We have changed our privacy policy. In addition, we use cookies on our website for various purposes. By continuing on our website, you consent to our use of cookies. You can learn about our practices by reading our privacy policy.

FDR's New Deal Quotes

FDR's New Deal Quotes

They Said It

"I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people."

- Franklin D. Roosevelt, accepting the Democratic Party nomination for president, 193225

"Vote! Vote! We want beer!"


- A mob of U.S. Representatives, chanting from the Senate balcony to pressure their Senate colleagues into voting to end Prohibition, 193326

"Given later developments, the campaign speeches often read like a giant misprint, in which Roosevelt and Hoover speak each other's lines."


- Roosevelt adviser Marriner Eccles, on the campaign of 193227

"Franklin D. Roosevelt is a highly impressionistic person, without a firm grasp of public affairs and without very strong convictions... He is a pleasant man who, without any important qualifications for the office, would very much like to be president."


- Journalist Walter Lippman, 193228

"This is a hell raiser, not a revenue raiser."


- A U.S. Congressman, describing Roosevelt's 1935 "Wealth Tax," which symbolically soaked the rich29

"I've got to get legislation passed by Congress to save America. The Southerners... occupy strategic places on most of the Senate and House committees. If I come out for the antilynching bill now, they will block every bill I ask Congress to pass to keep America from collapsing. I just can't take that risk."


- Franklin D. Roosevelt, 193830

"The country needs and, unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation. 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."


- Franklin D. Roosevelt, 193231