By Jim Heffernan
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about “Making America Great Again” and not just as a catchy slogan. More than 80 years ago, Franklin Roosevelt had a perfect plan. I believe the central tragedy of our time is that we have traded his views for a sorry sham of what makes us feel good.
I am convinced that the greatness America should strive for is not in abundant material comforts, but in the moral goals we set for ourselves. We seem to fall short of the goals with some consistency, but decade-by-decade, we progress.
I don’t believe anything quite expresses the full breadth of those goals quite as well as two of Franklin Roosevelt’s “State of the Union” speeches, one delivered in January of 1942* (more commonly known as his “Four Freedoms” speech) and the other delivered in January of 1944** (“Second Bill of Rights” speech.)
They were both long speeches, with about 4000 words and both lasted for 40 minutes or so, well beyond our present-day attention span. I’ve included links to the full transcripts of each speech, and I found reading them inspirational. Sadly, their central themes are largely forgotten today. I think it is past time to resurrect them and to re-dedicate ourselves to them.
The first speech came just a month after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The bulk of the speech is about burying our isolationist posture that caused us to reject the League of Nations and involvement with the outside world. Somehow, we thought the oceans would protect us.
The second speech came two years later as an allied victory in WWII seemed in sight.
We have made progress on his goals. Explicit “Jim Crow” laws are dead. Geezers like me have medicare. Indoor plumbing is almost universal. Discrimination based on sex and sexual orientation is largely frowned upon.
But I can’t escape the feeling that we’re back-sliding. Special privileges for the few seem to increase every year. I’m not sure where we went wrong, but I blame a large part on changes that seemed to accelerate from 1980 onwards. A “me first” attitude seemed to replace the “We’re all in this together” spirit of earlier generations. It didn’t help that it became chic to speak about government as “the problem”. A lot of us still talk about the things Franklin Roosevelt wanted for all the world, but it’s mostly empty talk. As time goes by, we seem to get farther and farther from the ideas expressed in the “Four Freedoms” and “The Second Bill of Rights”.
Here’s a couple of excerpts from his “Four Freedoms” speech.
“For there is nothing mysterious about the foundations of a healthy and strong democracy. The basic things expected by our people of their political and economic systems are simple. They are:
Equality of opportunity for youth and for others.
Jobs for those who can work.
Security for those who need it.
The ending of special privilege for the few.
The preservation of civil liberties for all.
The enjoyment of the fruits of scientific progress in a wider and constantly rising standard of living.”
And here’s the part about the four freedoms. Freedom from want seems to me the most threatened.
“We should bring more citizens under the coverage of old-age pensions and unemployment insurance.
We should widen the opportunities for adequate medical care.
We should plan a better system by which persons deserving or needing gainful employment may obtain it.
I have called for personal sacrifice. I am assured of the willingness of almost all Americans to respond to that call.
A part of the sacrifice means the payment of more money in taxes. In my Budget Message I shall recommend that a greater portion of this great defense program be paid for from taxation than we are paying today. No person should try, or be allowed, to get rich out of this program; and the principle of tax payments in accordance with ability to pay should be constantly before our eyes to guide our legislation.
If the Congress maintains these principles, the voters, putting patriotism ahead of pocketbooks, will give you their applause. In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.
The first is freedom of speech and expression — everywhere in the world.
The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way — everywhere in the world.
The third is freedom from want — which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants – everywhere in the world.
The fourth is freedom from fear — which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor — anywhere in the world.
That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called new order of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.”
Here’s the “Second Bill of Rights” as enumerated in 1944.
“In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all regardless of station, race, or creed.
Among these are:
•The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the Nation;
•The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;
•The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;
•The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;
•The right of every family to a decent home;
•The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;
•The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;
•The right to a good education.
All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.
America’s own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for our citizens. For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world.”
Roosevelt’s words were spoken a long time ago, but they still ring true. I think we need them now more than ever.
As always, I welcome discussion at codger817@gmail.com
* Link to four freedoms speech is here https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/president-franklin-roosevelts-annual-message-to-congress
** Link to second bill of rights speech is here https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Franklin_Delano_Roosevelt%27s_Eleventh_State_of_the_Union_Address