How will history remember this past president of the United States of America?

He was born into wealth; next to ascend the throne from one of America’s most powerful and best known political dynasties. A generation before, the head of that political family was president of the United States. He struggled in the shadow of his predecessor to establish his own identity.

That predecessor president gained fame in a war we fought overseas though we were never actually attacked at home. Our adversary told the world it was none of our business. The aggressor nation justified the war against a smaller, weaker break-away country to claim lands it owned historically. Amidt great saber rattling the USA joined the war in support of multinational companies because a tyrant threatened their profits on a commodity vital to our economy. That war was a walk-over against a foe far weaker than reported. That war ended with the ruler of the vanquished power still in charge.

This president’s ancestors came to America on the Mayflower. He grew up in an atmosphere of privilege. He was sent away to boarding school to prepare for college. He gained admission on the strength of family connection, not academic excellence. He attended an Ivy League university but was only a C student. He applied to, but did not graduate from law school. His military service was largely symbolic; he never fought in any of the battles that claimed thousands of lives of his generation’s young men.

He was elected as a “reform” governor of a powerful state, but spent most of his second term posturing for a bid as his party’s presidential candidate. As the new president he surrounded himself with a “brain trust” of advisors some thought he relied on as compensation for an inferior intellect.

He was the commander in chief when clandestine foreign enemies used airplanes to launch attacks against America claiming thousands of lives. Within days, he declared war against those who attacked us and promised America he would not rest until we had achieved victory. Later he convinced Congress to support a war with another country with no proof that they were involved in the original attack on our people. He described the axis of nations aligned against us as a threat to our freedom.
He ordered the systematic erosion of the civil liberties of certain groups of our citizens and resident aliens based on race. He ordered the FBI to use illegal wiretaps and “harsh interrogation techniques” to learn our enemies’ plans. People who met certain racial profiles were deprived their property and their freedom, sometimes for years without access to civilian courts and the basic rights guaranteed by our Constitution.
He took credit for deterring our enemies from subsequent attacks. He ordered captured enemy combatants held for duration of the war, without trial or the right to habeas corpus. Some of the captured died in our custody.

He inherited a bad economy. His tax policy was ridiculed. Slowly our nation recovered from stagnation. But by the end of his tenure, he had presided over the largest increase of our national debt in history (up to that point).

When a new administration took over after years of war, this president left his successor an enemy undefeated, new enemies who were once an allies, and a world in great turmoil. Those enemies are resolved to destroy our way of life.

In the end only his little black Scottie dog, gave him any comfort, for this man, this president of the United States was Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

JOHN HESSLINK
Grand Junction

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 29th, 2009 at 4:22 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.