Harry L. Hopkins - Lord Root of the Matter

He was the most trusted adviser of President Roosevelt (Number 2). Historians say that Roosevelt went from “Dr. New Deal” in his first two terms to “Dr. Win-the-War” in his last two. The transition is clear, and Roosevelt could not have accomplished all that he did without the prodigious workload assumed by Harry L. Hopkins. The former social worker could take on any job assigned to him by the president and carry it out skill-fully, whether he was involved with a local relief agency or the Kremlin.

A Master Administrator

Hopkins was born in 1890 in Sioux City, Iowa, and graduated from Grinnell University in 1912. He was interested in social work and was employed by several relief and welfare agencies, administering relief programs in several states. In 1932, the third year of the Great Depression, Hopkins became head of the New York State Temporary Relief Administration. Roosevelt was then-governor of New York, and Hopkins quickly became a confidante of the soon-to-be president. 

In 1933, with FDR in the White House, Hopkins was put in charge of administering the Federal Emergency Relief Act. The social worker from Iowa was now doing welfare work on a nationwide basis. As different relief agencies were established, Hopkins would become involved, one way or the other. The most controversial of these was the Works Progress Administration (WPA). It put people to work on federal projects, including the building of airports, bridges, dams, roads, post offices, and government buildings, giving jobs to construction workers, carpenters, bricklayers, architects, draftsmen, plumbers, and day laborers. Hopkins, however, insisted on providing work for people in many other occupations, and the WPA provided jobs for writers, actors, artists, and researchers, as well as other white-collar workers. It aroused great controversy, but Hopkins took the heat for the president.

With the coming of war, the president’s agenda changed. Roosevelt needed someone to talk to Winston Churchill (Number 3) and Joseph Stalin (Number 4). What were these two men like? What did they need? What was the best way of working with them?

From Social Welfare to Diplomacy

The man who was in charge of what critics of the New Deal called “leaf-raking projects” was now in charge of administering the lend-lease program. As American industry turned out the war material, there were intense struggles to see who got what. Would the new tanks off the assembly line go to Great Britain, the Soviet Union, or the American army at home? In short, the military decisions became political decisions, and Hopkins was in the middle of it.

The coordinator of many a social welfare meeting was now arranging the agendas for the Big Three (Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin), foreign ministers’ meetings, and dozens of inter agency conferences. When he attended a meeting that bogged down in minutiae or strayed from the subject, Hopkins would say, “If we get to the root of the matter, the matter will stick to the root.” He said it so often that Churchill dubbed him “Lord Root-of-the-Matter.”

The hours and days were so long that Hopkins moved into the White House. Despite his failing health, he traveled extensively for the president, defying all the dangers of wartime travel. Unfortunately, there are some dangers that cannot be avoided, especially to loved ones.

On February l, 1944, the war came home to Harry Hopkins. Stephen, his 18-year-old son, was killed in action with the Marines on Kwajalein atoll in the Pacific. It had been Stephen’s first day in combat. He was shot while carrying ammunition to machine gun units.The war went on, and so did Harry Hopkins. There were breaks for hospital stays, but as the war ground down there were new problems to be faced in the post-war world.Roosevelt died in April 1945. President Truman (Number 14), his successor, asked Hopkins to go to Moscow and talk to Stalin about important issues in eastern Europe. It was his last presidential mission. Hopkins died in January 1946.