FOIA

=="Dictatorial powers"==

=="Dictatorial powers"==

Roosevelt presented the New Deal in militaristic terms of "discipline," sacrificing individual rights to life and property in the name of "leadership" promising a greater good. His first inaugural address contained an exhortation that could have been made by Mussolini or Hitler:

Roosevelt presented the New Deal in militaristic terms of "discipline," sacrificing individual rights to life and property in the name of "leadership" promising a greater good. His first inaugural address contained an exhortation that could have been made by Mussolini or Hitler:

{{cquote|If we are to go forward we must move as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline, because, without such discipline, no progress is made, no leadership becomes effective. We are, I know, ready and willing to submit our lives and property to such discipline because it makes possible a leadership which aims at a larger good.<ref>William Safire, ''[Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History]'' (W. W. Norton & Company, 2004) ISBN 0393059316, p. 940</ref>}}

{{cquote|If we are to go forward we must move as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline, because, without such discipline, no progress is made, no leadership becomes effective. We are, I know, ready and willing to submit our lives and property to such discipline because it makes possible a leadership which aims at a larger good.<ref>William Safire, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=EKkO4JBxtVkC Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History]'' (W. W. Norton & Company, 2004) ISBN 0393059316, p. 940</ref>}}

Meanwhile, [[First Lady]] [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] “lamented that the nation lacked a benevolent dictator to force through reforms."<ref>Christopher Caldwell, “[http://www.slate.com/id/2000099/entry/1003296/  ER: Authoritarian and Aristocratic], Slate.com, July 28, 1999</ref> Soviet intelligence source<ref>[http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/venona/1944/9sep_lippman_views_churchill_roosevelt.pdf 1289 KGB New York to Moscow, 9 September 1944]</ref> [[Walter Lippmann]] told Roosevelt, "The situation is critical, Franklin. You may have no alternative but to assume dictatorial powers";<ref>Thomas Griffith, “[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,924464,00.html NEWSWATCH: Comrade of the Powerful],” ''Time'', September 15, 1980</ref> in his influential<ref>Lippmann is widely regarded as “the most influential journalist in American history.” Jacqueline Foertsch, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=mao9DJoAlhAC American Culture in the 1940s]'' (Edinburgh University Press, 2008) ISBN 0748624139, p. 56</ref> column, Lippmann added that the use of "'dictatorial powers,' if that is the name for it&mdash;is essential."<ref>Russell Baker, “[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22273 A Revolutionary President], ''The New York Review of Books'', Vol. 56, No. 2 (February 12, 2009)</ref> The ''New York Herald Tribune'' approved the inauguration with the headline "FOR DICTATORSHIP IF NECESSARY."<ref>“[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5525748 Author Reconstructs FDR's 'Defining Moment'],” National Public Radio</ref> Liberal<ref>[http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ahr/109.2/br_89.html Book Review: Benjamin L. Alpers, ''Dictators, Democracy, & American Public Culture: Envisioning the Totalitarian Enemy, 1920s-1950s''], ''American Historical Review'', Vol. 109, No. 2 (April 2004)</ref> [[Hollywood]] mogul Walter Wanger produced a movie featuring as hero a President who "revokes the Constitution, becomes a reigning dictator, and solves all of the nation's problems" using "brown-shirted storm troopers"<ref>"[http://allmovie.com/work/gabriel-over-the-white-house-19092 Gabriel Over the White House]," allmovie.com</ref> (and "declares martial law,"<ref>Glenn Erickson, "[http://www.dvdsavant.com/s3054gabr.html Gabriel Over the White House]," dvdsavant.com</ref> “dissolves Congress, creates an army of the unemployed, and lines up his enemies before a firing squad”). In response, FDR wrote that he thought the film “would help the country.”<ref>Jonathan Alter, “[http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/07/books/chapters/0507-1st-alter.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all The Defining Moment],” ''The New York Times'', May 7, 2006</ref>

Meanwhile, [[First Lady]] [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] “lamented that the nation lacked a benevolent dictator to force through reforms."<ref>Christopher Caldwell, “[http://www.slate.com/id/2000099/entry/1003296/  ER: Authoritarian and Aristocratic], Slate.com, July 28, 1999</ref> Soviet intelligence source<ref>[http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/venona/1944/9sep_lippman_views_churchill_roosevelt.pdf 1289 KGB New York to Moscow, 9 September 1944]</ref> [[Walter Lippmann]] told Roosevelt, "The situation is critical, Franklin. You may have no alternative but to assume dictatorial powers";<ref>Thomas Griffith, “[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,924464,00.html NEWSWATCH: Comrade of the Powerful],” ''Time'', September 15, 1980</ref> in his influential<ref>Lippmann is widely regarded as “the most influential journalist in American history.” Jacqueline Foertsch, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=mao9DJoAlhAC American Culture in the 1940s]'' (Edinburgh University Press, 2008) ISBN 0748624139, p. 56</ref> column, Lippmann added that the use of "'dictatorial powers,' if that is the name for it&mdash;is essential."<ref>Russell Baker, “[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22273 A Revolutionary President], ''The New York Review of Books'', Vol. 56, No. 2 (February 12, 2009)</ref> The ''New York Herald Tribune'' approved the inauguration with the headline "FOR DICTATORSHIP IF NECESSARY."<ref>“[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5525748 Author Reconstructs FDR's 'Defining Moment'],” National Public Radio</ref> Liberal<ref>[http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ahr/109.2/br_89.html Book Review: Benjamin L. Alpers, ''Dictators, Democracy, & American Public Culture: Envisioning the Totalitarian Enemy, 1920s-1950s''], ''American Historical Review'', Vol. 109, No. 2 (April 2004)</ref> [[Hollywood]] mogul Walter Wanger produced a movie featuring as hero a President who "revokes the Constitution, becomes a reigning dictator, and solves all of the nation's problems" using "brown-shirted storm troopers"<ref>"[http://allmovie.com/work/gabriel-over-the-white-house-19092 Gabriel Over the White House]," allmovie.com</ref> (and "declares martial law,"<ref>Glenn Erickson, "[http://www.dvdsavant.com/s3054gabr.html Gabriel Over the White House]," dvdsavant.com</ref> “dissolves Congress, creates an army of the unemployed, and lines up his enemies before a firing squad”). In response, FDR wrote that he thought the film “would help the country.”<ref>Jonathan Alter, “[http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/07/books/chapters/0507-1st-alter.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all The Defining Moment],” ''The New York Times'', May 7, 2006</ref>