I give credit for my immediate choice to Professor Edward Beardsley, a history professor at the University of South Carolina. His marvelous impersonation of President Roosevelt at performances in schools, churches, and various clubs made FDR's personality, intellect, and sense of humor very authentic. I believed that he influenced me in my admiration for this President, who served our country for four terms (1932-1945). Although many Americans disagreed with President Roosevelt and opposed his New Deal programs, he moved ahead and persevered with even more new experiments. South Carolina was terribly poor and the most number of votes for his election came from South Carolina.

"Where there is no vision the people perish." President Roosevelt had the vision! He assumed the Presidency at the depth of the Great Depression and helped the desperate, poor people find jobs and receive food. I remember the lunch program at my school that made an enormous difference for children whose families could not feed them. FDR brought hope to the nation. He spoke with authority and confidence eloquently, reassuring people with his "Fireside Chats." We applauded when he gave the people confidence with his famous words, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." He spoke with reassurance and we believed his promises. I believe that most Americans trusted and respected the President and knew that he was a leader with integrity, honesty, and reliability. He was well educated and from a well-to-do family, but could identify with and cared deeply about the poor. Children from all walks of life would write his wife, Eleanor. We wanted him to succeed. We held a high regard for the office of the Presidency. I believed that he would "work for justice and respect the dignity of all persons."

I always felt close to the President and greatly admired him because of a tragic situation in our family. My father's brother died very young, leaving his wife with a young daughter and an elderly mother to care for. Her very bright, handsome brother, Harry B. Wallace, was stricken with poliomyelitis during his junior year at the University of South Carolina. He would often say that even a tragic situation often had a bright side because he had spent time at Warm Springs, Georgia when FDR was there. He spoke often of the President's wit, courage, intellect, and good sense of humor. I learned an awful lot about the PWA (Public Works Administration), the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps), and the WPA-- sweeping programs that brought recovery to the farmers and businesses, as well as relief to the unemployed.

I remember visiting a building that was designated as one of these work programs. The room was full of sewing machines for the women of the community. This program was very important as it helped the poor white and African American women learn how to sew and give clothing to the community.

I also knew a man who was in charge of the CCC locally and heard how the program was a "god-send" for the poor. The Agricultural Adjustment Act (1933) provided farmers with much needed subsidies in exchange for leaving their crops unplanted. The construction of parks, bridges, highways, schools, and sewer systems and the largest project of all, the creation of the hydroelectric plant, which provided electricity to rural areas beyond large cities, were all programs that helped get the nation back to work.

A friend of mine once told me a wonderful story about the time that his father took him, as a young boy, to the railroad station to see FDR when he arrived in Columbia. They stood with only one other person on the platform and when the President was carried off of the train, (he did not like to be seen as helpless) he looked up and seeing the three, waved enthusiastically and gave them a broad grin that was so familiar and raised his arms in a victory salute. My friend said that he has treasured this experience all of his life.

In 1936, President Roosevelt was reelected by a large majority and guided the nation through the December 7, 1941 devastating Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and World War II. He devoted much thought to the planning of the United Nations for world peace.

I was a senior in college when President Roosevelt died (April 12, 1945). The Presbyterian minister quoted me in his sermon when I expressed the feelings of all the students that his death was just as though a member of the family had died. I had not known any other President until his death at Warm Springs, Georgia.

In the words of Professor Beardsley, "President Roosevelt's New Deal included the excluded: blacks, ethnic Americans, the poor, women, workers, and the elderly. After a century and a half, America finally became a working and workable democracy, willing to assure nearly all its citizens a decent life. Perhaps he did not penetrate the heart of the existing system, but it now at least had a heart."