Final Victory Lib/E: Fdr's Extraordinary World War II Presidential Campaign

When the 1944 presidential election campaign geared up late that spring, Franklin D. Roosevelt had already been in office longer than any other president. Sensing likely weakness, the Republicans mounted an energetic and expensive campaign, hitting hard at FDR's liberal domestic policies and the ongoing cost of World War II. Despite gravely deteriorating health, FDR and his feisty running mate, the unexpected Harry Truman, campaigned vigorously against young governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York and old-line Ohio governor John Bricker. Roosevelt's charm and wit, as well as the military successes in Europe and the Pacific, contributed to his sweeping electoral victory. But the hard-fought campaign would soon take its toll on America's only four-term president. Preeminent historian and biographer Stanley Weintraub recaptures FDR's striking last campaign and the year's momentous events, from the rainy city streets where Roosevelt, his legs paralyzed by polio since 1922, rode in an open car, to the battlefronts where the commander-in-chief's forces were closing in on Hitler and Hirohito. Weintraub, as he has done in all his biographies, brings to life the man and his times, capturing those small but telling details that inform and delight.The result is unforgettable.

About the Author :
Stanley Weintraub is a National Book Award finalist and a former Guggenheim fellow. A professor emeritus of arts and humanities at Penn State University, he is the author of numerous histories and biographies, including Silent Night and 11 Days in December, and is an expert on George Bernard Shaw. He lives in Newark, Delaware. Michael Kramer is an AudioFile Earphones Award winner, a finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration, and recipient of a Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award. He is also an actor and director in the Washington, DC, area, where he is active in the area's theater scene and has appeared in productions at the Shakespeare Theatre, the Kennedy Center, and Theater J.

Review :
"In this well-researched, engaging history, Weintraub effectively brings the players to life, portraying the public and private faces of the witty, indomitable FDR and his opponent, the stiff, humorless New York Gov. Thomas E. Dewey...A well-drawn political history of FDR's last days." -- "Kirkus Reviews" "Weintraub, a historian and bestselling author, dissects Franklin D. Roosevelt's historic fourth and last presidential campaign...Historically satisfying, bringing the events to life with telling anecdotes (like Truman's terrifying, prescient 'nightmare that Roosevelt had died and he, Harry S. Truman, was now president'), Weintraub's book portrays a political icon determined to make his mark on America and the world in the twilight of his life." -- "Publishers Weekly"