Captain Courageous: Franklin Delano Roosevelt

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When our children's children read the story of the 20th century, they will see that above all, it is the story of freedom's triumph: the victory of democracy over fascism and totalitarianism; of free enterprise over command economies; of tolerance over bigotry. And they will see that the embodiment of that triumph, the driving force behind it, was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

In the century's struggle for freedom, Roosevelt won two decisive victories: first over economic depression and then over fascism. Though he was surrounded by turmoil, he envisioned a world of lasting peace, and he devoted his life to building a new era of progress. Roosevelt's leadership steered not only America but also the world through the roughest seas of the century. And he did it with a combination of skilled statesmanship, innovative spirit and, as Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. put it, "a first-class temperament."

Even though Franklin Roosevelt was the architect of grand designs, he touched tens of millions of Americans in a very personal way. When I first worked on political campaigns in the 1960s, I could not help noticing the pictures of F.D.R. that graced the walls and mantels of so many of the homes I visited. To ordinary Americans, Roosevelt was always more than a great President, he was part of the family.

My own grandfather felt the same way. He came from a little town of about 50 people, had only a fourth-grade education and owned a small store. Still, he believed this President was a friend, a man who cared about him and his family's future. My grandfather was right about that. So were the millions of Americans who met President Roosevelt only through his radio fireside chats. Roosevelt earned his place in the homes and hearts of a whole generation, and we should all be proud that his picture now hangs in the people's house, the White House.

As a state legislator, Governor and President, Roosevelt pioneered the politics of inclusion. He built a broad, lasting, national coalition uniting different regions, different classes and different races. He identified with the aspirations of immigrants, farmers and factory workers--"the forgotten Americans," as he called them. He considered them citizens of America just as fully as he was.

Roosevelt knew in the marrow of his bones, from his own struggle with polio and his innate grasp of the American temper, that restoring optimism was the beginning of progress. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" was both the way he led his life and the way he led our nation.

No matter what the challenge, he believed that the facts were only one part of reality; the other part was how you react to them and change them for the better. In the depths of the Great Depression, the gravest economic threat the country ever faced, he lifted the nation to its feet and into action.