Date: 1982-01-28
Speaker: ROBERT C. BYRD (democrat)
Chamber: S

Mr. President. Saturday. January 30. marks the 100th birthday of our 32d PresidentFranklin Delano Roosevelt. It is particularly appropriate that. at a time of growing economic difficulties in this country. we step back and reflect honestly upon the legacy of F. D. R. For this purpose. I would like to quote from a columnist who has impeccable conservative credentials. and from a moderate political publication. Writing in the February 1. 1982. edition of Newsweek. columnist George Will had to say this about F. D. R.: By a New Deal" he meant. he said a new "concept" of governments duty. Hitherto government had acknowledged only a duty to produce "conditions" in which people could pursue happiness. Henceforth. "government has the final responsibility for the wellbeing of its citizenship." Government would be an agency for delivering a measure of happiness. defined as material wellbeing. Social Security exemplifies how F. D. R. did what only great leaders do: he changed the citizens sense of what citizenship entails. Social Security expresses the bonding of the generations and the nations commitment to an ethic of common pr ovision. ... Mr. Will concluded his incisive article by stating: On balance F. D. R. still casts a splendid shadow forward across the years. Radiating an infectious zest. he did the most important thing a President can do: he gave the nation a hopeful. and hence creative. stance toward the future. To a crippling extent. American conservatism still is. strictly speaking. reactionary: It defined itself in reaction to the New Deal. It remains ambivalent about something the nation is emphatic aboutF. D. R.s irrevocable redefinition of the relationship of the citizen to the central government. The editors -of The New Republic magazine had this to say in their January 21. 1982. tribute to F. D. R.: In 1932 the United States was bankrupt in every way.. . .When F. D. R. died. on April 12. 1945. the Allies were on the verge of victory over Hitler. and the United States was indisputably the most powerful nation in history. At the root of that victory was something deeper than military strength. The country had transformed itself. under President Roosevelts leadership. into a working and workable democratic society. with the means and the will to provide its oitizens with F decent life. Did the New Deal leach to the heart of the existing system? Perhaps not. But before 1932. the systems didnt have a heart. F. D. R. gave it one. In 1932. there was almost total despair in our Nation. From 1929. the year of the great stock market crash. through 1932. national income had plunged by more than half. from $87.4 billion to $41.7 billion. By 1932. unemployment had soared to 12 million. or onequarter of our national work force. At that time Fortune magazine. estimated that 27.5 million Americans had no regular income at all. There were many who questioned whether or not democracy could survive at all. But F. D. R. gave us hope and action. Again. the editors of The New Republic reflecting upon the times: Writing in The New Republic on July 22. 1940. Hamilton Basso. with startling prescience. caught the essence of Roosevelts contribution as well as anyone ever has. before or since. F. D. R.s place in history is secure. he wrote. ". . . He emerges out of the fog of a stormy time. as one of the great spokesmen of democracygiving new articulation to those old and simple ideas which. if democracy is to survive. must truly be weapons. "le came to the Presidency in a black moment of a black. black time. Democracy. as a form of government. was being laughed at and derided. Many of the intellectuals now loving it so noisily were . . . writling of America as a jungle. America as a wasteland. America as washedup . . . "It was then. in 1933 that Franklin D. Roosevelt began to carry the country forward to the modern stage of democratic realizationto the point. that is. where the immediate and direct interest of the government in tihe welfare of all lts citizens is also recognized as a democratic principle." And as the editors noted: That principle. it need hardly be ndded. is precisely what is under attack on the hundredth anniversary of Roosevelts birth. Mr. President. the editors of The New Republic and George Will weave a common thread in their analysis of the Roosevelt legacy. First. is the role of government in its relationship to the citizens of this countryall our citizens. Second. is the reminder of how fragile is democracy. F. D. R. salvaged both the "forgotten man" and our system of government. The debate in the Nations capitol. today and in the ensuing months. should not be a debate over whether or not the Federal Government has a role in attempting to deliver. as George Will so eloquently stated. " . a measure of happiness. defined as material wellbeing" to all our citizens. That is. in paraphrasing our Founding Fathers. a selfevident truth. No. the debate which will be carried forward by the Democratsthe heirs of F. D. R.-will focus on the magnitude and nature of this role. Perhaps. over the years we have erred in expecting government to be all things to all people. But we have erred on the side of the peopleall the people bf this Nation. Yes. it is a time for reevaluation. Yes. it is time for bold. new ideas and action. But. it is also a time to assess honestly the true nature of our society and our system of government. F. D. R. led us Into the modern age of democracy at a time when democracy was threatened by the dark forces of depression and chaos. He realized. more than most political figures of his era. that if a substantial number of our citizens do not have a stake in the political and economic life of our Nation. that democracy itself was inperiled. And he was so committed to our Constitution. so committed to our democratic system of government. that he was not about to allow that to happen. America is truly a remarkable experiment in government. We have found our greatest resource to be our people. And we have found our strength to be in the unity of our people. It took us decades to develop a sense of national identity. a sense of national purpose. We must never retreat from this national heritage. We must not succumb to the notion that class should be pitted against class in this country. that region should be pitted against region in this country. that State should be pitted against State in this Nation. Our greatest strength Is in unity and indivisibility. I would like to conclude my remarks by once again quoting from the editors of The New Republic: The next great wave of political and social reform In this country. we hope. will understand the value of human capital. not just the kind that buys machines. it will explore the possibilities of democracy in the workplace. not just in the electoral arena. it will look for ways to limit bureaucracies. not just protect them. it will use equity as a spur to productivity. not just as a tool of distributive justice. Roosevelts America was open and unfinished. so is ours. More important than any particular scheme. more Important even than any particular goal. will be the largeness of the democratic spirit that was Franklin D. Roosevelts distinctive and effortless gift. Mr. President. the challenge is before us. And I hope that men of good will on both sides of the aisle in the Senate will accept this charge and ask not if the Government has a role in meeting the aspirations of all our people. but how that role can be carried out most effectively.