Franklin D. Roosevelt

The Republican Presidential Campaign Has Begun, With Trump Soon To Be Indicted, So Out Of The Running!

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Here we are in mid April 2022, seven months before the midterm Congressional and Gubernatorial elections in November, but the Republican Presidential campaign has begun.

It is now clear that Donald Trump will soon be indicted, and that will put him out of the running, and his crowds at rallies are getting smaller and smaller by every estimate.

So Donald Trump will NOT repeat what Grover Cleveland did in 1892, after losing the Presidency in 1888–that is, come back, and run and win the Presidency once again.

And one must realize that even when Grover Cleveland “lost” in 1888, he won the national popular vote, although losing the Electoral College.

So Cleveland actually won the popular vote three times, with only Franklin D. Roosevelt winning four times.

And let us not forget that Donald Trump lost the popular vote by massive margins in 2016 and 2020!

Donald Trump will not be the Republican nominee, but the problem is that there are younger, smarter, but even more dangerous “copycats”, who think behaving like Trump, and promoting extremist right wing policies, will be a winnable strategy.

So the fight for 2024 by Democrats and responsible anti Trump Republicans has begun!

April 12: Beginning Of Civil War (1861) And Death Of FDR (1945)–Two Key Moments In US History!

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Today, April 12, is one of the most influential days in American history!

It is the 161st anniversary of the outbreak of the Civil War at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, an event which still strongly affects American politics and society ever since, despite the loss of the Confederate States to the Union four years later on April 9, 1865.

It is also the 77th anniversary of the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the most significant President of the 20th century, and only surpassed in influence by George Washington in the 18th century and Abraham Lincoln in the 19th century.

The impact of FDR remains massive on American government and society, despite the desire of Republicans over the decades to wipe out the effects of the New Deal on America.

No other events match the Civil War and the New Deal in their impact on America long term!

America’s Relation With World Conflict Began On This Day In 1917, And Now Facing New World Conflict!

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On this day, April 6, 1917, 105 years ago, America left its isolationist heritage, and began its relation with world conflict, as Congress voted American entrance into World War I.

Woodrow Wilson had wished to keep America at peace, but war was forced upon him by the actions of Imperial Germany under Kaiser Wilhelm II.

After World War I, America went back into isolationism, but the rise of Nazism and Fascism forced America and its President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, into World War II in 1941, against Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan.

Isolationism would never fully revive again, as America entered the challenges of the Cold War against the Soviet Union from 1945-1991.

Once the Soviet Union collapsed, it was thought America was free of foreign conflict, but international terrorism woke us up in 2001.

And now, the Russian Federation and Vladimir Putin has begun waging war against Ukraine, including war crimes, massacre, and genocide.

It places the United Nations organization, the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and the United States as a world leader to have to consider going into what might become World War III, a horrifying thought.

But it seems clearly, to this blogger and author, that ultimately, Vladimir Putin will not stop at Ukraine, but will very likely attack NATO nations, including the Baltic States (Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania) and Poland at some point, and the US and NATO will need to respond to attacks on their allies.

Nuclear war is a possibility, horrendous thought, but in the end, a bully must be stopped, or he becomes a worst, more dangerous bully!

So it seems highly likely that Joe Biden will have to do what Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt did, take America into a world war!

Joe Biden Becomes A Wartime President

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Joe Biden has become a wartime President, alongside James Madison, James K. Polk, Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush.

At this point, he looks more like Lincoln, Wilson, FDR, Truman, and George H. W. Bush than the rest of the group.

If fortune goes against him, he might look more like Madison, who saw the nation divide during the War Of 1812 and the White House being burned; like Polk, who caused a split over slavery expansion during the Mexican War that helped to lead to the Civil War a decade later; like LBJ, who divided the nation over Vietnam just as he promoted the Great Society; like Nixon, who continued an unpopular war in Vietnam that ended up in a tragic loss; and like George W. Bush, who started two wars based on poor tactics and planning, and dominated by lies and deception in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Historic Nature Of March 4 In Presidential History

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March 4 is an historic date in Presidential history, as it was the Inauguration Day for every President through the first Inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933.

It also was the beginning of the government under the Constitution in 1789, as Congress met for the first time.

The inauguration date was changed late in 1933 by the 20th Amendment, and January 20 became the new Inauguration Day, starting in 1937.

Every Inauguration Day was the day for every President except George Washington at the first inauguration, which was delayed to April 30, 1789 by Washington’s delay in arriving to New York; and also the succession to the Presidency of John Tyler in 1841, Millard Fillmore in 1850, Andrew Johnson in 1865, Chester Alan Arthur in 1881, Theodore Roosevelt first term in 1901, and Calvin Coolidge first term in 1923.

The most historic March 4 inaugurations are considered to be Thomas Jefferson in 1801, Andrew Jackson in 1829, Abraham Lincoln both in 1861 and 1865, Woodrow Wilson in 1913, and Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, and Lincoln’s Second Inauguration and FDR’s First Inauguration are considered to have been the times of the two greatest Inaugural Addresses!

First Year In Oval Office Under Most Presidencies Problematical, And Joe Biden Better Than Many!

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One could argue that Joe Biden has accomplished a great deal in the first year, while often having disappointments and shortcomings.

Two major pieces of legislation were accomplished (The American Rescue Plan, and the Physical Infrastructure legislation), and the only reason why the Build Back Better bill and voting rights have failed to be accomplished is the opposition of two Democrats–Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema–and the reality of an equally divided Senate for only the third time in American history!

While inflation has become a major problem, the stock market dramatically rose, more jobs were created in the first year of a Presidency than any other administration, and the unemployment rate has dropped to a very low rate.

There are still the issues of the COVID 19 Pandemic, and the disaster of Afghanistan withdrawal, but the first issue was unpredictable as the worst health crisis in a century, and the second would have been the same result had Donald Trump stayed on as President, since he had made a deal with the Taliban without Afghanistan government involvement, to leave in May 2021, NOT as occurred in August 2021!

So some disappointing developments in the first year of a Presidency are not unique to the 46th President!

When one looks back at other Presidencies, it is actually quite common that the first year of a Presidency is a learning curve, and does not reflect on whether such Presidents will be, in the long run, successful, and also have the possibility of successful reelection.

The following Presidents had very successful first years—Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, George H. W. Bush!

Three Presidents had what could be described as mixed records in the first year in office–Dwight D. Eisenhower, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.

The following Presidencies in the 20th and 21st century were far from successes in their first year:

Harry Truman 1945
John F. Kennedy 1961
Richard Nixon 1969
Gerald Ford 1974-1975
Jimmy Carter 1977
Ronald Reagan 1981
Bill Clinton 1993
Donald Trump 2017

Among these eight Presidents, four—Truman, Nixon, Reagan, Clinton–won reelection.

So it is not time to say that Joe Biden will fail to succeed, as he already has in many respects, and it is not time to say he cannot win reelection fo a second term!

The AntiSemitism Of Donald Trump Stated Loud And Clear!

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AntiSemitism has sadly been part of American history, and we have had Presidents whose attitudes towards the Jewish people have been questioned.

Many question Franklin D. Roosevelt’s reaction to growing evidence of the Holocaust during World War II.

Harry Truman’s reaction toward Jews and Israel only developed due to his long friendship with Eddie Jacobson, and yet he could not visit Truman at his home in Independence, Missouri, due to the antiSemitism of Truman’s wife, First Lady Bess Truman.

Richard Nixon, while assisting Israel during the Yom Kippur War in 1973, expressed antiSemitic slurs on the Watergate Tapes.

Many Jews have questioned Jimmy Carter’s criticism of Israel, and accused him of being an antiSemite.

George H. W. Bush’s Secretary of State James Baker uttered criticism of Israel and of Jewish influence.

Many Jews have always believed that Barack Obama was unfavorable toward Israel’s government under Benjamin Netanyahu.

But none of these Presidents, not even Nixon, match the antiSemitism of Donald Trump, which many thought was well hidden, but now has come out full blown, beginning with his statement in 2017 that the Neo Nazis and white supremacists at Charlottesville, Virginia had some “good people” on their side.

Now, in an open interview, he is critical of Jews who have the gall to vote for Democrats and are not in lock step on Israel’s government policies, and condemned in foul language former Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu for congratulating Joe Biden on his election victory in 2020!

And yet, there are Orthodox Jews and a percentage of extremely wealthy Jews who continue to support Donald Trump, even to the extent of continuing to back the Fascism of Trump displayed on January 6, 2021, and to promote the “Big Lie”, that Trump won the Presidential Election of 2020! They are blind to the evil that Donald Trump represents, and are a danger to the concept that Jews believe in social justice and compassion for those less fortunate!

Those Jews who continue to support Donald Trump even now should be roundly condemned and ostracized, and only are accelerating antiSemitism nationwide and worldwide!

Eighty Years Since “The Day Of Infamy”–Pearl Harbor Attack In 1941!

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Today, December 7, marks 80 years since “The Day of Infamy”, the attack by Imperial Japan on the US Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, which ushered America into World War II, and the beginning of world leadership for the United States!

There are only a small percentage of veterans who were in Hawaii at that time still alive, and overall, a small percentage of Americans in the military eighty years ago who are still alive, as one would have to be, at the minimum, 98 years of age or older today!

Pearl Harbor remains one of the three worst moments of threat to American national security, joined much later by the Al Qaeda attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, and then by the Donald Trump incited mob attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021!

In the long run, the January 6 attack will be seen as the greatest threat ever, as it was domestic terrorism, NOT foreign terrorism, and Japan and Al Qaeda did not, in the long run, remain a “clear and present danger” as domestic terrorism remains such for the future of American democracy!

And only January 6 represented a President conspiring against his own nation, unlike Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941 and George W. Bush in 2001!

A Year After Joe Biden Election, Major Economic Advancements In Midst Of COVID 19 Pandemic!

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A year since Joe Biden was elected President, the nation has seen major economic advancements in the midst of the COVID 19 Pandemic.

We have seen 5.6 million jobs created, the greatest of any President in nine months in office.

We have seen 531,000 jobs created in October alone.

We have a 4.6 percent unemployment rate, similar to what Barack Obama left the nation when he finished his Presidency in January 2017.

The Stock Market is at an all time high as I write this!

We have seen major Pandemic relief legislation, and now a massive Physical Infrastructure bill ready to be signed by Joe Biden.

The Social Infrastructure legislation is making progress, at a lower rate than originally planned, but still in the range of $1.75 trillion.

We are seeing greater progress than was possible by Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and even Barack Obama in their first year.

Joe Biden is on the way to being the most successful domestic President since Lyndon B. Johnson and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

This is the time to promote and publicize the great advancements, and make the case for the Democrats to have expanded majorities in both houses of Congress in 2022 and beyond.

Theodore Roosevelt 163rd Anniversary Of His Birth At Time Of Destruction Of His Reform Efforts

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Theodore Roosevelt, the second greatest Republican President (after Abraham Lincoln), born on this day in 1858, represented progressive reform, the use of the federal government to promote and monitor political and economic reform.

He saw the danger of unbridled capitalism, and the need to recognize labor rights.

He saw the need for political reforms, bringing government closer to its citizens, through the utilization of direct primaries, initiatives, referendums, the recall method, women’s suffrage, and proposals to modify the powers of the Supreme Court and the life term of its membership.

He wanted limits on outside groups spending on political campaigns, which he saw as undermining American democracy.

He was the heroic promoter of the environment, regarded as the greatest President on conservation of natural resources, and the promotion of the expansion of national parks and monuments.

He was the first President to suggest the need for a national health care program, and so much of his agenda on social and economic reform came about with the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Great Society of Lyndon B. Johnson, and now, Joe Biden wishes to extend what TR first promoted more than a century ago!

His 1912 Progressive (Bull Moose) Party had a platform that makes it seem more like 2012, and he still represents the Republican Party at its best since the time of Abraham Lincoln, and particularly as compared to now. The Republicans have become a Fascist authoritarian party that is undermining American democracy, and working to limit the right to vote despite the various constitutional amendments (15, 19, 23, 24, 26) to insure that right, along with the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

TR was certainly imperfect, as he promoted white supremacy typical of his time, and was imperialistic in his treatment of Latin America, as well as his promotion of an expansion of the military, but it is clear he would repudiate the Republican Party of the 2020s.

And notice how the Republican Party glorifies Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump, NOT Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt!