Including excerpts from his 1936 re-election campaign<\/p>\n
By Nancy Spannaus<\/p>\n
Oct. 17, 2024\u2014The main purpose of this post is to encourage my readers to sign up for my upcoming class on FDR\u2019s New Deal sponsored by Long Island University\u2019s Hutton House program for lifetime learning. Here is the relevant information:<\/p>\n
A NEW LOOK AT FDR\u2019S NEW DEAL<\/strong><\/p>\n Instructor: Nancy Spannaus<\/strong><\/p>\n Ninety years ago, incoming President Franklin D. Roosevelt launched the New Deal, one of the most transformative economic programs the United States has ever seen. But what was the New Deal? Ask some Americans and they will tell you it was \u201csocialist\u201d big government and the source of infinite evils. Others praise it as a much-needed adoption of social welfare programs which saved our nation from disaster. In this class, public historian Nancy Spannaus will take a different approach. Drawing on her work on Alexander Hamilton, Spannaus will present FDR\u2019s New Deal as a vital revival<\/a> of Hamilton\u2019s American System and make the case that his principles are still needed today.<\/p>\n Course# 94836<\/p>\n 10 a.m. \u2013 12 noon, EST on\u00a0Zoom<\/strong><\/p>\n Tuesdays, October 22 and 29<\/strong><\/p>\n 2 sessions<\/p>\n Fee: $62<\/p>\n To register:\u00a0https:\/\/webapps3.liu.edu\/HuttonHouse\/?q=deal<\/a><\/p>\n Or call 516-299-2580<\/p>\n A Relevant Example<\/strong><\/p>\n As some may question the relevance of FDR\u2019s presidency to today, let me relay the following example.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n When President Franklin Roosevelt took the stage in Philadelphia in June 1936, to accept his re-nomination as the Democratic presidential candidate, he had a decision to make. Surely, he could choose to crow about the progress that had been made during his first four years\u2014the millions of people employed, the re-opening of the banking system, the launching of major water projects, the saving of thousands of Americans from losing their homes, and much more.<\/p>\n But FDR did not dwell on his administration\u2019s accomplishments. Knowing that millions of Americans were still suffering from Depression conditions, he chose to take aim at the major force blocking a full recovery \u2013 Wall Street\u2019s \u201ceconomic royalists.\u201d<\/p>\n As was his wont, the President first located the current fight in our nation\u2019s history.<\/p>\n In 1776 we sought freedom from the tyranny of a political autocracy\u2014from the eighteenth century royalists who held special privileges from the crown. It was to perpetuate their privilege that they governed without the consent of the governed; that they denied the right of free assembly and free speech; that they restricted the worship of God; that they put the average man\u2019s property and the average man\u2019s life in pawn to the mercenaries of dynastic power; that they regimented the people.<\/p>\n And so it was to win freedom from the tyranny of political autocracy that the American Revolution was fought. That victory gave the business of governing into the hands of the average man, who won the right with his neighbors to make and order his own destiny through his own Government. Political tyranny was wiped out at Philadelphia on July 4, 1776.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n But with the growth of the American economy, FDR continued, a new form of tyranny arose in the form of economic dynasties. The hereditary royalists of the British Empire were replaced by a small group with the financial power to exercise almost dictatorial control over people\u2019s lives. As FDR said:<\/p>\n The royalists of the economic order have conceded that political freedom was the business of the Government, but they have maintained that economic slavery was nobody\u2019s business. They granted that the Government could protect the citizen in his right to vote, but they denied that the Government could do anything to protect the citizen in his right to work and his right to live.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The royalists claim \u201cwe seek to overthrow the institutions of America,\u201d FDR went on. \u201cWhat they really complain of is that we seek to take away their power.\u201d His message was: America\u2019s commitment to end tyranny demands that we use our government to do so.<\/p>\n The conclusion of FDR\u2019s acceptance speech is equally instructive, as well as in contrast to our general approach today. He emphasized that a debate over the role of government had raged over the previous four years. What we have learned, he said, is that the \u201cgreatest guide\u201d is \u201cmoral principle,\u201d specifically the commitment to \u201cfaith, hope, and charity.\u201d<\/p>\n I leave it to you to read the speech<\/a> itself, rather than attempt a further summary. But I can\u2019t resist quoting one of his most memorable lines:<\/p>\n Governments can err, Presidents do make mistakes, but the immortal Dante tells us that divine justice weighs the sins of the cold-blooded and the sins of the warm-hearted in different scales.<\/p>\n Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cI welcome their hatred\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n As the campaign went on, FDR only intensified his focus on the economic royalists who sought to derail the New Deal. His attitude is well summarized in this statement, made in a rally at Madison Square Garden on October 31.<\/p>\n Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me\u2014and I welcome their hatred.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n You can read this full speech here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Learn more about the statesmanship of the last great representative of the American System of economics.\u00a0 Sign up today: \u00a0https:\/\/webapps3.liu.edu\/HuttonHouse\/?q=deal<\/a><\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Having posted almost 700 articles on this site over the last 7 years, it\u2019s only natural, I suppose, that I don\u2019t remember them all.\u00a0 I just noticed that I published the full text of this speech in the wake of the 2020 presidential nominating conventions, noting in particular the fact that Wall Street got a total pass in both. Have things really changed that much?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Tags:<\/strong> economic royalists<\/a>, FDR<\/a>, Franklin Roosevelt<\/a>, Nancy Spannaus<\/a>, New Deal<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Including excerpts from his 1936 re-election campaign By Nancy Spannaus Oct. 17, 2024\u2014The main purpose of this post is to encourage my readers to sign up for my upcoming class on FDR\u2019s New Deal sponsored by Long Island University\u2019s Hutton House program for lifetime learning. Here is the relevant information: A NEW LOOK AT FDR\u2019S […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12032],"tags":[6079,37630,689],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-72128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-history","tag-class","tag-fdr","tag-sign"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Sign](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/americansystemnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/FDR-1936-acceptance-speech.jpg?resize=300%2C227&ssl=1)
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