FDR A Four Term Progressive--Part 6

Roosevelt did not let the decision on the Agricultural Adjustment Act stop him from implementing additional legislation that moved the New Deal forward. He continued to meet with members of his administration, while for the most part ignoring Congress, to draw up programs supposedly designed to rid the nation of its economic problems. This is how the vast majority of programs were put together. It was, for all intents and purposes, a dictatorial process.

The primary solution to the Depression was known as "pump priming". Simply put it was more and more government spending. Indeed as a youngster in high school and then college, I vividly recall teachers and professors preaching that the Federal government was the only facility that had access to tremendous amounts of money that could now be used to pay for all these wonderful programs espoused by the Roosevelt Administration.

Recovery went on at an enormous price. The National Industrial Recovery Act spent $3.3 billion through the Public Works Administration or PWA later to be know as the WPA. These two organizations were supposed to end unemployment but that did not happen. Then there was the Tennessee Valley Authority. Working with Republican Senator George Norris, FDR put together the largest government owned industrial enterprise in our history. The first impulse is to say TVA was a good thing. Was it? Why wasn't this effort carried out by private industry? Why didn't we give incentives to public power companies to do this job? Most importantly how happy were those folks, already in poor economic condition, about TVA and the loss of their homes and livelihoods?

In the economic arena Roosevelt moved in 1933 to regulate the banks and in 1934 put into place the Securities and Exchange Commission to regulate Wall Street the epicenter of capitalism. However, a major and extremely controversial move was taken under Executive Order 6102 which took all the gold owned privately and turned it over to the US Treasury. Declared by many to be unconstitutional, FDR claimed that he had the power to do this under the 1917 War Powers Act. The ability of Americans to own gold was finally reinstated under President Ford in 1934.

While many would say that all these programs were wonderful, they did not end the Depression. There were consequences for all these programs in that Peter was robbed to pay Paul. In order to keep his campaign promise of cutting the federal budget, Roosevelt had to make cuts and he did so in a rather harsh but not unusual manner. He cut benefits to veterans by 40% and cut the military budget overall a tactic that would soon prove to be costly but one still practiced to this day. Over 500,000 veterans and their widows were removed from the pension rolls and had benefits cut. The salaries of Federal workers were cut as were the budgets of the military and navy. Spending was reduced on education and research and little was done to assist science until World War II began. However, he did sign an Executive Order in April of 1933 that ended Prohibition because much as politicians today view gambling, FDR was convinced he could acquire lots of money from taxing alcohol.

FDR and the Democrats had tremendous success in the 1934 Congressional election. Roosevelt gained larger majorities in the House and Senate. This in turn allowed him to move forward and continue the nationalization of our government with the consolidation of power in the hands of the central government. As for the people, they were going to pay more for less, move toward becoming wards of the state and pay no attention as everything from charity to education fell within the control of the Federal government.

FDR--A Four Term Progressive Part 1

Handsome fellow isn't he? This is the young Franklin Delano Roosevelt as Assistant Secretary of the Navy during the two terms of President Woodrow Wilson, our first aggressive Progressive.

His long and distinguished political career started in 1910 when he was elected to the New York Senate. Wilson appointed him Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1913. In 1920 he ran with James Cox on the Democrat ticket as the Vice Presidential candidate. In 1921 he was diagnosed with polio, a disease that would see him tied to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Despite his illness he ran for Governor of NY in 1928 and entered the governor's mansion on January 1, 1929 with a full blown depression starting that year. FDR's next stop was the White House with his victory over Herbert Hoover in November of 1932. He went on to win the presidency three additional times to become the only four term president in the history of the country.

FDR is a man whose name causes emotions to be put into churn mode. As a young lad growing up in rural Pennsylvania farm country I was surrounded by Roosevelt Democrats. Indeed, like my entire family, I to looked upon myself as a Roosevelt Democrat and did so into the late 1960s when, in 1968, I voted for Richard Nixon and did so again in 1972. Obviously my views of FDR changed. I came to believe, and still do, that FDR is the man who placed us on the road to fascism the road we are currently traveling. This series will look at his life, his record and legislation during the depression and war time periods.

FDR came into the world on January 10, 1882. He was an only child born to James Roosevelt and Sara Delano, both from wealthy families with long pedigrees. His father was of Dutch heritage with lines that ran to Elizabeth Monroe, the President Monroe's wife, Benedict Arnold, and Joseph Smith, Jr the founder of the Church of Jesus Chris of Latter Day Saints. On his mother's side he was related to Laura Ingalls Wilder, and to four travelers on the Mayflower, Richard Warren, Isaac Allerton, Degory Priest, and Francis Cooke. One thing to keep in mind; he was, during her lifetime, completely devoted to his very possessive mother.

A graduate of Groton School, an Episcopalian prep and boarding school, FDR studied under the tutelage of Endicott Peabody, the headmaster at Groton. It was Peabody who taught young Roosevelt that public service should be his great calling, a fine idea as long as one leads with one's brain instead of one's heart. In assisting the unfortunates teach them to fish instead of giving them fish because the former will insure the continued dignity of man.

After his graduation from Groton, FDR entered Harvard. Harvard was the school attended by cousin Teddy and he became president while FDR was at Harvard. Teddy's use of the bully pulpit would serve as the model for FDR. Keep in mind that cousin Teddy was the Republican who took that party into the Progressive era and began the centralization of the federal government.

The next few years were busy for Roosevelt. He met his future wife in 1902, Anna Eleanore Roosevelt, the niece of Theodore Roosevelt. Franklin married his fifth cousin in March of 1905. Franklin married Eleanore despite the protestations and resistance of his mother who opposed the marriage. Even after moving to their home in Springwood, part of his family's holding, Sara made a point of frequent visits to the young couple much to the chagrin of Eleanore.

In 1905, FDR also entered Columbia Law school but dropped out in 1907 wen he took and passed the New York Bar. Roosevelt never did graduate from Columbia. He practiced law as a member of a Wall Street firm, Carter Ledyrd and Milburn concentrating on corporate law from 1908-1910.

It was in 1910 that Roosevelt entered the political arena. Young, handsome, and articulate, he ran for a seat in the state assembly representing the wealthy area around Hyde Park, home to many wealthy people. Roosevelt won that election and was now launched into his political career, a career he would continue for a life time.