Frank Rich Quotes
After 9/11, we realized that all these silly culture wars, and arguing about rock lyrics... who cares? You know, we, for some reason, remembered what our real problems are.
Rich, Frank. Interview. 2006.
The nation was facing the scourge of McCarthyism. Senator Smith was the most courageous member of the Senate in denouncing the lying demagogue of her own party who was so powerful at the time—Joseph R. McCarthy. At the same time, there were some communists trying to undermine the values or the nation as well as the fascists. Smith was one of the first to recognize the danger of both.
This was the address where FDR used the “arsenal of democracy” phrase which became so famous. A similar phrase was used in May by Robert E. Sherwood--{624748}. Then Jean Monnet began to use the exact phrase in Mid 1940--{624746}. He almost certainly had read Sherwood’s earlier, similar phrase. However so had Presidential Aid Harry Hopkins who thought that it would be a good phrase for President Roosevelt to use to “brand” the activity of the United States. So diplomatically, Monnet was asked not to use the phrase any more, and he acceded to the request. At the end of the year, FDR gave his address with this quotation.
This principle of support of Administration foreign policy (even if opposed) when abroad had an enormous influence on both political parties behavior for almost half a century. It began to fall apart with the hyperpartisanship that the Republican’s deep enmity to Democratic President Bill Clinton, and this was retaliated against be some Democrats during the George W. Bush Presidency. It completely disintegrated with the antipathy many very conservative Republicans had against President Barack Obama in the early 21st century. See {633113} for the Senator’s elaboration on the meaning of the policy.
“Sectionalism” really referred to the North / South animosity which carried over from the Civil War. The South would hardly ever elect a Republican as it was the Republican Lincoln Government that ended slavery and put down their rebellion in the Civil War. There was a language difference that was much greater than modern times and the South was way behind most of the rest of the country in terms of education and standard of living. Every time the Federal Government would try and enforce the Constitution with respect to race, the sectional friction would break out again. The sectional issues carried into the 21st century but had gotten much better.
Frank Hart Rich Jr. is an American essayist and liberal op-ed columnist, who held various positions within The New York Times from 1980 to 2011. He has also produced television series and documentaries for HBO.
