4 days Ago
Franklin Roosevelt accepted the nomination of his party in June 1936 for a second term as president with a speech that has special meaning today. In 1936, the United States was still trying to find its way out of the most calamitous economic crisis in its history. The stock market crash of 1929 was traumatic.
The collapse of 1930-33 was worse, throwing millions of Americans out of work. The day Roosevelt became president in March 1933, the U.S.
banking system was on the brink of failure. If the banks failed, what then? The first 100 days of the Roosevelt administration were remarkable for the number and variety of legislative achievements Roosevelt wrung from a compliant Congress – from banking reform to the Civilian Conservation Corps. An upswing was underway.
By 1936, a lot had been achieved, but full recovery remained elusive. Before becoming president, Roosevelt had spoken of the presidency as “pre-eminently a place of moral leadership.” Here, in the summer of 1936, was the president as moral leader.
Faith, hope, and charity were his watchwords. “Faith – in the soundness of democracy in the midst of dictatorship,” Roosevelt said, in the backdrop of the dictators in Europe threatening the peace of the world. “Hope – renewed because we know so well the progress we have made.
” “Charity – in the true meaning of that grand old word. For charity ..
. means love, the love that understands..
..” Roosevelt said the goal was liberty, which meant in addition to political liberty, the opportunity to “make a living .
.. that gives men not only enough to live by, but something to live for.
” Roosevelt’s closing stanzas, while striking a vaguely unsettling chord, were stirring, nevertheless: “There is a mysterious cycle in human events,” he said. “To some generations much is given. Of others much is required.
This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.” Connecting the struggle for democracy at home with events in the rest of the world was not exactly smart politics in 1936. Later in the 1930s, FDR would have a heck of a time awakening Americans to the threat of Hitler and Hitlerism.
Many people around the globe who, “in times past” fought to maintain their freedom, Roosevelt said, “have sold their heritage of freedom for the illusion of freedom. They have yielded their democracy. “I believe in my heart that only our success can stir their ancient hope.
They begin to know that here in America we are waging a great and successful war for the survival and success of democracy. “..
. We are fighting to save a great and precious form of government for ourselves and the world.” That was FDR in the summer of 1936.
Here is Republican Ronald Regan crossing the political aisle in 1982 to celebrate the centennial of Roosevelt’s birth: “FDR was an American giant...
. He could reach out to men and women of diverse races and backgrounds and inspire them with new hope and new confidence.” Roosevelt and Reagan make for strange political bedfellows.
FDR was the chief apostle for government action. Reagan famously said government was America’s chief problem. Yet, as historian H.
W. Brands reminds us, the two men resembled one another in one important aspect: Both were champions of American democracy. In saluting Roosevelt, Reagan related that he had experienced in his own career what FDR had taught – according to Brands, “That there is no force more potent than Americans’ confidence in their country’s purpose and destiny.
” Reagan himself declared, referring to FDR, “No higher tribute can be given a president than that he strengthened our faith in ourselves.” There is no better hope for an incoming president that he should fortify “our faith in ourselves” and in American democracy. As with everything involved with the next four years of Donald Trump, we shall see how that works out.
Correction: In a recent column, I misspelled the last name of J.N. Kronick, who spearheaded the successful drive to place the World War I soldier statue at Five Corners in Uniontown.
Richard Robbins lives in Uniontown. He can be reached at dick.l.
[email protected]..
