FDR's legacy: saving civilization
January 30, 1882 - April 12, 1945
UPDATE: Following the publication of today’s essay, many people are rightly pointing out that Eleanor Roosevelt should be acknowledged as well for her part in advancing FDR’s agenda. I completely agree, and have previously described her as FDR’s “indispensable political partner and conscience.” Have a read of my essay, in which I describe her many contributions.
There is smallness everywhere in our wretched era of political decay, corruption and extremism. Pettiness reigns. A vast taker class of America’s elites has destabilized American democracy by obliterating the American dream. The crisis America faces is real, present and deeply unsettling. Our politics is broken, but so are many other things.
Yet, there is no cause for despair. Instead, there should be a sense of gratitude around the opportunity to live in consequential hours when the tectonic plates of history are moving towards the end of one era and the beginning of another. The era that is ending was shaped by the political genius and far-reaching vision of a man who died at 63 years old, 78 years ago today.
This is how the BBC announced the news:
Winston Churchill ably summed up the achievements of FDR’s titanic life by labeling him a peerless “champion of freedom.”
The United States was crippled by economic collapse and depression when the 51-year-old governor from New York took the presidential oath of office, and became the 31st commander in chief. FDR took office at a moment of crisis when the banking system teetered on collapse, and Hitler had taken power in Germany. There were certainly no guarantees that fascism wouldn’t thrive in the United States. Free market capitalism and American democracy were facing an existential challenge when FDR addressed the American people for the first time as president.
I am certain that my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our Nation impels. This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves, which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.
He continued:
The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.
Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men.
Recognition of the falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of the false belief that public office and high political position are to be valued only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit; and there must be an end to a conduct in banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing. Small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection, on unselfish performance; without them it cannot live.
Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone. This Nation asks for action, and action now.
Twelve years later, he was a dying man, despite having been re-elected to his fourth term in office. His appearance was shocking to his closest associates, who realized without exception how sick he was. He was the commander in chief of the most powerful military and economic force that had ever been. The United States and Allied nations stood at the precipice of victory in Europe, and the defeat of Japan was inevitable.
Less than an hour before he died, while sitting for a portrait at 1:00 pm on April 12, 1945, he had spoken to the postmaster general, who had asked him to attend the first day of issuance ceremonies for the United Nations stamp. A few minutes later, he raised his hand to the back of his head. His last words were heard by his cousin Daisy Suckley. They were, “I have a terrific pain in the back of my head.” Minutes later, he would collapse from a cerebral hemorrhage.
The issuance date was scheduled for April 25, but when the president died, the Post Office Department ordered the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to revise the design to include “Franklin D. Roosevelt.” “Towards United Nations” became FDR’s first memorial.
Harry Truman was playing cards with Speaker Sam Rayburn in a Capitol hideaway when he received a call to return immediately to the White House. When he got there, Eleanor Roosevelt looked at him and said, “Harry, the president is dead.”
Truman expressed his sympathies, and asked if there was anything he could do for her. She demurred, and responded by saying, “Is there anything I can do for you, Mr. President?”
Hundreds of thousands of Americans lined the railroad tracks to see the funeral train that carried President Roosevelt’s casket back home to New York for burial. The United States stood at the edge of triumph at the birth of a new age. FDR was the architect of that age, and it has endured for nearly 80 years. He saved the world.
There is no human being who more profoundly impacted the progress of humanity for the good during the 20th century than Franklin Roosevelt. He is Lincoln’s peer and stands atop a pantheon of America’s greatest leaders and champions for liberty and human dignity. He was not a saint, and he was not inerrant. There are no flawless people, and politics isn’t the place to seek perfectionism in the human condition.
FDR met every challenge of his time with grit, determination, decency, strength, cleverness and iron determination. He succeeded. He kept the faith, and in doing so, he helped the American people keep faith in America. If ever there was an indispensable figure, it was FDR. His death deserves remembrance because his life is filled with lessons that are applicable to this time of fear, corruption and anger.
How would FDR handle the mass shooting epidemic? Fearlessly. More importantly, he would do it with candor and truthfulness. Leadership requires the truth. The truth requires leaders like FDR.
Wonderful column Steve. Indeed a champion of ALL the American people like FDR is exactly what we need. The terrible corruption and greed that has infected American political life, with members of congress being funded by special interests, and even Supreme Court Justices on the take from those of obscene wealth and privilege - how can we overcome that? How can the NRA power with every level of government be overcome? We need a leader with the resolve and bravery of FDR. Like David H's comment a few minutes before mine, I only see the beginnings of that spark in some of the young people today. I hope they can make the changes that are so obviously neeeded.
Loved, loved, loved this piece, Steve! Once again, you have held up the mirror we should all look into and reflect on what we see.
As a relatively young nation with a diverse population of almost 350 million people, a large land mass with areas so large and different that they could be several smaller countries, it stand to reason that just as we “produced” the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Margaret Chase Smith, Edmund Muskie, George Miller, William Cohen, and Nancy Pelosi who saved the union, built our society almost from the ground up, and strove to preserve and protect our nation and its values and ideals; we also “produced” the likes of James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Warren G. Harding, Richard Nixon, Donald Trump, Joseph McCarthy, Ted Cruz, Mitch McConnell, Josh Hawley, and Kevin McCarthy, who set out to destroy what had been built and to impose their prejudice, racism, bigotry and devotion to white supremacy on the entire nation by usurping power and entrenching the tyranny of the minority.
What offends, outrages, infuriates and saddens - take your pick - me is that we, the people, have been so complacent and disengaged that we now face the era of mediocrity. The tyranny of the minority has been established by a combination of lopsided representation in the House of Representatives because of gerrymandering and voter suppression measures taken to ensure that only the “right” people can vote, and reinforced with a Supreme Court of the United States packed with the corrupt, the liars and hypocrites, the boot licker, the handmaid, and the feckless and spineless, who solicit, with their writings whether in concordance or dissent, cases that should not be decided by the Supreme Court, and who avail themselves of suspect data to inform their rulings. The net result is that in the 21st century we have become the nation that settles for the mediocre in our lives and in our government and who have outsourced the power and responsibility of our citizenship to those who want to take us back to the era of bigotry and white supremacy.
How is it that in this day and age we sit there in our complacency and listen to Donald Trump lie over and over and over again and say things like, “I don’t like Trump, but his policies are good.” Really!? Are you serious? Tax cuts for those already rich who are already not paying their fair share of taxes? Alienating our Allie’s throughout the world? Putting the interests of Vladimir Putin above the interest of the U.S.A.? These are the good policies?
There is a lot of talk about bringing back manufacturing, about “made in America.” I would respectfully suggest is that we, the people, stop sitting on our laurels, start exercising the duties and responsibilities of our citizenship and stop settling for mediocrity!