October 31, 1936
FDR's Madison Square Garden Address
October 31, 1936
FDR Addresses Supporters at Madison Square Garden
This speech was given just before FDR’s first re-election in 1936. In it, he’s a brawler for the working class.
All emphasis mine. I’m not emphasizing much because I want to bold the whole damn thing.
We have not come this far without a struggle and I assure you that we cannot go further without a struggle.
For twelve years our Nation was afflicted with hear-nothing, see- nothing, do-nothing government.
The Nation looked to that government, but that government looked away. Nine mocking years with the golden calf and three long years of the scourge! Nine crazy years at the ticker and three long years in the breadlines! Nine mad years of mirage and three long years of despair! And, my friends, powerful influences strive today to restore that kind of government with its doctrine that that government is best which is most indifferent to mankind.
For nearly four years now you have had an Administration which instead of twirling its thumbs has rolled up its sleeves. And I can assure you that we will keep our sleeves rolled up.
We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace -- business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.
They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that government by organized money is just as dangerous as government by organized mob.
Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today.
They 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 should like to have it said of my second Administration that in it these forces met their master.
I would vote for this man’s reincarnated corpse.
Seriously, take this speech, modernize the language a little, and have this be the Democratic message.
Including the part about “welcoming their hatred.”
It’s so badass. And a big part of the Dems current problem.
They spend way too much time worrying about what the GOP will do or what they will say on Fox News.
Fuck that. Welcome the hatred of these slimeballs. Those who “consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs.”
If they hate us, we’re doing something right for the American people.
It is up to the Democratic party to return to the workers first and take no prisoners message of FDR.
Here’s the audio. You will be cheering, trust me:
Some historic context from Wikipedia: — Eight million workers remained unemployed in 1936, and though economic conditions had improved since 1932, they remained sluggish. By 1936, Roosevelt had lost the backing he once held in the business community because of his support for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Social Security Act.
The Republicans had few alternative candidates and nominated Kansas Governor Alf Landon. While Roosevelt campaigned on his New Deal programs and continued to attack Hoover, Landon sought to win voters who approved of the goals of the New Deal but disagreed with its implementation.
In the election against Landon and a third-party candidate, Roosevelt won 60.8% of the vote and carried every state except Maine and Vermont. Democrats expanded their majorities in Congress, controlling over three-quarters of the seats in each house.
The election also saw the consolidation of the New Deal coalition; while the Democrats lost some of their traditional allies in big business, they were replaced by groups such as organized labor and African Americans, the latter of whom voted Democratic for the first time since Emancipation. Roosevelt lost high-income voters, especially businessmen and professionals, but made major gains among the poor and minorities. He won 86 percent of the Jewish vote, 81 percent of Catholics, 80 percent of union members, 76 percent of Southerners, 76 percent of blacks in northern cities, and 75 percent of people on relief. Roosevelt carried 102 of the country's 106 cities with a population of 100,000 or more.
I’m taking the day off tomorrow y’all.
More goodies from this badass speech on Monday.
It’s the speech that made me fall in love with FDR years ago and I needed a pick-me-up this week.1
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