This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Monday, January 23rd, 2012.

I'm Caleb Brown.

Franklin Roosevelt's views on the proper role of government animated his approach to war and resulted in self-serving policies

meant to aggrandize his office and supplant civil society.

That's the argument from the book, FDR goes to war by Burton and Anita Folsom.

Burton Folsom spoke at the Cato Institute about their book last week.

Franklin Roosevelt was very anxious for an active role of government in the American economy.

Of course, World War II provides that in a big way.

Anita has gone into some of those details.

But Roosevelt wanted it that way after the war, too.

That's the important thing.

So you have during the war, Franklin Roosevelt

created the National Resources Planning Board.

They were supposed to take ideas for after the war to run the American economy.

Roosevelt picked this up and in his State of the Union speech in 1944, he talked about the Economic Bill of Rights. The Economic Bill of Rights

and I quote from parts of it, the include the right to a useful and remunerative job.

The right of every family to a decent home, the right to a good education, the right to adequate medical care.

These become new rights. to adequate medical care.

These become new rights, which Roosevelt described

as the new economic bill of rights.

Sometimes he called it the second bill of rights.

And they roll off the tongue so nicely, don't they?

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