The very employers and politicians and publishers who talk most loudly of class antagonism and the destruction of the American system now undermine that system by this attempt to coerce the votes of the wage earners of this country. It is the 1936 version of the old threat to close down the factory or the office if a particular candidate does not win. It is an old strategy of tyrants to delude their victims into fighting their battles for them. Every message in a pay envelope, even if it is the truth, is a command to vote according to the will of the employer. But this propaganda is worse—it is deceit.


Address at Madison Square Garden (October 31, 1936)

Franklin D. Roosevelt Quotes

The very employers and politicians and publishers who talk most loudly of class antagonism and the destruction of the American system now undermine...

The very employers and politicians and publishers who talk most loudly of class antagonism and the destruction of the American system now undermine...

The very employers and politicians and publishers who talk most loudly of class antagonism and the destruction of the American system now undermine...

The very employers and politicians and publishers who talk most loudly of class antagonism and the destruction of the American system now undermine...