benganter

I know many democrats hold the idea that FDR was a great president but history is telling a different story. I am currently working on my masters degree in History and my class is currently discussing the FDR presidency, I must admit that before I was unaware of all the huge mistakes some accidental and some really stupid, that the FDR administration made. History leaves no doubt that because of FDR's bad judgment and bad leadership cost America and Europe hundreds of thousands of lives. The evidence is undisputable! I have a very liberal professor and she has the same conclusion. It has been only recently that historians have been able to see the full scope of his leadership and how it cost the world dearly. Does anyone else have a perspective on this topic?

shuamort

Sounds interesting, care to share some of the president's downfalls?

benganter

biggest downfall he and the democratically controled congress made was to pass Neutrality Acts that stoped american goods for help in the war effort to be sold to warring countries. That would have helped bring us out of our depression by putting americans back to work in factories and would have helped France and Germany to defeat Hitler early in the war instead of waiting til he had built his war machine. FDR also much like Clinton, cut spending on our military to start social programs that never worked.

Contrarian

So you're saying that FDR blundered his way into the war? That he had an agenda in injecting us into the war, such as glory seeking? I need to hear more about the mistakes made by the President who ineptly pulled this country out of the Great Depression, led the greatest mobilization of American industry in our history and fought the equivalent of two super-powers while managing to have cocktail hour every day? Are you actually saying that he purposely killed American and allied soldiers for his own ego?

Where are you going to school?

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RightinNYC

While I'm not going to claim that ben is right about FDR, there are a few things to point out: FDR had absolutely no effect on the end of the Great Depression, and his policies served to extend it.

And while his handling of the war could have been done better, I don't think second guessing any president who was simply acting on the best knowledge available is very fair.

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ShamMol

this thread is lamer than fdr's legs...oops...too soon?

gotta love family guy and i never will have the opportunity to say that again, so do beg forgiveness.

Contrarian

You need to enlighten me on how his programs had "no effect" on reversing one of the great debacles of President Do Nothing Hoover? How taking drastic measures to reverse bread lines and Americans starving to death had "no effect" and how these policies "extended" the depression?

Do you think that Bush style tax cuts would have stimulated the country out of the death spiral? No, because you have to have an income, before you pay taxes therefore a tax cut would have done nothing. What great GOP program (lets forget Hoover) would have worked to overcome an event that could have been as devastating as a civil war?

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Squawker

Could we please not turn this into another Bush bashing thread. I am interested in hearing what Benganter has to say about FDR. The question that remains a mystery today is whether he knew of the attack prior to Pearl Harbor.

Welcome to the forum Ben.

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benganter

First of all you need to do some research on the great depression, FDR did not get us out of the depression, in fact there is evidence to prove his policies only worsened the situation. The manufacturing of products to support the war got us out of the depression, in which FDR and the congress at the time tried very to keep us out of with the neutrality acts. When Hitler started his approach toward France with 400,000 troops he told his comanding officers that if they come under attack or any aggression they are to turn around immediatly. But because France didn't act and FDR refused to help inforce the treaty of Versailles preventing Germany from rebuilding an army Hitler went unchecked and basically was given free reign to rebuild his military that later proved to be fatal. I am not trying to second guess FDR and his administration I am mearly pointing out that it is important for countries to inforce rules placed against agressive countries to prevent future problems. FDR and the isolationist views of the time were wrong then and there are wrong now when it comes to involvement in middle east affairs. Those how choose to ignore history are doomed to repeat it! The Neutrality Acts also had a major economic impact that caused a lengthing of the depression and ultimatly denied the allied powers the resources needed to effectively defeat Hitler in the early years of the war. Those two main points are enough to prove my point that FDR made major leadership mistakes in the lead up to the 2nd world war. Public opinion at the time was to keep out of the war but you have to keep in mind that it is the job of our leaders to make decissions on our behalf regardless of popularity. News traveled slow in those days and the general public was not armed with the appropriate information but FDR and his administration was.

benganter

There is little evidence to prove he had prior knowledge of the attack on Pearl Harbor, but he was aware that Japan planned to attack us somewhere in the Pacific. The reason he knew that Japan had those plans is because Japan had no oil resourses of ther own and the only place to get it was the Dutch Indies and to get to it they would have to pass through American forces to get it. The only thing Japan could do to make sure the shipments would make it through was to control trade in the pacific ocean. Luckily Japan missed sinking our air craft carriers, if that would have happened Japan would have surely been unstoppable!