FDR Casts a Long Shadow

I have now finished James McGregor Burns' second volume on the Franklin Roosevelt Presidency. FDR's final days were filled with increasing tensions as the world moved from an alliance of unnatural friends into a world of what came to be called The Cold War. Knowing just what was going on in Roosevle'ts mind and body is a fit subject for further study. But it seems clear to me there were tensions and stresses within the President which may have contributed to his death.

Perhaps this web log is not the place to delve into this subject, at least not at this time. However, we can speculate that after all the great President did in securing the nation's financial health in the Great Depression, followed by war mobilization, followed by planning for peace-time, the Old Warrior was spent, in a real sense. It seems it is not for us mere mortals to fathom the workings of the Divine Mind. FDR, however, clearly made a major contribution to public life by walking, as he said, on the straight and narrow, slightly left of center all the way.

It is long past time for this kind of a walk. Roosevelt had his faults, both personal and politically. But his heart was in the right place, in the main. We would be well-advised to emulate his example of standing with and for the average worker, no matter the cost. Let us not tolerate any separation from the needs of the average citizen. Indeed, the Depression, it can be said, never ended, but was only interrupted by war mobilization, a mobilization which has never really ended. Indeed the state of emergency declared at that time has never been revoked.

So, instead of following a militaristic emergency, let us carry out an economic emergency, for this level of unemployment and child and family under-nourishment is a national emergency as well as a national shame and tragedy. A national politics based on this way of seeing will lead to national health and well-being. Let us be about this useful, necessary and estimable task.