A Different Time, a Different Leader

FDR’s Second Bill of Rights

On January 11, 1944, as the Second World War entered another new year, the Allies were making progress against Germany, Italy, and Japan. The Soviets were pushing back the Germans on the Eastern Front, the Western allies advanced up the boot of Italy and plans were being prepared for invading France. The choice for the latter was between entering in Vichy France or Brittany’s English Channel shores.

At some point on that January day, FDR asked the newsreel cameras to film the section of his State of the Union address in which he would outline his initiative presenting a Second Bill of Rights, also known as the Bill of Economic Rights, to Congress.

He said that the original political rights granted by the Constitution and the 21 Amendments at that time “proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.” He emphasized that these additional rights were for everyone, regardless of “station, race or creed.”

Those additional rights are:

1. Employment (the right to work – not to be confused with today’s anti-union right-to-work laws). The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

2. An adequate income for food, shelter, and recreation – the right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

3. Farmers’ rights to a fair income – the right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

4. Freedom from unfair competition and monopolies – the right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

5. Decent housing – the right of every family to a decent home;

6. Adequate medical care – the right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

7. Social security – the right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

8. Education – the right to a good education.

Roosevelt did not propose further Amendments to enshrine these rights, fearing that he would be treading on the courts’ purview. Instead, he envisioned federal laws to give them effect and then he sent over Executive Branch personnel to work with the appropriate Senate committees. Ironically, while he gave due deference to the courts, his lending Executive Branch personnel to Senate committees signaled the death knell of his proposal. Congress balked and in 1946 passed the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 to fund Congressional staffing for committees.

Mindful of the struggles of the 25% of the population unemployed and destitute during the Depression, largely blamed on the Smoot-Hawley tariffs, Roosevelt aided the Allies by shipping U.S. war materiel through his Lend Lease program. Then he joined the war effort after Japan’s strike at Pearl Harbor while Germany was prevailing on all fronts.

By his efforts, he relit the U.S. manufacturing sector to help both the unemployed at home and the Allies abroad and, by joining the war as combatants, changed the balance of power and changed the war’s trajectory which led to the eventual Allied victory.

As he set these tactics in motion, he set a course for the social safety net programs that would enable the middle class to participate in the nation’s prosperity. One recurring theme throughout FDR’s administration was concern for the well-being of all in the U.S. and abroad. He stated in that 1944 State of the Union address that now was the time to prepare for a better world after the war was over. Nineteen months later, the Allies prevailed.

FDR has been portrayed as a man of an exceptionally good temperament. He paid attention to history. He recalled the 25% unemployment rate in 1933. He quoted an old English real property case that “Necessitous men are not free men,” (Vernon v. Bethell (1792) 28 ER 838), according to Lord Henley LC. He noted further that “People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.”

Today’s oligarchs will call these rights socialism or communism. That has been standard response against FDR since he first announced the New Deal and Lend Lease. People have heard these accusations for so long that they believe them, falling prey to the oligarchy’s hidden desires finally unmasked by Project 2025. The lesson here is that a decent education is required not just for the individual but for the country.

We have witnessed the dumbing down of the population including those who sit as Senators and Representatives and those in too many businesses who still think that government, which is checked by the Bill of Rights, is the enemy and corporations, not encumbered by that Bill of Rights, will be our saviors. Many corporations are cognizant of worker satisfaction and customer care. Others, however, are not.

FDR’s Second Bill of Rights remains an excellent template to keep in mind when Trump and Vance out of office. We can then use that template to rebuild what they’ve destroyed.