Reply #20: Radical is hard to define, you really have to go by radical in their day and age

[ShadowLiberal]

If you look at any presidents from over 100 years ago you'll find some views they had that were widely accepted as mainstream at the time, but would be viewed as very radical today (such as African Americans being inferior, attitudes towards women).

Off the top of my head... Andrew Johnson may have been radical for his time in that he had so many problems with a congress that so strongly disagreed with his policies (and that overrode over 25 of his vetoes), but that was when only the north was represented in congress.

FDR was a drastic change from Hoover and the last 100 years of republican dominance, but FDR's party won large majorities, and so many people abandoned the GOP that they were reduced to just 1/5 of the seats in congress, so FDR isn't so radical for his time in that light.