October 31, 1936
FDR's Madison Square Garden Address
October 31, 1936
FDR Addresses Supporters at Madison Square Garden
More from this badass speech. Here he talks about Republican propaganda.
All emphasis mine.
Here is an amazing paradox! The very employers and politicians and newspapers who talk most loudly of class antagonism and the destruction of the American system now undermine that system by this attempt to coerce the votes of the wage earners of this country. It is the 1936 version of the old threat to close down the factory or the office if a particular candidate does not win. It is an old strategy of tyrants, to delude their victims into fighting their battles for them.
Every message in a pay envelope, even if it is the truth, is a command to vote according to the will of the employer. But this propaganda is worse - - it is deceit.
They tell the worker that his wage will be reduced by a contribution to some vague form of old-age insurance. But they carefully conceal from him the fact that for every dollar of premium he pays for that insurance, the employer pays another dollar. That omission is deceit.
They carefully conceal from him the fact that under the federal law, he receives another insurance policy to help him if he loses his job, and that the premium of that policy is paid 100% by the employer and not one cent by the worker. But they do not tell him that the insurance policy that is bought for him is far more favorable to him than any policy that any private insurance company could possibly afford to issue. And that omission is deceit.
They imply to him that he pays all the cost of both forms of insurance. They carefully conceal from him the fact that for every dollar put up by him his employer puts up three dollars -- three for one. And that omission is deceit.
But they are guilty of more than deceit. When they imply that the reserves thus created against both these policies will be stolen by some future Congress -- diverted to some wholly foreign purpose, they attack the integrity and honor of American Government itself. Those who suggest that, are already aliens to the spirit of American democracy. Let them emigrate and try their lot under some foreign flag in which they have more confidence.
He is directly addressing the propaganda, ridiculing it, explaining why it is wrong — and then labeling those who spread falsehood about the American government as traitors to their fellow citizens and to the American spirit.
Yep, they’re fighting words. But effective. And I love it.
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.
More goodies from this badass speech tomorrow.
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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