There are lessons to be learned from every conflict. Lessons we should not forget.
Lesson #1: When Republicans who hate everything FDR ever did start quoting FDR in support of one of their middle-class destroying or union-bashing attacks, the public should assume they are lying.
Why?
Because invariably they are.
Case in point is the current Misleading GOP talking point being endlessly repeated throughout the conservative echo chamber: FDR would support Governor Walker's proposal to outlaw collective bargaining for public service employees.
Here's the truth:
FDR did not oppose public employee unions. He opposed strikes by federal public employee unions.
Strikes that I believe are illegal for public employees in Wisconsin.
More, including the full letter being cited by the lying Republicans and their media echo chambers after the fold.
Here's an example of the false and misleading claim:
Somewhere, Franklin Delano Roosevelt is grinning past his cigarette holder at Wisconsin's governor. They are on the same page regarding government unions.
...
Roosevelt's reign certainly was the bright dawn of modern unionism. The legal and administrative paths that led to 35% of the nation's workforce eventually unionizing by a mid-1950s peak were laid by Roosevelt.
But only for the private sector. Roosevelt openly opposed bargaining rights for government unions.
"The process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service," Roosevelt wrote in 1937 to the National Federation of Federal Employees. Yes, public workers may demand fair treatment, wrote Roosevelt. But, he wrote, "I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place" in the public sector. "A strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to prevent or obstruct the operations of Government."
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/...
But as anyone who reads the entire letter from which the article quotes, ever so selectively, can easily see - FDR did not oppose federal public employee unions. He opposed strikes by federal public employee unions.
From what I've heard, strikes for public Wisconsin public employees are already prohibited under Wisconsin law.
Here's an excerpt from that same letter from FDR to the President of the National Federation of Federal Employees that reveals a bit more of FDR's true feelings about public employee unions:
...Organizations of Government employees have a logical place in Government affairs.
The desire of Government employees for fair and adequate pay, reasonable hours of work, safe and suitable working conditions, development of opportunities for advancement, facilities for fair and impartial consideration and review of grievances, and other objectives of a proper employee relations policy, is basically no different from that of employees in private industry. ...
Here is the "smoking gun" letter from FDR in 1937 that the GOP seems to be relying on in it's lie that claims FDR opposed public employee unions:
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/...
Franklin D. Roosevelt
112 - Letter on the Resolution of Federation of Federal Employees Against Strikes in Federal Service
August 16, 1937
My dear Mr. Steward:
As I am unable to accept your kind invitation to be present on the occasion of the Twentieth Jubilee Convention of the National Federation of Federal Employees, I am taking this method of sending greetings and a message.
Reading your letter of July 14, 1937, I was especially interested in the timeliness of your remark that the manner in which the activities of your organization have been carried on during the past two decades "has been in complete consonance with the best traditions of public employee relationships." Organizations of Government employees have a logical place in Government affairs.
The desire of Government employees for fair and adequate pay, reasonable hours of work, safe and suitable working conditions, development of opportunities for advancement, facilities for fair and impartial consideration and review of grievances, and other objectives of a proper employee relations policy, is basically no different from that of employees in private industry. Organization on their part to present their views on such matters is both natural and logical, but meticulous attention should be paid to the special relationships and obligations of public servants to the public itself and to the Government.
All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management. The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with Government employee organizations. The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives in Congress. Accordingly, administrative officials and employees alike are governed and guided, and in many instances restricted, by laws which establish policies, procedures, or rules in personnel matters.
Particularly, I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place in the functions of any organization of Government employees. Upon employees in the Federal service rests the obligation to serve the whole people, whose interests and welfare require orderliness and continuity in the conduct of Government activities. This obligation is paramount. Since their own services have to do with the functioning of the Government, a strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to prevent or obstruct the operations of Government until their demands are satisfied. Such action, looking toward the paralysis of Government by those who have sworn to support it, is unthinkable and intolerable. It is, therefore, with a feeling of gratification that I have noted in the constitution of the National Federation of Federal Employees the provision that "under no circumstances shall this Federation engage in or support strikes against the United States Government."
I congratulate the National Federation of Federal Employees the twentieth anniversary of its founding and trust that the convention will, in every way, be successful.
Emphasis added. Also note that in these records, the addressee is listed as the sender, but as noted at the source, this letter was from FDR to Mr. Seward.
And who was this National Federation of Federal Employees that FDR was congratulating?
A union representing federal employees since 1917:
NFFE was officially created at a labor convention in Washington, D.C. on September 17, 1917. It formed as an affiliate of the AFL and was at the time the federal employees union, representing several trades and industries. NFFE and other unions were able to form after 1912, when Congress passed the Lloyd-Lafollette Act to overturn Theodore Roosevelt's previous executive order. Roosevelt's mandate, frequently referred to as the "gag rule" had previously prevented unionized activity.
http://www.nffe.org/...
That's right. FDR's letter congratulating a federal employee's union on it's 20th Anniversary is being used by the GOP to claim FDR opposed government employee unions.
So, to repeat, another important lesson here: When middle-class destroying, union bashing Republicans quote FDR in support of their agenda, assume they are lying.
Again.