I wasn't aware that he was.
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Not really related to socialism, but you're all so knowledgeable that I figured this was the best place to come for a brief answer to my question:
Why is Franklin D. Roosevelt still considered to be one of the greatest US presidents?
Cheers.
I wasn't aware that he was.
Because he is seen as a progressive icon by those who are hell bent on accelerating the advancement of humanity... though... considering their strong support for federalistic statism... they are anything but accelerators... hell, just look was prohibition, one of the biggest progressive movements, did to America... all I know is that if these progressives ever ask us to help them out for anything, we should just flat out say no because at some point of time, they're going to fuck us over royally when we least expect it...
Quite a lot of it couldbe that he was president durting the second world war. It's obviously not the whole story but being a ruler on the winning side of WWII (unless you're Stalin) does a lot for your image in the history books, whether this is deserved or you advocated gassing people (like Churchill did).
Sciences & Environment rocks my bedroom.
[FONT=Arial]Say what you mean and say it mean...[/FONT]
"Frankly if we have a revolution and you stop me eating meat, I'm going to eat you."- The inimitable Skinz.
Be careful, lest the time comes where we have to weigh you against a duck.
He governed for almost twelve years, led the USA through the Great Depression and the Second World War and basically created the foundation for the US superpower. Moreover, he created the US "welfare state" which was a pride for democrats for a long time.
Before FDR the government had no anti-poverty programs at all; someone actually dying of starvation couldn't get a dollar from the government. With the programs introduced by FDR, there would still be severe poverty, but usually survival. The Social Security Administration would pay an old person just enough money to have a one room apartment and eat nothing but beans, but they could usually survive.
The Works Progress Administration gave unemployed workers jobs by paying them to build things like roads, bridges and dams. The WPA also created some jobs by inventing pointless activities, like having one worker dig a hole in a random place and having a second worker fill it up again.
The Fair Labor Standards Act was the first law that said the rate of paying wages had to go up if the work hours go into overtime.
The working class was becoming dissatistfied and beginning to talk revolution. FDR warned the ruling class that they had to grant some reforms to avoid losing their whole system. In a famous speech, FDR said, "Reform if you would preserve."
Because he saved American capitalism.
And being leader of a country in times of war does wonders for your image. Look at Stalin. Very difficult to criticise for a long time. Now the truth is out of course and he's not cuddly old Uncle Joe any more.
Critique of the Gotha Programme, Pt IV: http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1875/gotha/ch04.htm
No War but the Class War
Destroy All Nations
Lucius Accius (170 BC - 86 BC): "A man whose life has been dishonorable is not entitled to escape disgrace in death."
Um...what the fuck?
Which bit? FDR saving American capitalism in the 1930s, or Stalin being a bit easier to criticise now he can't send you to a gulag? I'm not sure what you're asking about.
Critique of the Gotha Programme, Pt IV: http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1875/gotha/ch04.htm
No War but the Class War
Destroy All Nations
Lucius Accius (170 BC - 86 BC): "A man whose life has been dishonorable is not entitled to escape disgrace in death."
What do you mean a long time?
Oh, right... 1928-1956, probably, and long after with some people (even now). Though in the West his 'official' status went up and down I suppose. Popular in the 30s, not so much in the late 30s-41, then after the German invasion of Russia he was very popular again. After the war, not so much again, especially in America, but anywhere that the Nazis had actually occupied, I think he was still quite popular. Except Poland, maybe.
Critique of the Gotha Programme, Pt IV: http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1875/gotha/ch04.htm
No War but the Class War
Destroy All Nations
Lucius Accius (170 BC - 86 BC): "A man whose life has been dishonorable is not entitled to escape disgrace in death."
I think he was the best president, did he save Capitalism? Probably, but people tend to think that its a bad thing, the ohter option was more suffering more poverty, starvation, not socialism, infact what he did helped the socialist cause by giving people an taste of what public control could be. This rediculous idea that society has to collapse before socialism is an option makes no sense, why would'nt people want to make their life better if they have the option?
However don't get me wrong, FDR was no socialist, he was a politition, he bowed to pressure, just so happens that the left gave a lot of pressure at that time.
He was a political mastermind who successfully neutralized massive internal political and social divisions and co-opted worker unrest into an extraordinarily successful collaborationist social compact that guaranteed the U.S. a tremendous amount of stability and economic productivity for a pretty long time. Also he helped keep a bunch of people from starving to death.
He led the United States from the pit of the Depression nearly up to the moment of victory during World War 2 and he was extremely diplomatically astute. He laid the foundation for the U.S.A.'s future position as number one global power after the war.
Really as a statesman who improved the position and power of the U.S. as a nation-state he is probably up there with Lincoln.
How many people starved to death in America during the Great Depression?
mikelepore and Glenn Beck said it best. But I still think Lincoln was the best Prez. FDR was more a reformist dead set on reforming capitalism and creating a social democracy, which sort of failed because the US never passed his Second Bill of Rights, instead we became what economists describe as bastard Keynesian nation with a horribly unsustainable economy based on being the number one exporter and imperialism (according to Monopoly Capital at least). The only good thing that really helped the workers in the post War period was some of the worker gains in the New Deal (that hadn't been watered down by the Truman administration) and the negotiation of higher wages among a strong labor movement (the Treaty of Detroit).
I don't think the establishment sees him as one of the greatest Presidents as much as they did a generation ago when the liberalism was the Washington orthodoxy like neo-liberalism is today. But many regular people do see him as one of the top presidents. It's easy to understand why especially with the history we are taught that treats workers as passive objects in history, whereas great men and predients are the intiators and actors in history. So we are sold a myth that Hoover did nothing and FDR came in as the People's champion. The struggles are forgotten and hidden so FDR get's all the credit and this is part of the reason many workers who belive in liberalism are so disoriented by Obama today because they believed he, like the mythical FDR would come in and sweep up and give us back all the security and living standard that we have lost over the last generation.
Lincoln was the last revolutionary capitalist president in my book and he oversaw the largest transfer of wealth (downward) than any other US president through emancipation. But even Lincoln had to be dragged into this role that he resisted for a long long time until it was either: make the war about slavery or loose the war.
Unlike Lincoln, by the time FDR was president, capitalism was already developed and established so his reforms were not an advance, they were just attempts to save a system that had already passed it's historically progressive stage.
This is not to say that social security and the right to unionize etc. did not make a beneficial impact in the lives (and confidence) of the working class. Besides, it was really the initiative of workers and radicals that forced him to pass these reforms or face the possibility of revolution and when he thought the heat was off, he tried to halt the reforms (and balance the budget - sound familiar, comrades?) and it caused a worsening of the economic problems.
People like him because he was one of the first Presidents to respect the rights of the Japanese people living in America.
Really Skooma? Ok, what president should American's like?
Ronald Reagan!
Did not FDR say that he stepped up his public works program at one point to outshine Huey Long?
