FDR showed that great personal sacrifice and unselfishness are important characteristics of that a president of the United States must have to lead the nation.
During this time of great tumult, hatred and division, let’s cheer a truly great American President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
During the 1930’s, when the United States faced its great struggle with the Depression, it was blessed with a great President -Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Roosevelt was a very wealthy man, But his far-reaching, generous policy and concern for the well being of America’s middle and working class led to the creation of some of the greatest public works projects ever undertaking to create jobs – e.g. The Tennessee Valley Authority, a hydro-electric project that created jobs and also extended electrification to remote parts of the US.
FDR had great advisers and he listened to them. He sacrificed the narrow interests of the plutocracy of which the Roosevelt family stood. Theodore Roosevelt, a president in the early years of the 20th century was a cousin, to really benefit and improve the lives of the less financially well off.
For a history of he Roosevelt family please click here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roosevelt_family
FDR was the first president to use the First 100 days as a measure for how well he was helping the Nation. And he did plenty. His policies to help Americans cope with the Great Depression is known as The New Deal
FDR’s National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), Works Public Administration (WPA) and National Relief Administration (NRA), the National Labour Relations Board (NLRB), the Social Security Act, and a number of other progressive measures helped millions and millions of Americans survive the Great Depression.
For a history of FDR’s New Deal click here: http://www.history.com/topics/new-deal
FDR embodied the spirit of sacrifice and unity. For those who planned to profit from the people’s misery, FDR had this to say:
“The forces of ‘organized money’ are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred.”
He went on: “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, [and] I should like to have it said of my second Administration that in it these forces have met their master.”
In his second term a much more aggressive fight against the people who were profiting from the Depression-era troubles of ordinary.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a great leader, a great US president who despite personal suffering helped improve the lives of hundreds of millions of Americans
It is not hard to see why FDR won an unprecedented 4 terms as US president. A feat that will never again be accomplished because of term limits imposed by Congress after FDR’s death. Presidents may now only serve 2 terms.
His measures have been attacked by the neanderthal Conservative Democrats and Republicans have been railing against for over 80 years.
You see, to be a great President or champion of the working class you don’t have to be from the working class.
You just have to stand by your personal principles of unselfish caring for your neighbours and taking measures to help them, instead of fooling them to vote for you and then abandoning them only to enrich your own pockets.
In fact some of the greatest enemies of the working class and middle class have themselves come out of the middle and working class..e.g. Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini to name two.
Hitler was a loser who failed at everything he tried.
Mussolini was a bombastic idiot, who instead of following policies steeped in reality to help the Italian nation, he was obsessed with childhood fantasies of rebuilding the Roman Empire.
Let’s Cheer the Great Franklin Roosevelt ! And remember a truly great American President.
A man who showed that disabilities, he was wheel chair bound due to polio, need not be a hindrance to being great.
Also lets recognize that it was under FDR, the first seedlings of the civil rights movement were planted with such historical events as Marion Anderson’s Lincoln Memorial Concert, the first time a black performer sang on the Washington Mall.
That generation produced some great music. Here is Woody Guthrie’s This Land Is Your Land sung by Peter Seeger and Bruce Springsteen in 2010.
Perhaps current political leaders should listen to the hopes and dreams of this inclusively themed song, instead of spewing hatred, bigotry and division.
A Northern Blog 