ABSTRACT
United States Representative James P. Richards, member of a politically prominent South Carolina clan, won election to Congress in 1932 by clinging tightly to Franklin D. Roosevelt's (FDR's) coattails. As a New Deal Democrat representing the rural north central section of the state, Richards supported Roosevelt's legislative initiatives 71 percent of the time. By autumn 1941 Richards' admiration for the commander-in-chief began to diminish. Richards characterized Roosevelt's plan as a "through the back door" means of entering the conflict. Richards' experiences in the trenches of France during World War I returned to the legislator's mind. He spoke of the Old Hickory Division receiving more Congressional Medals than any other regiment. A district newspaper published a front-page editorial about Richards. Richards' support of FDR's politics, domestic and foreign, continued unwavering for most of the decade. In March 1937, Richards, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, applauded Roosevelt as "one of the greatest presidents in the history of our country.
