FDR did Japanese internment, tried court packing, and was arguably the first of the modern style of power-hungry president. He constantly threatened members of Congress that didn’t roll over and go along with his agenda. To that end he was very influential but not entirely in a good way.

He hardly ended the depression, economic conditions were poor until WW2 (eg look at the 1937 downturn, well into his tenure).

Exactly. FDR is the reason that the President today has an unbalanced amount of power compared to Congress.

That being said, back then, I would argue that the situation would have been very different had a lesser person than FDR been elected president, given the kind of political climate it was around the world.

> FDR is the reason

Well, and also every administration and Congress after him for not changing it back.

Oh, he only busted the Great Depression, won WWII, built half of the infrastructure that we keep kicking the expiration date on, and negotiated 80% of the beneficial fine print in your employment contract. Don't you think he could have done a bit more?

My list would be: 1. FDR, 2. Carter, 3. Teddy. Carter because he sacrificed his career to fix inflation (Republican attempts to rewrite history notwithstanding), and Teddy because he wasn't merely an excellent man with excellent politics, but also because whenever present-day Republicans try to claim the man without claiming his politics I can turn it into a teachable moment, and putting him on a list with the other two is the perfect bait.

He didn't end the depression. it clearly continued right to wwii. You can dabate how things might have been if he had been allowed all his ideas (some of which were as undemocratic as what trump wants)

He steered us to join the war which did end the depression.

Whether it be the new deal or non-isolationist policy, his direction led us out of the depression.

> won WWII

or so Hollywood would have us believe

Sure, the parts Stalin didn’t win.

FDR, Stalin, and Churchill all won that war. History is super messy!

So did Hitler. I mean, he did end up killing Hitler, that's gotta count for something!

Team America to the rescue! But it does seem like without FDR it would have been won for the allies anyway.

I think this kind of counterfactual is pretty impossible to do.

Do you mean that it would have been won without any US involvement? Or do you mean the US involvement would have proceeded similarly with a different president?

From my cursory sense of things it seems like both are probably true. The U.S with FDR obviously contributed to it ending when it did, but so did other countries who were there earlier and sacrificed more. The U.S seems like more of a winner in the sense that they sacrificed relatively little while getting the most out of it, but I don't know if that's a good use of the term "won" in the context of a world war.

*yet

> Stalin didn’t win

...even backed by crucial US supplies

Historical note: Stalin and Hitler agreed to start WW2 by invading Poland in September 1939.

So Stalin may have played a part in ending WW2, but don't forget his part in starting it.

Infrastructure was mostly built in Eisenhower's era, not FDR's. Helping Soviets during WWII was a major mistake and it can be personally attributed to FDR - a radical leftist - himself. Many people around him advised him of the dangers of helping Commies.

U.S. should have ignored Soviet-German war. Then finish Commies with nukes.

> Then finish Commies with nukes.

If they'd done that they'd be down in history as worse than the worst of communism. It was bad enough that they dropped 2 on the Japanese which scores American civilisation a questionable footnote in the history books. "Only people to use a weapon this terrible".

The problem with unprincipled aggression is that, sooner or later, other people match it. The US ended up doing much better by defeating the communists without directly fighting them - one of the few wars the US unambiguously won and why people don't want to learn that lesson is one of the great mysteries. Victories through overwhelming prosperity are both decisive and comfortable.

But that is the point! Get rid of everyone who wasn't friendly/under control, who could match it. Thus achieving worldwide democracy for all nations who could support it immediately, and unlimited time to get everyone who can't, prepared (with potentially unlimited violence applied to force them to). Achieve a sustainable hegemony.

FDR stripped 110,000 Americans of their property and herded them into concentration camps.

One of these persons came to speak to my class when I was in elementary school. She was an elderly woman by then. She told us about her daily life in one of these concentration camps. I don't remember much. She definitely told us about the wooden buildings, and only being allowed to bring in what possessions they could carry in a suitcase. I think she also said that they recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

My parents took my siblings and I as children to Manzanar, which has been kept close to its original state. The brutality sits with me. Swarms of mosquitos bit at our family, clouds of dust made it hard to keep eyes open. It was blazing hot, over 100º, so the dust hurt. Rows of squat, decrepit hovels stretched out across the desolate sand towards the mountains. You could see the desert through floors. Barbed wire fences, mounted guns on guard towers.

10,000 American citizens imprisoned in conditions worse than a zoo.

I’m not in USA and I don’t know about this story. Do you have a name for it so I can search?

I'm not American either. I think he means Executive Order 9066 signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_America...

It's commonly known as "Japanese Internment" or "Japanese-American Internment."

Actor George Takei was among the victims, and he's written about his experiences

https://www.npr.org/2024/04/20/1245844347/george-takei-my-lo...

This includes real estate that is worth many billions now. The west coast was heavily farmed by Asian Americans, who lost their property to people who are still profiting from the theft to this day.

The family behind Kokuho Rose, a popular California sushi rice strain, was affected by this. While they didn't lose the land in the end, it was still stripped of anything of value and left to decay by their neighbors while they were in the camp.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koda_Farms

A Japanese American has also been credited with kicking off the California wine industry, and similarly had his land stolen during that era.

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20221113-kanaye-nagasawa-...

I think imprisoning US citizens based on race and laying the groundwork for the current healthcare system disqualifies one from the podium.

When historians study the U.S. a thousand years in the future his presidency will be the demarcation line between the Anglo-American Republic and the semi-democracy we live in now.

Jesus Christ, dude.