What Roosevelt Thought.
Inscribed To ER
[Roosevelt, Eleanor]. Greer, Thomas H. What Roosevelt Thought. The Social and Political Ideas of Franklin D. Roosevelt. (East Lansing, Michigan): Michigan State University Press, 1958.
8vo.; blue cloth, spine stamped in gilt; dust-jacket.
First edition of Greer’s book-length answer to the question “Why, then, should attention be paid to his thought or philosophy?” A presentation copy, inscribed on the front endpaper: For/ Eleanor Roosevelt/ with Profound Admiration/ Tom Greer.
To Greer, “[t]he answer is patent and simple: Roosevelt had the highest political experience of any American of our time. His ideas were developed during a life of continuing interest and participation in politics and government.” Greer makes effective use of the archival riches of the FDR Library to quote examples of the President’s pragmatic approach to problems, and he uses FDR’s words to rebut the complaints of critics who badgered him for supposedly sacrificing principles of the sake of political expediency. Roosevelt understood the importance of actual accomplishment over mere rhetorical adherence to doctrinal purity. On one notable occasion, after listening to some ardent young critics from the Youth Congress fault him for not pushing harder for various reforms, Roosevelt said, “Maybe you would make a much better President than I have. Maybe you will, some day. If you ever sit here, you will learn that you cannot, just by shouting from the housetops, get what you want all the time.”
A touching relic from the Eleanor’s library.
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