Did FDR ever say this?

Alt+F4

diabolical globalist
Alt+F4
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Oct 29, 2006
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Did President Franklin D. Roosevelt ever make the following statement?

"In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way."

I see this quote often attributed to him among anti-government/conspiracy groups but I've yet to find a source that can tell me the orginial date/location. Thanks in advance.
 
I checked "Bartlett's" and that quote doesn't appear in it at all, by FDR or anyone else.
 
Google shows that quote a lot, but no definitive citations show up in the first 20. In fact, your query shows up in the first 10.
 
Fitter said:
I checked "Bartlett's" and that quote doesn't appear in it at all, by FDR or anyone else.
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Bartlett's only has "familair" quotations, not everything everyone has ever said.

I did some digging for you Alt, and turned up a few thousand times that the quote has been referenced to FDR, but no actual instance of it being said by him. I ran some searches over a number of important speeches and fireside chats, as well as some papers of his, but still, nothing.

This doesn't mean the quote is false, only that an half-hour of research didn't turn up anything.

I'll do some additional digging later.
 
I don't know whether he said it, but I do know that people were attributing the statement "I planned it that way" to him in 1938.

PS: Ah, here it is:

"Yes, we are on the way back -- and not by mere chance, not by a turn of the cycle. We are coming back more soundly than ever before because we planned it that way."
-- Speech at the Citadel, 23 October 1935.

Much political hay was made of the remark in 1938, when the economy didn't seem to be quite going according to plan.
 
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Fitter said:
As I looked in the book, which I own, it would be pretty safe to assume that I knew that.:D
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<shrug> You stated that no one has ever said the quote, and cited Bartlett's as evidence. I wasn't trying to rub your nose in it. Just trying to answer the OP.
 
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Thank you all for your efforts. It's my belief that this is a made up quote thrown out there to fit a particular political agenda. Anything anyone can further discovers, I'd love to hear (or with this media, read). Thanks again in advance.
 
Alt+F4 said:
Thank you all for your efforts. It's my belief that this is a made up quote thrown out there to fit a particular political agenda. Anything anyone can further discovers, I'd love to hear (or with this media, read). Thanks again in advance.
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Lack of direct support and Gazpacho's post seems to confirm this. It appears to be a quote that is based on something FDR said.
 
RobRoy said:
"I checked "Bartlett's" and that quote doesn't appear in it at all, by FDR or anyone else." [emphasis added]

Enjoy!
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"I checked "Bartlett's" and that quote doesn't appear in it at all, by FDR or anyone else." [emphasis added]

That simply means that Fitter didn't find that quote in Bartlett's. No way should you infer that Fitter is claiming that just because it's not in Bartlett's that means it never happened.
 
It's not at all unusual for certain groups to make up quotes and attribute them to dead famous people. Look up Alexander Tytler - a bogus quote attributed to this otherwise obscure 18thC Scottish writer has been circulating for decades, resisting all attempts at debunking.
 
RobRoy said:
By his response to the OP's question. He's welcome to say different.
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Okay, I've re-read that post 3 times and I can't see where you find me saying no-one ever said it. I was presenting Bartlett's as source to which many people don't have easy access. I've spent enough time on this forum to know that proving a negative is impossible.
 
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