Yes . The whole Japanese internment is the one reason I don ' t consider him our greatest president . He changed the fundamental definition of liberalism and what people expect the government to do . He formed a coalition that brought the Democratic party to a dominant position for the first time since before the Civil War . He led a successful effort through both the Great Depression and World War II . I ' d honestly go as far as to name him the greatest national leader of the 20 th century , though I am reluctant because of the reason you mentioned above . He is consistently rated by both scholars and the general public as one of the top 3 presidents . At a time where an economic depression was leading to radical new ideologies taking control in Germany and Spain , FDR made the government popular enough to avoid that fate .