the door for bootleggers and organized crime to make millions from the distribution of liquor.
That was of little concern to Wheeler. The drunks and brutes whoâd scared him when he was young would not be able to scare anyone else.
â
3
Second Wave:
FDR, Wartime Progressive
The only thing we have to fear is fear itselfânameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.
âFRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT
Washington, D.C.
East Capitol Steps
March 4, 1933
It was a time for action. A time for vigor.
A time for mobilizing the power of the executive office in support of full-scale war.
The man in the morning coat and top hat sat rigid, his veins coursing with adrenaline, but his head never more clear. Heâand, more important, his nationâhad been waiting for this moment for decades. The reins of federal government had become dust-covered, untouched for far too long. They had to be grabbed and the slack wrung out on behalf of the people. And if a whip had to be takento the concentrated powers and the princes of property to give the forgotten man his fair shake, so be it.
A wry smile crossed his lips.
No longer would the weak use federal power for piddling projects in the face of crisis while labor lay dormant. No longer would the strong businessmen of the great trusts and their lapdog money changers be left to shape society to their selfish whims.
The ship of state was his for the steering toward a more social, equitable, and fair system. Planning was to be the operative word of the day, rather than wasteful, oligarchic, haphazard individualism. Could the politicians who surrounded him continue to just stand there, dazed and daunted, in the face of the rot of laissez-faire lunacy? No. The invisible hand was to be brought into the light of day.
There was nothing to fear but fear itself. And, he knew, there was no one better equipped to fill the vacuum of incompetency and inaction than himself, the newly elected president of the United States of America.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt put his enamel cigarette holder to his lips, struck a match, and took a long drag, thick smoke twirling in the cool air like so many of the dreams he was about to fulfill.
In that moment, he thought back to his days as a student at Groton and the much richer boys who never respected him. He thought of the last laugh he was sure to get over the bankers, lawyers, and industrialists who had doubted his cunning and intellect at Harvard and then at Columbia Law. They thought they were powerfulâjust watch.
He thought of his late cousin Teddy and how it was time to finally make good on the bold progressive vision and vigorous executive power he had championed. He thought about how Teddy had commanded the bully pulpit and breathed life into the American people. He thought about how through sheer personality and grit,he, too, could marshal the resources of the nation for more social ends, not to mention his own.
He thought of Woodrow Wilson, who had appointed him assistant secretary of the Navy, just as President William McKinley had done decades earlier for Teddy. He knew he could take Wilsonâs revolutionary but academic critique of America and mold it into something practical and concrete, something truly useful for the little man. He knew that heâd not merely been pandering months earlier at the 1932 Democratic Convention when he said, âLet us feel that in everything we do there still lives with us, if not the body, the great indomitable, unquenchable, progressive soul ofour Commander-in-Chief, Woodrow Wilson.â
He thought back to his days at Hyde Park and his responsibility now to command a much larger estate.
He thought about how he had been preparing for this day his whole life.
Taking in the sea of people one last time from his chair, Roosevelt collected himself, clutched the arm of his son James, and gathered all the strength he could muster to
That was of little concern to Wheeler. The drunks and brutes whoâd scared him when he was young would not be able to scare anyone else.
â
3
Second Wave:
FDR, Wartime Progressive
The only thing we have to fear is fear itselfânameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.
âFRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT
Washington, D.C.
East Capitol Steps
March 4, 1933
It was a time for action. A time for vigor.
A time for mobilizing the power of the executive office in support of full-scale war.
The man in the morning coat and top hat sat rigid, his veins coursing with adrenaline, but his head never more clear. Heâand, more important, his nationâhad been waiting for this moment for decades. The reins of federal government had become dust-covered, untouched for far too long. They had to be grabbed and the slack wrung out on behalf of the people. And if a whip had to be takento the concentrated powers and the princes of property to give the forgotten man his fair shake, so be it.
A wry smile crossed his lips.
No longer would the weak use federal power for piddling projects in the face of crisis while labor lay dormant. No longer would the strong businessmen of the great trusts and their lapdog money changers be left to shape society to their selfish whims.
The ship of state was his for the steering toward a more social, equitable, and fair system. Planning was to be the operative word of the day, rather than wasteful, oligarchic, haphazard individualism. Could the politicians who surrounded him continue to just stand there, dazed and daunted, in the face of the rot of laissez-faire lunacy? No. The invisible hand was to be brought into the light of day.
There was nothing to fear but fear itself. And, he knew, there was no one better equipped to fill the vacuum of incompetency and inaction than himself, the newly elected president of the United States of America.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt put his enamel cigarette holder to his lips, struck a match, and took a long drag, thick smoke twirling in the cool air like so many of the dreams he was about to fulfill.
In that moment, he thought back to his days as a student at Groton and the much richer boys who never respected him. He thought of the last laugh he was sure to get over the bankers, lawyers, and industrialists who had doubted his cunning and intellect at Harvard and then at Columbia Law. They thought they were powerfulâjust watch.
He thought of his late cousin Teddy and how it was time to finally make good on the bold progressive vision and vigorous executive power he had championed. He thought about how Teddy had commanded the bully pulpit and breathed life into the American people. He thought about how through sheer personality and grit,he, too, could marshal the resources of the nation for more social ends, not to mention his own.
He thought of Woodrow Wilson, who had appointed him assistant secretary of the Navy, just as President William McKinley had done decades earlier for Teddy. He knew he could take Wilsonâs revolutionary but academic critique of America and mold it into something practical and concrete, something truly useful for the little man. He knew that heâd not merely been pandering months earlier at the 1932 Democratic Convention when he said, âLet us feel that in everything we do there still lives with us, if not the body, the great indomitable, unquenchable, progressive soul ofour Commander-in-Chief, Woodrow Wilson.â
He thought back to his days at Hyde Park and his responsibility now to command a much larger estate.
He thought about how he had been preparing for this day his whole life.
Taking in the sea of people one last time from his chair, Roosevelt collected himself, clutched the arm of his son James, and gathered all the strength he could muster to
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