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Franklin D. Roosevelt, first two paragraphs of a campaign speech at Columbus, Ohio, August 20, 1932:
"WHEN I opened my campaign in Chicago seven weeks ago I spoke briefly and plainly of the issues of this campaign. Following that address I outlined to the people of the country the platform of my party. In the order of logic I should devote this address to the Republican platform and the speech of acceptance of my opponent. I find it necessary, therefore, not only to discuss these statements, but to consider them in the light of Republican policies and promises of the past few years. To do so without severe criticism is impossible.
"I regret that necessity, for destructive criticism is never justified for its own sake. And yet, to build we must first clear the ground. We must find out why the Republican leadership--and mind you, all the way through this campaign I am not talking about the millions of fine men and women who make up the Republican Party, I am addressing my remarks to the Republican leadership--why that Republican leadership built so unwisely. We must determine the causes that made the whole structure collapse."
