Franklin Delano Roosevelt Was Our President - Not Our Fuehrer
STOUT, JONATHAN
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Was Our President — Not Our Fuehrer By JONATHAN STOUT WASHINGTON, D. C>-In an »r« tar which .11 over the world the opposing epiriU of democ. racy and totalitarianism are...
...And I remember addressing as a spokesman for the liberal democrats a liberal conference of representatives of many left-wing and left-of-renter groups in the Judson Memorial Church in New York's Washington Square...
...The death of Lenia alaaaat 2t years ago saggeata what must perforce happen in any dictatorship...
...In the bloody lexicon of his totali-trianism there is no room for a tolerant difference on principle with anybody...
...Ten days have gone by...
...One wondered how any nation could survive upon such a foundation...
...But perspective is beginning ta return, and out of the utter confusion comes one thing that impresses me—the virility of democracy under such a strain as it hat never felt before...
...And what happened...
...The aense of historic tragedy •till brooda over all of us...
...But for me the death of President Roosevelt cannot be impersonal...
...There were stories, charges and counter-charges of traitors within and traitors without...
...tatarsaip...
...And I remember how the Communists at that conference attempted to break it op by loud boos and catcalls at every mention of the name of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and how, failing in these tactics, they marched out In a body with a loud eacaphony ta drown me out And I remember similar events In 1936 whan Browder and his cabal fought President Roosevelt...
...The Vice-President quietly •topped into his place, unostentatiously picked up the and carried on...
...But even when Stalin won, that was not the end of it...
...0n* *onder« what would have happened in Germany 10 <«*y» ago if Hitler had died Instead...
...There was sadness...
...I was personally convinced that Roosevelt was bringing a New ' Deal for the common people of America, and I worked hard for him, as I did in 1936, as I did in 1940, and in 1944...
...Earl Browder, the eminent reactionary, in a recent pamphlet has been stupid enough to suggest that my differences on principle with our late President proved that I am anti-Roosevelt...
...I TRY to keep my reports from Washington on an impersonal and objective level...
...You won't understand this, Mr...
...Browder, are democrats . . . and so you cannot understand that Wa could disagree with Roosevelt and yet admire and respect him...
...The Russian dictatorship itself tottered and trembled and almost fell apart...
...Then came 1941 . , Hitler was no longer Stalin's ally . , . . Russia needed American lend-lease . , .and Browder and his Johnny-come-latelies developed a sudden admiration for America's great President...
...Among some of the more •"regenerate Roosevelt haters there was surreptitious Jay...
...Madera history provides only one elae ta the aqaWbto aa»we% m the caaa af a ta4aHtosr1aa di...
...Probably not one voter in a million last November voted either for or against the Vice-Presidential candidate...
...And that Is why we bow our heads sadly at his passing...
...But the plain, unvarnished fact Is that there never has been a time when I agreed with Roosevelt, point for point...
...there anyone who challenged his place in the •••cession...
...has W« indelible imprint on our history as one of our freatest Presidents fell in the midst of battle...
...Then came the campaign days of 1932...
...on that tragic evening 10 days ago when Presi-¦to* Truman sadly took the oath of office—was there ¦•Tone who questioned his right to take that oath...
...It was long before there was any public whisper that New York's Governor might make a good President...
...And that goes for millions of Americana...
...I keep wondering how run the minds of the 49,000,000 Italians who lived over 20 years under the dictatorship •f Fascism, the 60,000,000 Germans who lived 12 yeara Mder the dictatorship of Nasism, the 180,000,000 Mseaiaas who for 27 years have been living under the dictatorship of Communism...
...Ten days ago that crisis came...
...The man who...
...Browdar...
...I find it within my ken to be understanding of Browder's stupidity...
...Browder, to understand this, but . . . Roosevelt was our President . . . not our Fuehrer...
...There was shock...
...Ha had been a compromise candi-'¦to...
...Thauasnds upon thousands lest their lives because fate had snuff ad out the life of Lenin...
...I remember the many pleasant week-ends I spent with him in the preparation of bis biography, tba first published in book form...
...The first numbing shock of the newa is lessening...
...There was tragedy...
...And, of course, that *•» natural...
...The struggle for power continued until Stalin had eliminated all opponents...
...On the main current of liberal progress I supported Roosevelt...
...My memory goes back to the days when Roosevelt was Governor of the State of New York, ft was 1980 when I began working on a biography of him...
...I keep remembering that these millions have been brought up to believe that "bourgeois democracy is decadent" and awaita only •MM crisis to crumble before our eyes...
...The Russian people themselves went through a period ef such pain and suffering as to evoke great sympathy for their travail...
...The world was treated to extraordinary explanations...
...racy and totalitarianism are locked like huge pants in a death grapple for survival, it seemi to ma important to suggest that with hit death President Koosevelt gave living proof of the inner vitality, the strength and sanity of democracy in a mad world...
...And there ware many millions who still resented the fact that Truman had replaced Henry Wallace...
...I remember the tolerance of Roosevelt and the rest of us when the Communists picketed the White House as long as Hitler and Stalin remained allies...
...For more than It yeara following the settleaaent of the issue there were bloody purges, assassinations, killings, murders, poiesaiags aad bloodahed on a horrifying scale aach as the world has never seen before...
...We Americans, Mr...
...My criticisms were on the details and the modut optrandi...
...A struggle ensued between Stalin and Troatky for the succession...
...You are too far gone In your moral corruption, Mr...
...I feel that a great man has died...
...Towards the new President there was almost a "•getive reaction in comparison with the reaction towards the fallen President...
...And I remember 1940, when Browdar, that eminent patriot, cursed and reviled our President as a "warmonger" because he was laboring to arm democracy against Armageddon...
...And I feel this despite the fact that in the past three years' I have frequently been pained by our late Presidents shelving of the New Deal, and have as frequently been forthrightly critical of aome of his recent policies as a consequence...
...It cans out long before ha was even nominated...
Vol. 28 • April 1945 • No. 16
