Clinton Praises FDR At TIME Gala

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, March 4) -- President Bill Clinton saluted one of his predecessors, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, at TIME Magazine's 75th Anniversary Gala Tuesday evening.

Clinton praised Roosevelt's leadership during World War II and the Great Depression and urged Americans to follow the courageous example FDR set.

The star-studded event brought together current and former world leaders, sports legends, actors and writers. Clinton was one of several celebrity guests asked to toast their favorite great Americans.

"He was a master politician, and a magnificent commander-in-chief," Clinton said. "His life had its fair share of disappointment and failures, but they never broke his spirit, or his faith in God or his fellow citizens. Because he always rose to the occasion, so did we."

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev also had high praise for Roosevelt, making a connection between Roosevelt's legacy and the populist accomplishments of Gandhi and Lenin.

"In Russia, he [Roosevelt] is held in high regard, perhaps no less than in this country," Gorbachev. "In Russia, we appreciate his New Deal."

Clinton contrasted the challenges of Roosevelt faced, the Great Depression and World War II, with those of today, the global economy and Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

The president said Roosevelt was "the personification of the American century." He spoke with awe about Roosevelt's identification with the common man. Clinton told of his own grandfather, a man with only a fourth-grade education in rural Arkansas, who "believed Franklin Roosevelt was his friend."

"He [Roosevelt] was born to privilege, but he understood the aspirations of farmers and factory workers and forgotten Americans," Clinton said. "Polio put him in a wheelchair, but he lifted our troubled nation to its feet, and got us moving again."

Clinton talked about the weapons inspection arrangement negotiated with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, noting that Roosevelt played a key role in the creation of the U.N.

"We know what came of the Roosevelt generation's rendezvous with destiny. What will come of ours?" Clinton asked. "Like FDR, we look around us and see a world that is not yet fully free. For our generation, what does freedom mean?"

Clinton was torn between the two Roosevelt presidents when deciding on the subject for his TIME speech. He ultimately decided on FDR because of his admiration of his unflinching leadership style, White House spokesman Mike McCurry said.

Clinton privately made it known that if he had to choose, FDR would be TIME Magazine's "Man of the Century."

"That choice might have pained (TIME founder) Henry Luce, but surely he would not be surprised," Clinton said. "More than any other 20th Century American, FDR fulfilled the mandate of our founders."

Wednesday March 4, 1998

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• Clinton Praises FDR At TIME Gala
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