shows that it reshaped American institutions and gave material suste- nance to millions of people who had been thrown out of jobs and into various states of misery by the Depression. The greatest lift probably came from FDR himself. Of his predecessor in the White House, one observer remarked, "If you put a rose in Hoover's hand, it would wilt." Roosevelt, by contrast, radiated confidence. "Never was there such a change in the transfer of a government," New York Times columnist...