SOPHIA ROOKSBERRY
Staff writer
For newlyweds Mark and Lindsey Lauren Poloncarz, it is a standard and frequent practice to debate the legacies of two presidents who also happen to share a last name. At 4:20 p.m. today in the Hall of Christ Sanctuary, the Erie County executive and City of Buffalo historian, respectively, will present “Roosevelt Rumble: FDR vs. TR!” for Chautauqua Institution’s annual Buffalo Day.
“We have been having this specific debate for a number of years,” Lindsey Lauren said. “I used to work at the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Site, and so while I have always loved FDR, I came to love TR in a different way, and Mark has always considered FDR to be one of his favorite presidents, if not his top choice overall.”
The couple first publicly presented this debate in May at University Express, a free education program for aging adults in Erie County. According to Mark, their showdown was the most attended course ever held by University Express; an online version ended up in front of Buffalo Day founder Dennis Galucki, who asked them to reprise the program this afternoon.
“The first time we did this, we did not share our PowerPoints with each other in advance, so … we were going through the conversation and the other person was seeing it for the first time and reacting to it in real time,” Lindsey Lauren said. “This time, having done it … I think we’ll probably, if anything, be a little bit more targeted in how we go after each other now, knowing what the other person’s position is and their materials.”
Both debaters base their arguments on deep historical knowledge and political understanding. For Mark, his position in local government shapes his perception of all presidents, including the Roosevelt he chose to back.
“As an elected official, you look upon the achievements [FDR] has done, but also how he overcame great difficulties to reach those achievements, and that’s an important figure when you’re thinking about just doing your day-to-day job,” Mark said. “What are the kinds of things that you need to do to think about not just yourself in the general picture, but the greater good?”
Looking beyond the specific parallels between the Roosevelts and the Poloncarzes, both debaters have researched their subject matter intensely and identified talking points to summarize their arguments.
“FDR came from great privilege, but overcame a tremendous disability in his polio, which rendered him incapable of walking,” Mark said. “It opened up an empathy in him that I don’t think he would have had otherwise, but then he took on two of the greatest crises this country has ever seen — the Great Depression and World War II — and led the nation through some of its most perilous times … Everything that he did prior to the war and during the war set up the modern world as we know it.”
Lindsey Lauren countered, “If you’ve had four terms, I would expect you to have done a lot of stuff. Theodore Roosevelt did as much in many respects. [He] had a prolific impact on so many different aspects of American life and American history, and he did it in half the time 30 years earlier. I think a lot of what Franklin Roosevelt was able to do as president was heavily dependent upon Theodore Roosevelt’s expansion of the office.”
After the couple presents their arguments in detail, they will poll the audience for the crowd-favorite Roosevelt. The debaters said they are looking forward to hearing what Chautauquans have to say after witnessing the spirited conversation on the same grounds where the Roosevelts once stood.
“When it comes to FDR, I think it’s a totally appropriate place to be at Chautauqua because he gave a famous speech there back in 1930,” Mark said, before Lindsey interjected to remind him of Theodore Roosevelt’s famous speech at Chautauqua in 1905. “… We’re talking about two New Yorkers who both spent a lot of time in Buffalo … This is going to be a very, very interesting debate, then we have to drive home together.”
