He helped found the country, as did many other such as Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, all of whom actually wrote the slavery laws.

George Washinton wrote the slavery laws?  Really... I thought he was all busy fighting the revolutionary war.  Also i think you need to learn the difference between the government during washingtons tiem and the government during FDR.

I thought he was all busy fighting the revolutionary war when that was happening.

In fact i'm pretty sure he inacted and created the first law on the books that went against slavery.

We were long past any excuses for FDR in anycase... Look at Teddy Roosevelt long beforehand... FDR was just a racist who was looking for any excuse he could to put the japanese "in their place"

Furthermore.  George Washinton was against slavery and only kept his slaves to keep the slave familys together... and because he didn't have enough money to release them. 

One of his goals was to find a slow way to end slavery.  The only reason he didn't emancipate his slaves is that the laws of virgina imposed a great penalty on people who freed their slaves rather then sell them.  Not even as president could Washington overturn this... the federal government as weak as it was.

Hence why Washington had to wait till he died to free his slaves. 

Washignton, Jefferson and Adams were all against slavery but had to accept it to keep the south.

FDR was for interment because he was a racist.

Even if they had to go with the will of the country, Washinton, Adams and Jefferson were nevery shy about their dislike of slavery...

and FDR Was never shy about how much he hated asians.  Even his own wife called him out on it.

"We retain the right to lead our individual lives as we please, but we can only do so if we wish to grant to others the freedoms that we wish for ourselves."

I certainly hope so, and certainly there will be some backlash, but I am concerned that the pendulum won't swing as far back as you think it will. 

Take the warrantless wiretapping.  All the telecom companies but one caved.  What happens to them?  Nothing.  Congress failed the shit out of me, they didn't even give Qwest a reward for being a decent corporate citizen.

I think FDR is one of the greats even with the racist crap and attempted court-packing etc. because of all the good he did. Lincoln pulled a bunch of shit too, habeus corpus being the big one but some of the stuff in this thread I hadn't heard before.

I will say that the internment camps are the reason I have to say the other Roosevelt is better. IMO it's TR duking it out with Lincoln for greatest President other than Washington. (Being the FIRST, and all the stuff he did in the CREATION of the country, and the reverence the nation holds him in ... it's just not fair putting him in the running. Impossible to do a fair comparison IMO.)

Here is where i want to make my case for Teddy Roosevelt over Lincoln.

Name every other president that makes it high on the list.

What was common with them all that wasn't common with Lincoln?

They all came to the presdiency during great turmoil in the United States.

Theodore Roosevelt didn't really... and is still considered one of the best.  That's how much his policies were well received today. 

He was also almost flawless.

The only negative thing his presidency is negativly known for is that he tried to change it so spelling would phoenetic.  Which, while weird probably would of been better off for us after a generation or two.

His actual biggest mistake was discharging a lot of black people from the army because a town made false allegations, and said troop disobeyed orders by refusing to give any information on what did or didn't happen.

This only being seen as a mistake because of how foward thinking and ahead of his time Roosevelt was on civil issues.

He was Pro-Desegregation, Pro Women's Suffrage, invited Booker T Washington to the white house, apointed variouis minorities and women to key positions withing the government. 

Even in southern states, and never backed down to racism when there were protests to try and get him to repeal them.

Lincoln while freeing the slaves, didn't do it out of any love for black people or care for equality, he did it because it would help them win the war.  In fact i believe after the Civil War he wanted to ship them all back to Africa.

Heck there were plans for the confederates to abolish slavery to get more troops in their army if things continued for too long.

Kasz,

Again, you have to take the time period into consideration.

Franklin Roosevelt wasnt anymore racist than the rest of America.  Even Canada had its own Japanese internment camps.

About George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln.  I guess you think the wholesale destruction of Native Americans, the unequal status of blacks and women, and so forth are comendable?  All these presidents sought a genocide of Native Americans as America moved its terriroty West, but somehow Franklin Roosvelt enacting a order that was not anymore racist than America or the rest of the West at that time qualifies him as a horrible president ever.

Lets take a look at Theodore Roosevelt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt

He said that any war with savages was justified, and horribe treatment of savages during these wars are necessary.  In the Brownsfield Affair he discharged an entire black army regiment, which Nixon would later apologize for and reverse.  Of course, this was no different than the times, but applying today's moral standards...

Manus, George Washington had nothing to do with Westward expansion. That wasn't until  30+ years after his time in office was over. He was focused on ousting the Brits, not on killing off the native americans. Lincoln would better fit the time period you mentioned.

FDR was more racist then his wife and a bunch of others.  There were plenty of protests against what he did.

The only way he could get that "law" passed was by making it an order.

Washington, Jefferson and Teddy ALL had more more progressive thoughts on race then FDR... despite all  being president before him.

And all three and Lincoln had better records of trying to change things.

Not only did he not change things FDR made delibrite steps backwords.

It would be like if a president made an Jim Crow executive order.

Your one sided look on Theodore Roosevelt is hilarious though when you are ignoring the many many acts he accomplished to increase equality among American Citizens.

Teddy Roosevelt wasn't a racist.  He was a Civilizationist.  He thought America and Europe by way of their advanced technology was superior to other races and although it was horrible it was in the worlds best interest to have the land be controlled by the people with the best techology... no matter their skin color.

"American and Indian, Boer and Zulu, Cossack and Tartar, New Zealander and Maori, – in each case the victor, horrible though many of his deeds are, has laid deep the foundations for the future greatness of a mighty people."'

William McGill, a black preacher in Tennessee, wrote: "The administration of President Roosevelt is to the Negro what the heart is to the body. It has pumped life blood into every artery of the Negro in this country.

"Pope Leo XIII remarked approvingly of TR’s determination “to seek equality of treatment of all the races.”

Yet, FDR took a big step backwords from TRs example.

How can you continute to use "context of the times" as an excuse when FDR came after TR yet was more racist by large large degrees?

Ronald Reagan.

He made the Soviet Union crumble.

I personally like Polk. Gets in for one term in office, does an extremely great job, then leaves office and dies 3 months later. Thank you Mr. Polk for much of the West.