The United States has rarely had to face more serious challenges than in the two decades from 1933 to 1953. The three most daunting ones were the Great Depression, World War II, and the Cold War, but many others tested two exceptional presidents, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman. More forceful and flamboyant, FDR reacted with a first and then a second round of New Deal measures, introducing some of the most far-reaching reforms ever seen. Harry S. Truman, not initially voted into the job and coming toward the end of the world war, nonetheless grew into the presidency and prepared the country for another phase of conflict—not always a shooting war but still one that could destroy the United States and the rest of the world. On this background, partially spawned by it, a continuing series of reforms was adopted that revamped the economy and created the welfare state and also improved the situation of racial minorities, especially African Americans, women, and working people in general. This all took place within the framework of wider changes in society and culture, with the emergence of radio, television, and cinema and flourishing of literature and the arts.
The A to Z of the Roosevelt–Truman Era is thus a crucial volume, for it shows how the United States was transformed, changing from a country in which government played a minor role to one where it was the major player, and also from a world in which the United States was just another nation to one in which it was the leader of the “free world.” This transformation can most readily by grasped by tracing the many often fateful events in the chronology. Just how these events came about and how they relate to one another is examined in the introduction. The details are set forth in several hundred dictionary entries on significant people—not only figures in government or the military, but also in the economy, society, and culture—and entries on the more noteworthy events—whether on the home political scene or abroad, as well as more general entries on major trends and some lesser fashions. Meanwhile, the list of acronyms helps navigate the alphabet soup of new agencies and organizations. The bibliography, a rather comprehensive yet selective one, allows readers to follow up on specific aspects.
This book is written by Neil A. Wynn, which is fortunate for two reasons. He is one of the leading authorities on the period, having taught history and American studies of the 20th century first at the University of Glamorgan in Wales and more recently at the University of Gloucestershire. During his more than 30 years as an academic, he has written numerous articles and chapters, as well as several books, and edited or coedited two other works, the most relevant being The Afro-American and the Second World War (1976) and America’s Century: Perspectives on U.S. History since 1900 (1993). He has also already written a book in the Historical Dictionaries of U.S. Historical Eras series, Historical Dictionary from the Great War to the Great Depression (2003). This gives him a better understanding of how the earlier period impacted the latter and also permits a more seamless connection between the two. In addition, together these two books offer readers a broader and deeper view of an often troubled period in American history and one that pointed the United States in directions it is still following today.
Jon Woronoff
Series Editor