| AUGUST 3, 2026 -- Happy 250th birthday United States of America! Just seems like yesterday our ancestors were at Lexington and Concord, as Minutemen were fighting for our liberty and freedom from England. Today we seem to be in the same events as our forefathers were in 1776.
In May there was a program on the History Channel on Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR), our 32nd President. Starting with Herbert Hoover in the 1920’s, the country was booming with industry and agriculture in their golden days until the crash of 1929. The rich lost everything, President Hoover stated the Federal government had no plan to deal with disaster relying on the wealthy to bail out the country. With no money, the millionaires did what they thought was best by closing factories, laying off workers and closing banks causing the country to slip into the Great Depression. “Brother Could You Spare a Dime” was written for the despaired.
Roosevelt felt the need and ran for President winning with a plan and a vision. His Fireside Chats calmed the nation. He listed four freedoms (Speech, Religion, Wants, and from Fear).
FDR’s administration created jobs and work programs to get people back to work, creating an infrastructure to build roads, bridges, dams, parks, reclamation of forests, restoration of farmland through conservation programs. People were working, factories reopened and the country was pulling itself up by its bootstraps. WWII was developing in Europe and Americans didn’t want any part of the conflict but FDR knew if we didn’t aid in the fight, the world would be in trouble. Aid was offered to England. Production of ships, planes, trucks, tanks and arms were ramped up to aid our friends in defeating their enemies. The War Powers Act had factories closed down for domestic work and opened for war production. GM built trucks and tanks, Ford built planes, Jeeps and vehicles. My mother worked at Underwood Typewriter in Hartford assembling manual typewriters. During WWII, Underwood assembled M1 Carbines in the Hartford plant and my mother was a final assembler of these.
December 7, 1941 was the “Day of Infamy” as Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii drawing the United States into the war. The Army went to Europe and the Marines fought the Japanese on the Pacific front while the Navy and Air Corps went where needed. All nations worked together in defeating Hitler. FDR didn’t live to see the end of the war. The question was always, “What if FDR saw the end of the war, where would be be?” We know that the Marshall Plan (European Recovery Plan) helped rebuild Germany and Japan. Would FDR’s 2nd New Deal have brought the Freedoms of Want to the US? If only.
As we celebrate our Nation’s 250th birthday, just remember that 100 years ago the stock market crashed and the Depression was next. Remember, “History tends to repeat itself.”
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