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SATURDAY APRIL 15, 2006

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Franklin Delano Roosevelt : History Revisited
By: David K. Every

n America the schools and History Books seem to universally laud Roosevelt (FDR -- Franklin Delano Roosevelt) as one of the great Presidents of the Century. They praise the good; man of the People, saved the country from the great depression, forward thinking liberal policies built social balance and saved the nation, and so on. They mention his idealism and integrity. He then went on to guide us through WWII, and save not only the nation, but the entire world from tyranny. They tell us how much good he did, and so on.

I don't admire Roosevelt, and I wouldn't want my children following in his footsteps. FDR was a motivator and his arrogance helped give people confidence that something was being done to combat the depression. What he mostly did was help himself; he was both a placebo and predator. He did some good things but used really bad means to achieve those ends. He was power-hungry, vindictive, and did more to harm and violate the constitution than any other President; including Lincoln. He and his family were corrupt - at least by today's standards. He focused power so that he could use and abuse it for personal gain. He was a lousy diplomat, a poor administrator, not a scholar, nor philosopher, and was not particularly well read. He was not even very intellectually smart - just people smart. He was a liar and manipulator (e.g. a Politician). He betrayed most people and nations that trusted him. He did almost the opposite of everything he promised, and he scarred our nation deeply. Many of his actions and our nations during his tenure, were the largest shames of our history. His legacy cost us and we have paid and will continue to pay because we bought the promises of a politician, because we let our own fear blind us to the truth, and because of our willingness to look for "salvation" in the easy path (and ignore the costs of our "shortcuts").

While it is true that he did a lot that was good, this revisionist history of Roosevelt is one-sided misinformation. Idolizing leaders is not good, revising history is worse. Most people have no clue as to what really happened. So I write this not to slander a president, but counterbalance the spin. If you have interest in anything I say, or I say anything you haven't heard before, I hope you'll research it and develop your own views. History and people are complex, not the simplistic mischaracterizations that most of us are taught in school.