FDR wanted to run for another four years, however, it must appear that it wasn't his idea, but a demand of the American people to go against the hallowed precedent set by George Washington. To go against the examples of Washington, Jefferson, and all the other two-term presidents would smack of presumption. As the July 15-18 Democratic Convention drew near, the time when the delegates would nominate their standard bearer, there was much speculation about Roosevelt as to whether he would break the tradition. All the while, Roosevelt and his team were working away, concocting a plan to do just that.
THE SET UP
The first part of the plan consisted of a statement that Senator Alben Barkley was to read to the delegates. FDR got on the phone, prior to the convention, and dictated to Barkley the letter he was to read, the conclusion of which would be:
"The President has never had, and has not today, any desire or purpose to continue in the office of President, to be a candidate for that office, or to be nominated by the convention for that office. He wishes in earnestness and sincerity to make it clear that all of the delegates in this convention are free to vote for any candidate."
There were many candidates for the nomination that summer: James Farley and John Nance Garner (the VP at the time) were two who had a shot at the Oval Office, if nominated. The statement Barkley read dripped with insincerity with its use of the words, "The President has never had, and has not today, any desire or purpose to continue in the office of President to be a candidate for that office, or to be nominated by the convention for that office."
THE SET UP COMPLETE
The delegates have now been set up. When Barkley finishes reading, the delegates sit silently for a few seconds until a mysterious, disembodied voice rings out over the loudspeakers saying, "We want Roosevelt! We want Roosevelt!" Within a few seconds, hundreds of chanting delegates join in, pouring into the aisles, carrying state delegation standards in impromptu demonstrations. Whenever the chant begins to die down, state chairmen, who also have microphones connected to the loudspeakers, chant: "New Jersey wants Roosevelt! Arizona wants Roosevelt! Iowa wants Roosevelt!"
The delegates have spoken in a spontaneous outpouring of support for a third term for "that man in the White House" the Republicans had called him, so bitter and angry were they that they couldn't even say his name.
Or had the delegates spoken? Spontaneous? No way. It was all rigged. The disembodied voice wasn't in the hall at all, but was the voice of Thomas D. Garry, Superintendent of Chicago's Department of Sanitation (think, sewers), a trusted friend of Chicago Mayor Ed Kelly. Garry was stationed in a basement room with a microphone, waiting for that moment. Those who immediately picked up the chant weren't spontaneous either; Mayor Kelly had seen to that. He'd stationed hundreds of Chicago city workers and precinct captains around the hall; other Democratic bosses had brought followers from their home territories. All of them joined Garry's chant. It was as spontaneous as a NASA shuttle launch.
ONE MORE THING
The convention storms on and nominates FDR for a third term on the first ballot by an 86% majority the next day. Then Roosevelt puts the name of Henry Wallace up for Vice President. The delegates bolt. FDR says he won't accept the nomination if they don't choose Wallace. Stalemate? Ah, but the masterful manipulation was not yet ended.
Enter Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of the President. She flies to the convention to give a speech advocating her husband's desire for Wallace as his running mate. As she rises to speak, the first woman ever to address a national presidential convention, the giant auditorium falls silent; such was the reverence and love they have for Mrs. Roosevelt. Such blind love and unrestrained respect are the fodder for more manipulation.
Her speech turns the tide. The delegates choose Wallace. After she speaks, she says to a friend, "They were just like lambs."
They first manipulated the lambs by that disembodied voice emanating from the basement to nominate FDR for a third term. Then, when the lambs assembled to hear the Mrs., the lambs voted for Wallace, just as she asked. The disembodied voice, the men stationed in the auditorium to amplify the chant coming from the basement over the loudspeakers, the First Lady, all were there to convince the sheep to do what they didn't want to do. It was easy.
GEORGE ORWELL WARNED US
In Orwell's "Animal Farm," Napoleon is the pig who emerges as the leader after the rebellion against the farmer. (Orwell modeled him after Joseph Stalin, the ruthless Russian.) Napoleon notices that the sheep are dumb followers who go along with the crowd. He learns that chanting makes everything easy for the leaders. A chant is simple for the sheep; it's repeatable by the sheep; it can be manipulated. Orwell is saying, "Beware simplistic slogans." Whatever side you're on: if you can chant it, it's not a well-thought out philosophy. Instead of thinking for themselves, the sheep only repeat slogans over and over.
THE NEW MAN
But enter the man with the Bible. You can't manipulate him; chants and slogans don't work with him. He sees through them to the bottom of their shallow pool. Slogans are out, biblical thinking is in.
For example, he hears the slogan, "Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is never alone," and he sees right through its logical fallacy--how can faith (or anything else) be "alone" and at the same time, "never alone."
When someone warns, "Don't miss heaven by 18 inches," he rejects its flawed premise, that of making a false distinction between a "head and a heart belief." Someone tells him, "God wants a tenth of your money and a seventh of your time," and he scoffs at that bromide because he knows II Cor. 3, Heb. 7, and Acts 15 which tell him that the Mosaic Law is gone with the wind.
Music (loud or soft) doesn't manipulate him; he's immune. He's not some teenager going berserk at a punk rock concert or a mindless mass of Nazis worshiping Hitler in a stadium in Berlin, Nazis prepped by the pulsating prelude of martial music.
The Bible has inoculated him against emotionalism as a tactic to use him, to enslave his time, and to take his money. The oft-used tactic of tears, that is, tears for dramatic effect to get one's way over the Bible's way, disgusts him.
FDR wasn't the first to manipulate the people, Marc Antony, would be emperor of Rome, comes to mind along with the first master manipulator, Satan in Eden. But the person no one has been able to manipulate yet is the biblicist, the man with an open Bible.
____________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Mike Halsey is the chancellor of Grace Biblical Seminary, a Bible teacher at the Hangar Bible Fellowship, and the author of Truthspeak, available on Amazon.com. A copy of his book, Microbes in the Bloodstream of the Church, is also available as an E-book on Amazon.com. If you would like to a receive a copy of his weekly Bible studies and other articles of biblical teaching and application, you can do so by writing sue.bove@gmail.com and requesting, "The Hangar Bible Fellowship Journal."
If you would like to contribute to his ministry according to the principle of II Corinthians 9:7, you may do so by making your check out to Hangar Bible Fellowship and mailing it to 65 Teal Ct., Locust Grove, GA 30248. All donations are tax deductible.
Come visit the Hangar some Sunday at 10 AM at the above address. You'll be glad you did.
Other recommended grace-oriented websites are:
notbyworks.org
literaltruth.org
gracebiblicalseminary.org
duluthbible.org
clarityministries.org
Also:
Biblical Ministries, Inc.
C/O Dr. Richard Grubbs
P. O. Box 64582
Lubbock, TX 79464-4582
There is hardly a more common error than that of taking the man who has one talent, for a genius.
Read more at http://www.notable-quotes.com/h/helps_arthur.html#mpzMv1GyXYdlOVbq.99"There is
Read more at http://www.notable-quotes.com/h/helps_arthur.html#mpzMv1GyXYdlOVbq.99"There is
There is hardly a more common error than that of taking the man who has one talent, for a genius.
Read more at http://www.notable-quotes.com/h/helps_arthur.html#mpzMv1GyXYdlOVbq.99
Read more at http://www.notable-quotes.com/h/helps_arthur.html#mpzMv1GyXYdlOVbq.99
There is hardly a more common error than that of taking the man who has one talent, for a genius.
Read more at http://www.notable-quotes.com/h/helps_arthur.html#mpzMv1GyXYdlOVbq.99
Read more at http://www.notable-quotes.com/h/helps_arthur.html#mpzMv1GyXYdlOVbq.99
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