If you’re following House of Cards, you know that Frank Underwood spent some time this season at the FDR Memorial in Washington. I’m embarrassed to admit I didn’t know there was an FDR Memorial. Reading up on it, I realized that he had a lot to say for our times. Here are five quotes for your consideration:
“In these days of difficulty, we Americans everywhere must and shall choose the path of social justice…the path of faith, the path of hope, and the path of love toward our fellow man.”
October 2, 1932
“Men and nature must work hand in hand. The throwing out of balance of the resources of nature throws out of balance also the lives of men.”
January 24, 1935
“I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.” “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”
January 20, 1937
“We must scrupulously guard the civil rights and civil liberties of all our citizens, whatever their background. We must remember that any oppression, any injustice, any hatred, is a wedge designed to attack our civilization.”
January 9, 1940
“We have faith that future generations will know here, in the middle of the twentieth century, there came a time when men of good will found a way to unite, and produce, and fight to destroy the forces of ignorance, and intolerance, and slavery, and war.”
February 12, 1943
I didn’t know my father well – he died when I was 7 – but I’ve been told he was a strong Republican and not a fan of FDR. During the short time I knew my dad, I loved him dearly, and I have great memories of him. We probably would have ended up disagreeing about FDR, however. He strikes me as a thoroughly decent, strong leader who had his priorities in order. What do you think?
