Includes bibliographical references (pages 89-115) and index.
Contents:
Prologue : January 6, 1937 -- FDR, the Executive Branch, and the Supreme Court : relief, reform, and resistance -- To do or not to do? -- The 1936 Election : FDR decides not to decide -- The President proposes -- The Senate disposes -- Did FDR succeed?
Summary:
"This book is about Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1937 effort to pack the Supreme Court. Unlike most work on the subject, Michael Nelson's focus is more on the president's decisions than on the Court's responses. It analytically narrates what FDR was doing (or choosing not to do) in response to these developments as they occurred. While keeping Court-packing front and center, Nelson embeds the effort in FDR's larger campaign to direct American government and politics in pursuit of his desire to entrench the New Deal lastingly in several of the country's major political and governmental institutions: Congress, the Democratic Party, and the executive branch, as well as the Court. It was an understandable effort: the Republicans had dominated all three branches for varying but considerable lengths of time. In the end, the president's effort was unevenly successful"-- Provided by the publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.