According to Kennedy, the New Deal also
played its part in shaping our future. Social Security, the Securities and
Exchange Commission, subsidies to farmers, and Fannie Mae were all New
Deal creations. Reforms in the stock market brought more information to
investors and helped stabilize Wall Street. The New Deal took some of the
risk and sting out of capitalism, without shredding the Constitution.
I'm not quite on board with Kennedy about
the New Deal. The security it provided came in a velvet fist. What the New
Deal really did is lay the foundation for the modern welfare state in
America, and that is a travesty. I realize the 1930s were a unique and
horrible time in America, and these reforms may have appeared absolutely
necessary, but there had to be a better way. Don't ask me what that was,
because I don't know. I admit it.
I'm glad I read this. It was informative,
well-written, and provocative. It's the ninth book in the Oxford History
of the United States series. I've also read volume 3, The Glorious
Cause by Robert Middlekauff, which coves the American Revolution and
is absolutely phenomenal. Unfortunately, Freedom from Fear isn't
nearly as good as its predecessor.
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