Ballad of the Presidents: Harding to FDR

Of Warren G. Harding it never was said 
That he didn’t stray from the marital bed
But his paramour was the first one to posit
They had their affair in the president’s closet

Coolidge did little and said even less
Light-handed guidance was what he liked best
Business execs were the bloc that he favored
Business support was the kind he most savored

Herbert Clark Hoover might well have been great
Had he been elected before ’28
As it all happened the stock market crash
Transmuted his dreams to a mountain of trash

Franklin D. Roosevelt blithely asserted
Fear was no worry for all the brave-hearted
His weapon to combat despondence and woe?
His voice from the ether on night radio

Against the depression in one telling swoop
He hurled a political alphabet soup
From federal housing to planting new trees
From farm’s Triple A to jobs’ Triple C

Depression proved frustrating, stubborn and tough
Two terms gave him time but yet not quite enough
War overseas neatly furnished him cover
To break with tradition and capture another

A raid at Pearl Harbor: America in!
Roosevelt crafted a troika to win
With Churchill and Stalin he planned the campaign
To bring to an end Hitler's horrible reign

As armies and soldiers drew near to Berlin
His faltering health at the last did give in
Depriving the prez of the grim satisfaction
Of finishing fascism’s utter destruction