People can thus more easily forget his major negatives under his positive leadership that resonated with much of America. The two most recent presidents fall far below FDR. Imagine their matching up with Churchill as a team. Nobody in the 21st century so far will challenge for a spot in the "greatest presidents" conversation.

Negatives such as Japanese "camps" he approved, policies that may have worsened the Depression until the war ended it, the massive trigger of the administrative state, etc., cannot be ignored.

It's easy to imagine how some other leaders at the time would have been bad news as POTUS. Fortunately, party leaders in 1944 dumped Henry Wallace, who would have been terrible as his successor.