Posted on 08/22/2011 12:24:02 PM PDT by MichCapCon
The first line of the post could have been written by my mother. I remember hearing when I was growing up how FDR was so great because he put my grandpa to work with the WPA. Of course, that was in 1941 or 1942, and my mother and my grandparents lived in abject poverty during most of FDRs term.
A question that keeps popping up in my mind is, how bad were the Republican candidates during the 1930s that they couldn’t defeat FDR in 1936 and 1940? How could a president that was presiding over a bad economy that only got worse under his tutilage get reelected not once, but twice? I can maybe understand a little how he got reelected in 1944 due to the War and the upturn of the economy because of it, but this man should have never been elected to 4 terms.
It doesn’t sound as if a lot has changed since then as far as the ineptitude of the Republicans.
As a wartime president, it’s hard to find fault with FDR. The Manhatten project for example was FDR’s baby. It started with correspondence between him and Albert Einstein. Most importantly, FDR was the exact opposite of LBJ. LBJ tried to micromanage the war and involved himself in every facet. FDR let generals run the war.
You have to keep in mind that the Democratic party in the 30’s and 40’s is not the same Democratic party as today. Likewise, the Republican party of the 30’s and 40’s is not the same party that exists today.
The GOP especially was in turmoil during the 1930’s. You had some like Landon who ran against FDR in 1936 who agreed with FDR more often than not. He didn’t offer the voters much of a choice. Then you had two other prominent factions fighting for control of the GOP, neither of which resonated with the people: The pro-Germany wing, and the strict isolationist wing which sometimes allied itself politically with the German sympathizers.
Given all that, FDR couldn’t help but win.
Ahh...well she remembered it being FDR. I can’t say, because in spite of current rumors, I’m not old enough to know! :)
Thank you for that information Melas. I can see I need to do some research on this man.
Read "America's Retreat From Victory" by Senator Joseph R. McCarthy if you can find a copy. It was originally published in 1951 and was last printed in 1965. It is an exhaustive account of the career of George Catlett Marshall but has extensive coverage of FDR as well as many of the major players pre WWII, during and post WWII. A very interesting read. It almost seems prescient.
Regards,
GtG
Thank you so much for that recommendation. Lord...hope I can find it.
FDR used many of the exact same lies Obama is trying today i.e. "It's my predessesor's fault (Hoover)", "It's going to take a long time before the economy turns around but what we're doing is working", "The rich are too rich and we need to tax them", "all this 'investment' (gov't spending) we're doing will bear fruit later".
Problem is...everyone now recognizes that these arguments made by FDR didn't work and were lies, but Obama fancies himself as the new FDR. It's laughable to think that FDR tricks are going to work again in a post-USSR America.
FDR was an economic incompetent. He had no idea where money came from except to ask Mummy for some. He resented people who actually knew how to make money.
As a politician, he surrounded himself not with compentent business people with lifetimes of practical experience, but with knot-headed academics who were bound and determined to force the world to function according to their pet theories, which were decidedly leftist.
When their theories resulted in a decade of disaster they spun the self-justifying myth that but for their interventions things would have been much worse.
Modern interpretation of events has it that WWII saved us from Depression. Yes and no. Not in the Keynesian way most people understand of massive gov’t spending and hiring. What worked was FDR’s desperate need to push his lefty theorists out of the way in favor of people who could actually make the war machine work. This, along with his death, lifted the pall of economic fear from off the marketplace, encouraging businesses to put idled capital back to work with the reasonable hope that the gov’t wouldn’t be seizing, taxing or regulating success away.
We are now living through the same script, being read and implemented by the same sort of fools who gave us the first round. Having believed the FDR myth they are following the same course. It is inevitable that the results will be the same - disaster.
Well you may or may not have intended this but your response has a somewhat of a nasty tone to it. Let me tell you about my mom: she was born in 1933 and lived with her maternal grandparents until she was around 11. She lived in downtown St. Louis around the Forest Park area. She and her friends could run around (barefoot) in DOWNTOWN with no fear what-so-ever. She was just a tot when FDR was in office but that saying, a chicken in every cookpot, stands out in her mind. She thought FDR said it and that has sealed it in her mind.
Now, my mom lost her 20/20 vision over 40 years ago; since then she mostly has her memories of things past; her childhood being one of the warmest for her. Now Hoover may have stated it originally, but perhaps FDR re-stated it. In any case, I will do some research and will tell her if the subject comes up again. The point is, she felt, as a little child, that FDR was some kind of savior and all things would be ok and that most certainly was due to his rhetoric and ‘fireside’ chats. She is having a hard time with hearing the truth about him and his (and that hag wife of his) true intentions.
It's that sealed mind thing I was getting at. Since it is demonstrable that FDR did not say the thing the she has sealed in her mind, then this is an opportunity to illustrate how one can "seal" things that simply aren't true. Anyone can. We should always be open to revising our opinions in the light of new facts.
"She is having a hard time with hearing the truth about him and his (and that hag wife of his) true intentions."
And that she "sealed" one incorrect fact about FDR into her mind can be used to open her mind a bit more. That's what I was getting at.
Ok...I’m just a bit defensive regarding her. She is possibly the most ‘innocent, naive’ adult human being that I know. Honestly, my mom is pure in soul and innocence. I don’t want to shatter that. She is learning because she listens to Mark Levin who often brings up FDR during his show but she is having a hard time with what is being reported. All she remembers is the fact that she felt ‘secure’ in spite of what was happening. Of course this is through the eyes and thoughts of a child.
Thanks for clarifying the post. (I’ll be (and I have been) working on ‘re-educating’ her with the “truth”)
Honestly, it doesn’t sound too much different than what’s going on today. The Republican party is divided into tow factions: the conservatives, or the Tea Party, and the liberal RINOs, known as the establishment Repubs. Alf Landon was obviously a RINO. Kind of reminds me of McCain during the campaign saying that we didn’t have anything to fear from Obama.
No, it wasn't That's an urban legend.
I find a lot of fault with FDR in his wartime diplomacy with the Soviets.
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