Roosevelt Quotes

March 4, 1933 was the date that Franklin Delano Roosevelt had assumed the Presidency from Herbert Hoover and used government to combat the Great Depression whereas Hoover would not take any of these steps as the conservative wing of his party and he regarded anything that government did was “creeping socialism”. Historically, it is useful to recall what steps Roosevelt took that were described as socialism. These include Social Security, Federal Deposit Insurance for bank accounts, aid to farmers, the Civilian Conservation Corps, Regulation of the stock market, regulation of banks and many other things that are key elements of modern capitalism which virtually every capitalistic nations has in one form or another. Long after Truman was out of office, the most conservative elements of the Republican Party have accused every Democratic President of “creeping socialism” when they were actually quite opposed to socialism. Even when their career before their presidency was full of criticisms of socialism and policies that are opposite, as in the case of President Obama, the President has been accused of being a socialist. However, it started with Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry S Truman.

Referring to Franklin Delano Roosevelt:

The amendment was pushed by the Republicans in reaction to FDR's four terms, but its practical effect was to limit presidents Eisenhower and Reagan, both Republicans, to 2 terms while they each could have won a third term. Roosevelt had won 4 terms and traumatized the Republicans prompting them to term limit the American Presidency.

Dodd observed that FDR expanded the power of the Presidency to deal with the emergency of the Great Depression, and like most Americans hoped that these measures would succeed. The Supreme Court limited some of the power expansion to the Executive Branch, but was the start of the huge Presidential power expansion that would continue through the Cold War and the War on Terror by Presidents of both parties.

Browder, had been prohibited by Court Order from touring the country during the 1940 Presidential Campaign. He personally blamed FDR although the Communist vote was so small that no matter where and how Browder campaigned it would not have made any difference. However, the court order gave Browder the opening leading some to believe that the communist following was larger than it was—why else would the establishment want to keep the campaign limited?

Statement when she was told that FDR would run for a third term as President.

The Prime Minister was visiting the United States and was staying at the White House. President Roosevelt had a spontaneous thought and wheeled himself into Churchill's room. The Prime Minister was stark naked, having just emerged from the bath. Roosevelt apologized but Churchill was unfazed and known for his nudity in his private quarters. He even used what might have been an awkward moment into an opportunity to make a political point.

Precursor to CIA. While his letter did not mention it, Donovan also recruited women with the same characteristics.

Hope cracked this joke after Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected for an unprecedented fourth term as president:

Coughlin was an early and valued supporter of FDR, but after Roosevelt’s election the priest became dissatisfied that Roosevelt was not radical enough. FDR also wanted to distance himself from many of the Fascist and Socialist ideas of Coughlin and especially his racism and anti-Semitism. Coughlin then flip-flopped and became a vicious Roosevelt Critic. Few realize that he ever supported Roosevelt.

Ford was outraged about the President’s administration making rules and regulations to cope with the worst economic crash in American History. Former President Hoover had been voted out of office because philosophically he believed like Ford that the Federal Government should not be actively involved with private business and the economy. Some view regulation as meddling and interference while others see it as fulfilling its responsibility for the majority of citizens. See {642381} for Ford’s view of the Great Depression.

Incredible as it seems today, no Black person had ever dined in the White House as a guest of the President. African American servants were common. And Abraham Lincoln had received many Black visitors as had Presidents after him. But no president had ever had a Black person to dine as a social equal. The photo, reproduced here, illustrates the parity. But that was the worst thing a President could do so far as Tillman and his fellow racists were concerned. They had, since the end of the Civil war, used violence and terrorism to murder, maim and/or intimidate the Negro population to remain in an economic and socially inferior position. In Tillman’s state over these decades they had more lynchings than legal executions and there were plenty of them. Newspapers over the South riled up the whites and there was a wave of terror to be sure that the President’s importune action would not be taken as an endorsement of the Negro’s right to any equality or even dignity. This dinner essentially wedded all the Blacks to the Republican Party and all the Southern Whites to the Democratic Party. This would remain the political situation for over 60 years until the Democrats passed the LBJ Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Republicans decided to solicit the Southern White racists who accepted the invitation and within a few years, there was a complete reversal of party loyalty of most Blacks and most Southern White Racists.

President Roosevelt had a meeting with the then general, for the first time, and in the discussions Roosevelt felt that De Gaulle was taking too much authority upon himself and wanted to make all decisions for France that should be made by a government. Roosevelt reminded De Gaulle that he was not an elected official. Winston Churchill who was also present privately told Roosevelt that for his part he would burn him but his government wouldn’t allow it.

Lindbergh, a great aviator, was a Fascist who was a great admirer and supporter of Hitler and Mussolini. By this time, even Lindbergh had seen much of the German aggression, and his opposition to the war was on the pragmatic ground that we could not win. He thought that democracy was too unsuited to a country being a major power.