Roosevelt: A Modern Jefferson

Extract

The full measurement of our late president must wait for the passage of time, but the continuation of his influence upon current politics must depend upon the immediate evaluations of his character and his greatness. Today's evaluation, despite the loyalty evoked by war time and the charitableness expected at death, must be colored by political feeling, personal prejudices, and previous attitudes towards his policies. Yet, all observers agree that he was the central figure of twelve momentous years of our history. In the fact of his death in wartime service he has been compared to Abraham Lincoln, and, like Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt assumed strong attributes of power to meet emergencies. But in his character, in his general policies, in his background, and, I think, sometimes in his own opinion of himself, Roosevelt can much better be compared with Thomas Jefferson.