Time to review FDR’s economic bill of rights

Carlton E. Spitzer

     Even as war continued to rage in Europe and the Pacific in 1944, our 32^nd president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, set forth an Economic Bill of Rights  to guide post-war reconstruction at home and throughout a shattered world.

     His State of the Union message focused on rebuilding cities and the peaceful interdependence of nations.  We cannot be content, he said, if even one-tenth of mankind is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure.  He hoped for an enduring peace monitored by the United Nations.

      FDR did not live to see the end of the war in Europe, although he knew it was near and had met with Britain’s Winston Churchill and Russia’s Joseph Stalin early in 1945 at Yalta to negotiate post-war arrangements, albeit not to his satisfaction.  Use of the atomic bomb, which would end the war with Japan the following August, was authorized by his successor, Harry Truman, who had not known of its existence before he entered the Oval Office after FDR’s death at Warm Springs that April. 

       As assistant secretary of the navy in World War I, FDR admired  Woodrow Wilson’s League of Nations and was deeply disappointed the United States failed to support it.  He saw development of the United Nations following World War II as a means of implementing his second Bill of Rights throughout the world. 

        Today America is winding down two wars fought concurrently for dubious justifications and constantly changing objectives.  As America  reduces its military spending, our leaders should review FDR’s message and concentrate on helping people who’ve been dominated by dictators the U.S. supported to maintain the flow of oil.   Those people now risk their lives seeking freedom.

         Although it’s doubtful that the present Congress, at war with itself, can unify behind a common set of principles, voters must insist that their representatives put nation before politics and principles before campaign rhetoric.  That is the standard the electorate has a right to expect.   

        Elected 80 years ago in the midst of a devastating depression, FDR stabilized banking and gave hope to a desperate nation by telling citizens they had nothing to fear but fear itself.  He had learned that lesson personally, having lost use of his legs to polio at age 39.

        The world has changed, in great measure because of misguided military adventures.  But it is not too late for today’s leaders to put nation first, seek enduring peace, cut unnecessary spending with no sacred cows, and look forward as FDR did, reaffirming principles that made our nation great and inspired the world.

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Sharing responsibility for error would help

Carlton E. Spitzer

     It would help restore our nation’s credibility and strengthen peaceful negotiations if our leaders acknowledged past error and shared responsibility for current disharmony throughout the world.  No groveling, and no apology.  Just an objective review of the facts.

     Vietnam  Iraq and Afghanistan should have taught indelible lessons.  Yet there are those in power today who approach Iran with military threat rather than a grasp of history and a determination to resolve issues peacefully.

      In 1953, the Eisenhower administration, for strategic reasons it thought justified, engineered a coup that overthrew Iran’s popular prime minister, Mohammed Massadegh, and replaced him with a man more attuned to U.S. interests, the Shaw of Iran.  While the Shaw strengthened Iran’s economy during the next 25 years, the coup that put him in power was a major set back to Iran’s political development, and the Shaw was widely hated for repressing dissent.  As one might expect, millions of Iranians have not forgotten.  And distrust runs deep.

       No one can excuse the brutal take over of the U.S. Embassy in Iran that ended President Jimmy Carter’s administration and imprisoned American diplomatic personnel for many agonizing months, but one can comprehend the deep resentment toward the U.S. that had developed over time.

      Yet, despite this bitterly troubled history, Iran stood with the U.S. in the days following 9/11, and leaders were in constructive dialogue.  That dialogue ended quickly when President George Bush included Iran in his “Axis of Evil.”

       The U.S. has stumbled many times.  Evidence suggests President John Kennedy was determined to pull back from engagement in Vietnam before his assassination.  President Lyndon Johnson propelled us deeper into that quagmire. 

        President George Bush refused to let arms inspectors complete their work in Iraq in 2002, convinced Saddam Hussein housed weapons of mass destruction he might use against neighboring countries, and even the U.S.  The U.S. invaded.  There were no such weapons.  We are finally withdrawing troops, after losing 4,500 of our fighting men and women, a high percentage to improvised roadside bombs.  Another 38,000 are recovering from physical wounds, many having lost limbs, and thousands are suffering post traumatic stress.  Two million Iraqis were driven from their homes, and 100,000 or more were killed and maimed.

     U.S. leaders were impatient and shortsighted, convinced our military “shock and awe” would settle things quickly, with little thought to life in Iraq in its wake.

      Let us deal more intelligently with Iran.  It is not too much to expect a great nation to bear responsibility for its errors, just as it rightfully expects praise for its achievements and humanitarian contributions..

     The whole world has a stake in peaceful exchange and reconciliation.  More than a million Iranian-American citizens contribute to life in the U.S. every day, and many other Iranians are educated here and return to their homeland prepared to harmonize relationships between our nations.  It is time to make a fresh start toward peace. 

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