"One of my favorite books from 2023...Roosevelt, as Mr. Leebaert makes clear, was a maddening boss and not a very nice man who used his knowledge of each lieutenant’s personal vulnerabilities as leverage. But he also had an uncanny knack for spotting men and women who could—at least with things he considered important—get big things done."
—Michael Barone, Wall Street Journal
"Illuminating."
—George Will, The Washington Post
“Mr. Leebaert takes a fresh tack by making his subject the Ickes-Perkins-Hopkins-Wallace bloc. … [And] here is the crucial thing for the gossip-hungry Roosevelt, and a boon for readers of Unlikely Heroes—they were never, ever boring."
—The Wall Street Journal
“In the vein of Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals (2005), political historian Leebaert illuminates the dynamics of FDR’s consequential administration by focusing on four of his lieutenants … Leebaert sheds new light on FDR’s managerial capabilities and ably demonstrates that the cultivation of diversified and resilient talent was essential to the administration’s endurance.”
—Booklist
“Leebaert thoroughly mines diaries, letters, and oral histories to deliver a fine-grained study of the ties that bound this consequential administration. It’s an enlightening investigation into the alchemy of successful governance.”
—Publishers Weekly
"Leebaert is good at adducing current themes in past history, including regional divisions, racism, inequality, trickle-down economics, and a politicized and obstructionist Supreme Court...A nuanced study of reformist government in action and its behind-the-scenes players."
—Kirkus Reviews
“Leebaert follows four protagonists from President Franklin Roosevelt’s inner circle during the Depression. … An intimate portrait of FDR’s inner circle during the New Deal. Readers of U.S. history, economics, and political science should greatly enjoy this volume.”
—Library Journal
"Constructs an entirely fresh understanding of FDR and his presidency by spotlighting the powerful, equally wounded figures whom he raised up to confront the Depression, then to beat the Axis. .By examining the lives of these four, a very different picture emerges of how Americans saved their democracy and rescued civilization overseas."
—Daily Kos
"Unlikely Heroes is the most exciting book written about FDR's presidency in decades. Finally, we see exactly how he led the nation."
—James Strock, author, Theodore Roosevelt on Leadership, Founder, Serve to Lead Group
“A brilliantly captivating portrait of Roosevelt and his four most important associates, revealing their interwoven lives and friendships. Not only does it provide a unique perspective on the twelve tumultuous years of FDR’s presidency, it is full of illuminating insights into the upheavals of America today.”
—Liaquat Ahamed, Pulitzer-winning author, Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World
“By bringing alive the friendships among FDR’s key officials, Leebaert enables us to feel like insiders during that desperate time…among the many books about Roosevelt—none grants such vibrant access as does Unlikely Heroes.”
—Major-General Mari K. Eder, U.S. Army (ret), former Deputy Commanding General, U.S. Army Reserves, and author of The Girls Who Stepped Out of Line: Untold Stories of the Women Who Changed the Course of World War II
“No modern American political era has been the subject of more books.... But Derek Leebaert’s personality-driven account of the life and times of our greatest president quickly convinces us there is a place for one more compelling volume. … masterful.”
—The Guardian
"A terrific read."
—The Hugh Hewitt Show
"A surprising, counterintuitive take on Roosevelt... I hope to pick up some secrets on building successful teams while I’m at it."
—Nicholas Thompson, CEO, Atlantic, 2023 summer reading list | McKinsey & Company
"'Unlikely Heroes' pen-portrait of FDR is almost unparalleled in the literature about U.S. presidents. Only a handful of works about Washington, Jackson, Lincoln, TR, and Nixon compare."
—Walter McDougall, Professor of History and the Alloy-Ansin Professor of International Relations, University of Pennsylvania; Pulitzer winner
2022-12-20
A deep examination of the four figures who were central to the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt.
As a political leader, Roosevelt played his cards close to his chest and never forgot a slight, however minor. Three men and one woman served him well in this stance, forming a kind of Cabinet within a Cabinet. Indeed, FDR’s official Cabinet was often hapless in selling the administration’s ambitious programs: “Attorney General Cummings had no wish to campaign because he was eyeing a Senate-confirmed appointment to the Supreme Court. Secretary of State Hull didn’t like making speeches, and made them ponderously anyway, while Commerce Secretary Roper had faded into invisibility. Treasury Secretary Morgenthau, according to Farley, was too nervous to use in any capacity.” As Leebaert—founding editor of International Security and author of Grand Improvisation and Magic and Mayhem—demonstrates, that left Harry Hopkins, Harold Ickes, Henry Wallace, and Frances Perkins to do the work. All were staggeringly intelligent, and most were flawed in surprising ways: Ickes once “seduced his stepdaughter,” Perkins was a melancholic married to a husband haunted by bipolar disorder, and Wallace harbored a desire to be president himself. When Roosevelt took power at the height of the Great Depression, he “identified the large established government departments that he believed vital to recovery: Agriculture, Interior, Labor, and Treasury.” Not surprisingly, the four stalwarts took leadership and, in one way or another, helped bring about recovery. Without stretching the point to hyperbole, Leebaert is good at adducing current themes in past history, including regional divisions, racism, inequality, trickle-down economics, and a politicized and obstructionist Supreme Court. Interestingly, thanks largely to Wallace and Perkins, FDR paid close attention to rural America, a lesson Democrats might learn today, and to battling segregation by, among other things, refusing government contracts to companies that engaged in discrimination.
A nuanced study of reformist government in action and its behind-the-scenes players.
