I have come across previously unknown information on FDR that is causing me to re-evaluate his overall rating. I am dropping his score down from 4.5 to a 4 out of 5 stars. I will discuss my reasoning in the concluding portion of this article. (updated 11/6/2020). A further update on 11/15/2020 caused his score to drop to 3.5 stars. (updated 11/23/2021) Additional research has shown that Roosevelt was definitely over rated and does not even deserve the 3.5 stars score so now I have dropped his score down to 2.5 stars.

I have written several articles on our Presidents and Vice-Presidents. A list of the links have been provided at the bottom of this article for your convenience. This article will, however address additional Presidents and their places in history.

Academics and historians consider Franklin D Roosevelt as one of the greatest US presidents, ranking him alongside the likes of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson. In fact, the United States Presidency Center voted him the best American president overall in 2011. Roosevelt, commonly known as FDR, had the leadership skills to guide the US through the Great Depression of the 1930s and most of World War II. He’s also the only president to serve more than two consecutive terms in office – managing to secure a fourth term before he died in 1945.

But what was it about his leadership style that made him such an effective president?

FDR’s leadership skills

Stanford University historian David Kennedy has identified a number of characteristics that he feels made FDR a strong president.

Curiosity

Kennedy claims that Roosevelt had a curious mind and was always keen to learn more. The president was an excellent communicator and learned much through conversations and interactions with the outside world.

This thirst for knowledge and ability to absorb information made him a quick study, which helped him become an authority on issues with speed and confidence.

Presentation skills

Early in his career, FDR was an imposing figure – standing 6-foot 2-inches tall – however he is probably best known for his ‘fireside chats’.

Radio was a new-fangled technology during his time in office, but the president used it to good effect and he became one of the best orators of the 20th century.

Before his tenure, the White House mailroom was staffed by one mailperson, but within a week of his first radio appearance 70 people were needed to cope with almost 500,000 letters of appreciation.

Self-confidence

FDR was known to be extremely confident in his own opinions and decisions.

It was this characteristic that led him to ignore his closest advisors on major issues, including US involvement in World War II.

His confidants opposed the early support of the British in the war, but FDR threw his weight behind the Allied forces in what many people consider a defining moment that swung the balance of power away from the Axis nations.

Overcoming adversity

Not only was Roosevelt’s time in office marked by some of the most eventful years in American history, he also had to overcome significant personal adversity.

The president contracted polio in 1921 – 12 years before he was elected as president – which left him paralysed from the waist down.

Despite this, FDR refused to be seen in public in a wheelchair, instead using a combination of canes and mechanical braces to stand upright and even walk short distances.

… And a little bit of luck?

While FDR is considered one of the greatest US presidents, some historians claim that he was also fortunate enough to receive some good luck during his time in office. Often in ranking systems, the best presidents are those that guide the country through troubled times, such as Washington during the first years of the unstable republic and Lincoln through the Civil War. Many of the peacekeeping presidents tend to blend into the background, and so the onset of World War II actually helped FDR stake his claim as one of the greats. Of course, without the right leadership skills during the conflict he would not have been able to handle these challenges so effectively!

Franklin Delano Roosevelt served as President from March 1933 to April 1945, the longest tenure in American history. He may have done more during those twelve years to change American society and politics than any of his predecessors in the White House, save Abraham Lincoln. Of course, some of this was the product of circumstances; the Great Depression and the rise of Germany and Japan were beyond FDR’s control. But his responses to the challenges he faced made him a defining figure in American history.

Americans elected Roosevelt President in 1932 because they believed he could combat the Depression more effectively than his Republican opponent, President Herbert Hoover. Roosevelt promised a “new deal” and he certainly delivered. By implementing a variety of innovative policies, FDR was able to pull the United States away from the brink of economic, social, and perhaps even political, disaster—and lay the foundation for future stability and prosperity.

Under FDR, the American federal government assumed new and powerful roles in the nation’s economy, in its corporate life, and in the health, welfare, and well-being of its citizens. The federal government in 1935 guaranteed unions the right to organize and bargain collectively, and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 established a mechanism for putting a floor under wages and a ceiling on hours that continues to this day. It provided, in 1935, financial aid to the aged, infirm, and unemployed when they could no longer provide for themselves. Beginning in 1933, it helped rural and agricultural America with price supports and development programs when these sectors could barely survive. Finally, by embracing an activist fiscal policy after 1937, the government assumed responsibility for smoothing out the rough spots in the American economy.

Writ large, the New Deal sought to insure that the economic, social, and political benefits of American capitalism were distributed more equally among America’s large and diverse populace. The New Deal did this to a remarkable degree. But FDR’s New Deal failed to cure completely the Depression-induced ills of the American economy. By 1940, the percentage of Americans without jobs remained in double digits and the American people lacked the purchasing power to jump start the economy. Only American entry into World War II ended this torpor.

If FDR was elected in 1932 to fight the Depression, he was largely re-elected in 1940 because Americans believed he could guide the nation through a period of treacherous international relations. FDR correctly understood that Japan and Germany threatened the United States, which in turn endangered the cherished freedoms Americans enjoyed at home. With the onset of war in 1939, FDR ably guided America’s efforts to aid its allies without formally entering into hostilities. When Japan and Germany forced his hand in December 1941, Roosevelt rallied Americans in support of a massive war effort, both at home and abroad.

FDR hoped that the war would produce a more secure and peaceful postwar world, and he became a major proponent of a postwar United Nations, in which the United States would be a leading member. FDR, however, left to his successors the thorny problem of relations with the Soviet Union, which quickly replaced Germany and Japan as America’s chief global adversary. Nonetheless, a sea change had occurred in American foreign relations under FDR. By 1945, the United States had become a global power with global responsibilities—and its new leaders both understood this new reality and had the tools at their disposal to shape the world accordingly. FDR built a bond between himself and the public—doing much to shape the image of the President as the caretaker of the American people. Under FDR’s leadership, the President’s duties grew to encompass not only those of the chief executive—as implementer of policy—but also chief legislator—as drafter of policy. And in trying to design and craft legislation, FDR required a White House staff and set of advisers unlike any seen previously in Washington. The President now needed a full-time staff devoted to domestic and foreign policies, with expertise in these areas, and a passion for governance. With enactment of the Executive Reorganization bill in 1939, FDR changed the shape of the White House forever. In sum, President Roosevelt greatly increased the responsibilities of his office. Fortunately for his successors, he also enhanced the capacity of the presidency to meet these new responsibilities.

In 1932 FDR was the first presidential candidate to denounce persecution of Jews. He pulled out Ambasssador from Germany. He also allowed allJews with a travel VISA to stay in the US indefinitely. The Congress and the people were against this due to the Great Depression. In 1944 he signed an Executive Order establishing the War Refugee Board, which was the only agency created by any country to try and help the Jews still left alive from the German persecution.

Many of today’s historians, feel that FDR’s progressive reforms were failures, that they only drove the country further into debt and had little positive effect on the economy. They also state, that the only thing that brought the economy out of the depression was World War II. I am also in this team. I have the benefit of seeing what future progressive policies have done to ruin our economy. Their platform is flawed. More government control does’t translate into a stronger economy. Fair capitalistic competition, with limited governmental interference is the best way to grow an economy. The problem is that the competition is not always fair. This is where we need some governmental regulation, to prevent the formation of monopolies. Even though, FDR’s reform policies failed to restore our economy, FDR’s handling of World War II ensures his place in history. So he deserves the following score.

Reasons for Revision of Score

This is where I will further discuss his handling of the war. Most people at all familiar with WWII know about the lend lease program that helped keep Britain supplied during the second world war. Many may not know that we also had a similar agreement with Russia. While I was aware of this program, I did know to the extent that it was carried out. We basically rebuilt the country. We actually gave them supplies that helped them develop the atomic bomb, which ushered us into the cold war in the 1950’s. Yes we gave them uranium, for what purpose, I don’t know. It is all well and good to help your allies, it is quite another to do so at the detriment of your own forces. From the start of the war for America, we gave priority to the European Front. We kind of held a holding pattern on the Pacific front. We felt that Germany was a greater threat. Sometimes we have to prioritize in a war, that is not in question. But what is in question is that we sacrificed 150,000 English troops because we chose Russia over England. We also chose Russia over our own troops and subsequently lost the Philippines to Japan, and allowed tens of thousands of troops to be captured. Many of these troops suffered torture and died under the hands of their Japanese captors. In English held Singapore, America Promised her ally 200 fighter craft to provide air support to her naval force guarding the Island. We sent the Planes plus tanks to Russia instead. On December 10, 1941, 86 Japanese bombers attacked and sank two British warships. Eight hundred sailors lost their lives, all because they had no air support. Singapore subsequently fell to Japan on February 15, 1942. On the previous December, just 2 days before the attack on Singapore, Japan attacked the Philippine islands defended bi a joint force of 151,000 Philippine and American troops. They were forced to eventually surrender because of lack of support and supplies. I mentioned earlier that we lost countless American troops during this debacle, that is not the half of it. The Philippine troops were dealt with far more harshly than the American troops, if that can be imagined. The native population were also enslaved, and forced to work in labor camps and the women were raped. Many of the elderly and weaker people were simply killed. This was totally unnecessary.

Further research has shown that Roosevelt was thoroughly outclassed by one of his partners in the alliance and that was Stalin. As a matter of fact I am going to write an article on this subject, where I will address everything about their partnership in more depth. But this article is about His presidency, so I will limit my discussion as to how it was affected by Stalin. Ever since Germany invaded Russia, Stalin has been clamoring for aid and for the allies to attack Germany to relieve pressure on his Red army. Prior to D-Day the allies had invaded Africa and Italy in 1943. Stalin considered these to be mere distractions and insisted on France being invaded directly. Eventually Roosevelt acquiesced against Churchills recommendations and agreed to invade France. Even though we were already on the European continent and in Italy, which was a much shorter route to Germany and Berlin. By continuing to follow this route which was a much easier path, we could have shortened the war by at least one year, if not more. Once Berlin, the heart of Germany was captured, the whole German army would have most likely collapsed. The forces in France and Poland would have given up. The only forces that would not have surrendered would have been those in Russia. Mainly because they were in a death match. The German troops were not too kind when they invaded Russia in 1941 and could not expect anything better in return.

Once we had committed ourselves to the invasion of Normandy we had to transfer a majority of troops and supplies back to England for staging of the invasion. Thereby delaying any further plains for invasion until in 1944. Once the armies were stripped down, further advances were no longer possible. This basically left Italy in a holding pattern, we no longer had enough forces present to do anything but protect our previous advances. This change in plans easily caused the death of tens of thousands of troops more than if we had staid on our previous route.

These decisions that FDR made with a total lack of compassion and yes an understanding of the true status of the war in Asia, and it showed a total lack of character and weakness in Roosevelt. I can only assume his sickness and fatigue from the stresses of the war had weakened his resolve. Irregardless his actions during the war caused his rating to drop to a much lower score than when I first started this project.

I just finished a truly enlightening biography on FDR by John T. Flynn. He stripped all the fanfare and legend surrounding FDR. In fact all three of his New Deals failed miserably, he also blocked any actions proposed by Herbert Hoover that stood a chance of working just to tarnish his reputation. I have since rectified this by changing the ratings of Hoover and FDR. FDR like Biden has a corrupt family who have made a fortune off of his influence. He also totally sold out Europe to Stalin and the USSR. Nine countries were added to the circle under control of USSR thanks to the policies promulgated by a weak Roosevelt. He was a mere shadow of Teddy Roosevelt. I also have just finished another FDR book “Day of Deceit: The Truth about FDR and Pearl Harbor,” by Robert B. Stinnett. In this book Stinnett not only postulates that FDR had foreknowledge of Pearl Harbor he actually pushed Japan into attacking the U.S. with eight distinct actions. The plan was formulated in October 7, 1940. The plan is listed below in the Addendum section. In fact Admiral Richardson was firmly against the Pacific fleet being stationed in Pearl Harbor. He even sent a letter enumerating the reasons against using this harbor. The main one not being listed was that the fleet was a sitting duck for attack. The reasons are listed below in the Addendum section. Prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, the vast majority of Americans were pro isolationists and were firmly against a repeat of WWI.

(Update 11/26/2021)

I have just come across more information that reinforces my decision for lowering is rating to a 2.5. In the last months of his life when he knew that his days were numbered he did little to prepare his new vice president for his new job. Was this spoiled grapes, because he did not want Truman to succeed and reap the rewards, or did he realize that he had mishandled Stalin in Yalta and had given him too much in the way of concessions. We may never know what his mindset was in his last remaining days. He never even informed him of the Manhattan Project which had been going on from early in the war. His failure to prepare Harry Truman was a gross dereliction of duty even in peace time, however in the time of war it was totally inexcusable and was criminal. If he himself was not able to do it, surely his closest advisers could have gotten him up to speed. If it was ego and pride that made him act this way, or if he had ill feelings against him, it shows how truly petty and small minded he had become, or always was. We know he sabotaged the remaining days of Herbert Hoover’s presidency to make himself look more like a savior of the country. So what else could we expect from such a man?

(Update 6/17/2022)

I just finished reading the book “If The Allies Had Fallen: Sixty Alternate Scenarios of World War II.” by Dennis E. Showalter & Harold C. Deutsch.

American fleet strength fell somewhat below the the benchmark of treaty limits in the 1920s, but what really retarded the prosecution of the war in 1942 and 1943 was Roosevelt’s failure in 1935 to realize that the naval disarmament system had collapsed and his insistence that, with a few exceptions, American naval shipbuilding conform to the 1936 Second London Treaty until as late as December 1939. The White House, not Congress, retarded naval rearmament under the New Deal. The 1934 Vinson Act stretched this out to 1946, and even the enormous 1940 Two Ocean Navy Act was not to be completed until 1948. As late as the spring of 1940, on the eve of the fall of France, Roosevelt slashed a Navy Department request for an increase of twenty-five percent in authorized fleet tonnage to eleven percent, although it was clear at the time that Congress would vote for the larger figure.

Roosevelt vacillated between negotiating further naval disarmament treaties and building up to treaty limits in the 1930s, with the result that the Navy in 1941 had no frontline battleships or post treat-class carriers afloat, a bare handful of modern, long-range maritime patrol planes, few fighter, bomber, or torpedo squadrons operating heavy, all-metal , single-engine monoplanes, and almost no modern austere escorts or ship-to-shore or shore-to-shore landing craft.This is just one more bit of information that I came across which shows that he was woefully out of his element as a president. The more I read about him the more like Biden he truly was and is. I won’t drop his rating any mor, mainly because I think 2.5 stars is the pits anyway.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

References

millercenter.org, “Franklin D. Roosevelt: Impact and Legacy,” By William E. Leuchtenburg; informa.com, “What Made Franklin D. Roosevelt a Great Leader,” By Informa Insights; American Betrayal: The Secret Assault on our Nation’s Character,” By Diana West; “The Roosevelt Myth,” By John T. Flynn; “Day of Deceit: The Truth about FDR and Pearl Harbor,” by Robert B. Stinnett;

Addendum

The FDR Plan to Push Japan into Attacking the U.S.

1. Make an arrangement with Britain for the use of British bases in the Pacific, particularly Singapore.
2. Make an arrangement with Holland for the use of base facilities and acquisition of supplies in the Dutch East Indies.
3. Give all possible aid to the Chinese government of Chiang Kai-shek.
4. Send a division of a long-range cruisers to the Orient, Philippines, or Singapore.
5. Send two divisions of submarines to the Orient.
6. Keep the main strength of the US Fleet, now in the Pacific, in the vicinity of the Hawaiian islands.
7. Insist that the Dutch refuse to grant Japanese demand for undue economic concessions, particularly oil.
8. Completely embargo all trade with Japan, in collaboration with a similar embargo imposed by the British Empire.

Richardson’s Five Objections for the fleet being based in Hawaii:

1. Lack of fundamental training facilities.
2. Lack of large-scale ammunition and fuel supplies.
3. Lack of support craft such as tugs and repair ships.
4. Morale problems of men kept away from their families.
5. Lack of overhaul facilities such as dry docking and machine shops.

Why FDR’s Rating keeps on Dropping

(Update 12/8/2022)

FHA

-FDR did not support mortgages for black people through Federal Housing Administration (FHA) “redlining” practices.

-One of the multiple programs a newly-elected Franklin D. Roosevelt established to stimulate the economy offered home-buying aid for Americans—but only white Americans. The Federal Housing Administration, operated through the New Deal’s National Housing Act of 1934, promoted homeownership by providing federal backing of loans—guaranteeing mortgages. But from its inception, the FHA limited assistance to prospective white buyers.

“The FHA had a manual which explicitly said that it was risky to make mortgage loans in predominantly Black areas,” explains Richard D. Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation who has written about housing segregation in the United States. “And so as a result, the federal subsidy for home ownership went almost entirely to white people.”

Restrictions in Loans Draw Lines Between Neighborhoods

The assistance program not only limited recipients to white Americans, it established and then reinforced housing segregation in the United States, effectively drawing lines between white and Black neighborhoods that would persist for generations.

For example, in 1940, the FHA denied insurance to a private builder in Detroit because he intended to construct a housing development near a predominantly Black neighborhood. The FHA only wanted to insure houses in white neighborhoods.

The builder responded by constructing a half-mile long, six-foot high concrete wall between the Black neighborhood and where he planned to build, recounts historian Richard Rothstein in The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America. Assured that this wall would keep the neighborhoods racially segregated, the FHA then agreed to insure the houses.

A ‘New Deal’—for White Americans

The FHA not only focused its assistance on prospective white home owners, its policies actively sought to insure mortgages in white neighborhoods that would remain white. 

“If a [Black] family could afford to buy into a white neighborhood without government help, the FHA would refuse to insure future mortgages even to whites in that neighborhood, because it was now threatened with integration,” Rothstein writes in The American Prospect.

Many housing deeds stated outright that a house could only be sold to white people, explaining this was in accordance with FHA requirements. William Levitt, who developed the Levittown suburban communities for returning World War II veterans, complied with the FHA by only selling to white veterans and creating deeds that prohibited them from reselling their homes to Black Americans.

FDR Snubbed Jessie Owens

Roosevelt. A month after the Olympic Games, Owens told a crowd, “Hitler didn’t snub me—it was [Roosevelt] who snubbed me. The president didn’t even send me a telegram.” Roosevelt never publicly acknowledged Owens’s triumphs—or the triumphs of any of the 18 African Americans who competed at the Berlin Olympics.

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