Hitler Adolf - 1932: the rise of Hitler and FDR -- two tales of politics, betrayal, and unlikely destiny

David Pietrusza has appeared on Good Morning America , Morning Joe , The Voice of America , The History Channel, AMC, ESPN, NPR, and C-SPAN. He has spoken at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, and various universities and festivals. His books include 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents ; Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series ; 1948: Harry Trumans Improbable Victory and the Year That Transformed America ; and 1960: LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon: The Epic Campaign That Forged Three Presidencies . He lives in upstate New York. Visit davidpietrusza.com.

ALSO BY DAVID PIETRUSZA

1948:
Harry Trumans Improbable Victory and the Year That Transformed America

1960: LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon:
The Epic Campaign That Forged Three Presidencies

1920:
The Year of the Six Presidents

Rothstein:
The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series

Judge and Jury:
The Life and Times of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis

Silent Cals Almanack:
The Homespun Wit and Wisdom of Vermonts Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge:
A Documentary Biography

Calvin Coolidge on The Founders:
Reflections on the American Revolution & the Founding Fathers

The Rise of Hitler and FDRTwo Tales of Politics, Betrayal, and Unlikely Destiny

DAVID PIETRUSZA

Guilford, Connecticut

An imprint of Rowman & Littlefield

Distributed by NATIONAL BOOK NETWORK

Copyright 2016 by David Pietrusza

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Pietrusza, David, 1949-

1932 : the rise of Hitler and FDR ; two tales of politics, betrayal, and unlikely destiny / David Pietrusza.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-7627-9302-0 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-4930-0944-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-4930-1805-5 (electronic)

1. Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945. 2. United StatesPolitics and government1933-1945. 3. United StatesForeign relations1933-1945. 4. New Deal, 1933-1939. 5. Hitler, Adolf, 1889-1945. 6. GermanyPolitics and government1933-1945. 7. GermanyForeign relations1933-1945. 8. National socialism. I. Title. II. Title: Nineteen thirty-two.

E806.P54 2015

973.917dc23

2015016456

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Newton Diehl Baker Jr. (18711937): Woodrow Wilsons secretary of the army. Dark-horse, unannounced, and largely unwilling possibility for 1932s Democratic nomination. Acceptable to most party factions. Long beset by heart problems. Our salvation lies largely in [Roosevelts] nomination, calculates Herbert Hoover. I am afraid of Baker.

Bernard Mannes The Lone Eagle Baruch (18701965): Legendary lone-wolf Wall Street financier. Like Joe Kennedy, one of the very fortunate few to selland profitbefore the Crash. Winston Churchills friend and patron. Favoring Newton Baker in 1932, the elegantly aloof South Carolinian derides FDR as wishy-washy and the Boy Scout Governor.

Eva Anna Paula Braun (19121945): Assistant to Heinrich Hoffmann, Adolf Hitlers official photographer. She has her sights on Hitler. In 1932, despairing of his indifference, she attempts suicide. The girl did it for love of me.... , Hitler confesses to Hoffmann. Obviously I must now look after the girl.

Wilhelm Brckner (18841954): Hitlers hulking adjutant. Former Munich SA leader. Survivor of the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch.

Heinrich Brning (18851970): Depression-wracked Weimar Germanys Hunger Chancellor. Centre Party ( Zentrum ) member. His rule by presidential emergency decree unwittingly presages Hitlers dictatorship. The best chancellor since Bismarck, says Reichsprsident Hindenburgbefore firing him.

Anton Joseph Ten Percent Tony Cermak (18731933): Czech-born, Protestant, Democratic mayorand corrupt bossof Chicago. The wettest man in Chicago. He packs the hall for fellow wet Al Smith at 1932s Democratic Convention.

Winston Spencer Churchill (18741965): Hero of the Boer War. Architect of Allied disaster at Gallipoli. Eyewitness to Wall Streets Black Thursday. Visiting Munich in the summer of 1932, the ardent anti-Bolshevik (it is not a creed; it is a pestilence), Churchill is invited to meet Hitler. Snaps Churchill: Tell your boss from me that anti-Semitism may be a good starter, but it is a bad sticker.

John Calvin Silent Cal Coolidge (18721933): Hoovers conservative Yankee predecessor. Reluctantly backing Hoover in 1932. I no longer fit with these times, he concludes at years end. Great changes can come about in four years. These socialistic notions of government are not of my day.

Father Charles Edward Coughlin (18911979): Spellbinding Canadian-born, Detroit-area radio priest. Anti-Prohibition and anti-Hoover. Pro-silver and very pro-FDR. I am with you to the end, Coughlin wires the newly nominated Roosevelt. Say the word and I will follow.

Father James Renshaw Cox (18861951): Stocky, bespectacled pastor of Pittsburghs Old St. Patricks parish. In January, Cox leads twenty thousand jobless in a protest to Washington. Founder of the Blue Shirts movement. Presidential nominee of the short-lived Jobless Party. Running on a platform of federal control of banks and an end to usury.

James Michael The Mayor of the Poor Curley (18741958): Bostons ex-convict, propublic works, pro-FDR mayor. Defeated by Smiths forces in Aprils Commonwealth of Massachusetts presidential primary, he mysteriously appears at Junes Democratic National Convention as delegate Alcade [Mayor] Jaime Miguel Curleorepresenting the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Charles Indian Curtis (18601936): Hoovers aged and part-Kaw vice president. Former Senate majority leader. An ardent dry. The model for Of Thee I Sing s ineffectual Vice President Alexander Throttlebottom. Hoover wants Curtis off the 1932 ticket. Reputed poker cheat. Well, as Alice Roosevelt Longworth observes, we just dont come in when Charlie deals....

Theodor Duesterberg (18751950): A leader of Germanys right-wing Stahlhelm veterans group. Allied with Hitler and the DNVPs Alfred Hugenberg in 1931s short-lived Harzburg Front. His slim chances fizzle in March 1932s presidential election when gleeful Nazis reveal his secret: a Jewish great-grandfather.

Lt. Col. Dwight David Eisenhower (18901969): Aide to Army Chief of Staff Douglas MacArthur (I studied dramatics under MacArthur for seven years). Participant in clearing 1932s Bonus March. Best clerk I ever had, says MacArthur of Ike. Ive been called Dictator Ike, Ike says as 1932 mercifully concludes, because I believe that virtual dictatorship must be exercised by our President.