Kossacks keep talking and writing about FDR. But, they seem to have some version of him that I am not acquainted with.
The FDR I have read about in dozens of books, including several biographies, have no bearing on the man and the era I keep seeing on this blog.
This is the FDR I know
FDR was born into the branch of the Roosevelt family that supported the democratic party, including before the civil war. The party of the south.
The other branch was the one that Theodore and Elanor came from. They were the side that supported the republicans since they came on the scene in the mid-1800s.
The democratic party began to turn away from it's southern and corporate friendly role alittle during the time of Wilson. He was an internationalist and an idealist. But, he was also a southern gent that still saw minorities in the traditional way.
FDR's great ambition was to follow in the footsteps of his famous cousin. And he largely did by becoming the asst. sec of Navy during WWI (as TR was) and governor of NY.
FDR was the ultimate political animal. He knew when to deal and when not to. He knew how to wheedle and how to play people. He did not have a great minority scorecard. That came from Eleanor. FDR also knew the very people in society he railed against.
The populism that was identified with the party in the 1930s came about from the populism that began in the late 1800s under William Jennings Bryant, who was a democrat. During the period the republicans became more associated with big business, especially during the 1920s. And the collapse of Wall Street and Hoovers inability to deal with the depression for 3 years was what led many factions, groups to the democratic party and why the democrats took advantage.
When FDR was waiting to take office, he was not sure how he would deal with depression. There were some ideas of Hoover's that he did agree with and incorporated into his own agenda. What began the New Deal was his lament to his son, Jimmy, that he was worried and unsure how to handle the depression, since it looked like it was deeper then at first believed. James Roosevelt was in college and one of his classesm, he was studying the economist, Keynes. He gave the book to his father and that is where alot of the ideas came from.
In 1932, this was brand new. FDR also did not have to deal with lobbyists and corporations entrenched so deeply in our politics. He also did not have to deal with the 24-7 cable news cycle. The republican party did not have talk radio and Fox news to help them out. So, the drubbing they took and the rejection of the people in 1932 largely left them defanged.
FDR did not have to save the economy from totally collapsing since by the time he took office, it had collapsed over the 3 years earlier. And he did not have to worry about the collapse of the American economy causing a total worldwide destruction of the world's economies.
Roosevelt also benefited from a press that was more serious and substantive. While they were not as open as today, they did focus on the issues and the real news. Hard news. Serious news. Yes they did have the frivolous but, that was the kind that appeared in the reporting of Hollywood and the society page. Or human interest. You also did not have the total opening of a person's life and the incessant hammering of nonsense like now with the Woods story. There was a period in the 1920s when this kind of the thing was focused on more but, it has a short span and was not as common in the 30s.
So, FDR did not have the beltway pundits with their Politico and Drudge and ever increasing shallow opinion making about a conventional wisdom that never existed to begin with. With the press not out to take him down or undermine him, he could proceed and explain in his own way.
Mostly, FDR has the full support of the American people and his party. While we democrats were always fractous, the party did rally around this man. His party supported him completely. They did not have the individual agendas of today. They did not try to undermine or trash him. They gave him the support he needed to push his agenda off the ground and gave him a very wide berth.
I highly doubt that today he would have gotten that. After the last 8 years, everyone is examining, criticizing and knocking everything done by our president.
There is a very tight reigns and a spotlight on whatever is done and questioning of every decision that was not there before.
Obama is largely operating alone without the support of his whole party or the supporters. 30 percent of the American people want to impeach for being a non citizen, at the least.
So, romanticize things all you want but, I would highly recommend that those who keep lamenting the era of FDR first read about the man and era. Try to understand the times and the difference from today.
FDR's era and circumstances were far, far different from today. I have my serious doubts that FDR could even be elected today as president.