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Franklin D rossevelt,FDR introduced socialism into the American thinking by taking advantage of America's desperation at the time. His calls for "change" were nothing more than code words for changing America's free enterprise system to one where the state controlled the economy. Many members of his braintrust were communist such as Alfred Heist who was later discoverd to have communist ties. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Yocrap ( talk • contribs) 18:15, 9 August 2008 (UTC)
{{ editsemiprotected}}
Section 8.3.2
<snippage> He never warned Admiral Husband Kimmel or Lt. Gen. Walter Short after reception of the message before the Pearl Harbor attack.
While warning was sent to US Army and Naval Commanders in Hawaii, it was not received in time due to a bureaucratic error. The message was sent via Western Union Telegram to the West Coast and RCA Radio to Honolulu, it's contents in a cipher. This was the standard method of communicating with the Hawaiian Islands at the time when atmospheric conditions prevented direct communications, as was happening on that day. But the message was not marked with any urgent notations, so it was placed in the outgoing que and sent in order received. This was intentional on the part of the Generals in Washington, it was felt that any "urgent" message sent to the commanders in Hawaii might tip off Japanese spies on the West Coast. The plan was to alert the Army and Navy in Hawaii so they could lay a trap for the attacking Japanese. As it was, the message was received at Navy Headquarters from long after the attack had concluded.
From the record of the Congressional Hearing on Pearl Harbor
After receiving the message Colonel French personally took charge of its dispatch. Learning that the War Department radio had been out of contact with Honolulu since approximately 10:20 a. m. he hereupon immediately decided that the most expeditious manner of getting the message to Hawaii was by commercial facilities; that is, Western Union to San Francisco, thence by commercial radio to Honolulu. The message was filed at the Army signal center at 12:01 a. m. (6:31 a. m., Hawaii); teletype transmission to Western Union completed at 12:17 p. m. (6:47 a. m., Hawaii); received by RCA Honolulu 1:03 p. m. (7:33 a. m., Hawaii); received by signal office, Fort Shafter, Hawaii, at approximately 5:15 p. m. (11:45 a. m., Hawaii) after the attack. It appears that the teletype arrangement between RCA in Honolulu and Fort Shafter was not operating at the particular hour the message was received with the result that it was dispatched by a messenger on a bicycle who was diverted from completing delivery by the first bombing. Velovich ( talk) 05:54, 3 September 2008 (UTC)
FDR was elected 4 times not three (as it says in the first line of the article). Just needs to be corrected or explained. Perhaps the author of the passage was suggesting that since he only served 3 months of his 4th term, that the 4th term doesn't count, but he was elected 4 times. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.78.179.186 ( talk) 06:10, 18 September 2008 (UTC)
"Franklin Roosevelt is also related to several presidents by blood or marriage, including George Washington, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Ulysses Grant, William Henry Harrison, Benjamin Harrison, James Madison, Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, Zachary Taylor, and Martin Van Buren."
Was reading though and saw this and seriously doubting some are those are true. It under Personal Life.
67.52.248.218 ( talk) 19:31, 23 September 2008 (UTC)
I believe that the phrase "Britain warred with Nazi Germany" is a violation of POV and leads the reader into a false sense that all Germans who fought in WWII were Nazis. I fixed the edit, but someone changed it back. Please tell me why?-- Jojhutton ( talk) 20:28, 23 September 2008 (UTC)
I must agree with the user who found that there is a POV problem in referring to Germany as "Nazi" Germany, but for a different reason. To label a nation state by its politics in order to differentiate it from the norm is highlighting that the author believes there to be a norm and a certain point when Germany changes over to "Nazi" Germany - and vice versa. This is a definite expression of the author's preference to differentiate the state at different times in its history - all be it an accepted one, at least in this present point in history when referencing Germany preceding and during World War Two. To analogize, it would be like referring to the 2003 war between the United States and Iraq as the invasion of Iraq by the "Republican" United States. Naturally, one could state differences in the analogy (e.g., the Nazi's held complete despotic power of the government - the Republicans were a democratically elected political power who tolerated the existence of opposing political parties that were elected, etc.); however, I think the analogy is good for expressing how unquestionably charged with a personal preference labeling the actions and title of state by the political party in control of that state's government can be. Therefore, to remove potential bias, the State of Germany should probably be referred to as such, without political labeling, unless specifically talking about the politics of the state.
Section 8.3.2
<snippage> He never warned Admiral Husband Kimmel or Lt. Gen. Walter Short after reception of the message before the Pearl Harbor attack.
While warning was sent to US Army and Naval Commanders in Hawaii, it was not received in time due to a bureaucratic error. The message was sent via Western Union Telegram to the West Coast and RCA Radio to Honolulu, it's contents in a cipher. This was the standard method of communicating with the Hawaiian Islands at the time when atmospheric conditions prevented direct communications, as was happening on that day. But the message was not marked with any urgent notations, so it was placed in the outgoing que and sent in order received. This was intentional on the part of the Generals in Washington, it was felt that any "urgent" message sent to the commanders in Hawaii might tip off Japanese spies on the West Coast. The plan was to alert the Army and Navy in Hawaii so they could lay a trap for the attacking Japanese. As it was, the message was received at Navy Headquarters from long after the attack had concluded.
From the record of the Congressional Hearing on Pearl Harbor [1]
After receiving the message Colonel French personally took charge of its dispatch. Learning that the War Department radio had been out of contact with Honolulu since approximately 10:20 a. m. he hereupon immediately decided that the most expeditious manner of getting the message to Hawaii was by commercial facilities; that is, Western Union to San Francisco, thence by commercial radio to Honolulu. The message was filed at the Army signal center at 12:01 a. m. (6:31 a. m., Hawaii); teletype transmission to Western Union completed at 12:17 p. m. (6:47 a. m., Hawaii); received by RCA Honolulu 1:03 p. m. (7:33 a. m., Hawaii); received by signal office, Fort Shafter, Hawaii, at approximately 5:15 p. m. (11:45 a. m., Hawaii) after the attack. It appears that the teletype arrangement between RCA in Honolulu and Fort Shafter was not operating at the particular hour the message was received with the result that it was dispatched by a messenger on a bicycle who was diverted from completing delivery by the first bombing.
Velovich ( talk) 14:01, 25 September 2008 (UTC)
Why is there absolutely no mention whatsoever of the various "FDR knew beforehand and let it happen to get us into the war" conspiracy theories? I'm not asking because I think there should be, but partly out of curiousity given how old and somewhat prevalent they are. I'm also asking because we're having a big debate over in the Patton article about including mentioning a book that claims the U.S. tried to assassinate Patton, and when that failed, "allowed" the Soviets to kill him. I'm hoping to use whatever precedent you use to keep the PH conspiracy theories out of here over there. :-) Fred8615 ( talk) 15:03, 30 December 2008 (UTC)
Were I the final editor of the FDR entry to Wiki, I'd exclude the assorted conspiracy theories on the simple basis that they are unverifiable at best. Most of them, if not all, stem from poor scholarship on the part of the theorist. As with most conspiracy theories, a quick look at the available information will show the theory to be smoke and mirrors. A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing - not knowing any better, in my own young adulthood, I once came across some information about the engines on a specific helicopter type. These engines were manufactured by General Electric. In my youth and exuberance, I took this to mean that the engines for this helicopter were *electric engines*. There was, of course, a different possibility, but I was simply blind to the idea that a company like General Electric making a gas turbine engine. Electric was in their name, therefore... Conspiracy theories are typically built the same way - on a foundation of a little information, no follow up, and a desire to "know something the rest of the world doesn't" - hubris. A *separate* page on FDR conspiracy theories would be a better place for such things - it gives them coverage, but away from the actual, verifiable history of FDR. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Velovich ( talk • contribs) 05:53, 20 February 2009 (UTC)
I have not been able to find verification of a section of the article Fenway Park found at this link. I am able to verify that FDR gave his final campaign speech at the park in 1944, which is mentioned in the article introduction. However, numerous searches only state that the 1940 speech promising to keep troops home, as mentioned in the linked section, occurred in Boston but not specifically at Fenway Park. If a researcher involved with this article or the US Presidents project has information about the location of the 1940 speech, please respond here. Thanks in advance – Sswonk ( talk) 10:21, 26 September 2008 (UTC)
FDR also effectively banned marijuana in the United States (through the 1937 tax act), should that be covered in the article? Wandering Courier ( talk) 19:56, 20 October 2008 (UTC)
In the interest of fairness, I suggest adding one or both of the following. The first is an executive order which FDR signed on April 27, 1942. Roosevelt: "In a message to the Congress on April 27, 1942, I stated: 'Discrepancies between low personal incomes and very high personal incomes should be lessened; and I therefore believe that in time of this grave national danger, when all excess income should go to win the war, no American citizen ought to have a net income, after he has paid his taxes, of more than $25,000 a year.'" [2] Also, it might be helpful to include some of the following:
"FDR was a past master at the use of taxation to convey the image of the hour. He explained at one point that he would prefer 'to see a tax which would tax all income above $100,000 at the rate of 99.5%' This even shocked his budget director, but the president's joking comeback was a revealing one: 'Why not? None of us is ever going to make $100,000 a year. How many people report on that much income?' Roosevelt in fact went ever further than this. In 1942 and again in 1943, he proposed that all income above $25,000 ($50,000 for familes) be taxed away, saying that "all excess income should go to win the war. Inequities, he warned, 'seriously affect the morale of soldiers and sailors, farmers and workers, imperiling efforts to stabilize wages and prices, and thereby impairing the effective prosecution of the war.' When this income limit got nowhere in Congress, FDR acted on his own, handing down an executive order limiting after-tax salaries to $25,000 plus certain allowances, only to have his action indignantly repealed by Congress." [3]
One last honest idea, it might be helpful to make a note after the table of unemployment percentages for each year FDR was in office of the unemployment rate in 1931, which was 16.3% or 8.02 million unemployed. [4] This last peice might help tell the truth about how long it took FDR just to get the unemployment rate back down to what it was right before he took office, and that most of that was only due to the war, not his harmful economic policies.-- Triballiz ( talk) 04:17, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
An interesting detail wrt. early phases of WWII and U.S. stance to avoid selling war materiel to belligerent nations, is that Finland which was fighting against Soviet invasion in a conflict which was to become known as the Winter War, was allowed to purchase 55 Brewster Buffalo aircraft from U.S. Navy in December 1939. See Brewster_Buffalo#Finland. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.142.45.203 ( talk) 22:45, 14 December 2008 (UTC)
This bald statement is not true. Certainly, nearly all historians hold him in very high regard. But what about Lincoln? Or Washington? They've been considered "the greatest" several times. It would be accurate to say "one of the greatest". 129.120.177.129 ( talk) 21:03, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
He looks Italian to me. Comments? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Harryhead123 ( talk • contribs) 19:56, 19 January 2009 (UTC)
What is the correct one? Image:ER FDR Campobello 1903.jpg in 1903, or 1905? 118.136.64.227 ( talk) 11:45, 22 January 2009 (UTC)
Can we stop referring to families as "old" please? All families are of equal age. When this article is next edited this problem should be attended to. It sounds snobbish and dated. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.3.241.31 ( talk) 03:13, 10 February 2009 (UTC)
Isn't his middle name delanor, not delano —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.70.59.147 ( talk) 16:56, 24 August 2009 (UTC)
I would say spanish style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.171.72.63 ( talk) 04:05, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
we had the only thing thats fears is fear itself - in WAC network in 1919 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.90.71.164 ( talk) 22:37, 27 February 2009 (UTC)
this could be used for illustration of the page http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roosevelt-statue-in-Oslo.JPG
and it could be explained what was the reason for the city to dedicate this monument to him. -- Stefanbcn ( talk) 12:26, 1 March 2009 (UTC)
I heard in the movie Zeitgeist that FDR was related to like int'l bankers and such. Now I know Zeitgeist is not the most reliable of sources but if anybody else has any evidence, information on this topic post it here so we can contribute to this wiki. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.46.59.242 ( talk) 18:24, 16 March 2009 (UTC)
On whitehouse.gov, it said that FDR was elected in november, and here it said he was elected in march. Is there a reason? -- Toad_rules ( talk) 00:29, 24 March 2009 (UTC)
Real or not, the Business plot should be mentioned. A simple link in "related articles" is not enough...-- Desyman44 ( talk) 17:16, 7 May 2009 (UTC)
The article should include information of FDR's purposed 100% tax rate. He purposed a 100 percent top marginal tax rate. A few months after Pearl Harbor FDR stated that the nation was under “grave national danger,” and that because of this “no American citizen ought to have a net income, after he has paid his taxes, of more than $25,000 a year." Roosevelt was proposing, in effect, what amounted to a maximum wage—at an income level that would equal, in our contemporary dollars, about $300,000.
I might be able to gather up some information this upcoming week and write something up... but I have no idea if there is a way to post it up to be edited for neutrality before being posted into the main article... post it in its entirety here? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.65.202.175 ( talk) 06:58, 24 May 2009 (UTC)
Shouldn't the article point out that he was the only President elected to three terms, too? A sentence like "the only President elected to more than two terms", perhaps. All Hallow's ( talk) 06:36, 5 October 2009 (UTC)
This is a featured article, shouldn't it have the star on it? Please excuse me if I'm wrong. Connormah ( talk) 01:46, 12 October 2009 (UTC)
I plan to remove in a few days the assertion: "However, without access to FDR's detailed medical records—which are, by all reports, unaccounted-for [33]-- it is impossible to be certain of that premise", and the reference it cites, the book "Conspiracy of Silence". The reference does not support the assertion. I read the book. It only very briefly mentions FDR's paralytic illness, and nothing about the cause of the illness. The book does document a lack of detailed medical records concerning FDR's later health, but does not discuss earlier records. There are adequate medical records concerning FDR's paralytic illness, as cited in the Journal of Medical Biography article. The reason it is impossible to know for sure the cause of the paralytic illness is simply that a spinal fluid exam was not done, as stated in the separate article on FDR's illness. For some strange reason, the link to the separate article was also removed. I'll clean that up too. Anyone who objects can discuss here. DG 174.21.117.215 ( talk) 03:01, 21 October 2009 (UTC)
There needs to be balance in the civil rights section in this article! Thousands of Germans, Italians, and Japanese, as a class of people, were arrested under the authority of FDR. Also, FDR, ignored African Americans for most of his presidency and favored racist unions. { Cmguy777 ( talk) 05:14, 1 November 2009 (UTC)}
This statement does not have a source and appears to be speculation. It can be argued that the many Catholic Italian Americans, whom Roosevelt refered to as "opera singers" [5] who were arrested by the President did not consider Roosevelt a hero. African Americans could be lynched in the South and Roosevelt made no effort to stop the lynching. The Jews were denied assylum when attempting to escape the holocost. This statement should and needs to be removed.( Cmguy777 ( talk) 17:22, 1 November 2009 (UTC))
The "Coat of Arms" section is interesting to those of us interested in heraldry, but it seems rather trivial given the scope of the subject's life. The elaborate illustration doesn't depict the actual arms and crest shown in the source: "The Arms of Franklin Delano Roosevelt", from the "American Heraldry Society". If we could obtain a free-use drawing then we might put it somewhere, or mention that Roosevelt used it as a personal badge and on gifts. However an entire section devoted to this obscure detail seems excessive. The link would be more helpful as an entry in "further reading" because it is such a specialized topic. Thoughts? Will Beback talk 20:58, 5 November 2009 (UTC)
I was surprised to see a discussion of FDR's limousine, but no mention of his presidential motor launch, which I once operated for a summer at the Indian Harbor Yacht Club in Greenwich, CT. It was made of varnished teak, with much brass hardware, and was a joy to operate. Unfree ( talk) 01:06, 11 November 2009 (UTC)
My father advised Franklin and Eleanor to go to Maxwell Maltz for plastic surgery, which they did. They must have retired from the public spotlight to recover, probably at Hyde Park or Bernard Baruch's estate in South Carolina. Unfree ( talk) 01:06, 11 November 2009 (UTC)
While I have no doubt that FDR was racist (an awful lot of people are/were), and he should certainly be called out on it, I have to wonder about this one paragraph from the "Civil Rights" section:
In terms of the New Deal, economic and regulatory policies favored White Americans and placed hardships over African Americans. The New Deal threw African Americans out of work, raised the price of food during the depths of the Depression, and granted monopoly bargaining powers to racist unions.[114] According to one historian, Jim Powell, "Black people were among the major victims of the New Deal."
A quick perusal of the internets finds most of these claims made largely on conservative blogs and such by people who are ideologically opposed to the New Deal. Therefore, I'm wondering about the veracity of the statements, and it comes off as anti-New Deal propaganda, trying to equate social welfare programs of various sorts with racism. It all seems an attempt to simultaneously demonise FDR, any sort of social support net, and trade unions. The assertions in the first two sentences are stated as if it were uncontestable fact. Even if there is a grain of truth to some of the claims, no mention is made of the right-wing credentials of those making the claims: Jim Powell, for example, is simply identified as "one historian", without noting that he is an ideologue affiliated with the Cato Institute; the earlier assertions are left uncredited.
I think the partisan and likely unsubstantiated nature of the paragraph as well as its ideologic origin would justify alterations to make those ideologic origins clearer, and possibly striking the paragraph altogether, though I didn't want to make the edit without input. NPOV doesn't mean just letting any partisan statements stand.
Interestingly, the page on "Franklin D. Roosevelt's record on civil rights" doesn't currently assert these claims. 99.135.74.9 ( talk) 05:34, 1 December 2009 (UTC)s
Theodore Roosevelt's wik article has a pronuncation guide. Why isn't there one for FDR? Kdammers ( talk) 10:44, 6 December 2009 (UTC)
I have removed the Dorothea Lange photo from this section. While it is appropriate for an article on Japanese-American internment, it does not belong in this biography article. THD3 ( talk) 13:48, 18 December 2009 (UTC)
Perhaps there are some misunderstandings going on here... I'm unsure where you see racism. I understood HIAB to mean that the Iraq war connected to GWB would warrant a picture of dead Iraqis if FDR warranted a picture of interred Japanese. I don't see the length of the article or the fact that the other sections have pictures to have any bearing on the picture in this section. On the other hand, this picture may fit with the other article you mention. It just does not seem significant enough to fit into this one, IMO. BTW, as long as we have several together here, I'm going to remove this reference to "Japs": FDR is quoted as saying, "In the days to come, I won’t trust the Japs around the corner", referring to Japanese residing inside the United States.[119] It was taken from here:
Until his end, FDR scarcely spoke out in praise of the patriotism of most Japanese Americans or the valor of Nisei who volunteered to fight for their nation on European battlefields. "In the days to come," he told audiences, "I won’t trust the Japs around the corner." As Robinson notes, many of FDR’s supporters drew little distinction between "Japs" and Japanese Americans – but, then, neither did Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
I don't feel that FDR was referring to Japanese Americans here, at any rate it is not clear. Any thoughts on that? Gandydancer ( talk) 04:08, 4 January 2010 (UTC)
I can't find anything helpful to this discussion in Xander's post.
I have again read the book review of Robinson's book on FDR. I have googled the author of the review (Ponte) and found the following comments of his from an article written about Ponte:
After McCain named Sarah Palin as his running mate, Ponte swooped to her defense in his Sept. 2 column by devising a bizarre theory to portray the media is racist:
[Sarah Palin's] husband, the liberal media reported, back in the 1980s got a ticket for driving “under the influence.”
This seemingly trivial story is actually the opening wedge of a multi-pronged orchestrated left-wing attack designed to appeal to the racism that has always been at the heart of the Democratic Party.
Palin’s husband, you see, is part Native American. His ancestors include Inuits, i.e., Eskimos. But if this fact enters the news untinted by left-wing bias, it would show Gov. Palin to be inclusive, non-racist, and noble — qualities the media intends to prevent voters from seeing.
The liberal media is therefore falsely implying that Palin’s husband is alcoholic, and from there it will echo those left-wing blogs who paint him with the “drunken Indian” racist stereotype long promoted by Democrats. http://cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx?q=lowell+ponte&d=5002142304370873&mkt=en-US&setlang=en-US&w=ee9f8ae8,da16449
Since we are using his review of Robinson's book about FDR and not the actual book, and given the fact that he, in my opinion, has a strong bias, I am going to delete the sentence that uses his reference. Gandydancer ( talk) 13:57, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
Information here: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/fdr_kept_deadly_disease_hidden_for_5EQDNU3uhriRo1HQRdmTrN Gandydancer ( talk) 16:40, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
The Franklin Roosevelt article uses the term "Agricultural Adjustment Administration" several times. This is incorrect; it should read "Agricultural Adjustment Act." Thank you. Rdennist ( talk) 08:19, 10 February 2010 (UTC)2/10/10
Is the section in his Limo really necessary? I would understand an article on Presidential transportation, but as it is, the information in this article is largely duplicated in the Sunshine Special article. On top of which, there is nothing in this article about FDR's personal car, with its ingenius hand controls. THD3 ( talk) 21:00, 30 November 2009 (UTC)
Looks like we're having a mini-epidemic of vandalism from anonymous users. Maybe we need to semi-protect the page for a while? THD3 ( talk) 16:26, 11 May 2010 (UTC)
Arnold Reisman (
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69.212.158.14 (
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There are several reasons your verbiage is unacceptable. First, it's self-promotion of your book, which is against the rules. Second, it's verbiage likely lifted straight from your book, which may be fine there, but is written in an "editorial" style that's not suitable to an encyclopedia. Third, it's original research, it's little-known (as you yourself said) and it's undue weight. Don't add it again or we'll have to meet at the WP:ANI corral. ← Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 03:07, 20 May 2010 (UTC)
I don't think you'll get far in U.S. Navy if you go in talking shit about F.D.R.: he's the Navy logos.
98.230.60.95 ( talk) 18:13, 26 May 2010 (UTC) Arkhamite
Someone reverted my edit of a "citation needed" tag for the pronunciation. This may seem quibbling, but I frequently hear "rue" (v. and n.) -se velt. (Don't know the schwa code.) A citation for the pronunciation does not seem out of bounds, even though I agree with the stated vowel values. 173.21.106.137 ( talk) 10:04, 11 May 2010 (UTC)
I thank the contributors. As I stated, I never disagreed with the quoted vowel values. I am glad verification was so readily available. Thank you for improving Wikipedia rather than deleting specifications requested by the public (for whom, and generally by whom, Wikipedia is run). 173.21.106.137 ( talk) 10:49, 11 June 2010 (UTC)
"leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war. The only American president elected to more than two terms, he forged a durable coalition that realigned American politics for decades. FDR defeated incumbent Republican Herbert Hoover in November 1932, at the depths of the Great Depression. FDR's combination of optimism and activism revived the national spirit. He led the United States through World War II, dying at the start of his fourth term just as victory was near over Germany and Japan."
Revived spirit? Optimism and activism? Led the US?(Led to where?) Such language might be appropriate on ilovefdr.com but not on a neutral encyclopedia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by WMCHEST ( talk • contribs) 04:27, 8 July 2010 (UTC)
In 1999, Harry Goldsmith, MD, a well-respected surgeon from Dartmouth Medical College, published an article [6], and somewhat later a book [7], postulating that a pigmented cutaneous lesion clearly visible over FDR's left eyebrow was in fact a melanoma, a malignant skin tumor. Examination of photographs taken over the first 8 years of Roosevelt's presidency clearly demonstrates steady growth of this lesion, followed by its unexplained disappearance, and replacement by an apparent surgical scar, in approximately 1940. [8] Notably, this pigmented lesion was carefully retouched out of all official presidential portrait photographs taken during that period. [9] Melanoma is an aggressive malignancy with dangerous metastatic potential; treatment options (then as now) are very limited beyond surgical excision, particularly after metastasis has occurred. Metastatic melanoma, Goldman contended, compounded by multiple serious cardiovascular problems, could have been the true cause of FDR's death. [10] Central to this theory was Goldman's documentation of lectures and conversations given by George T. Pack, MD, a renown cancer surgeon and head of the melanoma service at Memorial Sloane-Kettering Hospital in New York City, who stated unequivocally that his colleague Frank Lahey, MD had seen FDR in consultation at the Lahey Clinic in 1944, determined that the president had advanced metastatic cancer, and advised him not to pursue a fourth term. [11]
Howard Bruenn, MD, Roosevelt's last surviving personal physician, who had, several years before, published a summary of FDR's medical history which made no mention of cancer, [12] denied in a series of interviews after Goldsmith's paper was published that FDR ever had cancer. However, he presented no evidence to refute Goldsmith's conclusions, and he was unable to explain the mysterious disappearance of the pigmented lesion. [13]
In 2009, a physician and a journalist published FDR's Deadly Secret, [14] an assemblage of surviving medical records, independent medical evidence, and eyewitness reports, including new information from the diaries of Margaret Suckley, [15] Roosevelt's distant cousin, frequent companion, and confidante, which collectively (albeit circumstantially) support Goldsmith's conclusions.
It is very likely that this issue will every be resolved with absolute certainty. An autopsy, inexplicably, was performed. Roosevelt's voluminous personal medical records disappeared after his death, and except for a few laboratory slips, found in 1957, remain missing. There are no known surgical pathology specimens, nor any other incontrovertible medical evidence. All of FDR's physicians and other primary caretakers are deceased. The opinions of historians and other scholars continue to vary widely. Even Harry Goldsmith, the physician whose 1979 paper raised the question in the first place, recently admitted that he is not convinced metastatic cancer killed Roosevelt. [16]
I've moved this new section here for discussion. The main reference appears to be to a self-published book written by the proponent of this theory. Aside from the one NYT article, it doesn't sound like this theory has received wider attention. If we decide to mention it I think a much shorter discussion of it, perhaps a sentence, would be sufficient. Other thoughts? Will Beback talk 00:14, 9 April 2010 (UTC)
Well, that was fast. The information added is well-referenced, covers both sides of the controversy, does not violate any copyrights, and is true -- so why was it deleted, unilaterally, in a matter of hours? I'm not sure which of the several references cited is the "main reference", but none of them is "self-published" -- and I have no interest, financial or otherwise, in either side of this controversy. But as a dermatologist, I have examined the scientific evidence, and it is compelling enough to require mention by any serious reference. The theory has received wide attention in the medical community -- I already offered to provide further references on request. J. Eastern, MD —Preceding unsigned comment added by DoctorJoeE ( talk • contribs) 03:44, 9 April 2010 (UTC)
FDR’s Deadly Secret is a mistake ridden mish-mash of speculation along with a bit of new information. Upon reading the book, I immediately spotted an error to the effect that Franklin Roosevelt's 1944 acceptance speech (which was delivered via radio while he was aboard a train) was the first time he had not appeared at the Democratic National Convention to accept the nomination personally. Not true. He accepted the 1940 nomination via an address from the White House. (By the way, it was FDR who began the tradition of the nominee accepting his nomination at the convention.)
The thesis of the book is that Roosevelt was in much worse shape for longer in his presidency than has ever been revealed publicly. This has been raised in the media before. In 1979, a doctor named Harry Goldsmith postulated that FDR may have had malignant melanoma. This is based on photographs of FDR showing a dark spot over his left eye that appeared in the late-1920s, slowly grew, then mysteriously disappeared in 1942. The authors pick up on this, further theorizing that, by the time of his death, FDR's (unproven) melanoma had metastasized into stomach and brain cancer. The authors state that it was stomach cancer which caused FDR's weight loss in 1944, and that several incidents when the President seemed "out of it" were seizures caused by brain cancer.
The book's preface is illustrative of the flaws in the authors' work. It recounts FDR's address to the Congress after his return from the Yalta conference in 1945. There were a large number of verbal stumbles in that speech. The authors state that, based on the location of the text in his reading copy of the speech, FDR was having trouble with visual acuity in his left eye. Further, they state that FDR was using his hand to mark his place on the page while reading, and that he had never done so before. This latter statement is demonstrably NOT TRUE. There are newsreels of FDR as early as 1938 showing him using this method, and it increases as the years pass. Could it simply be that FDR's eyesight, as was common in older men, was beginning to fail, and he may have developed an astigmatism? There is no record of FDR's glasses prescription ever being changed during his presidency - and this would easily account for such troubles.
The authors speculate on several instances in the last year of his life when FDR seemed to briefly lose his mental grasp, only to recover a few minutes later. They claim that the President was suffering from seizures. But anyone who has seen someone having a brain seizure knows this is not the usual way it presents itself. It has been speculated elsewhere that FDR was suffering from Transient Ischemic Attacks, sometimes called "mini-strokes" and this seems the more likely cause.
As to FDR's weight loss, it has been documented as having been deliberate. FDR preferred to keep his weight at 175#, which would be an acceptable weight for a 6'2" paralytic. Due to the doubly sedentary nature of being paralyzed and working behind a desk, his weight fluctuated throughout his presidency, and by the end of 1943, he was nearly obese. It was on the recommendation of his doctors that FDR lose weight to reduce the strain on his heart. The authors trot out several figures for how much FDR weighed at various points, with no documentation to support them. One can only surmise that they are "guesstimating" based on photographs.
Perhaps most troubling is the attitude the authors take toward Howard Bruenn, the cardiologist who examined FDR in early 1944 and diagnosed his cardiac failure. This book is a reckless slap at his memory, accusing Bruenn, who arguably kept the President alive several additional months, of falsifying his accounts of his time with the President. If any physician made such a remark in public about another living doctor, he would likely get booted out of the AMA. But Bruenn died in 1995, so he must be a safe target.
The book also relies on some highly suspect accounts, such as those by Walter Trohan, a scandalmonger for the fiercely anti-FDR Chicago Tribune (the newspaper which published the infamous Dewey Defeats Truman headline).
Finally, the authors fail to clearly delineate between the reporting of fact and their own speculations - several times repeating the cancer thesis as if it were a fact.
Speculation about FDR's health has surrounded him ever since he ran for Governor of New York in 1928. There were rumors that his paralysis was caused by syphilis. In 2003, a peer-reviewed study concluded that his paralysis was most likely caused by Guillain-Barré syndrome, not Polio (and certainly not syphilis).
No doubt, the controversy surrounding FDR's health and his fitness for office in the last 16 months of his presidency remains some 65 years after his death. Many worthy books have been written which address his physical health and state of mind during that period. This isn't one of them. THD3 ( talk) 12:27, 9 April 2010 (UTC)
I have read that review, which is posted on Amazon.com, and we can discuss it in a more appropriate venue if you wish. (I'm interested, for example, in why you think doctors are forbidden to make remarks about each other, and why doing so would "likely get [him] booted out of the AMA" - which very few doctors belong to anymore anyway.) And I have my own issues with that particular book. But, of course, our personal opinions of one of the cited references is irrelevant to this discussion. And I understand the natural tendency to push back when new data is presented which contradicts our cherished lifelong beliefs. But the fact remains that this controversy exists; the evidence, while circumstantial, is strong; it is frequently discussed in both medical and historical circles; the summary I added clearly labeled it as a controversy, not a fact; the circumstances surrounding a president's death are of more than passing importance; and to ignore such a controversy completely, in an article that purports to be a comprehensive summary of FDR's life, diminishes the relevance of that article. DoctorJoeE ( talk) 14:25, 9 April 2010 (UTC)
I was stumped by something this morning. I saw FDR on a recent list of Time Magazine's list of "Only Children That Changed The World". I checked here and it notes that FDR was an only child.
A very oft-repeated piece of trivia is that no US President was an only child. Is that piece of trivia wrong, or is there something missing in the commonly known FDR biography that isn't mentioned in the article, e.g. a step-sibling or an adopted sibling? -- PoughkeepsieNative ( talk) 12:18, 11 July 2010 (UTC)
An article out today with some pertinent details:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/29/us/29fdr.html
Dhollm ( talk) 06:31, 29 July 2010 (UTC)
What did FDR exactly have to do with labor day and how its celebrated today? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.32.65.174 ( talk) 04:06, 31 August 2010 (UTC)
"One thing is sure. We have to do something. We have to do the best we know how at the moment . . . ; If it doesn't turn out right, we can modify it as we go along." — Franklin D.Roosevelt counseling Frances Perkins —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.160.184.26 ( talk) 21:28, 3 October 2010 (UTC)
In the map of FDR's foriegn trips Morocco is not shaded in despite his attending the Casablanca Conference, should this be changed or am I missing something? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 123.136.37.238 ( talk) 03:22, 2 November 2010 (UTC)
I must apologize for this edit. I've been removing a spammed self-published source from several articles (books by Arnold Reisman), and I don't know how it happened exactly but I've inadvertently reverted to an older version on several of them, as well removing the spam I was looking for. I must have clicked on an older version by mistake when looking through the IPs contribs. Thank you to Rjensen for catching it, and I'm very sorry for the inconvenience. SlimVirgin talk| contribs 08:04, 10 November 2010 (UTC)
The "text book" version is that FDR was paralyzed by polio. Here, one article is cited challenging that idea. Is this truly a school of thought on the subject or just the speculation of one author? Johnfravolda ( talk) 18:18, 23 November 2010 (UTC)
{{edit semi-protected}}
On the Franklin Delano Roosevelt page, in the area "Second Term, 1937-1941," a slight change should be made. On the page, it is stated that Roosevelt proposed a law allowing him to appoint 5 new justices. This is incorrect. Roosevelt wanted to appoint 6 new justices, not 5. Please change this. I have been looking through textbooks and websites, and they say this is the case.
173.77.145.51 ( talk) 00:46, 10 January 2011 (UTC)
"According to the Roosevelt family, Eleanor offered Franklin a divorce so that he could be with the woman he loved, but Lucy, being Catholic, could not bring herself to marry a divorced man with five children. " this is contradicted in the Eleanor Roosevelt article:
"Despite its happy start and Roosevelt's intense desire to be a loving and loved wife, their marriage almost disintegrated over Franklin's affair with his wife's social secretary Lucy Mercer (later Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd).[12] When Eleanor learned of the affair from Mercer's letters, which she discovered in Franklin's suitcases in September 1918, she was brought to despair and self-reproach. She told Franklin she would insist on a divorce if he did not immediately end the affair. He knew that a divorce would not reflect well on his family, so he ended the relationship. So implacable was Sara's opposition to divorce that she warned her son she would disinherit him. Corinne Robinson, and Louis McHenry Howe, Franklin's political advisors, were also influential in persuading Eleanor and Franklin to save the marriage for the sake of the children and Franklin's political career. The idea has been put forth that, because Mercer was a Catholic, she would never have married a divorced Protestant. Her relatives maintain that she was perfectly willing to marry Franklin. Her father's family was Episcopal and her mother had been divorced.[13] While Franklin agreed never to see Mercer again, she began visiting him in the 1930s and was with Franklin at Warm Springs, Georgia when he died on April 12, 1945.[14]"
This should be researched and re-aligned. Nem ( talk) 09:45, 11 January 2011 (UTC)
I must disagree with the fact that he knew nothing about the Pearl Harbor attacks. He wanted them so we would be in the war. 69.247.188.19 ( talk) 02:55, 15 December 2010 (UTC)
Reply to above - Read Day of Deceit by Robert Stinnett and World War II by Richard Mayberry —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.247.188.19 ( talk) 03:17, 21 December 2010 (UTC)
You must remember that Wikipedia is just people stating whatever they want so historians may or may not reject his idea, you can't know for sure, and neither can I, but he gives PLENTY of evidence and documents to back him up. And yes, I did have the name wrong. It is Richard Maybury, and he can be trusted, economist or otherwise. There is an 8 step plan the U.S. used to provoke Japan to attack. You can find it in both these books and at whatreallyhappened.com. There is also an article about it on Wikipedia. 69.247.188.19 ( talk) 01:12, 28 December 2010 (UTC)
My question to you would be, how do you know what you're saying is true? How do you know that most historians reject stinnett? True, wikipedia says that, but do you have another source? You have yet to list a "reliable source" for your claims, yet you keep asking me to. Also, you said nothing about the 8-part McCollum memo for provoking Japan. Look it up. Also, Navy Rear Admiral Robert Theobald says he knew, along with Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, Secretary of War Henry Stimson, and Henry Clausen just to name a few. These are reliable sources entirely since they are part of the Navy. 12.52.250.126 ( talk) 22:22, 28 December 2010 (UTC)
Reply to Rjensen - I myself NOT being a supporter of Japan in the war am not saying they were right, but the McCollum plan was made to provoke them into attacking so they would of course use it to justify their attack. My original argument was that FDR knew about the attacks and I have lifted sources to back it up. Here are some more... www.nypress.com/article-4183-fdr-knew-pearl-harbor-was-coming.html - whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/pearl/.../pearl.html - It seems obvious to me that the proof is unmistakable. 69.247.188.19 ( talk) 02:44, 29 December 2010 (UTC) BTW, just for a heads up, I just created an account, so you will see a different signature from here out. Personalskeptic ( talk) 03:20, 29 December 2010 (UTC)
As you said, my opinion is not the end all. There is a good bit of evidence for both sides, that is why this debate has gone on for so long. All I'm saying is I believe he knew, and there are government documents to prove it. I'm also reading another book called the Pearl Harbor Myth: Rethinking the Unthinkable by George Victor. It gives more positive evidence, not speculation that points to the fact that he knew. Obviously, you have a different opinion. You beleive what has been taught for years, but that is your choice. I have studied both sides and have found very good eveidence that points to the fact that he knew beforehand, so I believe that way. I still say you can't disagree with the Government documents that explain it all, so I don't see how you can, but that is a choice. Also, just because someone is a historian doesn't mean they know all there is to know about the subject, nor do I. I am just stating what I believe to be true by the evidence I have studied. Personalskeptic ( talk) 23:37, 30 December 2010 (UTC)
Reply to Rjensen - How do you know the theories were invented? Do you have proof? He was given cable after cable of cracked Japanese codes by American cryptologists showing of the planned attack, yet he didn't tell his Navy officers at the Harbor. You can't argue with government documents that prove it. Personalskeptic ( talk) 00:18, 31 December 2010 (UTC)
It is covered to an extent but it doesn't list all the evidence and leans toward one view. Personalskeptic ( talk) 01:23, 31 December 2010 (UTC)
Ok, whatever. This is just my opinion, and I respect everyone else's. All of you need to take time to look into it though, I think. No need for anyone to get upset. I believe I HAVE listed relevant sources, so I don't think I've broken any rules. I actually enjoyed the discussion and I'm glad that the others were willing to dialogue with me. :) Personalskeptic ( talk) 01:52, 31 December 2010 (UTC)
Day of deceit: the truth about FDR and Pearl Harbor ( ISBN 9780743201292) clearly shows that FDR was aware of the Pearl Harbor Attacks prior to their culmination. I am surprised that there is any question on the subject, now that the documents that proved this were released per the Freedom of Information Act. Whatever may be the reason for his reticence on this interesting subject (perhaps political maneuvering or trying to fix his broken image after the Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937) we need to include this information in the article. I have added a neutrality tag to notify interested users of this ongoing debate. The full article is Pearl Harbor advance-knowledge debate-- Novus Orator 11:30, 4 January 2011 (UTC)
You all appear to be falling into a very common trap--arguing about the topic, instead of about the article. Wikipedia is not here to determine what "really happened" or, specifically FDR "really knew". All we care is what reliable sources believe. If most reliable historians (as stated on Day of Deceit) believe that it's not reliable info, than we cannot include it here. It's really that simple. We only include opinions if they are WP:DUE inclusion, and it appears that DoD is not. Not because I think Stinett is right, or wrong, or a photographer, or whatever, but because reliable sources say the opinion isn't credible enough to deserve a place in reliable history. Now, if, because of more recent revelations, the opinions of reliable historians change, to the point where the DoD theory is considered to be believable, then, at that point, we can include it on this page. But Wikipedia must follow the sources, not lead them. Qwyrxian ( talk) 07:46, 5 January 2011 (UTC)
There is absolutely ZERO justification for the photo of the Japanese family in this article. Until I see a picture of a hanger full of flag-draped caskets for Bush II, the newly homeless family of an unemployed factory worker for Reagan, or FFS even a goddamn Hooverville for Herbert Hoover, wikipedia is completely unjustified in singling out FDR for such overt criticism (not that surprising since "Jimbo" Wales is a confessed libertarian). 71.234.198.222 ( talk) 05:39, 9 January 2011 (UTC)
FDR has his critics of his economic policies. This article reads like some canonizing article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ericg33 ( talk • contribs) 10:05, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
Agreed. Also, why no mention at all of the well-documented fact that General McCarthy knew that thebJapanese were attacking American land and he did not raise the alert at all, thus resulting in the simple takeover of his authority and the death march of his subjects? Instead of telling America what happened, FDR treated him like a hero. This is a MAJOR fact of history that speaks to a major action of FDR and it's not even included in any way. Of course, it could be that the Wikipedia editors have a bias, which is clearly seen in the other discussions on this age. ````TC —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.181.118.130 ( talk) 06:41, 16 February 2011 (UTC)
His relatively strong anti-semitism might be of interest for a criticism section. 80.216.47.208 ( talk) 12:12, 6 March 2011 (UTC)
This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
Archive 1 | ← | Archive 5 | Archive 6 | Archive 7 | Archive 8 | Archive 9 | Archive 10 |
Franklin D rossevelt,FDR introduced socialism into the American thinking by taking advantage of America's desperation at the time. His calls for "change" were nothing more than code words for changing America's free enterprise system to one where the state controlled the economy. Many members of his braintrust were communist such as Alfred Heist who was later discoverd to have communist ties. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Yocrap ( talk • contribs) 18:15, 9 August 2008 (UTC)
{{ editsemiprotected}}
Section 8.3.2
<snippage> He never warned Admiral Husband Kimmel or Lt. Gen. Walter Short after reception of the message before the Pearl Harbor attack.
While warning was sent to US Army and Naval Commanders in Hawaii, it was not received in time due to a bureaucratic error. The message was sent via Western Union Telegram to the West Coast and RCA Radio to Honolulu, it's contents in a cipher. This was the standard method of communicating with the Hawaiian Islands at the time when atmospheric conditions prevented direct communications, as was happening on that day. But the message was not marked with any urgent notations, so it was placed in the outgoing que and sent in order received. This was intentional on the part of the Generals in Washington, it was felt that any "urgent" message sent to the commanders in Hawaii might tip off Japanese spies on the West Coast. The plan was to alert the Army and Navy in Hawaii so they could lay a trap for the attacking Japanese. As it was, the message was received at Navy Headquarters from long after the attack had concluded.
From the record of the Congressional Hearing on Pearl Harbor
After receiving the message Colonel French personally took charge of its dispatch. Learning that the War Department radio had been out of contact with Honolulu since approximately 10:20 a. m. he hereupon immediately decided that the most expeditious manner of getting the message to Hawaii was by commercial facilities; that is, Western Union to San Francisco, thence by commercial radio to Honolulu. The message was filed at the Army signal center at 12:01 a. m. (6:31 a. m., Hawaii); teletype transmission to Western Union completed at 12:17 p. m. (6:47 a. m., Hawaii); received by RCA Honolulu 1:03 p. m. (7:33 a. m., Hawaii); received by signal office, Fort Shafter, Hawaii, at approximately 5:15 p. m. (11:45 a. m., Hawaii) after the attack. It appears that the teletype arrangement between RCA in Honolulu and Fort Shafter was not operating at the particular hour the message was received with the result that it was dispatched by a messenger on a bicycle who was diverted from completing delivery by the first bombing. Velovich ( talk) 05:54, 3 September 2008 (UTC)
FDR was elected 4 times not three (as it says in the first line of the article). Just needs to be corrected or explained. Perhaps the author of the passage was suggesting that since he only served 3 months of his 4th term, that the 4th term doesn't count, but he was elected 4 times. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.78.179.186 ( talk) 06:10, 18 September 2008 (UTC)
"Franklin Roosevelt is also related to several presidents by blood or marriage, including George Washington, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Ulysses Grant, William Henry Harrison, Benjamin Harrison, James Madison, Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, Zachary Taylor, and Martin Van Buren."
Was reading though and saw this and seriously doubting some are those are true. It under Personal Life.
67.52.248.218 ( talk) 19:31, 23 September 2008 (UTC)
I believe that the phrase "Britain warred with Nazi Germany" is a violation of POV and leads the reader into a false sense that all Germans who fought in WWII were Nazis. I fixed the edit, but someone changed it back. Please tell me why?-- Jojhutton ( talk) 20:28, 23 September 2008 (UTC)
I must agree with the user who found that there is a POV problem in referring to Germany as "Nazi" Germany, but for a different reason. To label a nation state by its politics in order to differentiate it from the norm is highlighting that the author believes there to be a norm and a certain point when Germany changes over to "Nazi" Germany - and vice versa. This is a definite expression of the author's preference to differentiate the state at different times in its history - all be it an accepted one, at least in this present point in history when referencing Germany preceding and during World War Two. To analogize, it would be like referring to the 2003 war between the United States and Iraq as the invasion of Iraq by the "Republican" United States. Naturally, one could state differences in the analogy (e.g., the Nazi's held complete despotic power of the government - the Republicans were a democratically elected political power who tolerated the existence of opposing political parties that were elected, etc.); however, I think the analogy is good for expressing how unquestionably charged with a personal preference labeling the actions and title of state by the political party in control of that state's government can be. Therefore, to remove potential bias, the State of Germany should probably be referred to as such, without political labeling, unless specifically talking about the politics of the state.
Section 8.3.2
<snippage> He never warned Admiral Husband Kimmel or Lt. Gen. Walter Short after reception of the message before the Pearl Harbor attack.
While warning was sent to US Army and Naval Commanders in Hawaii, it was not received in time due to a bureaucratic error. The message was sent via Western Union Telegram to the West Coast and RCA Radio to Honolulu, it's contents in a cipher. This was the standard method of communicating with the Hawaiian Islands at the time when atmospheric conditions prevented direct communications, as was happening on that day. But the message was not marked with any urgent notations, so it was placed in the outgoing que and sent in order received. This was intentional on the part of the Generals in Washington, it was felt that any "urgent" message sent to the commanders in Hawaii might tip off Japanese spies on the West Coast. The plan was to alert the Army and Navy in Hawaii so they could lay a trap for the attacking Japanese. As it was, the message was received at Navy Headquarters from long after the attack had concluded.
From the record of the Congressional Hearing on Pearl Harbor [1]
After receiving the message Colonel French personally took charge of its dispatch. Learning that the War Department radio had been out of contact with Honolulu since approximately 10:20 a. m. he hereupon immediately decided that the most expeditious manner of getting the message to Hawaii was by commercial facilities; that is, Western Union to San Francisco, thence by commercial radio to Honolulu. The message was filed at the Army signal center at 12:01 a. m. (6:31 a. m., Hawaii); teletype transmission to Western Union completed at 12:17 p. m. (6:47 a. m., Hawaii); received by RCA Honolulu 1:03 p. m. (7:33 a. m., Hawaii); received by signal office, Fort Shafter, Hawaii, at approximately 5:15 p. m. (11:45 a. m., Hawaii) after the attack. It appears that the teletype arrangement between RCA in Honolulu and Fort Shafter was not operating at the particular hour the message was received with the result that it was dispatched by a messenger on a bicycle who was diverted from completing delivery by the first bombing.
Velovich ( talk) 14:01, 25 September 2008 (UTC)
Why is there absolutely no mention whatsoever of the various "FDR knew beforehand and let it happen to get us into the war" conspiracy theories? I'm not asking because I think there should be, but partly out of curiousity given how old and somewhat prevalent they are. I'm also asking because we're having a big debate over in the Patton article about including mentioning a book that claims the U.S. tried to assassinate Patton, and when that failed, "allowed" the Soviets to kill him. I'm hoping to use whatever precedent you use to keep the PH conspiracy theories out of here over there. :-) Fred8615 ( talk) 15:03, 30 December 2008 (UTC)
Were I the final editor of the FDR entry to Wiki, I'd exclude the assorted conspiracy theories on the simple basis that they are unverifiable at best. Most of them, if not all, stem from poor scholarship on the part of the theorist. As with most conspiracy theories, a quick look at the available information will show the theory to be smoke and mirrors. A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing - not knowing any better, in my own young adulthood, I once came across some information about the engines on a specific helicopter type. These engines were manufactured by General Electric. In my youth and exuberance, I took this to mean that the engines for this helicopter were *electric engines*. There was, of course, a different possibility, but I was simply blind to the idea that a company like General Electric making a gas turbine engine. Electric was in their name, therefore... Conspiracy theories are typically built the same way - on a foundation of a little information, no follow up, and a desire to "know something the rest of the world doesn't" - hubris. A *separate* page on FDR conspiracy theories would be a better place for such things - it gives them coverage, but away from the actual, verifiable history of FDR. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Velovich ( talk • contribs) 05:53, 20 February 2009 (UTC)
I have not been able to find verification of a section of the article Fenway Park found at this link. I am able to verify that FDR gave his final campaign speech at the park in 1944, which is mentioned in the article introduction. However, numerous searches only state that the 1940 speech promising to keep troops home, as mentioned in the linked section, occurred in Boston but not specifically at Fenway Park. If a researcher involved with this article or the US Presidents project has information about the location of the 1940 speech, please respond here. Thanks in advance – Sswonk ( talk) 10:21, 26 September 2008 (UTC)
FDR also effectively banned marijuana in the United States (through the 1937 tax act), should that be covered in the article? Wandering Courier ( talk) 19:56, 20 October 2008 (UTC)
In the interest of fairness, I suggest adding one or both of the following. The first is an executive order which FDR signed on April 27, 1942. Roosevelt: "In a message to the Congress on April 27, 1942, I stated: 'Discrepancies between low personal incomes and very high personal incomes should be lessened; and I therefore believe that in time of this grave national danger, when all excess income should go to win the war, no American citizen ought to have a net income, after he has paid his taxes, of more than $25,000 a year.'" [2] Also, it might be helpful to include some of the following:
"FDR was a past master at the use of taxation to convey the image of the hour. He explained at one point that he would prefer 'to see a tax which would tax all income above $100,000 at the rate of 99.5%' This even shocked his budget director, but the president's joking comeback was a revealing one: 'Why not? None of us is ever going to make $100,000 a year. How many people report on that much income?' Roosevelt in fact went ever further than this. In 1942 and again in 1943, he proposed that all income above $25,000 ($50,000 for familes) be taxed away, saying that "all excess income should go to win the war. Inequities, he warned, 'seriously affect the morale of soldiers and sailors, farmers and workers, imperiling efforts to stabilize wages and prices, and thereby impairing the effective prosecution of the war.' When this income limit got nowhere in Congress, FDR acted on his own, handing down an executive order limiting after-tax salaries to $25,000 plus certain allowances, only to have his action indignantly repealed by Congress." [3]
One last honest idea, it might be helpful to make a note after the table of unemployment percentages for each year FDR was in office of the unemployment rate in 1931, which was 16.3% or 8.02 million unemployed. [4] This last peice might help tell the truth about how long it took FDR just to get the unemployment rate back down to what it was right before he took office, and that most of that was only due to the war, not his harmful economic policies.-- Triballiz ( talk) 04:17, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
An interesting detail wrt. early phases of WWII and U.S. stance to avoid selling war materiel to belligerent nations, is that Finland which was fighting against Soviet invasion in a conflict which was to become known as the Winter War, was allowed to purchase 55 Brewster Buffalo aircraft from U.S. Navy in December 1939. See Brewster_Buffalo#Finland. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.142.45.203 ( talk) 22:45, 14 December 2008 (UTC)
This bald statement is not true. Certainly, nearly all historians hold him in very high regard. But what about Lincoln? Or Washington? They've been considered "the greatest" several times. It would be accurate to say "one of the greatest". 129.120.177.129 ( talk) 21:03, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
He looks Italian to me. Comments? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Harryhead123 ( talk • contribs) 19:56, 19 January 2009 (UTC)
What is the correct one? Image:ER FDR Campobello 1903.jpg in 1903, or 1905? 118.136.64.227 ( talk) 11:45, 22 January 2009 (UTC)
Can we stop referring to families as "old" please? All families are of equal age. When this article is next edited this problem should be attended to. It sounds snobbish and dated. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.3.241.31 ( talk) 03:13, 10 February 2009 (UTC)
Isn't his middle name delanor, not delano —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.70.59.147 ( talk) 16:56, 24 August 2009 (UTC)
I would say spanish style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.171.72.63 ( talk) 04:05, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
we had the only thing thats fears is fear itself - in WAC network in 1919 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.90.71.164 ( talk) 22:37, 27 February 2009 (UTC)
this could be used for illustration of the page http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roosevelt-statue-in-Oslo.JPG
and it could be explained what was the reason for the city to dedicate this monument to him. -- Stefanbcn ( talk) 12:26, 1 March 2009 (UTC)
I heard in the movie Zeitgeist that FDR was related to like int'l bankers and such. Now I know Zeitgeist is not the most reliable of sources but if anybody else has any evidence, information on this topic post it here so we can contribute to this wiki. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.46.59.242 ( talk) 18:24, 16 March 2009 (UTC)
On whitehouse.gov, it said that FDR was elected in november, and here it said he was elected in march. Is there a reason? -- Toad_rules ( talk) 00:29, 24 March 2009 (UTC)
Real or not, the Business plot should be mentioned. A simple link in "related articles" is not enough...-- Desyman44 ( talk) 17:16, 7 May 2009 (UTC)
The article should include information of FDR's purposed 100% tax rate. He purposed a 100 percent top marginal tax rate. A few months after Pearl Harbor FDR stated that the nation was under “grave national danger,” and that because of this “no American citizen ought to have a net income, after he has paid his taxes, of more than $25,000 a year." Roosevelt was proposing, in effect, what amounted to a maximum wage—at an income level that would equal, in our contemporary dollars, about $300,000.
I might be able to gather up some information this upcoming week and write something up... but I have no idea if there is a way to post it up to be edited for neutrality before being posted into the main article... post it in its entirety here? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.65.202.175 ( talk) 06:58, 24 May 2009 (UTC)
Shouldn't the article point out that he was the only President elected to three terms, too? A sentence like "the only President elected to more than two terms", perhaps. All Hallow's ( talk) 06:36, 5 October 2009 (UTC)
This is a featured article, shouldn't it have the star on it? Please excuse me if I'm wrong. Connormah ( talk) 01:46, 12 October 2009 (UTC)
I plan to remove in a few days the assertion: "However, without access to FDR's detailed medical records—which are, by all reports, unaccounted-for [33]-- it is impossible to be certain of that premise", and the reference it cites, the book "Conspiracy of Silence". The reference does not support the assertion. I read the book. It only very briefly mentions FDR's paralytic illness, and nothing about the cause of the illness. The book does document a lack of detailed medical records concerning FDR's later health, but does not discuss earlier records. There are adequate medical records concerning FDR's paralytic illness, as cited in the Journal of Medical Biography article. The reason it is impossible to know for sure the cause of the paralytic illness is simply that a spinal fluid exam was not done, as stated in the separate article on FDR's illness. For some strange reason, the link to the separate article was also removed. I'll clean that up too. Anyone who objects can discuss here. DG 174.21.117.215 ( talk) 03:01, 21 October 2009 (UTC)
There needs to be balance in the civil rights section in this article! Thousands of Germans, Italians, and Japanese, as a class of people, were arrested under the authority of FDR. Also, FDR, ignored African Americans for most of his presidency and favored racist unions. { Cmguy777 ( talk) 05:14, 1 November 2009 (UTC)}
This statement does not have a source and appears to be speculation. It can be argued that the many Catholic Italian Americans, whom Roosevelt refered to as "opera singers" [5] who were arrested by the President did not consider Roosevelt a hero. African Americans could be lynched in the South and Roosevelt made no effort to stop the lynching. The Jews were denied assylum when attempting to escape the holocost. This statement should and needs to be removed.( Cmguy777 ( talk) 17:22, 1 November 2009 (UTC))
The "Coat of Arms" section is interesting to those of us interested in heraldry, but it seems rather trivial given the scope of the subject's life. The elaborate illustration doesn't depict the actual arms and crest shown in the source: "The Arms of Franklin Delano Roosevelt", from the "American Heraldry Society". If we could obtain a free-use drawing then we might put it somewhere, or mention that Roosevelt used it as a personal badge and on gifts. However an entire section devoted to this obscure detail seems excessive. The link would be more helpful as an entry in "further reading" because it is such a specialized topic. Thoughts? Will Beback talk 20:58, 5 November 2009 (UTC)
I was surprised to see a discussion of FDR's limousine, but no mention of his presidential motor launch, which I once operated for a summer at the Indian Harbor Yacht Club in Greenwich, CT. It was made of varnished teak, with much brass hardware, and was a joy to operate. Unfree ( talk) 01:06, 11 November 2009 (UTC)
My father advised Franklin and Eleanor to go to Maxwell Maltz for plastic surgery, which they did. They must have retired from the public spotlight to recover, probably at Hyde Park or Bernard Baruch's estate in South Carolina. Unfree ( talk) 01:06, 11 November 2009 (UTC)
While I have no doubt that FDR was racist (an awful lot of people are/were), and he should certainly be called out on it, I have to wonder about this one paragraph from the "Civil Rights" section:
In terms of the New Deal, economic and regulatory policies favored White Americans and placed hardships over African Americans. The New Deal threw African Americans out of work, raised the price of food during the depths of the Depression, and granted monopoly bargaining powers to racist unions.[114] According to one historian, Jim Powell, "Black people were among the major victims of the New Deal."
A quick perusal of the internets finds most of these claims made largely on conservative blogs and such by people who are ideologically opposed to the New Deal. Therefore, I'm wondering about the veracity of the statements, and it comes off as anti-New Deal propaganda, trying to equate social welfare programs of various sorts with racism. It all seems an attempt to simultaneously demonise FDR, any sort of social support net, and trade unions. The assertions in the first two sentences are stated as if it were uncontestable fact. Even if there is a grain of truth to some of the claims, no mention is made of the right-wing credentials of those making the claims: Jim Powell, for example, is simply identified as "one historian", without noting that he is an ideologue affiliated with the Cato Institute; the earlier assertions are left uncredited.
I think the partisan and likely unsubstantiated nature of the paragraph as well as its ideologic origin would justify alterations to make those ideologic origins clearer, and possibly striking the paragraph altogether, though I didn't want to make the edit without input. NPOV doesn't mean just letting any partisan statements stand.
Interestingly, the page on "Franklin D. Roosevelt's record on civil rights" doesn't currently assert these claims. 99.135.74.9 ( talk) 05:34, 1 December 2009 (UTC)s
Theodore Roosevelt's wik article has a pronuncation guide. Why isn't there one for FDR? Kdammers ( talk) 10:44, 6 December 2009 (UTC)
I have removed the Dorothea Lange photo from this section. While it is appropriate for an article on Japanese-American internment, it does not belong in this biography article. THD3 ( talk) 13:48, 18 December 2009 (UTC)
Perhaps there are some misunderstandings going on here... I'm unsure where you see racism. I understood HIAB to mean that the Iraq war connected to GWB would warrant a picture of dead Iraqis if FDR warranted a picture of interred Japanese. I don't see the length of the article or the fact that the other sections have pictures to have any bearing on the picture in this section. On the other hand, this picture may fit with the other article you mention. It just does not seem significant enough to fit into this one, IMO. BTW, as long as we have several together here, I'm going to remove this reference to "Japs": FDR is quoted as saying, "In the days to come, I won’t trust the Japs around the corner", referring to Japanese residing inside the United States.[119] It was taken from here:
Until his end, FDR scarcely spoke out in praise of the patriotism of most Japanese Americans or the valor of Nisei who volunteered to fight for their nation on European battlefields. "In the days to come," he told audiences, "I won’t trust the Japs around the corner." As Robinson notes, many of FDR’s supporters drew little distinction between "Japs" and Japanese Americans – but, then, neither did Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
I don't feel that FDR was referring to Japanese Americans here, at any rate it is not clear. Any thoughts on that? Gandydancer ( talk) 04:08, 4 January 2010 (UTC)
I can't find anything helpful to this discussion in Xander's post.
I have again read the book review of Robinson's book on FDR. I have googled the author of the review (Ponte) and found the following comments of his from an article written about Ponte:
After McCain named Sarah Palin as his running mate, Ponte swooped to her defense in his Sept. 2 column by devising a bizarre theory to portray the media is racist:
[Sarah Palin's] husband, the liberal media reported, back in the 1980s got a ticket for driving “under the influence.”
This seemingly trivial story is actually the opening wedge of a multi-pronged orchestrated left-wing attack designed to appeal to the racism that has always been at the heart of the Democratic Party.
Palin’s husband, you see, is part Native American. His ancestors include Inuits, i.e., Eskimos. But if this fact enters the news untinted by left-wing bias, it would show Gov. Palin to be inclusive, non-racist, and noble — qualities the media intends to prevent voters from seeing.
The liberal media is therefore falsely implying that Palin’s husband is alcoholic, and from there it will echo those left-wing blogs who paint him with the “drunken Indian” racist stereotype long promoted by Democrats. http://cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx?q=lowell+ponte&d=5002142304370873&mkt=en-US&setlang=en-US&w=ee9f8ae8,da16449
Since we are using his review of Robinson's book about FDR and not the actual book, and given the fact that he, in my opinion, has a strong bias, I am going to delete the sentence that uses his reference. Gandydancer ( talk) 13:57, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
Information here: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/fdr_kept_deadly_disease_hidden_for_5EQDNU3uhriRo1HQRdmTrN Gandydancer ( talk) 16:40, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
The Franklin Roosevelt article uses the term "Agricultural Adjustment Administration" several times. This is incorrect; it should read "Agricultural Adjustment Act." Thank you. Rdennist ( talk) 08:19, 10 February 2010 (UTC)2/10/10
Is the section in his Limo really necessary? I would understand an article on Presidential transportation, but as it is, the information in this article is largely duplicated in the Sunshine Special article. On top of which, there is nothing in this article about FDR's personal car, with its ingenius hand controls. THD3 ( talk) 21:00, 30 November 2009 (UTC)
Looks like we're having a mini-epidemic of vandalism from anonymous users. Maybe we need to semi-protect the page for a while? THD3 ( talk) 16:26, 11 May 2010 (UTC)
Arnold Reisman (
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69.212.158.14 (
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There are several reasons your verbiage is unacceptable. First, it's self-promotion of your book, which is against the rules. Second, it's verbiage likely lifted straight from your book, which may be fine there, but is written in an "editorial" style that's not suitable to an encyclopedia. Third, it's original research, it's little-known (as you yourself said) and it's undue weight. Don't add it again or we'll have to meet at the WP:ANI corral. ← Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 03:07, 20 May 2010 (UTC)
I don't think you'll get far in U.S. Navy if you go in talking shit about F.D.R.: he's the Navy logos.
98.230.60.95 ( talk) 18:13, 26 May 2010 (UTC) Arkhamite
Someone reverted my edit of a "citation needed" tag for the pronunciation. This may seem quibbling, but I frequently hear "rue" (v. and n.) -se velt. (Don't know the schwa code.) A citation for the pronunciation does not seem out of bounds, even though I agree with the stated vowel values. 173.21.106.137 ( talk) 10:04, 11 May 2010 (UTC)
I thank the contributors. As I stated, I never disagreed with the quoted vowel values. I am glad verification was so readily available. Thank you for improving Wikipedia rather than deleting specifications requested by the public (for whom, and generally by whom, Wikipedia is run). 173.21.106.137 ( talk) 10:49, 11 June 2010 (UTC)
"leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war. The only American president elected to more than two terms, he forged a durable coalition that realigned American politics for decades. FDR defeated incumbent Republican Herbert Hoover in November 1932, at the depths of the Great Depression. FDR's combination of optimism and activism revived the national spirit. He led the United States through World War II, dying at the start of his fourth term just as victory was near over Germany and Japan."
Revived spirit? Optimism and activism? Led the US?(Led to where?) Such language might be appropriate on ilovefdr.com but not on a neutral encyclopedia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by WMCHEST ( talk • contribs) 04:27, 8 July 2010 (UTC)
In 1999, Harry Goldsmith, MD, a well-respected surgeon from Dartmouth Medical College, published an article [6], and somewhat later a book [7], postulating that a pigmented cutaneous lesion clearly visible over FDR's left eyebrow was in fact a melanoma, a malignant skin tumor. Examination of photographs taken over the first 8 years of Roosevelt's presidency clearly demonstrates steady growth of this lesion, followed by its unexplained disappearance, and replacement by an apparent surgical scar, in approximately 1940. [8] Notably, this pigmented lesion was carefully retouched out of all official presidential portrait photographs taken during that period. [9] Melanoma is an aggressive malignancy with dangerous metastatic potential; treatment options (then as now) are very limited beyond surgical excision, particularly after metastasis has occurred. Metastatic melanoma, Goldman contended, compounded by multiple serious cardiovascular problems, could have been the true cause of FDR's death. [10] Central to this theory was Goldman's documentation of lectures and conversations given by George T. Pack, MD, a renown cancer surgeon and head of the melanoma service at Memorial Sloane-Kettering Hospital in New York City, who stated unequivocally that his colleague Frank Lahey, MD had seen FDR in consultation at the Lahey Clinic in 1944, determined that the president had advanced metastatic cancer, and advised him not to pursue a fourth term. [11]
Howard Bruenn, MD, Roosevelt's last surviving personal physician, who had, several years before, published a summary of FDR's medical history which made no mention of cancer, [12] denied in a series of interviews after Goldsmith's paper was published that FDR ever had cancer. However, he presented no evidence to refute Goldsmith's conclusions, and he was unable to explain the mysterious disappearance of the pigmented lesion. [13]
In 2009, a physician and a journalist published FDR's Deadly Secret, [14] an assemblage of surviving medical records, independent medical evidence, and eyewitness reports, including new information from the diaries of Margaret Suckley, [15] Roosevelt's distant cousin, frequent companion, and confidante, which collectively (albeit circumstantially) support Goldsmith's conclusions.
It is very likely that this issue will every be resolved with absolute certainty. An autopsy, inexplicably, was performed. Roosevelt's voluminous personal medical records disappeared after his death, and except for a few laboratory slips, found in 1957, remain missing. There are no known surgical pathology specimens, nor any other incontrovertible medical evidence. All of FDR's physicians and other primary caretakers are deceased. The opinions of historians and other scholars continue to vary widely. Even Harry Goldsmith, the physician whose 1979 paper raised the question in the first place, recently admitted that he is not convinced metastatic cancer killed Roosevelt. [16]
I've moved this new section here for discussion. The main reference appears to be to a self-published book written by the proponent of this theory. Aside from the one NYT article, it doesn't sound like this theory has received wider attention. If we decide to mention it I think a much shorter discussion of it, perhaps a sentence, would be sufficient. Other thoughts? Will Beback talk 00:14, 9 April 2010 (UTC)
Well, that was fast. The information added is well-referenced, covers both sides of the controversy, does not violate any copyrights, and is true -- so why was it deleted, unilaterally, in a matter of hours? I'm not sure which of the several references cited is the "main reference", but none of them is "self-published" -- and I have no interest, financial or otherwise, in either side of this controversy. But as a dermatologist, I have examined the scientific evidence, and it is compelling enough to require mention by any serious reference. The theory has received wide attention in the medical community -- I already offered to provide further references on request. J. Eastern, MD —Preceding unsigned comment added by DoctorJoeE ( talk • contribs) 03:44, 9 April 2010 (UTC)
FDR’s Deadly Secret is a mistake ridden mish-mash of speculation along with a bit of new information. Upon reading the book, I immediately spotted an error to the effect that Franklin Roosevelt's 1944 acceptance speech (which was delivered via radio while he was aboard a train) was the first time he had not appeared at the Democratic National Convention to accept the nomination personally. Not true. He accepted the 1940 nomination via an address from the White House. (By the way, it was FDR who began the tradition of the nominee accepting his nomination at the convention.)
The thesis of the book is that Roosevelt was in much worse shape for longer in his presidency than has ever been revealed publicly. This has been raised in the media before. In 1979, a doctor named Harry Goldsmith postulated that FDR may have had malignant melanoma. This is based on photographs of FDR showing a dark spot over his left eye that appeared in the late-1920s, slowly grew, then mysteriously disappeared in 1942. The authors pick up on this, further theorizing that, by the time of his death, FDR's (unproven) melanoma had metastasized into stomach and brain cancer. The authors state that it was stomach cancer which caused FDR's weight loss in 1944, and that several incidents when the President seemed "out of it" were seizures caused by brain cancer.
The book's preface is illustrative of the flaws in the authors' work. It recounts FDR's address to the Congress after his return from the Yalta conference in 1945. There were a large number of verbal stumbles in that speech. The authors state that, based on the location of the text in his reading copy of the speech, FDR was having trouble with visual acuity in his left eye. Further, they state that FDR was using his hand to mark his place on the page while reading, and that he had never done so before. This latter statement is demonstrably NOT TRUE. There are newsreels of FDR as early as 1938 showing him using this method, and it increases as the years pass. Could it simply be that FDR's eyesight, as was common in older men, was beginning to fail, and he may have developed an astigmatism? There is no record of FDR's glasses prescription ever being changed during his presidency - and this would easily account for such troubles.
The authors speculate on several instances in the last year of his life when FDR seemed to briefly lose his mental grasp, only to recover a few minutes later. They claim that the President was suffering from seizures. But anyone who has seen someone having a brain seizure knows this is not the usual way it presents itself. It has been speculated elsewhere that FDR was suffering from Transient Ischemic Attacks, sometimes called "mini-strokes" and this seems the more likely cause.
As to FDR's weight loss, it has been documented as having been deliberate. FDR preferred to keep his weight at 175#, which would be an acceptable weight for a 6'2" paralytic. Due to the doubly sedentary nature of being paralyzed and working behind a desk, his weight fluctuated throughout his presidency, and by the end of 1943, he was nearly obese. It was on the recommendation of his doctors that FDR lose weight to reduce the strain on his heart. The authors trot out several figures for how much FDR weighed at various points, with no documentation to support them. One can only surmise that they are "guesstimating" based on photographs.
Perhaps most troubling is the attitude the authors take toward Howard Bruenn, the cardiologist who examined FDR in early 1944 and diagnosed his cardiac failure. This book is a reckless slap at his memory, accusing Bruenn, who arguably kept the President alive several additional months, of falsifying his accounts of his time with the President. If any physician made such a remark in public about another living doctor, he would likely get booted out of the AMA. But Bruenn died in 1995, so he must be a safe target.
The book also relies on some highly suspect accounts, such as those by Walter Trohan, a scandalmonger for the fiercely anti-FDR Chicago Tribune (the newspaper which published the infamous Dewey Defeats Truman headline).
Finally, the authors fail to clearly delineate between the reporting of fact and their own speculations - several times repeating the cancer thesis as if it were a fact.
Speculation about FDR's health has surrounded him ever since he ran for Governor of New York in 1928. There were rumors that his paralysis was caused by syphilis. In 2003, a peer-reviewed study concluded that his paralysis was most likely caused by Guillain-Barré syndrome, not Polio (and certainly not syphilis).
No doubt, the controversy surrounding FDR's health and his fitness for office in the last 16 months of his presidency remains some 65 years after his death. Many worthy books have been written which address his physical health and state of mind during that period. This isn't one of them. THD3 ( talk) 12:27, 9 April 2010 (UTC)
I have read that review, which is posted on Amazon.com, and we can discuss it in a more appropriate venue if you wish. (I'm interested, for example, in why you think doctors are forbidden to make remarks about each other, and why doing so would "likely get [him] booted out of the AMA" - which very few doctors belong to anymore anyway.) And I have my own issues with that particular book. But, of course, our personal opinions of one of the cited references is irrelevant to this discussion. And I understand the natural tendency to push back when new data is presented which contradicts our cherished lifelong beliefs. But the fact remains that this controversy exists; the evidence, while circumstantial, is strong; it is frequently discussed in both medical and historical circles; the summary I added clearly labeled it as a controversy, not a fact; the circumstances surrounding a president's death are of more than passing importance; and to ignore such a controversy completely, in an article that purports to be a comprehensive summary of FDR's life, diminishes the relevance of that article. DoctorJoeE ( talk) 14:25, 9 April 2010 (UTC)
I was stumped by something this morning. I saw FDR on a recent list of Time Magazine's list of "Only Children That Changed The World". I checked here and it notes that FDR was an only child.
A very oft-repeated piece of trivia is that no US President was an only child. Is that piece of trivia wrong, or is there something missing in the commonly known FDR biography that isn't mentioned in the article, e.g. a step-sibling or an adopted sibling? -- PoughkeepsieNative ( talk) 12:18, 11 July 2010 (UTC)
An article out today with some pertinent details:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/29/us/29fdr.html
Dhollm ( talk) 06:31, 29 July 2010 (UTC)
What did FDR exactly have to do with labor day and how its celebrated today? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.32.65.174 ( talk) 04:06, 31 August 2010 (UTC)
"One thing is sure. We have to do something. We have to do the best we know how at the moment . . . ; If it doesn't turn out right, we can modify it as we go along." — Franklin D.Roosevelt counseling Frances Perkins —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.160.184.26 ( talk) 21:28, 3 October 2010 (UTC)
In the map of FDR's foriegn trips Morocco is not shaded in despite his attending the Casablanca Conference, should this be changed or am I missing something? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 123.136.37.238 ( talk) 03:22, 2 November 2010 (UTC)
I must apologize for this edit. I've been removing a spammed self-published source from several articles (books by Arnold Reisman), and I don't know how it happened exactly but I've inadvertently reverted to an older version on several of them, as well removing the spam I was looking for. I must have clicked on an older version by mistake when looking through the IPs contribs. Thank you to Rjensen for catching it, and I'm very sorry for the inconvenience. SlimVirgin talk| contribs 08:04, 10 November 2010 (UTC)
The "text book" version is that FDR was paralyzed by polio. Here, one article is cited challenging that idea. Is this truly a school of thought on the subject or just the speculation of one author? Johnfravolda ( talk) 18:18, 23 November 2010 (UTC)
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On the Franklin Delano Roosevelt page, in the area "Second Term, 1937-1941," a slight change should be made. On the page, it is stated that Roosevelt proposed a law allowing him to appoint 5 new justices. This is incorrect. Roosevelt wanted to appoint 6 new justices, not 5. Please change this. I have been looking through textbooks and websites, and they say this is the case.
173.77.145.51 ( talk) 00:46, 10 January 2011 (UTC)
"According to the Roosevelt family, Eleanor offered Franklin a divorce so that he could be with the woman he loved, but Lucy, being Catholic, could not bring herself to marry a divorced man with five children. " this is contradicted in the Eleanor Roosevelt article:
"Despite its happy start and Roosevelt's intense desire to be a loving and loved wife, their marriage almost disintegrated over Franklin's affair with his wife's social secretary Lucy Mercer (later Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd).[12] When Eleanor learned of the affair from Mercer's letters, which she discovered in Franklin's suitcases in September 1918, she was brought to despair and self-reproach. She told Franklin she would insist on a divorce if he did not immediately end the affair. He knew that a divorce would not reflect well on his family, so he ended the relationship. So implacable was Sara's opposition to divorce that she warned her son she would disinherit him. Corinne Robinson, and Louis McHenry Howe, Franklin's political advisors, were also influential in persuading Eleanor and Franklin to save the marriage for the sake of the children and Franklin's political career. The idea has been put forth that, because Mercer was a Catholic, she would never have married a divorced Protestant. Her relatives maintain that she was perfectly willing to marry Franklin. Her father's family was Episcopal and her mother had been divorced.[13] While Franklin agreed never to see Mercer again, she began visiting him in the 1930s and was with Franklin at Warm Springs, Georgia when he died on April 12, 1945.[14]"
This should be researched and re-aligned. Nem ( talk) 09:45, 11 January 2011 (UTC)
I must disagree with the fact that he knew nothing about the Pearl Harbor attacks. He wanted them so we would be in the war. 69.247.188.19 ( talk) 02:55, 15 December 2010 (UTC)
Reply to above - Read Day of Deceit by Robert Stinnett and World War II by Richard Mayberry —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.247.188.19 ( talk) 03:17, 21 December 2010 (UTC)
You must remember that Wikipedia is just people stating whatever they want so historians may or may not reject his idea, you can't know for sure, and neither can I, but he gives PLENTY of evidence and documents to back him up. And yes, I did have the name wrong. It is Richard Maybury, and he can be trusted, economist or otherwise. There is an 8 step plan the U.S. used to provoke Japan to attack. You can find it in both these books and at whatreallyhappened.com. There is also an article about it on Wikipedia. 69.247.188.19 ( talk) 01:12, 28 December 2010 (UTC)
My question to you would be, how do you know what you're saying is true? How do you know that most historians reject stinnett? True, wikipedia says that, but do you have another source? You have yet to list a "reliable source" for your claims, yet you keep asking me to. Also, you said nothing about the 8-part McCollum memo for provoking Japan. Look it up. Also, Navy Rear Admiral Robert Theobald says he knew, along with Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, Secretary of War Henry Stimson, and Henry Clausen just to name a few. These are reliable sources entirely since they are part of the Navy. 12.52.250.126 ( talk) 22:22, 28 December 2010 (UTC)
Reply to Rjensen - I myself NOT being a supporter of Japan in the war am not saying they were right, but the McCollum plan was made to provoke them into attacking so they would of course use it to justify their attack. My original argument was that FDR knew about the attacks and I have lifted sources to back it up. Here are some more... www.nypress.com/article-4183-fdr-knew-pearl-harbor-was-coming.html - whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/pearl/.../pearl.html - It seems obvious to me that the proof is unmistakable. 69.247.188.19 ( talk) 02:44, 29 December 2010 (UTC) BTW, just for a heads up, I just created an account, so you will see a different signature from here out. Personalskeptic ( talk) 03:20, 29 December 2010 (UTC)
As you said, my opinion is not the end all. There is a good bit of evidence for both sides, that is why this debate has gone on for so long. All I'm saying is I believe he knew, and there are government documents to prove it. I'm also reading another book called the Pearl Harbor Myth: Rethinking the Unthinkable by George Victor. It gives more positive evidence, not speculation that points to the fact that he knew. Obviously, you have a different opinion. You beleive what has been taught for years, but that is your choice. I have studied both sides and have found very good eveidence that points to the fact that he knew beforehand, so I believe that way. I still say you can't disagree with the Government documents that explain it all, so I don't see how you can, but that is a choice. Also, just because someone is a historian doesn't mean they know all there is to know about the subject, nor do I. I am just stating what I believe to be true by the evidence I have studied. Personalskeptic ( talk) 23:37, 30 December 2010 (UTC)
Reply to Rjensen - How do you know the theories were invented? Do you have proof? He was given cable after cable of cracked Japanese codes by American cryptologists showing of the planned attack, yet he didn't tell his Navy officers at the Harbor. You can't argue with government documents that prove it. Personalskeptic ( talk) 00:18, 31 December 2010 (UTC)
It is covered to an extent but it doesn't list all the evidence and leans toward one view. Personalskeptic ( talk) 01:23, 31 December 2010 (UTC)
Ok, whatever. This is just my opinion, and I respect everyone else's. All of you need to take time to look into it though, I think. No need for anyone to get upset. I believe I HAVE listed relevant sources, so I don't think I've broken any rules. I actually enjoyed the discussion and I'm glad that the others were willing to dialogue with me. :) Personalskeptic ( talk) 01:52, 31 December 2010 (UTC)
Day of deceit: the truth about FDR and Pearl Harbor ( ISBN 9780743201292) clearly shows that FDR was aware of the Pearl Harbor Attacks prior to their culmination. I am surprised that there is any question on the subject, now that the documents that proved this were released per the Freedom of Information Act. Whatever may be the reason for his reticence on this interesting subject (perhaps political maneuvering or trying to fix his broken image after the Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937) we need to include this information in the article. I have added a neutrality tag to notify interested users of this ongoing debate. The full article is Pearl Harbor advance-knowledge debate-- Novus Orator 11:30, 4 January 2011 (UTC)
You all appear to be falling into a very common trap--arguing about the topic, instead of about the article. Wikipedia is not here to determine what "really happened" or, specifically FDR "really knew". All we care is what reliable sources believe. If most reliable historians (as stated on Day of Deceit) believe that it's not reliable info, than we cannot include it here. It's really that simple. We only include opinions if they are WP:DUE inclusion, and it appears that DoD is not. Not because I think Stinett is right, or wrong, or a photographer, or whatever, but because reliable sources say the opinion isn't credible enough to deserve a place in reliable history. Now, if, because of more recent revelations, the opinions of reliable historians change, to the point where the DoD theory is considered to be believable, then, at that point, we can include it on this page. But Wikipedia must follow the sources, not lead them. Qwyrxian ( talk) 07:46, 5 January 2011 (UTC)
There is absolutely ZERO justification for the photo of the Japanese family in this article. Until I see a picture of a hanger full of flag-draped caskets for Bush II, the newly homeless family of an unemployed factory worker for Reagan, or FFS even a goddamn Hooverville for Herbert Hoover, wikipedia is completely unjustified in singling out FDR for such overt criticism (not that surprising since "Jimbo" Wales is a confessed libertarian). 71.234.198.222 ( talk) 05:39, 9 January 2011 (UTC)
FDR has his critics of his economic policies. This article reads like some canonizing article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ericg33 ( talk • contribs) 10:05, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
Agreed. Also, why no mention at all of the well-documented fact that General McCarthy knew that thebJapanese were attacking American land and he did not raise the alert at all, thus resulting in the simple takeover of his authority and the death march of his subjects? Instead of telling America what happened, FDR treated him like a hero. This is a MAJOR fact of history that speaks to a major action of FDR and it's not even included in any way. Of course, it could be that the Wikipedia editors have a bias, which is clearly seen in the other discussions on this age. ````TC —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.181.118.130 ( talk) 06:41, 16 February 2011 (UTC)
His relatively strong anti-semitism might be of interest for a criticism section. 80.216.47.208 ( talk) 12:12, 6 March 2011 (UTC)