We Are All in the Same Boat Now

Wolfgang Mieder

We Are All in the Same Boat Now The Proverbial Rhetoric of Franklin D. Roosevelt

Berlin - Bruxelles - Chennai - Lausanne - New York - Oxford

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Control Number: 2024049582

Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.

The German National Library lists this publication in the German

National Bibliography; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.

Cover design by Peter Lang Group AG

ISBN 9783034353267 (hardback)

ISBN 9783034353243 (ebook)

ISBN 9783034353250 (epub)

DOI 10.3726/b22540

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About the author

Wolfgang Mieder is Professor Emeritus of German and Folklore at the University of Vermont, where he taught for fifty years. Among his many honors are honorary doctorates from the Universities of Athens, Bucharest, and Vermont. The author of over a hundred books on folk narratives, he is recognized internationally for his expertise in proverb studies.

About the book

The book is based on Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s speeches, press conferences, proclamations, and letters. The eleven chapters of the first part address his interest in language, his visionary outlook in his four inaugural addresses, his “four freedoms” phrase, his use of proverbial language for world peace, his reliance on quotations, his tendency to coin sententious remarks, his dependence on Biblical proverbs, his use of folk proverbs, his employment of proverbial phrases, his reliance on animal metaphors, and his use of maritime expressions. The second part provides a comprehensive index of the numerous passages that include proverbial references. The study demonstrates that Roosevelt was a skilled communicator, persuader, and, at times, manipulator. His effective use of proverbial language added significant figurative expressiveness to his communications. The phrase “We are all in the same boat now” aptly captures his worldview in dealing with the depression, the war, and his hope for peace.

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Contents

1. Preface
2. Chapter One: “True Wisdom and Sound Common Sense”: Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Interest in Language and Style
3. Chapter Two: “The Only Thing We Have to Fear is Fear Itself”: The Proverbial Vision of Four Inaugural Addresses
4. Chapter Three: “A World Founded upon Four Essential Human Freedoms”: The Coinage and Spread of a Proverbial Claim
5. Chapter Four: “Dedicate this Nation to the Policy of the Good Neighbor”: Proverbial Language in the Service of World Peace
6. Chapter Five: “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”: Franklin Roosevelt’s Reliance on Known Quotations
7. Chapter Six: From “Rendezvous with Destiny” to “Live in Infamy”: The President’s Propensity to Coin Sententious Remarks
8. Chapter Seven: “Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men”: Roosevelt’s Dependence on Proverbs from the Bible
9. Chapter Eight: “You Can’t Eat Your Cake and Have It Too”: Proverbs as Strategic Wisdom in Political Rhetoric
10. Chapter Nine: “Not Losing Sight of the Forest for the Trees”: Adding Plain Language by Way of Proverbial Phrases
11. Chapter Ten: “Don’t Change Horses While Crossing the Stream”: Animal Metaphors as Indicators of Human Behavior
12. Chapter Eleven: “We Are All in the Same Boat Now”: Maritime Phrases as Symbols of Troubled Times
13. Bibliography
14. Index of Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases

  Preface

Close to thirty years ago my colleague and friend George B. Bryan and I undertook the laborious but incredibly rewarding task of writing a book on The Proverbial Winston S. Churchill (1995). At that time we also read the three massive volumes of Churchill & Roosevelt: The Complete Correspondence (1984), noticing that both war-time leaders relied to a considerable extent on proverbial language in their epistles and telegrams. Ten years after our book appeared I returned to their letters and published a chapter on the “Proverbial discourse in the Churchill-Roosevelt Correspondence” in my book Proverbs Are the Best Policy: Folk Wisdom and American Politics (2005). I remember well how fascinated I was at how President Franklin D. Roosevelt employed proverbs and proverbial expressions in his messages and decided that one day I would do a book-length study on his proverbial rhetoric. Almost twenty years later, I can now present that investigation with the title “We Are All in the Same Boat Now”. The Proverbial Rhetoric of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Being busy with other somewhat related projects, I shied away from reading the thirteen volumes of Roosevelt’s Public Papers plus volumes of his letters and other matters. But now, as an emeritus professor, the project became a welcome undertaking with the reading of 14,970 pages of “Rooseveltiana” being a most welcome scholarly undertaking. Of course, the voluminous secondary literature listed in the bibliography can be added to this count, providing invaluable insights into the language and style of this gifted political communicator during thirteen years of historical upheaval. And yet, despite the many analyses of his effective rhetoric, there is with hardly a single exception no discussion of Roosevelt’s frequent use of quotations, proverbs, and proverbial expressions to add metaphorical expressiveness, folk wisdom, and common sense to his rhetorical presidency.

While working up to the challenge of investigating Roosevelt, I busied myself with other major projects that are in some way related to the present study in that they look at the proverbial repertoire and rhetorical prowess of major figures in American history. Let me just mention The Proverbial Abraham Lincoln. An Index to Proverbs in the Works of Abraham Lincoln (2000), “No Struggle, No Progress”. Frederick Douglass and His Proverbial Rhetoric for Civil Rights (2001), “Yes We Can”. Barack Obama’s Proverbial Rhetoric (2009), “Making a Way Out of No Way”. Martin Luther King’s Sermonic Proverbial Rhetoric (2010), “All Men and Women Are Created Equal”. Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s and Susan B. Anthoy’s Proverbial Rhetoric Promoting Women’s Rights (2014), and most recently “A Rising Tide Lifts All the Boats”. The Proverbial Rhetoric of John F. Kennedy (2023). But there are also my more general books The Politics of Proverbs. From Traditional Wisdom to Proverbial Stereotypes (1997), “Proverbs Speak Louder Than Words”. Folk Wisdom in Art, Culture, Folklore, History, Literature, and Mass Media (2008), “Behold the Proverbs of a People”. Proverbial Wisdom in Culture, Literature, and Politics (2014), and “Right Makes Might”. Proverbs and the American Worldview (2019) that deal with such other political figures as Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Lewis, George Marshall, Bernie Sanders, and others. These books also contain chapters on the origin, history, and meaning of such proverbs as “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (the golden rule), “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”, “A house divided against itself cannot stand”, “Government of the people, by the people, for the people”, “Don’t swap horses in the middle of the stream”, “Beating swords into ploughshares”, and “Right makes might” that have often been cited by American presidents with Roosevelt being no exception. There simply can be no doubt that proverbial rhetoric is a significant aspect of the language and style in the political sphere of the United States.

From what has been said it should be clear that this book is not another study about the New Deal, the depression, the Supreme Court, foreign relations, the Second World War, and other matters on Roosevelt’s economic, social, and political agenda. While such matters do get mentioned of course, the emphasis throughout the book is on Roosevelt as the great communicator, persuader, and at times manipulator. And let there be no mistake about it, he was very much aware of the importance of language as he dealt with the American people in his famous Fireside Chats, with Congress, with world leaders like Churchill and Stalin but also with the general population; from students, parents, and workers to political adversaries like isolationists, communists, and labor leaders. The first chapter looks at Roosevelt’s keen interest in language as a most effective communicative tool, showing that he insisted on using plain English and common sense in his communications enriched by traditional folk expressions. As expected, the second chapter deals with his inaugural addresses and discusses the background and later use of the sententious remark “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” from the first inaugural address that will forever be attached to his name. Chapter three offers a detailed analysis of the “four freedoms” phrase that became a leitmotif for the President during his many years in office. Related to this insistence on freedom of speech, religion, fear, and want, he developed the policy of the good neighbor based on the Bible proverb “Love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matthew 22:39), shown in the fourth chapter to be the basis for international relations and world peace. The fifth chapter explains how Roosevelt relied on known quotations to add authority to his messages. As investigated in the sixth chapter, he was also keen to coin his own sententious remarks, as for example his declaration that the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, will forever be “A date which will live in infamy.” Having had a solid religious upbringing, Roosevelt was well acquainted with proverbs from the Bible that he employed frequently to add authority, didacticism, and an element of faith in the future to his uplifting communications. In contrast to the seventh chapter on Biblical proverbs, the eighth chapter shows that Roosevelt was equally fond of folk proverbs that he cited knowing that they would ring a bell with his listeners who were eager enough to accept their traditional wisdom. The ninth chapter deals with the innumerable proverbial expressions that the President integrated into his speeches to make them accessible and at times entertaining by way of their folksy language. Since animal metaphors are quite prevalent in Roosevelt’s rhetoric, the tenth chapter discusses their use as telling indicators of human behavior. Finally then, the last chapter presents maritime phrases as symbols of difficult times with Roosevelt being quite an expert about such phrases due to his interest in sailing, a passion for which John F. Kennedy is also known. In fact, there are quite a few similarities between the two presidents when it comes to their proverbial rhetoric as some references, also from Barack Obama, bring to light throughout the book.

At the end of these prefatory comments it is my great pleasure to express my thanks to Lisa Brooks, Scott Lovelette, and their colleagues from the Interlibrary Loan Office at the University of Vermont for obtaining numerous publications for me. I also thank my colleagues and friends Simon J. Bronner, Charles Clay Doyle, Dennis F. Mahoney, and Patricia Turner for their interest in my work. Special thanks goes to my former student and now quite often co-author Andreas Nolte who took over the Herculean labor of preparing and arranging the extensive Proverb Index of the book. Of course, and this is not an afterthought, I wish to thank my dear wife Barbara Mieder for her steady support of all my projects and for understanding my obsession with proverbial matters. With her by my side, I can work happily along for many hours of the day, knowing that I am in very good hands as far as my life beyond scholarship is concerned.

It has been my practice for a long time to dedicate my books to special relatives and friends. An exception was my study on President Kennedy’s proverbial rhetoric. It will be remembered that he was very committed to improve the country’s immigration policies. Being a German American, I dedicated that book in thankful memory of my own immigration in 1960 to all those who are coming to the United States in the hope of becoming American citizens. As I read President Roosevelt’s speeches and letters, I became ever more aware of what sacrifices the American soldiers and civilians made to defeat Nazi Germany in particular. It is to their memory that I dedicate this book with heartfelt appreciation for reestablishing freedom and democracy in a world that continues to strive for peace in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s spirit.

Wolfgang Mieder

Summer 2024