Uniting America: How FDR and Henry Stimson Brought Democrats and Republicans Together to Win World War II by Peter Shinkle
The untold story of the most crucial bipartisan alliance in United States history.As Adolf Hitler?s Nazi armies threatened Europe, Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt urged a divided America to mobilize to defend democracy and freedom. Many Republicans accused FDR of leading the nation needlessly into war and demanded that America remain neutral. On June 20, 1940, FDR shocked the country by announcing that two prominent Republicans would take posts in his cabinet. Henry Stimson, former President Herbert Hoover?s secretary of state, became secretary of war, and Frank Knox, the Republican vice-presidential candidate in 1936, became secretary of the navy.Roosevelt intended the appointments to build national unity. But building a coalition across party lines was a risky move that could have backfired politically. It also placed a bipartisan relationship at the center of America?s confrontation with global fascism. FDR?s Republican allies went on to play critical roles in leading
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