‘I Welcome Their Hatred’
Foreign Policy · Phil Tinline ·
Why politicians love FDR’s toughest speech.
As Election Day approaches, the president of the United States is onstage, lambasting the powerful forces ranged against him—the judges, the media, the ultra-wealthy. Addressing 20,000 of the millions of regular Americans who love him, he defies his enemies, declaring, “They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred!” The crowd roars.
Oct. 31 marks 90 years since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered that speech at Madison Square Garden, as the 1936 presidential race neared its climax. In a world again beset by angry populists stoking economic distress, the rise of autocrats, and the floundering of moderate politicians, Roosevelt’s barnburner speech has come to seem relevant once more.
As Election Day approaches, the president of the United States is onstage, lambasting the powerful forces ranged against him—the judges, the media, the ultra-wealthy. Addressing 20,000 of the millions of regular Americans who love him, he defies his enemies, declaring, “They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred!” The crowd roars.
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