FDR was complex. He “interned” over 100,000 Japanese American citizens. When Jews came here, fleeing Nazi Germany he turned them back—FDR was a virulent anti-Semite. Yes, he built major government agencies—the foundation of today’s Socialist/totalitarian State.
“A main problem with both Roosevelt and Stalin was their support of big government.
In the United States, one of the legacies of Roosevelt and his successors was the creation of a welfare state. Accompanying, the welfare state was staggering inflation. What $10,000 could buy in 1946 $100,000 could not buy in 2023.
Oh, FDR did nothing to end segregation in America—including the military. And in 1940 he picked the ideological cousin to Stalin as his Voice President, Henry Wallace.
By Richard Colman, Exclusive to the California Political News and Views, 3/9/23
Unnoticed by the major news media, two important anniversaries occurred in March 2023.
On March 4, 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated as the American president. (Later, Inauguration Day was moved to January 20.)
On March 5, 1953, Joseph Stalin, the Soviet dictator, died. Stalin’s successors, despite some denunciations of Stalin, kept many of Stalin’s economic policies in effect.
Why are these anniversaries important?
Ninety years ago, FDR (as Roosevelt was known) became, on March 4, 1933, the most powerful political executive in the history of the United States. FDR took office during the depths of the Great Depression, when American unemployment was between 25% and 50%. Banks became insolvent. Many Americans lost their life savings and their homes and farms.
To remedy the Great Depression, FDR, with the support of a heavily Democratic Congress, established huge government agencies to put Americans back to work. FDR’s economic policies were called the New Deal.
FDR established the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The goals of these agencies was to foster economic stability and produce jobs.
The FDIC provided federal insurance for bank accounts, meaning that money deposited in banks would be insured by the faith and credit of the U.S. government.
To control the stock market, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was created in 1934. Between the latter part of 1929 and 1932, the Dow Jones Industrial Average went from 300 to 30, a 90% drop. The SEC was designed to protect investors and their money and to oversee the stock market. Before the SEC was created, regulation of the trading of stocks and bonds did not exist.
In 1935, FDR signed the Social Security Act, which extracted a tax on wages. Social Security was designed to give retired persons some extra income.
On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The next day FDR asked Congress for a Declaration of War against Japan. A few days later, Nazi Germany declared war on the United States, giving America a two-front war -– in Asia and in Europe. The European war spilled over into Northern Africa.
During FDR’s presidency, Roosevelt, in 1937, attacked the U.S. Supreme Court for overturning much of the New Deal’s legislation.
In 1942, FDR interned over 100,000 people of Japanese ancestry, most of whom were American citizens. Congress did not authorize FDR’s internment policies.
The main legacy of FDR’s presidency was a huge expansion of the federal government. Other legacies included making America a world power. Also, FDR’s policies helped open America to citizens who, hitherto, were excluded from mainstream economic activity. Jewish-Americans, Italian-Americans, and Irish-Americans were not, before Roosevelt, welcomed in such industries as banking, insurance, and many other industries. These exclusionary policies began to change during FDR’s tenure in office.
Roosevelt was president from 1933 to 1945. He was elected president four times (1932, 1936, 1940, and 1944). In April 1945, Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage. After Roosevelt’s death, Congress approved and enough states ratified a Constitutional amendment limiting a president to two terms.
What can we say about Joseph Stalin? Seventy years ago, on March 5, 1953, Stalin, a communist, died of a cerebral hemorrhage. Stalin was dictator of the Soviet Union from 1929 to 1953. Stalin was ruthless, killing many Soviet citizens during his rule.
On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union. To offset Nazi advances, the Soviets, the United States, and Great Britain joined forces to defeat Nazi aggression. During the conflict, officially called World War II, an estimated 20 million Soviet citizens died.
In Tehran, Iran, in 1943 Roosevelt, Stalin, and Winston Churchill, the British prime minister, met to devise a strategy to defeat Nazi Germany. Later, in February 1945, the three leaders met again at Yalta, a Black Sea resort and part of the Soviet Union. By mid-1945, the three leaders had vanquished their enemies.
After World War II, Stalin, with his armed forces in control of Eastern Europe, made political satellites of such nations as Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria.
After Roosevelt’s death, America’s new president, Harry Truman, realized that Stalin had plans to take over much of Europe, especially Greece. Thus began the Cold War, which ended in 1989, when the Soviet satellites were free to take control of their respective nations.
A main problem with both Roosevelt and Stalin was their support of big government.
In the United States, one of the legacies of Roosevelt and his successors was the creation of a welfare state. Accompanying, the welfare state was staggering inflation. What $10,000 could buy in 1946 $100,000 could not buy in 2023.
In the Soviet Union, the entire economy was run by government. A Soviet bureaucracy set prices on some 13 million items. The result of all of this Soviet economic planning was constant shortages of food, shelter, and the means of transportation. Dissenters of Soviet economic policy were banished or killed.
Despite the emergence of big government in both the U.S. and the Soviet Union, the U.S., from the end of World War II until today, was able to prosper. Big government in America did not get so big that commerce could not flourish.
Today, the Soviet Union no longer exists and was replaced by Russia. Russia is a country that has a low standard of living.
The U.S. is coming closer to big government, but a Soviet-style American state, has not –- at least not yet -– appeared.
All Americans need to remember March 4, 1933, and March 5, 1953, as significant historical dates. The risk of forgetting these dates is the emergence of out-of-control government that will stifle freedom.
