Burns' PBS Special on FDR

[kairos12]

There was a part in the special I was watching last night where a worker was quoted as saying he liked FDR because he was the only President who understood his was boss was an SOB.

FDR. A great man.

[monmouth3]

1. Haha, I laughed right out loud on that one...n/t

[Loge23]

2. "He's a socialist!!"

...the Badge of Honor from the lunatic right!
Imagine where this country would be without the WPA, SSA, TVA, and the NLRB (although this entity needs a reset). Many of the WPA projects represent the last infrastructure improvements in their area.
After watching the first five episodes, including Teddy's brand of republicanism, all I can do is wonder why the republican party still exists. Even more mystifying to me is why anyone below the tiniest of fractions of the population at the top still vote for them!
But there they are: the great elitists, racists, misogynists, financial ignoramuses, and do nothing-ists clamoring for the electorate to recognize their mythical prowess at all things "American". "We're the party for women", "we're the financial stewards", "we're the defense experts", "we know how to get America working again" (I'll give them that one - working for peanuts for their power base).
They are the proverbial wolf in sheep's clothing and when you strip their disguise away, there's nothing but a white robe.

[L0oniX]

6. The "bosses" are still here.

[brush]

3. I haven't watched any of the Roosevelts . . .

Although I'm a huge fan of FDR's New Deal programs and Eleanor, I wonder if the series delves into the Panama Canal construction? If it was totally avoided it damages Burn's credibility in my opinion.

My reason is because I watched a documentary on that (some of you may have also seen it) that revealed racist payroll practices that was allowed by Teddy Roosevelt himself. For this reason I'm ambivalent about watching it.

From Wikipedia:

"The gold roll and the silver roll were racially coded payroll categories of workers employed by the U.S. builders of the Panama Canal.

After the U.S. revival in 1904 of the abandoned French-led canal construction project, skilled workers and management staff were recruited almost exclusively from the United States. By contract, these U.S. employees were paid in gold-backed U.S. dollars. Unskilled labor was variously sourced, but the great majority of laborers were West Indians; their wages were paid in local silver-backed currency. Wages were disbursed from separate payroll windows to employees in the two categories, and their social lives (in respect of housing, recreation, transportation, and health services, for example) were also organized around this distinction. Even post offices featured segregated gold-roll and silver-roll sections.[1][2]

The system evolved out of less rigid racial practices under the American-owned Panama Railroad and the earlier French-led canal effort. But the system was gradually tightened up specifically to enforce racial segregationist policies. This process took place between 1905 and 1908 under Chief Engineer John Stevens and his successor, George Washington Goethals, and even played a role in the U.S. presidential election of 1908. Skilled workers from the West Indies were demoted to the silver roll. The gold roll was explicitly limited to U.S. and Panamanian citizens by order of U.S. Secretary of War William Howard Taft during his 1908 presidential campaign, in response to demands by American labor unions. A small number of black American citizens were also employed on the gold roll but were denied gold roll privileges. In response to their protests, the canal authorities stopped hiring black U.S. citizens. Hardly any black American citizens remained on the canal workforce after 1909."

[L0oniX]

5. FDR was not racist IMO.

He tried to include blacks where and when ever he could. There was only so much he could do because so much of the country was racist. Teddy was not FDR. The 2 families were on opposing political sides.

[brush]

7. Wasn't the series also about Teddy's branch of the family?

As I said, I'm a huge admirer of FDR.

[L0oniX]

8. I was not impressed by Teds imperial tendency's nor his hunt for glory.

[tammywammy]

9. Teddy had Booker T Washington to dinner at the White House. n/t

[L0oniX]

10. That was Ted who did that? I stand corrected.

[tammywammy]

11. Yes, it was Teddy. n/t

[malaise]

13. Many many West Indians died of malaria in the process

Excellent post.

[L0oniX]

4. That time had so many correlations with today. Big bosses ...1%'rs ...banksters.

[kairos12]

12. A reminder that his battle against the Banksters is never ending. They

are roaches.