FDR’s Economic Bill of Rights

Our 32nd President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, envisioned and fought for an America where every individual and family had economic security and opportunity. Over three full terms as president, and several months of a fourth term, President Roosevelt steered the nation through the Great Depression and World War II. His New Deal policies established our modern American social safety net with the advent of social security, aid for widows and children, affordable housing opportunities, increased economic security for farmers, reforms for workers, unemployment assistance, protections for the disabled, among other policies and programs. He also ushered in banking and economic reforms to prevent another devastating stock market crash and created public employment programs that brought hope to American workers across the country.

It is important to note that President Roosevelt’s policies and programs were a product of his time in that some were systematically discriminatory to non-White Americans. One example is the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) policy of only issuing federal backed mortgage loans to white homebuyers and in predominantly white neighborhoods. This policy increased segregation and robbed non-white homebuyers of wealth built through homeownership, creating large wealth gap that persists today.

To learn more about FDR’s New Deal we recommended the History Channel’s multimedia presentation and UC Berkeley’s Living New Deal site.

In his 1944 State of the Union Address to Congress, President Roosevelt called for amending the Bill of Rights to include economic security as a core American right. This proposal is known as FDR’s economic bill of rights or the second bill of rights. The President had a vision that democracy would only succeed if all Americans had economic security and stability. He warned that leaving some out of the prosperity of the nation would lead to the destabilization of the country itself. This is a notion that has become reality in our turbulent times, as Americans who are economically insecure are pitted against each other and become blind to their common goals and unfulfilled need for economic security.

“We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. “Necessitous men are not free men.” People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.” (President Roosevelt, 1944)

President Roosvelt asked Congress to pass an economic bill of rights that would encode the following economic protections for all Americans, among others, in the Constitution (State of the Union Message to Congress, 1944):

• The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the Nation;
• The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;
• The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;
• The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;
• The right of every family to a decent home;
• The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;
• The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;
• The right to a good education.

The second bill of rights was never officially enacted, but FDR’s vision that Americans can only be free when their basic economic needs are met, lives on. The Peoples’ Union supports policies that help us work toward, and ultimately, fulfill FDR’s vision of economic security for all. We agree, and have observed, that peace and prosperity go hand in hand, at home and abroad. This site provides an overview of the policies that we believe need to be enacted to fulfill President Roosevelt’s vision of economic freedom for all.