We stumbled into a Ken Bruns segment on the Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt on cspan this afternoon. We watched for nearly an hour that covered WWII from the Allied invasion of Italy until late 1944. My folks were strong supporters of FDR and of his "New Deal" which included the establishment of the Soil Conservation Service in the USDA. An earlier version of the Soil Erosion Service in the Department of Interior proceeded it. I wonder how FDR will stack up over time in the ranking of Presidents of this United States. He already "stands out" as the only President to have been elected to 4 consecutive terms. He died after a year or so of his fourth term in 1945 when Vice President Harry S. Truman took over. I will let Historians determine his ranking among all our Presidents but believe he will end up near the top of the list. His leadership is what helped make the drought and depression days of the 30's tolerable and the defeat of the Natzi's possible. I say that because of appreciating the surplus commodities that we received but also because of my career with the SCS and also the career of our son Jon with SCS and NRCS. I would love to see the entire version of the Ken Burns film.
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