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Franklin Roosevelt: Philosophy Franklin Delano Roosevelt entered his first term in a time of uncertainty: the Great Depression. During his first term, all political concerns were focused on domestic issues. Foreign policy for FDR was secondary. "... even after Roosevelt was safely in office he cautiously skirted foreign policy shoals on which he feared his political popularity and his domestic program might be wrecked." (Burns 247). Luckily for Roosevelt the crucial decisions in foreign policy came later. But before the war, his policies were often times confusing and contradictory. Lacking a general principle by which to make foreign policy, Roosevelt improvised from one situation to another. "Roosevelt, an ebullient leader who used charm to maintain his aloofness, was an ambiguous combination of political manipulator and visionary. He governed more often by instinct than be analysis, and evoked strongly contrasting emotions." (Kissinger 401). The result was a jumble of separate and clashing policies. The President ranged back and forth from the old political internationalism of the Democratic Party to the economic nationalism implicit in the New Deal, from the anti-imperialism of the Bryan Democrats to traditional power politics. (Burns 249) Roosevelt's foreign policy philosophy consisted of making sure that his domestic programs and New Deal agencies passed Congress. In his first two terms the economy picked up, and Roosevelt could finally enter the global ring -- just as the war in Europe borke out. Roosevelt did take one philosophical stand during his years in office that he never strayed from. Roosevelt was firmly under the belief that a lasting peace had to come not just from diplomacy but must involve the industrialization of backward nations; he simply could not understand how the Allies could fight a war against tyranny and fascism and not work for the freedom of people throughout the world involved in Europe's colonial policies. (Burns 401). While Europe has been at peace for decades now, the ignorance of this kind of foreign diplomacy has led to many of the modern conflicts that under Roosevelt's practice could have been avoided, mainly in former European colonies. However visionary or manipulating Roosevelt was, he was still unable to recognize the aspirations of other powers. "'I may say that I got along fine with Marshal Stalin,' [Roosevelt] told the people in the Christmas Eve 1943 fireside chat, '... and I believe that we are going to get along very well with him and the Russian people-very well indeed.'" (4 464). This ironic statement proves how underestimating Roosevelt could be, and although his philosophy regarding colonies was sound, his foreign policies as a whole were improvised and thus less effective than they could have been. |
F. Roosevelt Philosophy
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