Jonathan Daniels

The Nation's Capital during WWII -- a town of intrigue, gossip, humor, and deadly serious political decisions that would affect the future of the world. It's all captured in this remarkable firsthand account by a man who saw it from the vantage point of the White House, as one of FDR's closet aides. The events covered in the diary-with-commentary include: The White House's struggle with the reaction that was setting in against Roosevelt's New Deal policies; The politically damaging "spiritualist letters" of Vice President Wallace, and the "blackmail" trade-off that kept them secret. The infighting over the control of war production. The historic Big Three conferences. The battles with the press over excessive wartime secrecy. The momentous decision by the President to seek an unprecedented fourth term. The mishandling of the replacement of Wallace by Truman as Roosevelt's running mate. And the dramatic moments, following FDR's death, when Harry Truman assumed the presidency.

"Thomas Jefferson is safe on his pedestal," writes Jonathan Daniels. "Alexander Hamilton's picture properly graces the American ten-dollar bill. Aaron Burr, like Lucifer, will never be lifted to the heavens from which he fell, or was "hurled headlong." Any attempt to alter their allotted places now would be a pretentious folly. Yet, it should be possible to examine the anatomy of their antagonism. That is what I have tried to do." And, in so doing, Mr. Daniels has uncovered startling new material about the early days of the United States, and in particular, about the three men - Jefferson, Hamilton, Burr - who contended bitterly among themselves for control of the young republic and the success of their own designs. The result is a fascinating book which sheds new light on some monumental figures in American history - a drama of power greed, and idealism locked in a mighty ordeal of ambition.

A narrative history of the boom and the bust, the Happy Warrior and the forgotten man, Teapot Dome and Huey Long, Roosevelt and Hopkins--from the jazz age and the Depression to Pearl Harbor.

With a history as dark and bloody as any in our nation, the Natchez Trace has always been more than just a thoroughfare. Growing out of a need for a return route for flatboats that floated down the Mississippi, the Trace winds up from Natchez, Mississippi, through Alabama and ends in Nashville, Tennessee. From the start, the Natchez Trace was alive with rugged pioneers, politicians, ladies of fashion, settlers, soldiers, and robbers. You'll learn about the trail and the notable figures who traversed it, such as Aaron Burr, Andrew Jackson, George Washington, Daniel Boone, and Meriwether Lewis, whose death on the Trace is still a mystery.

In this wonderfully candid interview, Jonathan Worth Daniels describes the political and social changes he witnessed from the early 1900s to the mid-1940s in North Carolina. Daniels was born into two prominent political North Carolinian families--the Bagleys and the Daniels--in 1902. Daniels' parents modeled paternalistic behavior in their dealings with the family's black servants. He recalls that race relations were pleasant, but notes that blacks were subservient to whites. Daniels' father, Josephus, actively participated in the 1898 white supremacy campaign by using his newspaper, the News and Observer, to disseminate Democratic and anti-black rhetoric. Josephus' opposition to black political power grew out of Reconstruction-era politics. Although his father provided significant political help with the white supremacist campaign in the late 1890s, Daniels remembers his father as helpful to black workers privately. When his father moved to Washington, D.C., as Woodrow Wilson's Secretary of the Navy, Daniels' own relationship with blacks changed: when he was a young child, blacks were his playmates, but during his adolescence, his social relationships with blacks came to an end. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill profoundly shaped Daniels' personal and professional life. As editor of college's newspaper, the Daily Tar Heel, Daniels gained practical experience for his future career as an editor for the Raleigh News and Observer. His participation in the Carolina Playmakers theatre group enhanced his creative flair. After college, Daniels worked at a Louisville, Kentucky, paper under his uncle Colonel Stover's tutelage. By the early 1930s, Daniels had written his first novel and moved to New York City to attend Columbia Law School. Harry Luce hired him to work with Fortune magazine. He later returned to Raleigh to serve as the editor of the Raleigh News and Observer. Daniels argues that racial views must be seen in the light of one's era. He also explains that the characteristics of effective leaders are largely decisiveness and action.