Quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt

It is said that Napoleon lost the battle of Waterloo because he forgot his infantryhe staked too much upon the more spectacular but less substantial calvary. The present administration in Washington provides a close parallel. It has either forgotten or it does not want to remember the infantry of our economic army. These unhappy times call for the building of plans that rest upon the forgotten, the unorganized but the indispensable units of economic power, for plans like those of 1917 that build from the bottom up and not from the top down, that put their faith once more in the forgotten man at the bottom of the economic pyramid.


It is said that Napoleon lost the battle of Waterloo because

Summary

This quote suggests that in the battle of Waterloo, Napoleon made a critical mistake by neglecting his infantry in favor of his more showy cavalry, leading to his defeat. Drawing a parallel with the present administration in Washington, the quote argues that they too have forgotten or chosen to ignore the vital components of the economy - the ordinary workers and small businesses. Instead, the quote advocates for the creation of plans that prioritize and empower these forgotten entities, echoing the approach taken in 1917 to rebuild the economy "from the bottom up" and restore faith in the average person at the base of the economic structure.

By Franklin D. Roosevelt
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