Once again, we mark the anniversary of the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945. Here's Harry Truman taking the oath of office. Check it out — with the exception of Bess next to him, and (we assume) Frances Perkins off to the side, they're all dudes!
We think about stuff like this when we start feeling overwhelmed by how terrible politics is these days. At least now we have more women and people of color in office (starting with the Vice President).
FDR would be appalled to see what's going on in the Republican Party in 2022. But in his own time, he always pushed back against the GOP with brimming confidence. At Madison Square Garden in 1936, he singled out "the old enemies of peace — business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering" and said: "They are unanimous in their hatred for me, and I welcome their hatred."
Today, Joe Biden could add insurrectionists, racists, climate deniers, vote suppressors, homophobes, transphobes and misogynists to that list. Those are the kind of miscreants whose hatred decent people welcome. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.
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