A Short Note On The Democratic Party And The Progressive Left....

[The Magistrate]

321. I Am Not Downplaying Mr. Roosevelt's Achievements, Sir

I am pointing out what committed leftists and hard-line populists thought of him, at the time. I suspect a great many of our members here, who today denounce various contemporary Democratic politicians including President Obama for not being true liberals and Democrats like FDR, would if they had been alive at the time and animated by the same views and attitudes they hold today, have been busy denouncing President Roosevelt as a trimmer and a man who gave a great speech but took only half-hearted action, too prone to compromise with reactionaries, selling half-measure bandages as solutions and cures. We both know it is possible for a man to be a very popular politician without meeting much approval from committed left radicals and dedicated liberals.

Personally, in the light of history, I consider President Roosevelt behind only Mr. Lincoln as our greatest President ( Gen. Washington is sort sui generis as the first ), but I expect if I had been twenty-two in 1935, I expect I would have written pamphlets arguing he was not going nearly far enough, and demanding someone better be found.