Looking for a good read? Here is a recommendation. I have an unusual approach to reviewing books. I review books I feel merit a review. Each review is an opportunity to recommend a book. If I do not think a book is worth reading, I find another book to review. You do not have to agree with everything every author has written (I do not), but the fiction I review is entertaining (and often thought-provoking) and the non-fiction contain ideas worth reading.
Book Review
An Immigrant Woman in America’s Inner Circles
Reviewed by Mark Lardas
March 12, 2023
“The Confidante: The Untold Story of the Woman Who Helped Win WWII and Shape Modern America,” by Christopher C. Gorham, Citadel, 2023, 384 pages, $28.00 (Hardcover), $23.80 (Ebook), $18.37 (Audiobook)
Anna Marie Rosenberg became one of the most influential women in the United States during the middle of the 20th Century. An advisor to Presidents who shaped public policy from the New Deal to the Cold War, she is almost entirely forgotten today.
“The Confidante: The Untold Story of the Woman Who Helped Win WWII and Shape Modern America,” by Christopher C. Gorham is a first biography of this influential woman. It recounts a life that should be better known today.
Born Anna Marie Lederer, in Budapest, Hungary, she moved to New York City with her mother and younger sister in 1912 to join her father, who arrived there in 1910. There, Gorham shows, she became the classic American immigrant success story.
She made her mark early, mediating a student strike during World War I while attending Wadleigh High School for Girls. While still in high school she married Julius Rosenberg, a World War I veteran she met as a pen pal.
As a suffragette, she became involved in New York City Democratic politics. She launched that into a career in public relations and as a labor relations mediator. She gained a reputation for fair dealing, respected by labor and management alike.
Despite her foreign origins and her Jewish background, she was soon accepted as a member of the then-WASPish upper echelons of American public life, becoming close to Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt, and making friends across party lines and social lines.
When Roosevelt became President, he enlisted Rosenberg to help with the New Deal, using her in senior positions in National Industrial Recovery Act and Social Security, the only woman at those levels. During World War II she became one of Roosevelt’s troubleshooters, calming race relations, and running different offices dealing with manpower.
In 1944 Roosevelt sent her to Europe to investigate demobilization issues. She helped create the GI Bill. Later she would become Assistant Secretary of Defense under Truman during the Korean War, despite opposition by Joe McCarthy.
Despite her accomplishments, she fell out of step with the Democratic Party as it lurched left in the 1960s. That combined with her writing no memoirs (and documenting little of her career) led to obscurity as the century ended.
Gorham’s biography may help restore her to public consciousness. Although he provides a comprehensive account of her career, “The Confidante” is also a human and intimate portrait of a remarkable woman.
Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, historian, and model-maker, lives in League City. His website is marklardas.com.