The Roosevelt Myth: 50th Anniversary Edition

Franklin Roosevelt is incorrectly viewed by many as the greatest president of the twentieth century. The author totally destroys that myth and lays out the facts. FDR was an absolute liar and the consumate politician. After Lincoln, he probably did more to destroy the Constitution than any other president. His New Deal was a hopeless disaster even though many historians have credited it for ending the Great Depression when it actually prolonged it. It was World War II which ended the Great Depression. Roosevelt's administration was filled with communist sympathizers and communists, most notably Alger Hiss. It's small wonder he agreed to most of Stalin's demands and was directly responsible for the enslavement of millions of east Europeans after World War II for almost 50 years. This book puts FDR in the proper light and hopefully will lead to more people learning the truth about him.

Like most Americans, I considered Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) to have been a decent and intelligent leader. If nothing else, I believed him to be a force for shaping American attitudes in a positive way when an attitude of optimism was needed most - during the Great Depression. I will admit that I never much cared for his fathering of Big Government and the Nanny State, but I wasn't particularly offended by the accolades bestowed upon him by history. But this book has completely changed the basis for that viewpoint. History has indeed treated FDR well - too well in fact. FDR may have started out with good intentions but he quickly became corrupt and drunk with power. He did nothing of substance to pull America out of the Great Depression (the economics of war did that). Instead, FDR allowed himself to be shaped by the experiments of the social engineers and consequently tried to re-create America's economic and political infrastructure (without any constitutional justification). FDR attacked the very system he was supposed to be reviving (not replacing) - the free-market economy. With the direction of Keynesian "intellectuals," he tried to replace capitalism with a planned socialist economy. Fortunately, war and his death did what the electorate would not - halt the onslaught against American institutions that had served to promote this country's success and prosperity for 140 years. What should have been a repair job turned into an attempt to uproot and replace the entire system! Then there were the foreign policy debacles, not the least of which was FDR's responsibility in allowing the Pearl Harbor attack to proceed despite full knowledge of its eminence. Then there is the war that America won but had nothing to show for it. FDR gave away the proverbial farm at a cost of many American lives. This man, in the throes of death (a fact hidden from most Americans), conceded demand after demand to Stalin in hopes of softening Uncle Joe into accepting democracy. The post-WWII situation quickly revealed the lies of the war propaganda machinery. Yes, Hitler was defeated. But thanks to FDR's obsession with appeasing Stalin, Communist Russia emerged the victor as it captured sixteen nations, increasing the population under its control from 193,000,000 to 725,584,000! (NOTE: It took forty years and a real American president to stand up to the Communist menace and to finally give back what FDR gave away) It is amazing that so much of the information in this book is not better known. While the New Deal advocates (liberals, socialists, and communists) deride the 20th century's real American hero, Ronald Reagan, they forget that their 20th century hero created the Big Government that thrives on public debt. And FDR did the exact opposite of Reagan - he appeased Communism and delivered people to the control of Soviet oppression. Reagan and his policies may have continued in the tradition of Roosevelt's massive debt-spe

This book is must reading for those who favor Constitutional government and who know instinctively that FDR began the systematic destruction of the American free enterprise system. The book fills in the details of what exactly FDR did that subverted the Constitution. Examples: His administration told the public that the free enterprise system couldn't produce enough to feed America at even a bare subsistence level-then proceeded to spend $700 million over a two year period to destroy crops and livestock to raise agricultural prices. He oversaw the creation of the National Industrial Recovery Association, which organized various industries into collectives free to fix prices and arrest those who didn't go along (in one instance, a tailor was arrested for charging 35 cents to hem a pair of pants instead of the guild mandated minimum of 40 cents). FDR got around the legislative process of lawmaking by creating agencies which then received appropriations without Congressional approval; these agencies then created their own regulations and enforcement branches. FDR created dozens of "social welfare" programs which he himself admitted were "narcotic." And despite the popular perception that FDR "ended the depression" there were just as many people unemployed and just as many people on the dole in 1939 as there were in 1932 when FDR was first elected. In short, FDR was skilled at getting elected, but not at leading (anyone could get elected 4 times if they stood on the street giving away $100 bills; the catch is that FDR didn't tell the public that their children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, etc. would be the ones paying for it). And of course there was FDR's biggest debacle: the Social Security program, the biggest pyramid scheme of all time. It's important to note that this book was written by a contemporary of FDR and not by some publicity hound. John T. Flynn had been a respected writer for years before he wrote this book and has also written other important books. WARNING: Because of the decades long propaganda by the mass media, there are many who place FDR in equal esteem with Jesus Christ. Be prepared for temper tantrums, emotional outbursts, and insults directed at you if you discuss this book.

If the reader wants to understand what really happened during the FDR presidency regarding his success with the handling of The Great Depression and the WWII Peace Negotiations with Stalin, this is THE definitive book to read. Its six pages of (128) References and four page Bibliography of 93 separate books documents Mr. Flynn's analysis and provides the reader with many other sources to investigate this crucial period in American and World history. John T. Flynn's writing style is most engaging and the logical development of his subject matter is unsurpassed.