Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1945-04-19, Page 6Death of Roosevelt Ends Career Of Service Mr. Roosevelt shouldered burdens as heavy as any Chief Executive ever carried. While he stood up larder a job which had wrecked the health of many a predecessor, the years natur- ally left their: mark on him. The tradition -shattering. presiden Influenza, sinusitis and bronchitis tial career of Franklin Delano weakened him in the winter of 1943 - Roosevelt spanned jnlbulent' years 44 and rumors spread: about his of peace in which be worked to lift health, In April 1944, he bundled up the nation out of a depression and his old clothes and took a month off multuous years of war when he to convalesce in shirt sleeves on the played a dominant role in cheating Iangorous plantation coast of South an allied victory, Carolina, When he returned to Wa- While ,he gained the adulation of shington his physician said he was ,in millions, 'the unprecedented moves as good shape as any man of 62 he ` made and the political theories could hope to be and that his condi- he embraceor made him the frequent tion offered no bar to another four target for blistering• criticism. years in the White House. Accusations ranged from - "dema- Mr. Roosevelt accepted the fourth .goguery" to "dictatorship." The tern- nomination by radio from a public debt, jumped to a record naval base at San Diego, Calif. Im- peacetbne high, then to even greater mediately he boarded a cruiser for wartime peaks. Critics charged the his first wartime trip into the Pacific President with trying to "pack" the and consultations in Hawaii—where ,Supreme Court after that tribunal a sneak punch brought America into had thrown out several of his favor- the war on December 7, 1941—with ite projects and he sought to inject top commanders in the battle against new blood by reorganizing the mem Japan. bership. Some party stalwarts for- He long since had broken all Pres- sook him. idential travel records, and war did But he became the first president not deter him from pushing the • in history to be elected to a third mileage up around 300,000. term—and by a smashing majority Time after time, he or Mr. Chun —and then won the nomination for .chill dared the dangers of Atlantic a fourth. crossings for epochal conferences Mr. Roosevelt had attained a sub- . which shifted the Allies frons the de - gantlet international stature in the fensive to the offensive and changed years when he was concerned prim-IiI the course of combat around the arily with applying revolutionary re -1 world. medies to an economic blight rooted ' Standing out in sharp relief in the in World War I, ; light of events the next summer, And after the flames of a second were their meetings at Cairo and global conflict were kindled, he be- Teheran, Iran, at the close of 1943. came the pivotal statesman of more In a series of parleys, they talked ministration (AAA) was designed to than 30 United Nations which pool- with Premier Joseph Stalin of Rus- help farmers through crop control ed their might to smash a German- sia, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek measures. Laws were passed to in - Italian -Japanese Axis, of China and President Inonu of sure bank deposits and to provide Kings and queens, presidents and neutral Turkey. 1government aid for home owners prime ministers, traveled to the Italy had already been knocked facing mortgage foreclosures. White House to consult him. out of the war. So at Cairo and Teh- ; The Constitution was amended to The military strategy of nations ran, strategy was perfected for ob- , repeal national prohibition, Social. representing 75 per cent of the 'iterating the military power of Ger- security benefits were provided by earth's surface and 60 per cent, of many and Japan. I legislation. A wage -hour law was. its population—a strategy that sent It called for Gen- Dwight D. Eis- enacted for labor. A "good neighbor" American fighting men, American enhower, who had welded British policy was established for the west - war weapons, food and dollars to and American arms in the Mediterr- 1 ern hemisphere. combat the Axis—was mapped at anean into a mighty and victorious "Alphabet agencies" were created conferences in which he took a lead- force, to aniline command of inva- in profusion: such letter combine- ing part, cion forces poised in .Britain for a tions as NRA, RFC, AAA, CCC, He constantly shuffled and revised knockout blow at Germany from the TVA,. WPA, PWA, HOLC, FHA and a prodigious war production pro- west, many others became familiar house - gram, framed stupendous war bud- First, at a desert hotel in the sha- hold terms. gets to be met by taxes that hurt, dow of a great pyramid, the Ameii- proclaiming that there must be a "new deal" for the "forgotten man" Thus his administration got its name. Anil the New Deal label stuck even in later years when the Pres- ident wanted to substitite the slogan "Win the war;" When Mr. Roosevelt went into the Presidency at the age of 51, the United States had an estimated 12,- 000,000 persons unemployed,' prices were depressed to new low levels, foreign trade shrunken and the na- tional banking system extremely nervous as the result of widespread bank failures. One of his first acts was to pro- claim a national banking holiday that closed every financial deposit- ory in the country for ten days while readjustments were made. He summoned Congress into special session to implement by law a na- tional recovery program that shat- tered precedents. One hundred days. later virtually his every request had been granted and he held' powers never before entrusted to a Presid- ent in resid-ent'in peacetime. Many of the steps he took were disputed at thetime, and later, on" economic, social, moral and constitu- tional grounds. Some were success- fully contested in the courts, but others stood the test of time. The National Industrial Recovery Administration (NRA) was set up by Congress in response to the Pres- ident's request for machinery to ob- tain seller reemployment, shorten the working week, pay decent wages for the shorter week and prevent un- fair competition and overproduction, The Agricultural Adjustment Ad - and; also at home, fought an infla- TIII S. 1AFORTH NEWS THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 1945 -.. rYmm,n.,auw.v.,..,�,,:..»iw.u;.mi:_^•_ '- �..,�wwvxn.vas.,w,oar..eid..,...�w:u,,.—..._; The New Deal also represented bigger government budgets, larger deficits, heavier taxes and abandon- ment of the gold standard. In- the beginning there was a "brain trust" whose college professor members were credited with formulating many of the Rooseveltpolicies. There was swift acceptance by Congress of early reforms, then a gradual stifeniug against White House recomMeridations and an abortive "purge" in which the Chief Executive tried in 1938 to get the political scalps of legislators he con- sidered too conservative, He failed in all but one instance. A startling, unsuccessful Presi- dential attempt was made to reor- ganize the United States Supreme Court •so as to pump "new blood". into a .tribual which had ruled un- constitutional some of Mr, Roose- velt's pet measures including the NRA and AAA. This attempt split the party wide open. Opponents of the plan said it was an effort to "pack" the tribune' to' make it see the Chief Execu- tive's way. The third and fourth term bids brought from the opposition such cries as 'indispensable man," "one- man government," and "dictator- ship," But such terms were not new to Mr. Roosevelt.. He had heard mutterings and them loud roars of "dictatorship" when he proposed reorganizing the Supreme Court and the executive branch of the government. And he had heard charges of "warmongering" long before his second term- was up. His utterance and actions in the field of inter - natio' affairs evoked protests that he was compromising the nation. Acts Against Aggressors Unquestionably Mr. Roosevelt had caught a glimpse of war on the horizon. As early as 1937, in a "quarantine" of "aggressor na- tions." He repeatedly advised America to prepare for any emergency. He urged repeal of a "neutrality" law that banned shipment of arms to warring nations. He said opponents of this step were "gambling" that there would be no second world wah. Tn January, 1939, the President called for "measures short of tear" tion peril hardly less dangerous to the nation than its enemies at arms. Hedrew up with United Nations colleagues, as the war progressed, blueprints for peace—a peace de- signed to avoid the hasty mistakes of the Versailles treaty. International conferences on a. scale never before seen in history helped the President to formulate his war plans. Rising to a pinnacle of world attention with him in these cotinrils was Britain's sturdy Prime Minister, Winston' Churchill, His intimates =aid nothing less than the threat of war itself, could have prompted Mr. Roosevelt to stir un political turmoil in tremendous proportions by shattering- the 250- yeer-old two -term presidential tradi- tion begun by George Washington, and then running for a fourth term. Tn. 1910. the Chief Executive told the Desmcratie National Convention he was accepting renomination for a third term only because of a storm raring in Europe. He was reelected overwhelmingly over Wendell L. Winkle. the Republican candidate, Four years later, Mr, Roosevelt said his »reference was to retire to the family estate at Hyde Park, N.Y, where be was born January 30, 1882. He told Democratic leachers in a letter: "A11 that is within me cries out to go back to my home on the Hud- son River, to avaid public responsib- ilities, and to avoid also the publicity which in our democracy follows ev- ery step of the Nation's Chief Exe- cutive, "Such would, be my choice. But we of this generation chance to live in a day and hour when our Nation has been attacked and when its future existence and the future existence of our chosen method of government are at stake. To win this war wholeheartedly, unequivocally and as quickly as we , can is our task of the first import- ance. To win this war in such a way thattherebe no further world wars sia pounded hard on the eastern, in the foreseeable future is our se-' front and by fall Allied arms were cond objective. To provide occupa- on German soil. Victory in Europe tions, and to provide a decent sten- was in sight: dard of living for our men in the And in the Pacific, Allied forces armed forces after the war, and for won successes in Burma, flushed the all Americans, are the final object- Japanese from one island stronghold Ives, after another, dealt serious blows to' "Therefore, reluctantly, but as a the enemy's navy and sent bombers good soldier . . I will accept and :winging with increasing frequency se,rvie in this office, if I am so order- over the heart of Nippon. ed by the commander-in-chief of us War was far from Mr. Roosevelt's all --the sovereign people of the Un- thoughts on. that March 4, 1933, ited States." when he declared in his first ,inaug- His ],republican opponent was ural address that the only thing Am - Gov Thomas, E. Dewey of New York. erica need fear was "fear itself." A tremendous figure of a man, Of aristocratic lineage, a scion of despite legs left withered and use- wealth, he .came to power in the less by infantilet paralysis in 1921, midst of a strangling depression, to defeat aggressors. He declare in his third -teen- campaign the next year that America's objective was to fend off aggressors from the western hemisphere. To fathers and mother's he gave a solemn, re- peated assurance — which was hurled back at hint later that "your boys are not going to be sent into foreign wars." Europe went to war in Septem- ber, 1939, and Mr. Roosevelt watched the Axis rws roughshod over country after country, The President took realistic steps. `Arsenal of Democracy' He and his Congressional sup porters remodeled the Neutrality Ant .to allow "cash-and-carry" pir- shase of arms by belligerents— a step favoring the Allies, since Ger- many couldn't get through the Brit- 'sh blockade. After. the Nazi swarmed through Holland and Belgium in 1940, Mi•. 'Roosevelt set up a billion dollar nnrergency arms program and e Nationl Defence Advisory Commis- sion which evolved .later into the War Production Board, )3e laid down the principle that the preservation of Britain and the British navy were necessary to American safety, and in September 1940, traded fifty old destroyers to Britain for naval and air . base sites in the Western Atlantic, The next month, selective service be• came law; A new army was drafted, Naval and air programs were ac- celerated, industry put on a wartime basis, and America became the "arsenal of democracy." Japan's Treachery In March, 1941, the dollar sign' was wiped from munitions for the Alies in a multi -billion lend-lease few months after his third teras be- gan, the Chief Executive declared an "unlimited national emergency." The United States had watched uneasily the victorious sweep of Japanese arms thtrough the South- west Pacific and had attempted to check it by persuasion. But suddenly Japan, borrowing a technique of surprise and treach- ery from her Axis partners, struck Peal Harbor with planes and sub- marines on that fateful Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941—at the very moment when her emissaries in Washington deceitfully talked peace with Sec - 1 rotary of State Cordell Auld. The attack left many United States war- ships sunk or seriously damaged and caused more than 3,000 casual - ti es. asual-ties, It was day, Mx, Roosevelt de- clared.: "which will jive in ialfamy," The 'Survival War' President Roosevelt called World War, II the 'survival war." In his war message the day after the Pearl Harbor attack, he said Japan had struck a "dastardly" blow while stili at peace with this nation,and added, "'No matter how logo it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American peopple in their righteous might will win through to absolute. victory," Germany and Italy declared war on the United States the morning of Dec. 11, and Congress, at the Presi- dent's request, adopted a war 'reso- lutien the same day after the Chief Executive had said in a message: "The forces endeavoring to en- slave the entire world now are moving toward this hemisphere. Never before has there been a greater challenge to o life, liberty and civilization.. "Delay invites great danger. Rapid and united effort by all of. the peoples of the world who are de- termined to remain free will insure a world victory of the forces of justice and of righteousness over the forces of savagery and of barbar- ism" arbarism," Mr. Roosevelt's mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt, gray-haired and aristocratic, ',was present at three Presidential inaugurations. She died on Sept. 7, 1941. His wife, Anna Eleanor Roose- velt, the favorite niece of President Theodore Roosevelt, was a distant cousin. The Republican President gave the bride away when the young couple were married March 17. 1905. Five children were born to the union, one daughter, Anna Eleanor, who became Mrs. Curtis Dail and later Mrs. John Boettiger, and four sons, James, Elliott, Franklin, jr., and John. All the boys served as officers the armed services during World War II, James in the marines, Elliott in the Army, and Franklin and John in the Navy. can President, the British Prime T H E Minister and the Chinese Generaliss- imo agreed that Japan must be utter- ly defeated and her empire destroy- i ecl by stripping away ]ands acquired in decades of conquest. Military measures necessary to fulfill these ; aims were considered. The Generalissimo flew back to Chungking, Roosevelt and Churchill t1ew to Teheran, where the adjoin- inc Soviet and British embassies i formed a single compound surround- ed by grim Russian toomy-gunner guards. Stalin. who had left his country , for the first time since the revels tion, invited the American Presid- ent to stay at the Soviet embassy during his participation in perhaps the most significant of all United .Nations war talks. Fnus' days of deliberation produc- ed, Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin . said, a determination that "our na- tions shall work together in the war and in the peace that will follow," They added that they had concerted plans for the destruction of the Ger- man forces, and had reached com- plete agreement as to the scope and timing of operations from the east, , west and south. From Teheran, Stalin went back to Moscow, Roosevelt and Churchill to Cairo, to be joined by President Tnontt, Three days of conferences in Cairo brought forth another com- munique which reported that the closest unity existed between the Unitech States of America, Turkey and Great Britain in• their attitude toward the world situation, Enroute home, the President stop- ped at battle -scarred.: Tunis, Malta and Sicily. The Secret Service had to restrain him from looking in on fighting in Italy. By mid -1944 the full significance' of the Cairo -Teheran meetings had become apparent. In fulfillment of the commitments the invasion of France got under way from the west and south, Rus- tr® c ANADIAN W A Y 0 F LIFE "...where the heart is!" SITTING by the fireside at home— digging, in the garden for fun— lazy weekends just fishin'—these things mean comfortable, pleasant living, the kind of living your man overseas is dreaming of, fighting for. Make sure these simple, pleasant things exist for him when he comes back. Remember that it is possible for them to exist only if his dollar is worth a dollar! By protecting his dollar, we help to protect his future. That's why we must realize NOW the dangers that lie incareless,; unnecessary buying. Never buy two where one will do. Buy only what', we need. We must support rationing and price control and enco#'ragp .othersto support them, and we must;ai'oid ALL deal- ings with black "markets._ These are the rules. If we break them, we can be certain that we will start our country - his country — on the spiral of inflation. Prices shoot sky-high. Wages try to catch up, and never succeed. You may pay a dollar for 30 cents worth of goods, and this means your dollar— your soldier's . dollar — is worth only 30 cents. There's no limit to inflation, and there's no stopping it once it starts. So, let's make sure OUR boys will come back to a protected dollar — a dollar that will buy a full dollar's worth of goods. Let's keep up the fight ;against inflation, every day, in every way we can, so that our men overseas can look forward to pleas- ant, satisfying living,.:. the Cana- dian way of life. Published by W.1113 BRJIWING. INDUSTRY (ONTARI to reveal the dangers of inflation: e ;:. Make this Pledge Today! 1 pledge myself to do my part in fighting inflation: By observing rationing and avoiding black markets in any shape ne form. By respecting price controls and other anti-inflation measures, and re. fraining from careless and unneces- sary buying. T will not buy two where one will do, nor will I buy a "new" where an "old" will do. By buying. Victory Bonds and War Savings Stomps, supporting ttx- ation, and abiding by all such measures which will lower the cost of living and help keep prices ata normal level.