Here’s How Dems’ Favorite President Treated Minorities

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In 1997, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington was dedicated. Located on the banks of the lower Potomac River in the vicinity of the Jefferson Memorial and Washington Monument, the FDR Memorial was hardly controversial — especially not to the left, who regard FDR as a paragon of the virtues they hold dear.

At the dedication, then-President Clinton lionized Roosevelt and his legacy: “This memorial will be the embodiment of FDR’s faith, for it will ensure that all future generations will know,” Clinton said. “It will ensure that they will all see the happy warrior, keeping America’s rendezvous with destiny. As we stand at the dawn of a bright new century, this memorial will encourage us, reminding us that whenever America acts with certainty of purpose and FDR’s famous flexibility of mind, we have always been more than equal to whatever challenges we face.”

Since the heinous events of Charlottesville, Virginia, the American left has been seized with a paroxysm of statue-leveling and memorial-closing. The focus has moved from traditional liberal targets like Robert E. Lee and Confederate soldier memorials to other figures from American history — like Washington and Jefferson.

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Nobody has, as of yet, called for FDR’s memorial to be shut down. On one hand, this is hardly surprising; he is, after all, the left’s favorite president. However, it becomes remarkably inconsistent when you examine why protesters say they want to do away with sundry other vestiges of American history they’ve been busy objecting to. In every case, the reason given is that the views and/or actions on race and minorities represented by the person or persons being represented are incompatible with our modern republic.

So, what did Franklin Delano Roosevelt do for minorities in America? Let’s take a look:

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Oh, yes, that.

During the course of World War II, almost 120,000 Japanese-Americans were kept in internment camps on orders of the Roosevelt administration. As U.S. News and World Report notes, no person of Japanese descent was ever charged with sabotage during the war — but never mind that. Not only did his administration execute the internment plans, Roosevelt signed the executive order that made it happen.

Few, if any, would question the fact that the internment is a stain on Roosevelt’s legacy. Yet, was he alone in believing that the internment was uncalled for? Hardly. In fact, many Americans at the time felt it was a military necessity.

“I am for immediate removal of every Japanese on the West Coast to a point deep in the interior,” popular newspaper columnist Henry McLemore wrote in 1942. “I don’t mean a nice part of the interior either. Herd ’em up, pack ’em off, and give ’em the inside room in the badlands.”

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Roosevelt’s decision, in hindsight, was an exceedingly poor one. However, it was hardly his view alone. It also doesn’t erase the fact that he looms large over our country’s history — a complex history which has its peaks and nadirs. Japanese internment certainly falls into the latter category, but that doesn’t erase Roosevelt’s other accomplishments.

For their part, the left knows this; few if any of them are ignorant of Roosevelt’s Japanese internment policies, and most of them continue to sing his praises. Yet, when it comes to Robert E. Lee or Thomas Jefferson, that sense of nuance conveniently disappears.

If the left wants to be truly consistent, let’s see them bring their bungee cords and cardstock placards to the banks of the lower Potomac and start demanding that the FDR monument be shut down. If they refuse to, then let’s call their campaign of history-erasure what it is: Scapegoating.

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