Bold Action Quotes
Although often attributed to Eleanor, see the related quote for background information and a likely more accurate attribution.
This is a very important quotation. In large part America's development to a great power was the result of American industry and enterprise. However, that characteristic among the Americans was rare in the South as de Tocqueville herein observes. This was one of the pernicious consequences of slavery. The Southern whites could live a very comfortable life without any ingenuity, innovation, hard work, passion or much effort of any kind. There was nothing that the South produced or created without slaves that anyone wanted or advanced the nation. Even after the Civil War and emancipation it took decades before the white Southerners began to adopt the enterprising behavior that the rest of America was known for and it would take until the 21st century for parts of the South the reach parity in this area with most of the rest of the nation.
This quotation shows FDR doing something that politicians rarely do. The country was in the midst of the Great Depression and he was running for the Presidency against Herbert Hoover who as President would do little to help the destitute part of the population or improve the economy. Roosevelt did not lay out specific programs which he claimed would fix the problem. He himself really didn’t know for certain what would and what would not. However he promised bold experimentation—trying new things. When he was elected, he was able to fail with one program and just shift to another until enough were successful. But the great contrast was to Hoover who would do little.
Two of the 20th centuries greatest political leaders were Mao Tse-Tung and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In most respects, these two were polar opposites. However, they had one characteristic in common. They were both willing to try things they were not certain of. If they succeeded, make it a part of the national program. If it failed, try something else. See Mao {642795}.
Precursor to CIA. While his letter did not mention it, Donovan also recruited women with the same characteristics.
