*The makings of a myth*
In terms of provenance, the FDR legend rests on shaky ground. Those who
cite the story invariably do so anecdotally, and historical
documentation of the incident is suspiciously sparse. Journalist Martin
Berg scoured
<https://www.representconsumers.org/2009/09/15/the-real-story-behind-make-him-do-it/> several
different biographies of A. Philip Randolph but could find no mention of
the supposed encounter. As Berg explains: “Now, I’m from Detroit and
Randolph was part of the civil rights story I grew up on, and I never
heard that story until the 2008 election.” Peter Dreier, Professor of
Politics at Occidental College, related the anecdote in print several
<https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/gop-mocks-public-service/>
times
<https://www.huffpost.com/entry/go-out-and-make-me-do-it_b_281631> in
the Obama era, but in some tellings he did so with the caveat
<https://prospect.org/features/lessons-health-care-wars/> that it “has
never been documented.” Activist and entertainer Harry Belafonte stated
<https://www.seattlepi.com/local/opinion/article/Goodman-Make-Obama-keep-his-promises-1298087.php> in
an interview that he heard the story from Eleanor Roosevelt herself, and
this might be as close to a verification as anything on record. But even
his was a second-hand retelling, vague on details, passed on many
decades after the fact.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/02/16/its-a-myth-that-presidents-welcome-movement-pressure-and-biden-is-no-different/
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