Reply #483: Really? Look at some of this from FDR's record and tell me some on DU wouldn't "knee-cap" him?

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- On March 10, he asked Congress to slash the salaries of federal government employees by $100 million, with an additional $400 million sliced from veterans' pensions. This stunning cut -- total annual federal expenditures then running at $4.6 billion -- came in a measure called "A Bill to Maintain the Credit of the United States Government."

- As Roosevelt took a firmer stance against the Axis Powers, American isolationists—including Charles Lindbergh and America First—vehemently attacked the President as an irresponsible warmonger.<131> Roosevelt initiated FBI and Internal Revenue Service investigations of his loudest critics; no legal actions resulted.<132> Unfazed by these criticisms, and confident in the wisdom of his foreign policy initiatives, FDR continued his twin policies of preparedness and aid to the Allied coalition. On December 29, 1940, he delivered his Arsenal of Democracy fireside chat, in which he made the case for involvement directly to the American people, and a week later he delivered his famous Four Freedoms speech in January 1941, further laying out the case for an American defense of basic rights throughout the world.

- Internment of Germans, Japanese and Italians
Main articles: German American internment, Japanese American internment, and Italian American internment
When the war began the danger of a Japanese attack on the coast led to growing pressure to remove people of Japanese descent away from the coastal region. This pressure grew due to fears of terrorism, espionage, and/or sabotage. On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 which relocated the "Issei" (first generation of Japanese immigrants who did not have U.S. citizenship) and their children, "Nisei" (who had dual citizenship).

- Roosevelt needed the support of Southern Democrats for his New Deal programs, and he therefore decided not to push for anti-lynching legislation that might threaten his ability to pass his highest priority programs—though he did denounce lynchings as "a vile form of collective murder".<157>

- Beginning in the 1960s FDR was charged<159> with not acting decisively enough to prevent or stop the Holocaust. Critics cite instances such as the 1939 episode in which 936 Jewish refugees on the SS St. Louis were denied asylum and not allowed into the United States because of strict laws passed by Congress.

- Roosevelt was unwilling to desegregate the armed forces. However, on June 25, 1941, Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802, forbidding discrimination on account of "race, creed, color, or national origin" in the hiring of workers in defense related industries.<160>

- Enemy aliens and people of Japanese ancestry fared badly. On February 19, 1942, Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 that applied to everyone classified as an "enemy alien", including people who had dual citizenship living in designated high-risk areas that covered most of the cities on the West Coast.<161> With the U.S at war with Italy, some 600,000 Italian aliens (citizens of Italy who did not have U.S. citizenship) were subjected to strict travel restrictions; the restrictions were lifted in October 1942.<162> Some 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were forced to leave the West Coast. From 1942 to 1945, they lived in internment camps inland. Those outside the West Coast, and in Hawaii, were not affected.