[expat_panama]

You're describing lots of bad things FDR did.   You're saying he did those bad things because his motivation was sinister and he knew exactly what he was doing and it all fit into a careful plan.

While I do agree that he did a lot of bad things, I don't agree that he was so smart that he knew and understood in advance the consequences of so many of his actions.   I actually don't know whether FDR was a clever evil person or a part-time fool; but I do know that people in general are good and that when they do bad things it's more often than not because they're foolish.

Then again, I hang around a lot of stupid people (present company excepted of course).

[RKV]

At the time, socialism was the big intellectual thing - it was "scientific." Now we know it as "murderous" given our practical experience with socialism as it works in practice. In terms of Roosevelt's motivation(s), I find it hard to categorically say sinister or not. What I can do, is evaluate the facts and look at the outcomes, and infer motivation from that. It is not particularly satisfying, but I leave that to others who can devote much more time and study to the problem than I can. In terms of comparing current politicians to historical ones, I think of FDR as being MUCH like SlickWilly. In a word - manipulative. Smart, but amoral.