When President Roosevelt died in l945, I was only 10 years old (I was born in l935, in the midst of "the great depression.") I remember well the day the war ended.
My mother (we lived in the country, four miles south of the little town of Hartsville, S.C.) put me in the car and we drove to town to "celebrate." This trip was in itself unusual, as gas had been rationed for years. Anyway, my Mama was young and pretty. As we were driving to town, I remember her saying, "I just wish President Roosevelt could have lived to see this day!" People were standing on the sidewalks on all corners of the main intersection of town at Fifth Street and Carolina Avenue. Cars were honking their horns, people were dancing in the streets, waving flags, crying, calling out, Hoorah, hoorah!

It was a little scary, but fun, too. The main crowds were in front of the old Temple Theater, and J.L.Coker & Co. across the street. On the other corners were the Corner Drug Store and the Bank of Hartsville. None of those businesses are there today in 2010.

This is just a happy memory of one day. I know it took President Truman to end the war, but I think FDR led the country nobly through those tragic, traumatic years. he gave us courage and promoted a sense of pride in the war effort. He and Prime Minister Winston Churchill worked together to defeat the German and Japanese who were our enemies, but they did more than just "make war" and "make money." President Roosevelt had his "fireside talks" when he calmed our fears and gave us courage. He had a fine education; he had to overcome his own personal illness (polio); he helped the country get back "on its feet" during the great depression -- a time of poverty and unemployment worse than what we are experiencing in our current history. His WPA programs still have influence. Every time I go to the mountains and drive on the beautiful parkway, or pull the car over to one of the beautiful overlooks, or go through a tunnel that takes one through a mountain, I am amazed and grateful. He put the people to work; gave them pride in being able to make a living. Their efforts produced long-range results.

Another WPA program that still has effects on our current history was the work of compiling oral history, and paying starving artists to paint the people and world as it was. I am fascinated with hearing the interviews and seeing the photographs and paintings of the people in the 30s and 40s -- poor, unemployed, black, Appalachian folk --, all God's people who made up the world then. We children worked for the war effort, collecting scrap iron every weekend. My mother volunteered as "nurse's aide" during the war shortages of medical staff. She helped at the local schools, teaching poor, uneducated ladies how to properly can vegetables. We all had "Victory Gardens."

Lots of people disliked Roosevelt. But he did lead our country nobly, I think, through some terrible times. We sure didn't turn down "stimulus money" and the roads got paved, the bridges built. We all pulled together, and we didn't have to be told by some politician about "volunteerism." We did it!!