Welcoming Their Hatred

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt – perhaps more than any president in American history – understood the importance of drawing bright lines in political appeals.

FDR was not shy about expressing his political values and ideals in clear cut terms, often using "sanctimonious lectures" to make his case. And when he did so, Roosevelt understood that the clearest way for a politician to show that they will fight for those values, that they will fight for those ideals, that they will fight for people like you who share them, is to show who they're fighting against and how they're fighting them.

Despite his own patrician background and family wealth, FDR delighted in taking on the wealthy elite. He knew that most Americans blamed them in some way for the coming of the Great Depression and, moreover, that most Americans wouldn't trust any politician who took their side as the nation sought to extract itself from it.

"The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization," he stated in the "sanctimonious lecture" of his first inaugural address. "We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit."

Needless to say, the "money changers" weren't happy with such attacks. While there were some notable exceptions, many in the upper-income brackets – who had thrived under the old system and worried that FDR's New Deal would put a dent in their personal prosperity and prestige – vilified the new president as a "traitor to his class." Many refused to even speak his name, referring instead to "that man" in the White House.

Rather than try to win these enemies over, FDR and his allies made the most of the friction. This Peter Arno cartoon from The New Yorker is not just a snapshot of the wealthy's frustrations with Roosevelt – reduced to going to a movie theater that showed newsreels and booing when FDR popped up in them – but also a reminder that for most Americans, the contempt of these elites was a sign that FDR was doing something right.