this is too perfect. i never would have attributed such restraint to him (and I'm still skeptical).
Actually, this makes sense.
While Roosevelt introduced the concept of entitlements to America, the simple fact of the matter is that Roosevelt probably gave us the bare minimum we could have gotten away with during the Depression. He was squeezed into where he was by the more radicals, such as Father Coughlin and Huey Long, who would have been much more redistributory. Things really could have been a lot worse.
This gives more credence to my suspicion that Roosevelt was as moderate as he could be at the time. Part of the rationale for social security during the Depression was to get the old guys out of the workforce and replace them with younger workers.