Franklin D Roosevelt

"The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;"

"The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;"

"The right of every family to a decent home;"

"The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;"

"The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;"

"The right to a good education."

"Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity. Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith. They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph."

"They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest-until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken with the violences of war. For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good will among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home. Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom. And for us at home - fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas - whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them - help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice."

"Many people have urged that I call the Nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts. Give us strength, too — strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces. And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be."

"And, O Lord, give us Faith. Give us Faith in Thee; Faith in our sons; Faith in each other; Faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose. With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogancies. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister Nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil."

"We Americans of today, together with our allies, are passing through a period of supreme test. It is a test of our courage — of our resolve — of our wisdom — our essential democracy. If we meet that test — successfully and honorably — we shall perform a service of historic importance which men and women and children will honor throughout all time. As I stand here today, having taken the solemn oath of office in the presence of my fellow countrymen — in the presence of our God — I know that it is America's purpose that we shall not fail."

"In the days and in the years that are to come we shall work for a just and honorable peace, a durable peace, as today we work and fight for total victory in war. We can and we will achieve such a peace."

"We shall strive for perfection. We shall not achieve it immediately — but we still shall strive. We may make mistakes — but they must never be mistakes which result from faintness of heart or abandonment of moral principle."

"And so today, in this year of war, 1945, we have learned lessons — at a fearful cost — and we shall profit by them."

"We can gain no lasting peace if we approach it with suspicion and mistrust or with fear. We can gain it only if we proceed with the understanding, the confidence, and the courage which flow from conviction."

"If you treat people right they will treat you right — ninety percent of the time."

"Be sincere, be brief, be seated."

"Are you laboring under the impression that I read these memoranda of yours? I can't even lift them."

"He's a son-of-a-bitch, but he's our son-of-a-bitch."

"A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people."

"I have a terrific pain in the back of my head."

"In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens you can bet it was planned that way."

"I do not believe in communism any more than you do but there is nothing wrong with the Communists in this country; several of the best friends I have got are Communists."

"When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on."

"Political pundits have a saying that a great leader needs three things: brains, heart, and guts, or its modern variant, balls. Churchill, for example, had all three. Now start doing your own sums: FDR surely had all three; Nixon had brains and guts, but not much heart. Reagan had a good facsimile of a heart, but not much of a brain..."

"In its own way, the House of Representatives showed a similar if less visible pattern of ideological and strategic division among its Southern Democrats. But there the party’s margin over the Republicans was nearly two hundred seats, and with the Democratic right wing small and not well organized, the administration had an easier time getting its program through."

"To a striking degree, the way the United States conducted World War II was a consequence of Roosevelt’s own experience as the assistant secretary of the Navy during World War I—a period that made him appreciate the benefits of overwhelming the enemy with machinery, as well as the risks of ground warfare. When he traveled to France in 1918 to tour the front lines, the battlefield disgusted him. The conditions for soldiers were too crowded, and he wrote in his diary that “the smell of dead horses” offended his “sensitive naval” nose. Instead, he fixated on logistics and material: the deployment of large naval guns, transported on land via train carriages, to batter German lines; a push for rapid advances in aircraft and bomb technology. He promoted a plan to thwart German U-boat attacks by creating a minefield across the entire North Sea rather than putting Allied ships at risk. (The scheme was not complete when the war ended.) Roosevelt’s work during this period also showed him the value of working closely with trusted international partners such as Britain and France. Strong alliances, he came to learn, were how modern wars were won. Unlike many Americans, Roosevelt did not become an isolationist after World War I. He understood that aggressive authoritarian regimes had to be stopped and believed that the U.S. could protect many of its own interests via machinery and alliances. He was so wedded to these two ideas that, during World War II, he provided Britain and the Soviet Union with massive amounts of aid without expecting any repayment. So much better, Roosevelt believed, to strengthen U.S. allies and let them do much of the land fighting. This approach led to one of his greatest successes as a war leader."

"If anything happened to that man ... I couldn't stand it. He is the truest friend; he has the farthest vision; he is the greatest man I have ever known."

"The hands of the president no longer had the sure, firm grasp of earlier years. He was not up to par physically. He complained that he "lacked pep." His sinus condition, for which Ross McIntire gave him daily treatments, failed to improve. At the end of March, McIntire finally got him to go to Bethesda Naval Hospital for a complete medical check. Lieutenant Commander Howard Bruenn, USNR, a cardiologist, presented the grim report. The president suffered from hypertension, failure of the left ventricle of the heart, hypertensive heart disease, and acute bronchitis. At sixty-two, Roosevelt's body was failing him. He could die at any time. With great care, his life might be extended a year or so. But how could the president of the United States in wartime follow a program of rest and limited activity? It couldn't be done."

"[T]he Progressive Party, with its extravagant claims, has, therefore, imposed on itself the considerable burden of proof. The only party within recent memory which made equally strident claims of fellowship were the Communists, who failed to survive this test; and the only politician of similar claims was, of course, Henry Wallace's erstwhile master, Roosevelt, who did not after all, now that the magic of his voice is gone, succeed in raising the darker brother to the status of a citizen. This is the ancestry of the Wallace party, and it does not work wholly in its favor. It operates to give pause to even the most desperate and the most gullible."

"It wasn't a Republican president who locked up thousands of loyal Americans of Japanese descent in concentration camps for years. It was Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt."

"And although some members of Congress charged that Roosevelt was overstepping his legal authority, he was able to win them over by inviting them to the White House for a series of "Fireside Chats" ("Perhaps, Senator, you would better understand these policies if Ernst and Victor moved you even closer to the fire?" "NO! PLEASE!")."

"In Franklin D. Roosevelt's record, four things will stand out above everything else. One, his interest in human beings and their welfare, as is exemplified in the social legislation and which is being carried further to this day. Two, as President of the United States and commander-in-chief of its forces, he became the main factor in winning the greatest war of all time. Three, he brought about the creation of a United Nations, in the framework of which, if the nations so willed it, a peace can be written — a peace which mankind has yearned for over the ages... Four, he gave hope to countless disabled by conquering an affliction which struck him in the prime of his life. ... Because of his interest in Warm Springs and polio, an advancement has been made in the intensive study of that dread disease that may bring relief from it, an accomplishment which in itself is of first importance."

"Popular perception has long suggested that FDR favored the Navy over the Army, but when it came to budgets, deployments, and promotions, he was evenhanded as a commander in chief. On an emotional level, however, Roosevelt's combination inspection-fishing-vacation trips- such as he enjoyed aboard the cruiser Houston- were among his favorite occasions. And his long-standing relationships with the Navy's admirals, particularly the duty-minded Leahy, made him more comfortable having them around. This contrast is underscored by remembering that the Army Chief of Staff from 1930 to 1935 was Douglas MacArthur. The general was still trying to emulate his father's advance up to Missionary Ridge during the Civil War, and his visits to the White House often took on the aura of a state visit. FDR was not intimidated by MacArthur- or anyone else- but neither was he terribly comfortable with him. When MacArthur left Washington for the Philippines and Malin Craig, whom Roosevelt did not know well, became Army Chief of Staff, it was only natural that Roosevelt gravitated toward the loyal and understated Leahy as his chief military adviser."

"President Roosevelt ... told me there was no reason for my worrying about my having been a member of the Ku Klux Klan. He said some of his best friends and supporters he had in the state of Georgia were among members of the organization. He never in any way, by word or attitude, indicated any doubt about my having been in the Klan nor did he indicate any criticism of me for having been a member of that organization."

"Meetings between Roosevelt and the JCS were impromptu and usually convened to deal with a specific problem. The President would decide who would attend, presumably those whom he wanted for advice. The record shows that King was in the White House some thirty-two times during 1942, although there may have been other meetings that were not on the President's appointment calendar. The scheduled appointments then diminished for the remainder of the war: eight in 1943, nine in 1944, and one in 1945. In contrast, Churchill met with the British Chiefs of Staff almost daily."

"Thirty-four years ago a nation groping its uncharted course through the seas of the Great Depression faced the threatening storms of social and economic revolution. The late President Franklin D. Roosevelt met the challenge with the Wagner Act and with other New Deal measures, then considered quite revolutionary, such as Social Security, unemployment insurance, and the Fair Labor Standards Act. While these measures modified the existing capitalistic system somewhat, they also saved the nation for free enterprise. They did not save the farm worker. He was left out of every one of them. The social revolution of the New Deal passed him by. To make our union possible with its larger hope that the farm worker will have his day at last, there was required a new social revolution."

"For us, it remains only to say that in Franklin Roosevelt there died the greatest American friend we have ever known, and the greatest champion of freedom who has ever brought help and comfort from the New World to the Old."

"Meeting Franklin Roosevelt was like opening your first bottle of champagne; knowing him was like drinking it."

"Even though Roosevelt swamped Hoover in the 1932 election, I had great doubts that he would offer a solution to attack the depression and still maintain our American birthright. My misgivings were strengthened when I attended a Democartic dinner in New York City celebrating Roosevelt’s victory. The President-elect offered no indication as to the direction he would lead the country. Nor did he point the way a short time later when I travelled to Warm Springs, Georgia, upon his invitation, to confer with him on his legislative program for the omng Seventy-third Congress. This was in December of 1932, and Roosevelt still talked of balancing the budget and reducing government expenditures. He also stressed as a strict constructionist the conistitutional limitations on the President and on the federal government. His face was tanned and rested and he puffed complacently on his cigarette. I thought it strange that a an who had campaigned as he had throughout the countr would be so out of touch with reality. Over and over again, I insisted that as a starting program we had to reduce taxes drastically and inaugurate federal borrowing for direct relief. “If it was constitutional to spend forty billion dollars in a war,” I said angrily, “isn’t it just as constitutional to spend a little money to relieve the hunger and misery of our citizens?” But the President-elect sat in his shirtsleeves and puffed some more on his cigarette and remained non-committal."

"The success of the bank measure had a great deal to do with restoring national confidence. By his action, Roosevelt steadied the country’s finances. If he had not closed the banks and pushed through the Emergency Banking Act, there is little doubt that as far as money was concerned the country would have collapsed entirely. With this act began the most hectic legislative period in American history. A few days after President Roosevelt was inaugurated, and after I had recovered from the flu, he called me to the White House to discuss his program. I was then on the Senate Finance Committee, the Foreign Relations Committee, the Elections Committee and I was chairman of the Public Buildings and Grounds Committee. At that White House meeting, F.D.R. told me that he was not only interested in recovery measures, but also in long-overdue reforms. The Banking Act was to be just the first bill of a group opening the dam gates to a flood of legislative activities. Our immediate problems were to revive agriculture, business and industry, and save home and farm owners and feed and clothe the unemployed. But at the same time, we would reform the stock market, make better use of our natural resources, increase labor’s bargaining position, fight slums and bring about a social-security system for the aged, handicapped and unemployed. I was delighted now with his determination and leadership."

"America had a fling at National Socialism. Roosevelt was for all administration purposes a dictator, but a benevolent one, and the country loved it."

"He was the first chief executive to fly, to leave the country in wartime, to report to the people by radio, to place a woman in the Cabinet, to write directly to the Emperor of Japan — just because nobody ever had done it before."

"In this nation there is ample room for everyone to profit according to his merit provided he is willing to work. Henceforth our national motto shall be ‘security for all.’ Henceforth our laws will be so written and so executed that financial privileges for the few shall disappear. This is what is meant when [Mr. Roosevelt said: ‘ Among our objectives I place the security of the men, women and children of the Nation first. These words indicate the philosophy which will guide our President during his tenure of office. It is the philosophy of social justice which is about to vanquish the sophistry of greed and of individualism."

"I did a draft not apparent in the final version of Roosevelt's great speech to the Teamster's Union, which seemed as we heard the magnificent delivery of it, the turning point in the [1944] campaign. I can still hear the laughter about Fala (but at Dewey) in the lines FDR sang out at the Statler banquet: "The Republican leaders have not been content to make personal attacks upon me or my wife or my sons they now include my little dog Fala. Unlike the members of my family, Fala resents this. When he learned that the Republican fiction writers had concocted a story that I had left him behind on an Aleutian Island and had sent a destroyer back to find him at a cost to the taxpayer of two or three million dollars his Scotch soul was furious. He has not been the same since. I am accustomed to hearing malicious falsehoods about myself but I think I have a right to object to libelous statements about my dog.""

"It was his genius that he could speak clearly in warm-hearted leadership for us in an American period of difficulty never equalled in the history of our nation."

"It's not that Jackson had a "dark side," as his apologists rationalize and which all human beings have, but rather that Jackson was the Dark Knight in the formation of the United States as a colonialist, imperialist democracy, a dynamic formation that continues to constitute the core of US patriotism. The most revered presidents-Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, Wilson, both Roosevelts, Truman, Kennedy, Reagan, Clinton, Obama-have each advanced populist imperialism while gradually increasing inclusion of other groups beyond the core of descendants of old settlers into the ruling mythology. All the presidents after Jackson march in his footsteps. Consciously or not, they refer back to him on what is acceptable, how to reconcile democracy and genocide and characterize it as freedom for the people."

"No matter when this man might have left us, we would have felt that we had suffered an irreplaceable loss... may he have a lasting influence on the hearts and minds of men!"

"A later call on President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill, a guest at the White House, was no more than an informal chat. It had no military significance, but it was the first time I ever had a personal talk with either of these two men. Tobruk, in the African desert, had just fallen to the Germans and the whole Allied world was thrown into gloom. These two leaders, however, showed no signs of pessimism. It was gratifying to note that they were thinking of attack and victory, not of defense and defeat."

"Sometimes, as I have listened to the wise and humane words of the man Franklin Roosevelt, I have thought that he alone, in these past five hideous years, has had the courage and the vision and the skill to try to devise a cure for a sick and dying world. But the measures he is taking require almost super-human effort, for he must fight the virulent hatred of the very rich, and the inertia caused by the white blood corpuscles of the very poor, and the curious indifference of the vast American middle class."