ENTERTAINMENT

Do we need another biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt? That is debatable, but H.W. Brands' Traitor to His Class is so brilliantly executed that the question may be set aside for the moment.

FILE 1937/The Associated Press

President Franklin D. Roosevelt talks to the nation in a White House 'fireside chat.'

Mr. Brands, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, explores what factors "transformed a Hudson Valley patrician into a champion of the common people of America." Roosevelt's attitudes of government began to take shape while he served as assistant secretary of the Navy in Woodrow Wilson's administration. When he left that job, writes Mr. Brands, he "appeared positioned to become a full-fledged member of the postwar capitalist class in America, a post-progressive generation that recognized that business and government need not be adversaries."

Personal and political trauma reshaped Roosevelt's views. In 1921, he contracted polio, and his suffering made him more sensitive to that of others. After becoming governor of New York in 1928, he saw how economic euphoria could quickly become chaos, and this, observes Mr. Brands, "caused him to reconsider the purpose of government and to reconfigure his basic philosophy." While running for president in 1932, Roosevelt recognized that the country needed "bold, persistent experimentation."

By the time he took office in early 1933, he was assailing Wall Street's "unscrupulous money changers," and affirming that, "We must act, and act quickly."

The situation was dire. Production of American farms and factories had fallen by a third since 1929. A quarter of the workforce was unemployed. Five thousand banks had failed or were failing; property values had plummeted and so had tax revenues for all levels of government.

As promised, Roosevelt was ready to experiment, which was the essence of the New Deal. Some of his ventures worked, others didn't. Most consistent, and this held true throughout his presidency, was his political judgment. FDR almost always had a keen sense of just how far he could go before getting too far ahead of his public.

This was apparent as he edged America into the fight against fascism. He skillfully portrayed U.S. aid to Britain as being in America's self-interest, and he gradually ratcheted up his rhetoric to prepare the public for war. By the beginning of 1942, after the United States had been at war for just a few weeks, FDR had become, according to Mr. Brands, "the most powerful man in American history."

FDR was not shy about using power, and the nation's voters elected him four times to do so. The American people, writes Mr. Brands, "put their faith in Roosevelt because he put his faith in them. He believed in democracy." Current and future presidents should take note.

Traitor to His Class is a massive book, as any comprehensive study of Roosevelt must be, but it is still lean, with no fatty padding or sermonizing. Mr. Brands is resolutely evenhanded in his treatment of FDR, and he makes no attempt to persuade his readers of FDR's virtues or lack thereof. Clearly emerging from this volume is a portrait that allows us to contrast the patrician Roosevelt with the self-styled populists of his era, such as Huey Long. Who accomplished more for poor and working-class Americans? Mr. Brands provides us with ample evidence to arrive at a verdict.

Philip Seib is professor of journalism and public diplomacy at the University of Southern California.

Traitor to His Class

The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt

H. W. Brands

(Doubleday, $35)