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PRELUDE TO A TRULY INSPIRING STORY

BY STEFAN LONCE

If you read the 4 page MINIBOOK that follows, or listen to it read aloud,

hen I will tell you a truly inspiring story about Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

You see, although FDR couldnt walk after he was paralyzed by polio, he

could drive using hand controls he designed! FDR was a lawyer and a politician

not an engineer yet he was ingenious enough to design hand controls that

enabled him to drive without using his paralyzed feet. A blacksmith fabricated the

hand controlsand they worked!

I first explained how being able to drive, after he could no longer walk,

empowered FDR and changed world history in my DRIVING WITH FDR 2012

COLLECTIBLE CALENDAR. The calendar features amazing black-and-white

photographs, from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, of FDR driving

his hand-controlled cars, or being driven in open cars. You can see a slideshow

of these fascinating photos on my web site, www.DrivingWithFDR.com.

I am now working on DRIVING WITH FDR, the book, which will begin on

August 10, 1921, when FDR was paralyzed by polio. Struggling to overcome his

physical paralysis forced FDR to be more patient, creative and empathetic.

FDR learned from his mistakes, and from historys mistakes. While history

never exactly repeats itself, if we dont learnfrom historys mistakes, then we are doomed

to repeat them, asserts Dr. Christopher

Breiseth, the former president of the

Roosevelt Institute.

We are now in the worst economic crisis

since the Great Depression; are we now

repeating the same mistakes that FDR made?

The New Deal did not end the Great

Depression because FDR did not go far

enough. America needed still more

government spending, more government jobs,

and a public health insurance system. But

FDR had many opponents, and he was

nervous about deficit spending. The War finally did what FDR could not and w

not, Roosevelt Institute fellow, former New York Times economics columnis

author (most recently) ofAge of Greed, Jeffrey Madrick, explains.

Government spending [on the War] brought about recovery [from

Depression because] it completed a necessary structural transformation, m

America from agriculture to manufacturing, Nobel Economics Prize-winne

Roosevelt Institute fellow Joseph Stiglitz wrote in the January 2012 issue of V

Fair magazine. To end the current Great Slump, Dr. Stiglitz wrote, the

Government should spend more money, not less, but spend it wisely

education, infrastructure and technological innovation, to stimulate the econ

to replace lost manufacturing jobs, just as FDRs War spending created man

turing jobs to replace lost farming jobs.

If he were alive today, what would FDR say we should do: spend moslash federal spending further? Read the MINIBOOK and decide for yourself.

FDR was a master communicator who would have known how to ex

this spending dilemma to us. FDR held two press conferences a week, an

press secretary, Steve Early, held a press conference everyday. Also, FDRs u

the radio to reach the public directly, and Early's media connections as a fo

reporter, got FDRs message out during the Depression and then served to

the country together during the War, explains Linda Lotridge Levin, who c

the University of Rhode Island Journalism Department and wrote The Maki

FDR: The Story of Stephen T. Early, Americas First Modern Press Secretary

I invite you to print the pages that follow; use the 1 page Q+A 4 FDR

to respond, by mail, to this thought-provoker: If I could ask FDR one que

here is what I would ask, and what I think his answer would be. I will pos

most compelling responses on my web site, and publish them, in 201

DRIVING WITH FDR, the book.

I hope that you will print the 2 Happy 130th Birthday FDR pos

designed, which feature photos from the calendar, and join me in celebr

FDRs Birthday, on January 30, 2012,

when you could read the MINIBOOK

aloud it takes about 22 minutes, and

its fun! and talk about FDR.

It is common sense to take a

method and try it. If it fails, admit it

frankly and try another. But above all, try

something, FDR said on May 22, 1932.

I agree.

Do you?

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FOR PERSONAL/EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE.

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Ninety years ago, on August 10, 1921, a date

which will live in world history, Franklin Delano

Roosevelt was suddenly attacked by the polio virus.

Polio paralyzed FDR from the waist down. FromAugust 11, 1921, until he died on April 12, 1945, FDR

could walk only if he wore cumbersome metal leg

braces and held onto someones arm, while using a cane.

I know a lot about FDR because I grew up in

Buchanan, NY, a Hudson River town 35 miles south of

Hyde Park, where FDR was born on January 30, 1882.

went on many school trips to the FDR Library &

Museum in Hyde Park, which the 32nd President of the

United States designed himself!

Thats how I knew that FDR could drive,

even after he was paralyzed by polio when he was

n Campobello, New Brunswick. I had seen FDRs

1936 Ford convertible, with hand controls for the

accelerator, brakes and clutch, at the FDR Library.The car also has a 1930s gadget that dispensed

it cigarettes, which FDR chain smoked, using a

holder clenched jauntily between his teeth.

However, it wasnt until I started working on

a book about vanity license plates entitled

LCNS2ROM LICENSE TO ROAM, that I learned FDR had vanity PL8S on his hand-

controlled cars in Warm Springs, Georgia, where he

founded a polio clinic.

I also learned that FDR designed the hand controls!

Being able to drive again, even though he couldnt walk,

gave FDR hope, and confidence. For FDR, every day

from August 10, 1921, until April 12, 1945, was a

physical struggle.

Driving his own car was the ultimate freedom for FDR. Unable to

out of bed without assistance, driving was one of the few moving thing

could accomplish by himself, and be completely independent,

Bassanese, the Acting Director of the FDR Library, explains.

Driving the specially equipped cars was liberating for FDR, says

Christopher Breiseth, the former president of the Roosevelt Institute, w

preserves the legacy and values of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Driving provided [FDR with] freedom, relaxation and mobility, a

welcome change of scene for an often harassed man otherwise reliant

wheelchair, Geoff Ward wrote in Closest Companion.

Driving, while simultaneously smoking, talking, and operating the

controls, relaxed FDR, but it upset some of his passengers.

Britains King George VI and Queen Elizabeth came to Hyde Park fofamous Hot Dog Picnic on June 11, 1939, and went DRIVING WITH

There were several times when I thought we could go right off the road

tumble down the hills. It was frightening, but quite exhilarating, the Q

told Conrad Black, who wrote Franklin

Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom.

Everyone knew that war was coming. The

Royals knew that, without Americas help,

Britain could not defeat Nazi Germany.

FDR sent the British the

weapons and supplies they

needed because he understood the menace that Hitler pose

everyone. Because he spoke and read German fluently,

wasnt dependent on watered-down English translations that

ened the hateful Nazi venom Hitler spewed. Hitler was contetuous of FDR, whom he dismissed as a cripple.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill also unders

before almost anyone else, the menace that Hitler po

Churchill became FDRs GR8 friend and WW2 ally. Of co

Churchill went DRIVING WITH FDR in Hyde Park.

Churchill was impressed with Roosevelts driving but was a bit un

when the president would roar up to the grass verges of the precipices

the Hudson. The prime minister offered a silent prayer: I hoped, Chu

recalled, the mechanical devices and brakes would show no defects,

Meacham wrote in Franklin and Winston.

Frances Perkins, whom FDR appointed as Secretary of Labor the

female Cabinet officer also went DRIVING WITH FDR. The President took

FDRS COURAGE AND INGENUITY INSPIRE US STILL

A MINIBOOKTM BY STEFAN LONCE

Winston Churchill meetsFDR, aided in walking by his

son, Elliott, at the AtlanticConference.

U.S.NavyHistoricalCenter

FranklinD.RooseveltPresid

entialLibrary

Continued Belo

FDR drives the Royals in Hyde Par

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pleasure in taking a visitor around in his car. He loved the

road to the [Hudson] river, down a steep embankment

hrough beautiful woodland, Perkins wrote.

Together, Perkins and Roosevelt masterminded the

Social Security Act, the New Deals most important and

enduring legislative legacy. I will be forever grateful to

Secretary Perkins and President Roosevelt, because the

Social Security survivors benefits that my mother, my 5

brothers, and I received after my fathers death made it

possible for my mother to preserve our family.

FDR and his family his remarkable wife, Eleanor, their children Anna,

James, FDR Jr., Elliott and John, and FDRs domineering but devoted moth-

er, Sara Delano Roosevelt loved driving and diningalfresco. The Rooseveltswould climb into FDRs Ford Phaeton, put the top down and drive around,

stopping to talk with people they met along the way, and to picnic.

Franklin and Eleanor, who were fifth cousins, were very different. FDR

was secure and gregarious; ER was insecure and shy. FDR loved gossip and

small talk; ER was all business. FDR loved cocktails; ER abhorred liquor (her

ather was an alcoholic).

FDR and ER were alike, in certain ways, however. They both were tall

he was 6 2; she was 510); they both loved to dance, ride horses, swim,

and read. They both loved animals, especially FDRs dog, Fala. FDR was also

an avid angler, a phenomenal philatelist, and a superb sailor.

Neither FDR, nor ER, cared much about what they wore or what they

ate. The Roosevelt White House cuisine was notoriously inedible; guests

earned to eat before they arrived. The conversation, however, was always

scintillating. FDR was a GR8 story-teller and actor; he wasa talented mimic, who was naturally funny; FDR was

un!

Although they lived in an age of rampant racism,

anti-Semitism, and sexism, FDR and ER were remarkably

unprejudiced. They saw people for who they were, not

what they were.

No one can make you feel inferior without your

consent, ER said.

Whoever seeks to set one religion against another

seeks to destroy all religions, FDR, who was a profoundly

religious and spiritual Episcopalian, said. When a young reporter asked

President Roosevelt what his philosophy was, he replied, Philosophy? I am

a Christian and a Democrat, thats all.

The Roosevelts found opportunity in adversity.

proved a blessing in disguise for FDR because it

him strength and courage he had not had before, ER

He needed that strength and courage when he

inaugurated as President, on March 4, 1933. One-qu

of the work force was unemployed. One-quarter of

banks had failed.

Panicked Americans were withdrawing their m

from the banks because there was no deposit insura

Many Americans lost their life savings.

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself, President Roos

famously said in his first inaugural address. The

next day, FDR temporarily closed the banks. OnMarch 9th, he signed the Emergency Banking Act,

which authorized the U.S. Government to inspect

the banks books, permanently close the insolvent

banks, and help the surviving banks reopen.

On March 12th, FDR broadcast his first

radio Fireside Chat, speaking conversationally as if

he were chatting with an old friend. I can assure

you that it is safer to keep your money in a

reopened bank than under the mattress, he calmly told his listener

worked! When the banks reopened, deposits exceeded withdrawals, bec

Americans trusted President Roosevelt!

FDR gave only 31 Fireside Chats during his 12 years as Presi

Almost everyone listened to FDRs Fireside Chats; he made Americans

confident once again, Chris Breiseth explains.The New Deal put Americans back to work. On April 5, 1933,

created the Civilian Conservation Corps, which brought together tw

Roosevelts most deeply held values: work and conservation, wrote Jona

Alter in The Defining Moment. By July

almost 275,000 recently unempl

men were working for the CCC, pla

trees and restoring the degraded Ame

environment.

A huge public works program

new highways, bridges, airports, p

schools, and government build

(including 5 post offices FDR designe

On August 14, 1935, FDR signed the Social SecurityAct into law. Frances Perkins is standing behind FDR.

Inauguration Day, March 4,

Continued On Next PagFDR visiting a Civilian Conservation Corps

camp on August 12, 1933.

FranklinD.RooseveltPresidentialLibrary

FDR at hisBirthday Toga Party on

January 30, 1934 flankedby ER and daughter Anna.

FranklinD.RooseveltPresidentialLibrary

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FDR persuaded Americans to hope again, but the Depression continued;

prices and wages continued to drop. No one knew how to stop deflation, so

FDR got Congress to pass the National Industrial Recovery Act, which tried to

imit competition in business, and the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which

paid farmers not to grow food or livestock. Both laws tried to raise prices and

wages, but the Supreme Court ruled themunconstitutional (on May 27, 1935,

and on January 6, 1936, respectively). FDR feared that the Court would

nvalidate other New Deal laws, especially the Social Security Act.

On November 3, 1936, FDR was re-elected in a 46-state landslide. On

February 5, 1937, he announced a plan to expand the Supreme Court by

naming a new justice for every justice who was over 70.5 years old, up to 6

new justices. FDR disingenuously

claimed that the 9 old men who werehe Supreme Court justices couldnt

keep up with their dockets.

Had he paid more attention

when he was a student at Columbia

Law School, the President would have

realized that his Court Packing Plan

was unworkable. Conservative Democrats teamed up with Republicans to kill

he Plan, creating an alliance that would defeat most new New Deal legisla-

ion. Then, on April 12, 1937, the Supreme Court upheld the National Labor

Relations Act, which allowed workers to unionize. FDR withdrew his Plan.

In 1938, President Roosevelt tried to purge recalcitrant Democratic

Senators and Representatives. With one exception, however, the incumbents

all won their primaries. Politically, FDR appeared weak; physically, he was

rustrated, tired, and tense.To escape the tension in Washington, FDR

would go to Warm Springs or Hyde Park, where he

could drive. By the way, FDRs license PL8 on his

1936 Ford in Hyde Park says 3 (in NY, the Governors

PL8 says 1 and the Lieutenant Governors PL8 says 2). When Hyde Park-ers, or

he police, saw the dark blue Ford with that plate, they knew whose car it

was. FDR wanted people to recognize him by his license PL8.

The tension in the White House got much worse in 1939. Nazi

Germany invaded Poland on September 1st, starting WW2. Most Americans

virulently opposed getting involved.

FDR believed, in direct contrast to the opinion of his military

chiefsthat if the U.S. did everything in its power to help, the Allies would

somehow survive untilAmerica could get itself intothe war, Doris

Kearns Goodwin wrote in No Ordinary Time, the definitive account of

and ER during WW2.

Selling weapons to the British and the French also created job

Americans. From 1933 to 1936, the economy had grown. But FDR h

budget deficits, so, in early 1937, he cut spending, unwittingly precipitatin

Roosevelt Recession. He had to reverse course and increase spending a

The New Deal left a lasting legislative legacy, including laws establis

the federal minimum wage, the 40 hour workweek, and unemploym

insurance. Other laws created bank deposit insurance, and required acc

financial disclosures by issuers of stocks and bonds. President Roos

ended Prohibition, which made many people very happy, but made FDR

loved Martinis) happier still: alcoholic beverage taxes are very lucrative fo

federal and state governments.The New Deal didnt end the Depression, however; WW2 did.

On November 5, 1940, FDR was re-elected to a 3rd term

December 7, 1941, headlines screamed, JAPS BOMB HAWAII! FDR

distraught by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, but he stayed calm

always. He radiated confidence the next day, when he told Congress,

American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute vict

Roosevelt used simple words, concrete examples and ever

analogies to make his points, Doris Kearns Goodwin wrote. For example

December 17, 1940 FDR announced Lend-Lease, the plan he had dev

after England couldnt pay for the weapons and supplies we were sen

without which they would have lost the War. FDR told reporters, Sup

my neighbors home catches on fireIf he can take my garden hoseI

help to put out his fire. If it goes through the fire all right, intact, withou

damage to it, he gives it back to me and thanks me very much for the uit. Congress passed Lend-Lease!

To win the War, America had to become the

great arsenal of democracy, as FDR put it. Americans

had to produce far more planes, ships, tanks, guns,

etc. than our enemies did. That meant FDR had to make peace with the

American businessmen who loathed him and his New Deal, so they w

make all the planes, ships, tanks, guns, etc. that we needed to win the W

Roosevelt never understood thebusiness community, nor coul

make out why it didnt like him, Frances Perkins wrote. However, d

WW2, FDR learned to work with businessmen they were almost all

then to produce what the Allies the U.S., Britain, Canada, Australia,

Zealand, and the Soviet Union needed to win the War.

Continued Belo

U.S.NationalArchives

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FDR was a masterful Commander-in-Chief

who chose his generals wisely and didnt try to

micromanage them. He appointed General

George Marshall as Army Chief-of-Staff. He

promoted General Dwight Eisenhower three

imes until, as Supreme Allied Commander in

Europe, Eisenhower masterminded the D-Day

Normandy Landings on June 6, 1944, which

iberated Western Europe from Nazi tyranny.

FDR should have been far bolder in 1942

and 1943 after the U.S. government began learning about Hitlers death

camps, Michael Beschloss wrote in The Conquerors. President Roosevelt

should have admitted more Jewish refugees, but should he have bombedAuschwitz and the other Nazi death camps?

Mainstream Jewish opinion was against the whole idea of bombing

Auschwitz. The very thought of the Allied forces deliberately killing Jews

o open the gates of Auschwitz so the survivors could run where? was

abhorrent then as it is now, Ambassador William vanden Heuvel, the former

chair of the Roosevelt Institute, wrote. FDR had said that the best way to save

he Jews of Europe was to win the War.

During WW2, FDR would escape from Washington and go to Warm

Springs or Hyde Park, where he could relax and where he could drive.

When Churchill went DRIVING WITH FDR at Hyde Park, they would decide what

o do next about the war, which the PM thought was a very efficient way to

hold a meeting.

What hasnt been recognized until now, however, is how important being

able to drive, after he could no longer walk, was to FDR, and to world history.Heres what I mean. If FDR had not been able to drive, then he would

not have run for Governor of New York in 1928. FDR had not wanted to run

hat year; he was still working on his walking in Warm Springs. But the NY

Democrats drafted him, so he ran. To dispel Republican attacks that he was

a cripple, FDR campaigned vigorously; photographs of FDR driving helped

prove his virility and helped him narrowly win the election.

Being able to drive, using hand controls he designed, also gave FDR

confidence that he could overcome his disability, which undoubtedly helped

him decide to run in 1928. If FDR had not been elected Governor in 1928,

he would not have been elected President in 1932, and he would not have

been able to arm America and aid the Allies in 1940 and 1941.

Hitler would have won the War.

I wish I could tell you more about FDR and the Warbut Im running

out of space. Suffice it to say that FDRs courage and ingenuity inspire

When I need to think creatively, I often ask myself, WHAT WOULD FDR DO?

I agree with Chris Breiseth, who

says, We live in a world that Franklin

Roosevelt largely made. Chris is the

editor, with Kirstin Downey, ofA Promise

to All Generations: Stories & Essays

about Social Security & Frances

Perkins, which includes my essay,

Social Security Preserved My Family.

FDRs vanity plates were a form of

self-expression for him. You get a vanity

plate to send a message, Chris explains.Like FDR, Chris is vanitized: his NY

vanity PL8 says, FDR 1932.

To make this calendar more fun, and to

encourage you to study the photographs carefully, I

hid a simplified image of Chriss PL8 in each photo.

See how long it takes you to find it.

People who see Chriss vanity PL8 often stop to

chat with him about Social Security, or the New

Deal, or the War, or Eleanor, or Fala. After all, Chris

vanitized so that people who see his PL8 would stop

to chat with him about FDR.

FDR would have liked that.

Chris Breiseth, proudly displayshis vanity PL8 at the FDR Library.

DRIVING WITH FDR 2012 COLLECTIBLE CALENDARAUTHOR AND DESIGNER: STEFAN J. LONCE

EDITOR: MH FRYBURG

Visit my web site: www.DrivingWithFDR.com

Here are some GR8 places to visit and their websites:

FDR Presidential Library (Hyde Park, NY): www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu

Roosevelt Institute (Hyde Park, NY): www.RooseveltInstitute.org

Little White House (Warm Springs, GA): www.gastateparks.org/LittleWhiteHo

Roosevelt Campobello International Park (ME/NB): www.fdr.net

Frances Perkins Center (Newcastle, ME): www.FrancesPerkinsCenter.org

Eisenhower Presidential Library (Abilene, KS): www.eisenhower.archives.go

FIRST INTERNET EDITION 12-23-2011 2011 LCNS2ROM, INC

FOR PERSONAL/EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE.

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FDR & General Dwight D. Eisenhower

DwightD.EisenhowerPresidentialLibrary

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FROM: (Please Print)

Name:

Address:

City: State: Zip:

E-mail:We will not disclose your contact information.

Please fill out your address information above, as well as yo

question and answer to the left, put it in an envelope and...

Mail To:

Stefan J. Lonce

PO Box 1

Croton-on-Hudson, NY 10520

Dear Stefan,

If I could ask FDR one question, here is what I

would ask, and what I think his answer would be:

Q:

A:

Sincerely,

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HAPPY 130TH

BIRTHDAY

FDRJAN. 30, 2012

DESIGN BY STEFAN LONCE www.DrivingWithFDR.com2011 LCNS2ROM, INC. FOR PERSONAL/EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE.

Photo: Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, Hyde Park, NY www.FDRLIBRARY.MARIST.edu

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