When asked which U.S. President did the most in preserving and protecting the environment, and in encouraging conservation practices, many people would answer, Theodore Roosevelt. And they are correct, TR did a lot. But author Douglas Brinkley would disagree. In his new book ‘Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America’ he tells of the far-reaching impact this President’s policies have had.

In reading the review of the book in the New York Times, it is almost shocking to find an administration being so involved in environmental legislation, spending so much political capital on it, and putting so many resources behind it. Where would we be today if these things had not been done? And isn’t it positively frightful that so many good things from the past have since been dismantled?

Brinkley makes a case for the role of government in protecting the land and its resources, which belong to all of us. It is almost shocking to read this today, when we are constantly subjected to the drumbeat that profit is the most important thing, and government should not put any constraints on business.