Political Science major, might as well spit out some info that has been taught to us. Would be interesting to see what historians here think of it's historical validity.
FDR was President during a turbulent time with the war, depression, and the dust bowl. Although it was also a turbulent politically as FDR had created a coalition of the Old Southern Conservative Democrats in the south, and the New Liberal Northern Democrats. He had to play his hand just right to keep this coalition together. First he used liberal economics, which benefited the South greatly as much of the tax money was used to urbanize the south which had been hit hardest by the Depression. (This in turn also helped the nation.) He then appeased the South socially by ignoring Civil Rights, sort of. He did use an executive order to allow equal work rights to blacks in federal war factories, which even that angered many southerners. Although FDR never publicly went for or against Civil Rights, something often overlooked under his title of being the most Liberal President of all time.
This is also the time you start to see the parties "switch". The coalition couldn't work forever, so when the North saw that it could win without the South's votes, it ditched appeasement and allowed the Republicans to take the old Democratic path. This is why you see the later liberal presidents take a louder stance of Civil Rights.
Source:UCF Southern Politics Course.
Politics in the New South by Richard K. Scher.
The New Southern Politics J.David Woodard.
Italics:Other is back story in order to explain the circumstances.
Edit:Per this subreddit's rules, I'd suggest taking out loaded words like Liberal, instead just ask his position on Civil Rights. Edit:Executive order.
One important and shameful aspect of FDR's civil rights legacy that cannot be overlooked is his personal order to create the program of Japanese internment. Immediately after Pearl Harbor, FDR ordered the FBI to arrest any aliens in the U.S. suspected of being "dangerous to public peace or safety." He ordered the seizure of all fishing boats owned by anyone of Japanese descent.
On February 19, 1942, on FDR's order, General Dewitt set up "military zones" all along the west coast, and people of Japanese ancestry were subjected to curfews, travel regulations and freezing of assets. Families were herded into camps where they were to stay until the war was over. In all 112,000 Japanese-Americans were removed from their homes, ostensibly in violation of their Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
This executive action was famously challenged by Fred Korematsu, in Korematsu v. United States. Writing for the majority was the very liberal (in other respects) Hugo Black, an FDR appointee. Frankfurter, another liberal lion and FDR appointee, wrote a concurring opinion. While recognizing the explicitly racial nature of the executive order, the majority felt these harsh measures were necessary for national security, and gave exceptional deference to the military's allegation that the Japanese-American population was dense with spies.
The dissenting opinions were scathing. Justice Murphy wrote "I dissent, therefore, from this legalization of racism. Racial discrimination in any form and in any degree has no justifiable part whatever in our democratic way of life. It is unattractive in any setting, but it is utterly revolting among a free people who have embraced the principles set forth in the Constitution of the United States. All residents of this nation are kin in some way by blood or culture to a foreign land. Yet they are primarily and necessarily a part of the new and distinct civilization of the United States. They must, accordingly, be treated at all times as the heirs of the American experiment, and as entitled to all the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution."
The legacy of FDR's violation of the civil rights in wartime is of continuing importance to U.S. civil rights, as Korematsu and a companion case, Hirabashi, serve as important precedents that paved the way for the post 9/11 limitations on the civil rights of detainees in the War on Terror.
Sources: Greg Robinson, By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of Japanese Americans
Nathan Wantanabe, INTERNMENT, CIVIL LIBERTIES, AND A NATION IN CRISIS, 13 S. Cal. Interdisc. L.J. 167 (Fall 2003).
I'm not sure how liberal Executive Order 9066and 9102 was, but in my opinion putting over 100,000 Japanese, over 10,000 germans, and 3,00 Italians in forced interment camps doesn't sound like a very progressive thing to do.