Showing posts with label Franklin D. Roosevelt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Franklin D. Roosevelt. Show all posts
Politics: A New Deal, a Fair Deal, a Great Society... or business as usual?
In this state-of-the-union address from January 4, 1965, Lyndon Johnson outlines his vision for a Great Society, following in the tradition of the New Deal and the Fair Deal. Perhaps President Obama will be moved to give it a listen as he prepares for his own speech to the nation next week.
You can also watch the speech and read the entire transcript at UVA's Miller Center of Public Affairs.
Johnson said:
See, also: President Franklin Roosevelt's call for economic justice during his 1944 state of the union address: Economic Bill of Rights proposed by Franklin Roosevelt
You can also watch the speech and read the entire transcript at UVA's Miller Center of Public Affairs.
Johnson said:
...We built this nation to serve its people.As president, Johnson envisioned and tried to accomplish a society that would provide equal opportunity to all Americans, that would seek to improve the quality of life for all. In the end, his Great Society was a remarkable achievement. Without such legislation as Head Start, higher-education loans and scholarships, Medicare, Medicaid, clear air and clean water programs, and civil rights, life would be even nastier, more brutish, and shorter for millions of Americans than it now is, even after 40 years of retrenchment.
We want to grow and build and create, but we want progress to be the servant and not the master of man.
We do not intend to live in the midst of abundance, isolated from neighbors and nature, confined by blighted cities and bleak suburbs, stunted by a poverty of learning and an emptiness of leisure.
The Great Society asks not how much, but how good; not only how to create wealth but how to use it; not only how fast we are going, but where we are headed.
It proposes as the first test for a nation: the quality of its people.
This kind of society will not flower spontaneously from swelling riches and surging power.
It will not be the gift of government or the creation of Presidents. It will require of every American, for many generations, both faith in the destination and the fortitude to make the journey.
And like freedom itself, it will always be challenge and not fulfillment. And tonight we accept that challenge.
I propose that we begin a program in education to ensure every American child the fullest development of his mind and skills.
I propose that we begin a massive attack on crippling and killing diseases.
I propose that we launch a national effort to make the American city a better and a more stimulating place to live.
I propose that we increase the beauty of America and end the poisoning of our rivers and the air that we breathe.
I propose that we carry out a new program to develop regions of our country that are now suffering from distress and depression.
I propose that we make new efforts to control and prevent crime and delinquency.
I propose that we eliminate every remaining obstacle to the right and the opportunity to vote.
I propose that we honor and support the achievements of thought and the creations of art...
See, also: President Franklin Roosevelt's call for economic justice during his 1944 state of the union address: Economic Bill of Rights proposed by Franklin Roosevelt
Economic Bill of Rights
proposed by Franklin Roosevelt
In his State of the Union message to Congress on January 11, 1944, at a time when we were a much smaller country in terms of population and economic strength and were in the middle of fighting a world war, President Franklin D. Roosevelt called for an “Economic Bill of Rights.” 
It is difficult to imagine a "serious" Democratic leader (i.e., not a Kucinich or a Sharpton) making such a policy address today:
"It is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and determine the strategy for the winning of a lasting peace and the establishment of an American standard of living higher than ever before known. We cannot be content, no matter how high that general standard of living may be, if some fraction of our people -- whether it be one-third or one-fifth or one-tenth -- is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure.
"This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under the protection of certain inalienable political rights -- among them the right of free speech, free press, free worship, trial by jury, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. They were our rights to life and liberty.
"As our nation has grown in size and stature, however -- as our industrial economy expanded -- these political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.
"We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. 'Necessitous men are not free men.' People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.
"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."
Source: The Public Papers & Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt (Samuel Rosenman, ed.), Vol XIII (NY: Harper, 1950),
12 How. 152: “Necessitous men,” says the Lord Chancellor, in Vernon v Bethell, 2 Eden 113 (1762), “are not, truly speaking, free men; but, to answer a present emergency, will submit to any terms that the crafty may impose on them.”
I am grateful to Gary Gordon of The Fictional Times for drawing attention to this document. 40-42.
See, also: “One Third of a Nation”: FDR’s Second Inaugural Address
It is difficult to imagine a "serious" Democratic leader (i.e., not a Kucinich or a Sharpton) making such a policy address today:"It is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and determine the strategy for the winning of a lasting peace and the establishment of an American standard of living higher than ever before known. We cannot be content, no matter how high that general standard of living may be, if some fraction of our people -- whether it be one-third or one-fifth or one-tenth -- is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure.
"This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under the protection of certain inalienable political rights -- among them the right of free speech, free press, free worship, trial by jury, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. They were our rights to life and liberty.
"As our nation has grown in size and stature, however -- as our industrial economy expanded -- these political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.
"We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. 'Necessitous men are not free men.' People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.
"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."
Source: The Public Papers & Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt (Samuel Rosenman, ed.), Vol XIII (NY: Harper, 1950),
12 How. 152: “Necessitous men,” says the Lord Chancellor, in Vernon v Bethell, 2 Eden 113 (1762), “are not, truly speaking, free men; but, to answer a present emergency, will submit to any terms that the crafty may impose on them.”
I am grateful to Gary Gordon of The Fictional Times for drawing attention to this document. 40-42.
See, also: “One Third of a Nation”: FDR’s Second Inaugural Address
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