I’m not sure how Before the Trumpet: Young Franklin Roosevelt 1882-1905 by Geoffrey C. Ward escaped my notice for so long. After seeing Ward recently at the Free Library of Philadelphia, I decided to read his two earlier books about Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I am a person who loves the prequel, the sequel, and the minutiae in-between. Having a large personal collection of books about FDR, I find myself reading the same information over and over again. Well, Before the Trumpet was eye-opening on many levels and I enjoyed it immensely.
Before the Trumpet covers young FDR from 1882 (his birth) until his marriage to Eleanor Roosevelt in 1905. The first quarter of the book is actually devoted to the backgrounds of the Roosevelt and Delano families. The Delanos were especially fascinating as FDR’s grandfather, Warren Delano, Jr., spent many years in China and was involved in the opium trade.
As for FDR’s youth, Ward goes into great detail about episodes that are superficially covered in other biographies. These include his years at Groton and Harvard, his time at Columbia, his early career in the law, and his courtship of his distant cousin, Eleanor Roosevelt. Before the Trumpet also dissects his relationship with his domineering mother (Sara) and his sick father (James). For instance, FDR became an avid collector in his youth of stamps, birds, books, naval prints, etc. Collecting allowed him a measure of independence from his mother and “in arranging his birds or stamps he was able to order a world of his own, one in which his mother was only an interloper.” Still, he wasn’t able to totally cut the apron strings as Sara controlled the purse strings until the day she died in 1941. When James had his first heart attack at age 62, this “fact altered almost every aspect of life for the Roosevelts, with profound and lasting impact on the development of Franklin’s personality.” The Delanos always believed in hiding unpleasantness. For the last 10 years of his father’s life, FDR and his mother made this their primary focus. This was something that would stick with FDR throughout his lifetime.
I loved this book for so many reasons. Before the Trumpet provides many facts, stories and anecdotes that I have never read before—something very rare in most Roosevelt books that I read these days. I was fascinated by FDR’s relationship with his half-brother, James “Rosy” Roosevelt Roosevelt, and Rosy’s son, Tadd. The Delanos were also a major influence on FDR, and his grandfather Delano was a big part of his life, not dying until FDR was 15. Also, most books about FDR focus on his presidency. But Before the Trumpet provides a psychological portrait of the childhood influences that were so important in molding FDR’s personality and made him the man he became. I found the entire book fascinating.
I have already purchased Ward’s 2nd part of FDR’s biography in A First Class Temperament and look forward to continuing the pre-presidential years of FDR.
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