DOBBS: A new opinion poll shows 73 percent of us believe the country is heading in the wrong direction. In 1933, America was definitely going in the wrong direction, then in the grip of the Great Depression. Yet a new president, Franklin Roosevelt, turned the nation's mood around, and indeed led the nation in a new direction.
Jonathan Alter examines the man and his time in his new book, "The Defining Moment: FDR's 100 Days and the Triumph of Hope." Jonathan Alter joins us now.
I love, first of all, you being here, but I love the word "hope" in a title. That's a wonderful thing we don't hear many people talk about these days.
JONATHAN ALTER, AUTHOR: Well, that's the kind of thing, Lou, that FDR was just a master at: Taking people who had given up all hope -- the country was curled up in the fetal position; 80 percent unemployment in some areas; the banks were all closed; we were on a barter economy; people literally think it's the end of capitalism -- not just a few people, but leaders -- and the end of democracy.
And Roosevelt is told by a visitor in his first week, you will either be one of our greatest presidents if you succeed, or one of our worst presidents if you fail. He said, if I fail, I'll be our last president. That's how grim things were in 1933.
And yet through leadership -- and that's what it is about today, that's what it was about then -- he turned it around.
DOBBS: It's one of the reasons I think that your book is so important, so timely. Because not only examining obviously one of the greatest presidents to ever sit in the White House, but to look at a president who took on so much in the way of challenge, who with fear permeating the nation talked about fear of fear as the first thing to rid ourselves of. And in this day and age, it seems like fear and anxiety, you can call it what you will, is -- the nation is suffused with it, and leadership is one of the things that we are not hearing from this White House, we're not hearing about leadership from this Congress, from either party, in my opinion. And the contrast with the era that you describe and the man you describe is amazing.
ALTER: I have to say, it did strike me a lot, the contrast. Because sometimes today you feel like you're hearing the only thing we have to use is fear itself. And actually, in Roosevelt's time, there was a lot to fear. In some ways, that line was sort of nonsense, but it worked like any theatrical act. It worked to help people snap out of their mental depression, even though the economic depression wasn't cured for many years. And his ability to communicate and then to follow it up with action.
He used that word action five times in that inaugural address. And his view was you had to keep working the problem. You couldn't just say, oh, we've got all these bad problems and blame somebody else. You had to come up with solutions.
DOBBS: Let's show our audience the reference you are making, in which you write -- and quote Roosevelt -- "The country needs, and unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it; if it fails, admit if frankly and try another. But above all, try something."
The fear of making a mistake, the fear of admitting a mistake on the part of officials in Washington is calcified. The military doesn't -- our generals don't take responsibility for an insurgency that persists despite having been called frozen dead-enders by Secretary Rumsfeld in the initial stages. The fact that we are losing more than 2,400 Americans there, and being told we don't have a silver bullet to deal with IEDs, or being told that we can carry on a huge budget deficit in perpetuity.
Our trade deficits, that amount to trillions of dollars. No one seems willing to say we are taking the wrong tact, despite the fact that everyone watching and listening to you right now is telling every pollster surveilling the country that Americans are frustrated and believe strongly we are headed in the wrong direction.
ALTER: The reason I called this book "The Defining Moment" is this was a moment in American history when a president first really responded to what you are talking about. And before that, it was like the people are in trouble or we've got these problems, it's a local responsibility, or maybe voluntary responsibility.
After that, it was, no, we in this country expect the president to do something about our problems, or at least try to do something. And if it does not work, then make mid-course corrections. It's the failure of those mid-course corrections in this administration and the failure of performance -- because I think too often they put loyalty ahead of performance.
DOBBS: Right.
ALTER: FDR put performance ahead of loyalty. Whether you are leading a business, a non-profit, PTA, you've got to put performance first, as Franklin Roosevelt did.
DOBBS: And as you pointed out, he believed in that in just about every aspect, including his cabinet.
It is, see that great old big picture, Jonathan -- the defining moment. We thank you for being here. Jonathan Alter, terrific book.
ALTER: Thanks so much, Lou.
DOBBS: Thank you.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0605/05/ldt.01.html
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