Franklin D. Roosevelt

US President Obama's recent decision to tighten government financial control over the country has reminded me about the 32nd US President Franklin D. Roosevelt(1882 - 1945). He was elected president amidst the Great Depression. At the early part of his administration, he criticized the business leaders who had failed the country. Below are some of the quotes from speeches by President Roosevelt:

"[Business and finance are] unanimous in their hate for me - and I welcome their hatred . . . I should like to have it said of my first Administration that in it the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match; I would like to have it said of my second administration that in it these forces met their master". (Campaign speech, 1936)

"The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to the point where it becomes stronger than their democratic State itself. That, in its essence, is Fascism". (Message proposing the Monopoly Investigation, 1938)

To me it was at a very late stage that I knew a secret about Roosevelt: when he was first inaugurated on March 4, 1933 at the age of 51, he was already paralyzed from the waist down by polio. He had to be assisted to the stand where he stood during the ceremony, supported by iron leg braces. He was a man with such a strong will, and by destiny, he was picked by the American people to lead them through the turbulent years that included the Great Depression and the WWII.

Reference:
Seldes, George ed. The Great Thoughts. NY: Ballantine Books, 1985