FDR appreciation thread

[CubsFan1982]

Here's a complement thread to Bouncy Ball's excellent FDR thread. Salute the greatest President of the 20th century here!








Remember a time when you could approach the President like this? I sure don't!











April 12, 1945

[JohnKleeb]

1. The best ever sigh

I love that man

[MarianJack]

37. FDR!

GREATEST! PRESIDENT! EVER!

[Bouncy Ball]

2. Ohhhhh, that last picture got me going again.

Thank you for this thread. Truly a great man and a great president.

Will we ever see a great president again?

:cry:

Rest in Peace, FDR.

[JohnKleeb]

3. Yes we will, just be patient and our country will be ours again

"Let America be America again"
Langston Hughes

[elshiva]

5. Yes! Langston Hughes is such a genius.

FDR is wonderful. I think he is rolling in his grave over this SS debacle.
Is Dubya the Anti-FDR? I am thinking so...:cry:

[JohnKleeb]

7. Yes in many ways Dubya is the anti-FDR

oh yeah Hughes is awesome, read some of him in middle school, and I first heard what I quoted there by Kerry during the campaign, I Dont think Bush even knows who Hughes is :D.

[elshiva]

8. Nice! Kerry quoted Hughes!

About FDR: I think he really cared for poor people with all his social programs. But cos of them and social security some RWers call him a "socialist!" They got FDR envy.

[JohnKleeb]

10. They got FDR envy because FDR is beloved by a whole generation

Yeah Kerry quoted Hughes. Funny thing is if you read about the times, some RWers called FDR a fascist.

[elshiva]

11. TR got out of the Repub party while

the getting was good!

[JohnKleeb]

12. TR?

Huh, he didnt leave the party.

[CubsFan1982]

13. He ran for President on the Bull Moose (Progressive) ticket in 1912.

But afterward returned to the GOP.

[JohnKleeb]

15. Thats what I meant

Because I know he supported Charles Evans Hughes against Wilson. Hughes wasn't a bad guy from what I know about him.

[elshiva]

14. What was the Bull Moose Party about then?

[JohnKleeb]

19. it was an one election year only part

TR was pissed at Taft for going to far right and he started his own party, won more states than Taft did.

[Lone Pawn]

4. Quite possibly the greatest president we've had.

Nobody, save Lincoln, got the nation through so much.

And nobody, including Lincoln, did it with so much grace, so much inspiration, and with a hand so gentle and guiding, yet firm and unwavering.

[zann725]

41. I agree.

Imagine how it must sadden his spirit to see what's become of us and his once-proud Democracy. I keep imagining him wandering the halls of the WH at night...troubled by what "lives" there now.

[Tom Kitten]

6. So poignant...

His (and our) enemies are now in charge, and seek to destroy every inch of his(and our) legacy...The Repuglicans truly hated this man, and I think they hate us too...

[Goathead]

9. Thanks for the parks, FDR!

Thanks CCC!:toast:

[elshiva]

20. Yes I love the state parks.

I spent the first 20 years of my life on MD state park land.

[Historic NY]

16. When I think of FDR I harken back to my parents & grandparents day

FDR was a living legend that pull them from the deep despair of the depression. He instilled confidence in American and the American worker, despite all the financial and economic problems that plagued this country. FDR lived close by to where we live so it was not uncommon for them to actually bump into him from time to time. He even sent down to a local hot dog place in Newburgh for hot dogs which he feed the King & Queen in 1939. The place, Newburgh lunch still exists. Since my family was involved in Democratic politics some members got to meet him on a regular basis when he was Governor.

What is most important to me is his four freedoms which Norman Rockwell, so well illustrated. I see them and wander back to those days when being a Democrat meant something on the national scene.

[Daphne08]

32. I'm an old American who reveres FDR.

[BlueIris]

34. Got to. It's good to keep reminding us

anklebiters what that feeling was like. Revering a president, that is.

[saltpoint]

17. Hurt me, cubsfans1982. Hurt me by putting up a post --

-- that's so goddam good that it is emotionally arresting and politically timely.

Hurt me by putting FDR in my thoughts again, even as the mindless corporate puppet sitting in the White House now guts Social Security.

Hurt me by choosing photographs that stopped me in my tracks and made me homesick for a former, greater America.

Your posts happen to always be good, but this one was simply outstanding.

Thank you.

[CubsFan1982]

18. The purpose of a thread like this is not to make us sad.

Rather, it's to remind us of a) what we HAD, and b) what we can HAVE AGAIN if we work hard enough for it. I'm glad you were moved by it, though. :pals:

[elshiva]

21. FDR makes me happy!

[saltpoint]

22. I meant 'hurt me' in an affirming way. I just didn't say it well.

I did catch the spirit of the post & just think it was terrific.

[CubsFan1982]

23. kick before bed

To FDR!

:kick:

[guitar man]

24. FDR rocked!

"We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.... are unanimous in their hate for me and I welcome their hatred. I should like to have it said of my first administration that in it the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match; I would like to have it said of my second administration that in it these forces met their master." —Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1936


"The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over its government." -FDR



"In some communities employers dislike to hire women. In others they are reluctant to hire Negroes. We can no longer afford to indulge such prejudice."-FDR

____________________________________________________________________
When will someone with such integrity, brutal honesty and guts come to the forefront again? Soon, very soon I hope.

[Robeson]

25. Simpy. The Best.

[xmas74]

26. Class. A true gentleman and a true American.

Where are our leaders now? And where is our future FDR right now? I have to hope that there is one out there, waiting for his or her chance to make everything better again.

[RagingInMiami]

27. That last photo is a classic

What a great piece of photojournalism. How the fuck could we have regressed so much politically in six decades?

[roguevalley]

28. no one ever knew he was paralyzed. It was a gentleman agreement

with the press for the good of the country. He would stand between his sons and move his legs when he had to stand but otherwise he was in a wheel chair.

Some kid made the mistake of insulting FDR when my mom was a kid and she beat him to a pulp. I think she was seven or eight. Wasn't the last time she smacked a dumb ass. :)

[Selatius]

29. We should view FDR through a sober lens

He did many great things that make Bush pale in comparison, and I wish we had candidates with some of FDR's policies running today, but the treatment of Japanese-Americans during the Second World War is one of the darker chapters in US history--a point of shame unbecoming of what America should represent, at least in the minds of some. I am not a Japanese-American, but as a fellow minority (Vietnamese, to be exact), I'd say he deserves credit where credit is due, but he also deserves criticism where it is due as well.

I'd say, though, that he does rank up there as probably the most popular in the 20th century, and if that is the rubric with which to measure, then yeah, he probably is the best in the 20th century. I only ask that people see FDR for the things that were done on his watch both good and bad. That is all I ask.

[wyldwolf]

30. when people get nostalgic, they only remember the good

...and that goes for everything.

No president has even come close to being perfect.

I could list many things I consider bad about FDR. I truly could. They would make some DUers' heads spin!

But his greatness outweighs them.

[Robeson]

31. You know, I agree with you...up to a point...but,...

...he never put people into internment camps because it was his agenda in 1933. Whereas with Hitler, it was always his commitment to get rid of the "Jews" and "cripples" and "indigents" and "gypsies" and...on and on and on. That was Hitlers goal. Hitler wasn't reacting to a circumstance, he was planning it. FDR, never planned to put people in internment camps, it was never part of his agenda. In fact, he probably never thought about it that much. But, circumstances, at least to him, pushed him to do it. And it was a virulent time in this country. If you weren't white, with an Anglo/Irish background, you were hated, or at least held with suspicion. You see Americans now. You see how a lot of them want to go kill "ragheads". Try to imagine how it was back then, when a fraction of the population had a college degree. They were really ignorant people. Could you imagine what they would have done, if a person of Japanese decent walked down the street in Montgomery Alabama in 1942, or anywhere for that matter?

Yes, it seems cruel in our modern retrospect to have put them in camps, and it seems cruel to me. But knowing this country like I do, I can't say that it didn't save their lives. There is a lot of ignorance in this country, and you can multiply that by 10 when looking at how this country was back then....perhaps, FDR new that too.

[Selatius]

38. Well, what Hitler did was irrelevant to what FDR did in the US

I agree with you that FDR probably did not think about interning Japanese when he won in 1932 as opposed to Hitler and the Jews, but the fact that he acquiesced where he should have remained firm is my criticism, and I believe it is an extremely valid one. When one deals with practical issues, I recommend pragmatism, but when it comes to issues that test one's principles, I recommend one should be as firm and uncompromising as possible.

Yes, there was a lot of ignorance in the US, and there continues to be quite a bit of ignorance in the US. I would assert that the level of ignorance over social and economic issues is still pretty high. We're ignorant, just not as ignorant as before. Otherwise, we would not be electing presidents of the caliber of Bush. Whether or not people have a college degree may not matter that much, especially when it comes to issues of prejudice and irrational hate. After all, would one bet his life on the proposition that all people who have a college degree are not racist or prejudiced in any way, shape, or form? Rich white people have been going to college for generations, but it didn't stop them from institutionalizing hatred of black people.

However, I will politely disagree and say that I don't think that in any way justifies interning Japanese-American citizens to protect them from the ignorance of white people. While it may have saved Japanese from being lynched or killed if there were Japanese in the deep south like Mississippi or Alabama or any "very rural" area (they're everywhere even in parts of California), it should also be stated again that it in no way justifies internment either, especially given that the vast majority of Japanese-Americans lived on the west coast. As I always say, "A wrong should not be answered with another wrong." I would think that the lessons learned from the experience with the Japanese led precisely to the decision, at least thus far, not to single out and intern hundreds of thousands of Arab-Americans in camps.

[Robeson]

40. Thats fine, and you can disagree....As I said myself in the post....

...you responded to, I have a problem with what he did myself, so I really don't know what you are disagreeing with. I was simply trying to explain sociology at the time, in its historical context. Thats not theory. As I said, I wasn't trying to justify it, but as a Cultural Anthropologist, I was merely trying to explain the mindset of this country 65 years ago. And you are correct, there is still a lot of prejudice in this country, and ignorance. And I stated as much. Now, as I said, multiply that by 10, and there is your picture of America 65 years ago. Not a pretty picture. Whites were rulers, and were the first class citizens. Blacks were second class citizens, and were supposed to know their "station" in America. Others, weren't even considered Americans, irregardless of where they lived, or how long they had been here. On principle, you are correct. But given the barbarity of the times, I guess one would have to walk 10 miles in FDR's shoes, before they could really explain his rationale....And please don't say I'm justifying it, because I never said that. I was simply trying to explain what his possible mindset was.

On Edit: I would like to say, this topic would make one hell of a book, and would help to advise others down the road when they are faced with fork-in-the-road decisions. And perhaps, it would help them avoid some of the mistakes which led to the hardships which were imposed on the Japanese American community. Clearly, you are bothered by this, as am I, but the only way we can prevent it from happening again, is to really diagnose every aspect of it, along with the societal issues were involved....

[BlueIris]

36. Yeah...

...if you want a small portrait of some of the more admirable as well as deplorable qualities about FDR, check out Sy Hersh's, "The Dark Side of Camelot." There's lovely chapter in there about FDR's battle with Joe Kennedy, and through it, Hersh showcases FDR's patriotism, sagacity and shrewd political acumen (a skill topped by no other president, in my view)--but also his arrogance and occasional, outright selfishness. Basically, it's a slice of the smarter side of FDR, but the darker one as well. I actually really love that book, even though I've got major criticisms of Hersh's negative characterizations of the Kennedys in it, particularly RFK. And Hersh doesn't address anything about FDR's failures (Japanese-American internment, packing the court) so you'd obviously have to look elsewhere for serious discussion about that.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

33. My Toast...

Our Democratic Ward Club started holding a Roosevelt Day Dinner this year (on Roosevelt's Birthday, of course). In lieu of a speech, we decided to have a toast -- with obligatory martinin in hand, of course...

"Sixty-five years ago this nation struggled with economic calamity, while across broad oceans the armies of tyranny were on the march. In that dark hour one voice told Americans "We have nothing to fear." In the humanity's most desperate moment, one voice imagined a better world, a world based on Four Freedoms: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, Freedom from Want and Freedom from Fear. The world that he imagined, my friends, remains ours to create, but his voice and his vision invigorate us as Democrats and ennoble us as human beings. In this dark hour we go forward committed, and we go forward united, and we go forward always without fear. In celebration of his 123rd birthday, I give you a gallant leader, Franklin Delano Roosevelt."

[Dastard Stepchild]

35. My alma mater is named after FDR and Eleanor...

In fact, Anna Roosevelt spoke at my graduation services. It really felt like a strong tie to the past. I loved my time there as a student.

Go RU! :)

[roguevalley]

39. He saved our people from despair. Name someone else who can

say that.