Happy days are here again

Franklin Roosevelt was one of our greatest and most beloved presidents - and yet he almost didn't get his party's nomination during his first run for the White House. Happy Days Are Here Again re-creates the crazy scheming, backroom plotting, and infighting of the 1932 Democratic convention - a major historical event that took place over just a few days but determined the course of American politics for generations. The Chicago convention of 1932 was one of the most suspenseful in our nation's history. Roosevelt may have entered the Chicago convention with the highest number of delegates, but the structure and rules of the nomination process prevented him from being a shoe-in. In fact, there were several viable contenders - among them Al Smith, Newton D. Baker, John Nance Garner, and Albert C. Ritchie - who also could have faced Herbert Hoover in the upcoming general election. With the Depression under way, it was not lost on those at this particular convention that they were not only selecting a nominee but also a president. Among the personalities Neal weaves into this high-stakes drama are Joseph P. Kennedy, William Randolph Hearst, Huey Long, Bernard Baruch, Will Rogers, Clarence Darrow, Amelia Earhart, Duke Ellington, and John Dos Passos. All of these players gathered during a Chicago summer to do battle over the leadership of their party and, consequently, the White House.