The Simple Faith of Franklin Delano Roosevelt

August 14, 2017
Wicker, formerly a religion writer for the Dallas Morning News, tells a straightforward story of Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s deep religiosity and its influence on his presidency. Wicker traces Roosevelt’s developing of a religious vision from his childhood, where he learned, after seeing his prayers about his father’s health answered, that God actively communicated with people. Wicker then details Roosevelt’s school days at Groton and the onset of polio. Particularly engaging is Wicker’s analysis of Roosevelt’s first inaugural address, illustrating the many instances in the speech where he weaves biblical language and religious precepts into his vision for a nation suffering through the Great Depression. In the address and throughout the remainder of his four terms in office, Roosevelt’s social gospel—the revival of hope through brotherhood—culminates in his speech to the country in which he declares the enduring Christian idea that “we are all members of one another.” Wicker’s appealing little book is a fun glimpse into a previously little-explored corner of F.D.R.’s life.

November 15, 2017
In general, Franklin Delano Roosevelt has not been described as a particularly religious man. Indeed, he sometimes privately disparaged public bible thumpers. Yet he often quoted scripture in promoting his domestic and foreign policies, prompting his critics to dismiss this as a cynical political ploy. Wicker, the former religion reporter for the Dallas Morning News, asserts that a sincere and deep religious faith was the basis for many of FDR's policies. From his parents, especially his father, Roosevelt inherited a strong Episcopalian faith. While he may not have been outwardly pious in his youth, he took to heart the teachings of the so-called social gospel. He seems to have taken it for granted that concern for the less fortunate required an activist government to address and attack entrenched and even transitory social and economic problems. Wicker glosses over the fact that sincere opponents of Roosevelt's New Deal policies could be at least equally compassionate in their personal lives. Still, this is an unusual reexamination of the basis of Roosevelt's transformative political efforts as president.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)