I've long thought that FDR needs a good deconstructive biography. He was truly a fraud. His domestic agenda was a failure papered over feel-good things like fireside chats which were broadcast on the new medium of radio, and oh, by the way, the radio licensing process was in the hands of his cronies, so there was a good incentive for stations to carry it.
I'm more a fan of his wartime leadership, although this too leaves much to be desired and is inflated as if he were somehow the only person who could have effectively led the country. Great presidents rise to the occasion. Lincoln was a bumbling amateur at the outset but became great. FDR tracks a bit along the same line, but still had bumbling aplenty in his character. Like when he went to Potsdam and refused to believe the assertion that his room was bugged, which it was.
