This satirical map titled "The Odyssey of F.D.R." is described within as a "free-wheeling trip through the headlines of the last seven years." It was published by Fortune Magazine in October 1939 just prior to the Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt winning a third term in office, which made him the only U.S. President to serve for more than two terms.
The densely illustrated map depicts a curvy back-and-forth road with vignettes revealing policy decisions and market reactions including the "blank check filling station", "soak the rich bill", several stock market crashes, and increased public debt. The scene ends with Uncle Sam wandering into a fog
Henry Luce, the publisher of Time, Life and Fortune Magazine, was deeply critical of President Roosevelt and it shows through this map. While the it notes a few areas where F.D.R. had great success, it continually reminds us of his shortcomings, and the result on the American people and economy. This is most prominent in the central portion of the map during the year of 1937.
The odyssey begins in the top right with a balanced budget, the repeal of prohibition and regulations pf bank and utilities. As the trail goes on, events of F.D.R.'s presidency are portrayed, some of which include the stock market crash in July of 1933, which led to the Great Depression, a trade deal with the U.S.S.R., the U.S. Army's disastrous attempt to fly U.S. mail, minimum wage and social security acts, his renomination, and the continual placements to a cactus draped with a black rage that tracks the rising public debt.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt died in April of 1945 from a cerebral hemorrhage. Even after his death, Mr. Luce is quoted as saying that is was his "duty to go on hating him." ~ New World Cartographic
Title: The Odyssey of F.D.R.
Collection: P.J. Mode collection of persuasive cartography, #8548. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
Creator: Constantin Alajalov
Date: 1939
Source: Fortune Magazine, October 1939, pp. 74-75.
I guess we can suppose that Luce was included amongst the wealthy and powerful who were against helping their fellow citizens. As FDR said it best: "These economic royalists complain that we seek to overthrow the institutions of America. What they really complain of is that we seek to take away their power. Our allegiance to American institutions requires the overthrow of this kind of power. In vain they seek to hide behind the flag and the Constitution. In their blindness they forget what the flag and the Constitution stand for."
FDR was a Socialist, just like Biden!