In a weird bit of synchornicity, Holly Mullen has a post about FDR at her place this morning and last night, I reread his Four Freedoms speech.  Holly writes:

I’m aching to know more about the man whose name in my childhood home was almost on par with Jesus, followed by Jack Kennedy. I’d love to hear from any and all bloggers who can impart memories or knowledge of the Roosevelt legacy to me and others on this space. It’s high time for a glimmer of hope again, isn’t it?

In the Four Freedoms speech, FDR laid out the greatness and expansiveness of his vision of America and the world:

Certainly, this is no time for any of us to stop thinking about the social and economic problems which are the root cause of the social revolution which is today a supreme factor in the world.  For there is nothing mysterious of the foundations of a healthy and strong democracy.

The basic things expected by our people of their political and economic systems are simple. They are:

Equality of opportunity for youth and for others.

Jobs for those who can work.

Security for those who need it.

The ending of special privilege for the few.

The preservation of civil liberties for all.

The enjoyment — The enjoyment of the fruits of scientific progress in a wider and constantly rising standard of living.

These are the simple, the basic things that must never be lost sight of in the turmoil and unbelievable complexity of our modern world. The inner and abiding strength of our economic and political systems is dependent upon the degree to which they fulfill these expectations.

Many subjects connected with our social economy call for immediate improvement. As examples:

We should bring more citizens under the coverage of old-age pensions and unemployment insurance.

We should widen the opportunities for adequate medical care.

We should plan a better system by which persons deserving or needing gainful employment may obtain it.

I have called for personal sacrifice, and I am assured of the willingness of almost all Americans to respond to that call.  A part of the sacrifice means the payment of more money in taxes . . .

In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.

The first is freedom of speech and expression — everywhere in the world.

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way everywhere in the world.

The third is freedom from want, which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants — everywhere in the world.

The fourth is freedom from fear, which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor — anywhere in the world.

That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called “new order” of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.

Roosevelt wasn’t any empty suit – he proposed policies to secure the four freedoms, policy based on profound belief that the basis of a strong and healthy democracy must be guaranteed.  Roosevelt’s policies led to the growth of the American middle class throughout the post war era, which in turn created the widespread afluence of the postwar era – a time when real incomes were rising for all Americans, when access to education was expanding for all Americans, when even blue collar jobs paid enough to live on.  All the things that have been fought tooth and nail by conservatives for decades now.

FDR didn’t flinched when asking Americans to make collective and individual sacrifices.  He told the God’s honest truth – and did so in such a way that people made the sacrifices – paid taxes, went to war, rationed food and gas and rubber and clothing. 

I’ve long admired FDR – he was a brilliant man, a shrewd politican and I believe one of the top three Presidents in American history (along with Jefferson and Lincoln). 

My grandparents – both born and raised in Salt Lake City – were die-hard, lifelong Roosevelt Dems.  They married in Tooele in 1932 (they ran away from home to marry) and then lived in Salt Lake for the rest of their lives.  My grandfather was a staunch union member and believer in the right of the labor.  To the end of his days, my grandfather was an outspoken Democrat who had yard signs for every election.  My grandmother, a few years before her death, told me that she missed the “great Presidents” of the past.  I know she was thinking of FDR – the man who delivered the four freedoms speech. 

I realize it’s unfair to George W. Bush, but next to FDR, he looks even smaller and even more unimpressive than he does compared to almost any other President in American history – an historical midget in a job for which he has no skill, attempting to lead a nation for which he possesses no empathy, understanding and too little love.  I don’t ignore FDR’s mistakes – interning citizens of Japanese descent was a profound violation of human rights – but he was a giant among American leaders – and he looms even larger compared to the current occupant of the White House.