Synopses & Reviews
In this major biography of an important politician and statesman, Dean Kotlowski presents the life of Paul V. McNutt, a great understudied figure in the era of FDR. McNutt was governor of Indiana, high commissioner to the Philippines (while serving he helped 1,300 Jews flee Nazi Germany for Manila), head of the WWII Federal Security Agency, and would-be presidential candidate. Paul V. McNutt and the Age of FDR explores McNutt's life, his era, and his relationship with Franklin Roosevelt. It sheds light on the expansion of executive power at the state level during the Great Depression, the theory and practice of liberalism as federal administrators understood it in the 1930s and 1940s, the mobilization of the American home front during World War II, and the internal dynamics of the Roosevelt and Truman administrations. McNutt's life underscores the challenges and changes Americans faced during an age of economic depression, global conflict, and decolonialization.
Review
"Kotlowski works in multiple contexts ranging from Indiana history to the development of liberalism in America to internal presidential politics to America's colonial empire, but he also has a feel for McNutt the man. He situates the story within the best recent historiography and makes a good case for exploring FDR from the margins while focusing on McNutt." --Allan M. Winkler, author of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Making of Modern America Indiana University Press
Review
"Paul McNutt was one of the New Deal era's most activist governors. His determined leadership brought change in a state reluctant to change and placed him on the national stage as a presidential contender. Dean Kotlowski's superbly researched biography brings new understanding to McNutt's personal and political life and makes for absorbing reading." --James H. Madison, author of Hoosiers: A New History of Indiana Indiana University Press Indiana University Press Indiana University Press
Review
"Paul V. McNutt was famous in the New Deal era and is now forgotten. Dean J. Kotlowski brings McNutt back to life in this engaging, well-researched and readable biography. A must for anyone interested in FDR and his times." --Lewis L. Gould, author of The Republicans: A History of the Grand Old Party
Review
"This massively researched, and well written biography finally remedies the
Review
"This massively researched and well-written biography finally remedies the
Review
"Dean Kotlowski has written an intriguing tale of ambition and statesmanship that enriches our understanding of the New Deal. Gracefully written and thoroughly researched, Paul V. McNutt and the Age of FDR takes us through McNutt's reign as governor of Indiana to his 1940 campaign for the White House--a quest that is dramatically thwarted by the larger than life president he served--to his key role in upholding the New Deal causes of economic and international security during and after the Second World War. Along the way, the author examines a gifted Hoosier's critical supporting role in two of the most important dramas of American history, the rise of the welfare state and the expansion of the American empire. Scholars and students of history will appreciate this fresh and probing look at Franklin Roosevelt's path-breaking leadership through the eyes of a loyal subordinate and rival for power." --Sidney M. Milkis, University of Virginia Indiana University Press
Review
"Dean Kotlowski has written a definitive biography of Indiana Gov. Paul V. McNutt. [The book]... shows Kotlowski's grasp of McNutt's importance on the national stage." --Indianapolis Star Indiana University Press Indiana University Press
Review
"Sturdy biography of a political stalwart of the past, largely forgotten now... One of the many virtues of Kotlowski's book is that it covers the necessary ground--a challenge, given McNutt's many careers and accomplishments... [a] capable, readable biography." --Kirkus Reviews
Review
"In this rich book, Dean Kotlowski provides not only the definitive and long-overdue biography of Indiana's Paul McNutt, an important but now largely-overlooked politician and administrator of the 1930s and 1940s, but he also nicely illuminates the era and its politics. Deeply-researched, well-written, and persuasively-argued, this study adds impressively to the historiography of the age of Roosevelt." --John W. Jeffries, author of Wartime America: The World War II Home Front
About the Author
Dean J. Kotlowski is Professor of History at Salisbury University in Maryland, author of Nixon's Civil Rights: Politics, Principle, and Policy, and editor of The European Union: From Jean Monnet to the Euro.
Table of Contents
List of Abbreviations
Introduction: A Man, an Era, and a President
1. "I See... a Great Future" (1891-1913)
2. New Departures, Old Haunts (1913-1925)
3. Triumph and Tragedy (1925-1926)
4. The Legion and Leadership (1926-1928)
5. National Vistas, State Elections (1929-1932)
6. A New Deal for Indiana (1933-1934)
7. "Hoosier Hitler" (1935-1936)
8. Breaking Away (1937-1938)
9. Humanitarian--and Home (1937-1939)
10. Paul V. and Franklin D. (1939-1940)
11. Ambition Frustrated (1940)
12. Dimensions of Security (1939-1945)
13. Mobilizing Manpower (1942-1945)
14. Returning to the Philippines (1945-1947)
15. Fading Away (1947-1955)
Notes
Index