This paper profiles Harry L. Hopkins (1890–1946), one of Franklin D. Roosevelt's closest advisors and most consequential political allies. It traces Hopkins's early life and career in social work, his rise to prominence through New Deal programs such as the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Works Progress Administration, and his pivotal diplomatic role during World War II. The paper also addresses conservative allegations that Hopkins was a Soviet agent, countering them with documented accounts of his service to FDR and praise from Allied leaders including Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin.
Harry L. Hopkins was born on August 17, 1890, in Sioux City, Iowa, and was the fourth of five children raised by David Aldona and Anna Picket (Georgetown.edu). During his childhood Hopkins lived in Chicago and Nebraska, but at the age of 11 his family returned to Iowa. After high school, he attended — and graduated cum laude from — Grinnell College in Iowa in 1912. In 1913 he married Ethel Gross, and between 1912 and 1933 Hopkins devoted himself to the field of social work, which was his great passion. When World War I began, Hopkins served as head of the Gulf Division of the American Red Cross, helping the families of soldiers sent to fight in Europe.
He met Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1928 in New York State. Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor took an immediate liking to Hopkins, which led to his appointment to positions of authority and to his close association with Roosevelt in the years that followed (Georgetown.edu). Hopkins passed away in 1946 after a long struggle with a debilitating illness.
In 1933, Hopkins was appointed by FDR as head of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, which provided relief for hungry and homeless Americans (Georgetown.edu). As Civil Works Administrator under the New Deal, he created jobs for four million men; as Works Progress Administrator beginning in 1938, he put 3.5 million people to work (Georgetown.edu).
Hopkins also helped develop the Social Security System and was appointed by FDR as U.S. Secretary of Commerce. He accompanied Roosevelt to the major Allied conferences of World War II (PBS). When conservatives in Congress attacked him for "excessive spending" in the effort to put people back to work during and after the Great Depression — arguing that "in the long run" the economy would sort itself out — Hopkins offered one of his most memorable retorts: "People don't eat in the long run, they eat every day" (U.S. History.com).
As FDR's personal representative, Hopkins met with both Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin (PBS). He served as FDR's point man to British Prime Minister Churchill, who once said of him: "He was the most faithful and perfect channel of communication between the president and me" (U.S. History.com).
Hopkins also met with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini on FDR's behalf, and his relationship with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was notably warm. American ambassador Averell Harriman observed that Stalin "displayed more open and warm cordiality towards Hopkins than any other foreigner" (Georgetown.edu). Following FDR's death, Hopkins continued to assist President Truman at the final Allied conference in 1945, at the close of World War II (PBS).
Not every account of Hopkins's legacy is favorable. The conservative outlet Accuracy in Media claims that Hopkins "was a Soviet agent" and, citing alleged KGB documents, goes so far as to label him "the most important of all Soviet wartime agents in the U.S." (AIM.org). These allegations are sharply at odds with the historical record. The documented praise Hopkins received from both Churchill and Stalin, as well as his tireless service on FDR's behalf in some of the most sensitive diplomatic situations of the era, paints a very different picture. His role as an intermediary between the Allied powers was acknowledged by the very leaders he worked alongside, and the claim that he was simultaneously functioning as a Soviet spy has not been substantiated by mainstream historical scholarship.
Hopkins remains one of the most consequential figures of the New Deal era — an administrator who put millions of Americans back to work and a diplomat who helped hold the Allied coalition together during the most destructive conflict in modern history. His career reflects both the ambitions and the controversies of Roosevelt's New Deal and the complex geopolitics of World War II.
"Soviet agent allegations and Hopkins's defense of New Deal spending"
"Sources cited in the paper"
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