HARRY'S LUCK: Review

This extraordinary combination of talents explains [HARRY HOPKINS Ally]'s relationships with [Franklin Delano Roosevelt], [Winston Churchill] and a dozen other remarkable statesmen and politicians of the 1930's and 40's. The relationship with Roosevelt was of course the most important at the time, and it is the most instructive today. Roosevelt seldom pursued any subject very deeply; his mind was facile rather than profound. He liked to establish a broad policy and turn its implementation over to others. Such an approach suited Hopkins's style to perfection. ''The big boss is getting ready to go places in a big way,'' he told a colleague after Roosevelt had authorized a huge increase in the work relief program. To his staff he added: ''Boys, this is our hour. We've got to get everything we want - a works program, social security, wages and hours, everything - now or never.'' But he knew that the big boss expected to be kept informed of developments. He was not afraid to argue with Roosevelt, and while he grew to love him, he was always aware of the President's limitations and not above taking advantage of them from time to time. He described his role in arranging the first meeting of Roosevelt and Churchill as being ''a catalytic agent between two prima donnas.'' But in his dealings with Roosevelt, he never forgot who the boss was. THERE are dozens of examples of Hopkins's talents as a trouble-shooter and negotiator in this biography, and they multiply as the story moves forward into the war period when Hopkins becomes a major figure on the world stage. But the biographical form is less well suited for describing this part of his career. The story involves too many important actors and too many disparate events to be followed from such a narrow vantage point.