January 11, 1944: FDR's "Second Bill of Rights"

January 11, 1944: President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers the State of the Union address – unusually for the 20th Century, with a filmed radio broadcast from the Oval Office of the White House, with the text delivered to Congress as mandated by the Constitution.

He uses it to propose what he calls a “Second Bill of Rights,” showing that “Dr. New Deal” hasn’t completely been put in neutral by “Dr. Win the War.”

Roosevelt argued that the "political rights" guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights had "proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness." His remedy was to declare an "economic bill of rights" to guarantee these specific rights:

* Employment, as in the right to work. (Definitely not to be confused with union-busting "right-to-work laws."

* An adequate income for food, shelter, and recreation.

* Farmers' rights to a fair income.

* Freedom from unfair competition and monopolies.

* Decent housing.
* Adequate medical care.

* Social security. (Which FDR had already given to people age 65 and up in 1935.)

* Education.

These rights have come to be known as economic rights. Although not to be enshrined within the constitution, the hope of advocating the policy was that it would be "encoded and guaranteed by federal law." Roosevelt stated that having such rights would guarantee American security, and that the United States' place in the world depended upon how far the rights had been carried into practice.

Roosevelt pursued a legislative agenda to enact his second bill of rights by lending Executive Branch personnel to key Senate committees. This tactic, effectively a blending of powers, produced mixed results and generated a backlash from Congress which resulted in passage of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946. This Act provided funding for Congress to establish its own staffing for committees.

The “rights” were rather vague, allowing for Congress to work out the proper legislation to make them a reality. In the 80 years since, some progress on these rights has been made, but we are still a long way from the country that FDR envisioned. Then again, he made only the slightest of reference to race, and no reference to improving race relations, and, in that regard, this country is far better off than in his time.

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January 11, 1944 was a Tuesday. Baseball and football were out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. There was 1 game in the NHL: The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Montreal Canadiens, 5-0 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.