The Wisdom of FDR

What made Franklin Delano Roosevelt an effective leader? His policies and decisions changed our nation’s and the world’s history. But more than his skill as a savvy politician and progressive thinker, FDR’s ability to directly and eloquently voice his thoughts on national concerns, social change, and humanity spoke to and reached the hearts of his people. In this selection of quotes drawn from his speeches and papers, FDR’s observations and opinions cover everything from faith, war, and peace, to religion, freedom, and the very definition of what it is to be an American. Essays include “The Four Freedoms,” “We Belong to Many Races,” “True Education,” “The Rights of the Common Man,” “Dynamic Democracy,” and “Government with a Soul.”

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) was the thirty-second president of the United States. During his four terms in office he led the United States through the Great Depression and most of the Second World War. Born in Hyde Park, New York, Roosevelt instituted sweeping social, economic, and political changes under the New Deal to help pull the country out of the Depression. He remains the only president to serve more than two terms, and has been cemented in history as one of the country’s greatest statesmen and activists.