Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 – 1945)

Many Democrats in the United States say that FDR is one of the greatest political leaders in history.

“May he have a lasting influence on the hearts and minds of men!”
~ Albert Einstein

With The Atlantic Charter President Roosevelt spread freedom to the World. The Atlantic Charter was the statement of principles agreed to by President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill of Great Britain at their first wartime conference, August 9-12, 1941. The Charter expressed the two countries' beliefs in the right of political self-determination for all people, along with the belief that all nations must abandon the use of force and work collectively in the fields of economics and security.
“A milestone to the creation of the United Nations, the Atlantic Charter should be seen as the first real step towards a world organization... its strength lay in its sincerity of spirit and prescription for a better world.”
-- The United Nations Chronicle

“When victory comes we shall stand shoulder to shoulder in seeking to nourish the great ideals for which we fight. It is a worth-while battle. It will be so recognised through all the ages, even amid the unfortunate peoples who follow false gods today. We reaffirm our principles. They will bring us to a happier world.”

“I have seen war. I have seen war on land and sea. I have seen blood running from the wounded...I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities destroyed...I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives. I hate war.”

“We have faith that future generations will know here, in the middle of the twentieth century, there came a time when men of good will found a way to unite, and produce, and fight to destroy the forces of ignorance, and intolerance, and slavery, and war.”

“Enduring peace cannot be bought at the cost of other people's freedom.”

“Unless the peace that follows recognizes that the whole world is one neighborhood and does justice to the whole human race, the germs of another world war will remain as a constant threat to mankind.”

“The structure of world peace cannot be the work of one man, or one party, or one Nation. It must be a peace which rests on the cooperative effort of the whole world. [...] Peace can endure only so long as humanity really insists upon it, and is willing to work for it—and sacrifice for it.”

“Those who cherish their freedom and recognize and respect the equal right of their neighbors to be free and live in peace must work together for the triumph of law and moral principles in order that peace, justice, and confidence may prevail in the world.”

“The Presidency ... is pre-eminently a place of moral leadership. All our great Presidents were leaders of thought at times when certain historic ideas in the life of the nation had to be clarified.”

“There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.”

“These men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good will among all Thy people.”

“We defend and we build a way of life, not for America alone, but for all mankind.”

“Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.”

“Great accumulations of wealth cannot be justified on the basis of personal and family security. In the last analysis such accumulations amount to the perpetuation of great and undesirable concentration of control in a relatively few individuals over the employment and welfare of many, many others.”

“We must remember that any oppression, any injustice, any hatred, is a wedge designed to attack our civilization.”