Roosevelt

“He is a friendly man who would like to be president, but he does not have the necessary qualifications for the office.” Perhaps never again was the distinguished American publicist Walter Lippmann, an elite commentator for the New York Herald Tribune, so mistaken as in 1932, when he thus assessed the man who would be elected president of the United States of America four times. The facts and context show that no American president, with the possible exception of Abraham Lincoln, had such a profound influence on the history of the USA. They clearly demonstrate that Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a captivating leader who, of course, had his faults and shortcomings, but who skilfully used his personal charisma to convince people that, in the final analysis, the positives outweighed the negatives. He consolidated and restored democratic principles by, among other things, sanctioning state intervention in the economy and ending isolationism. It is to his great credit that he strengthened his compatriots in their optimism, humanity, and firm belief in democracy at a time when it was seriously threatened throughout the world. However, what the world appreciated most was the fact that he was, above all, a symbol of realistic politics.