Fear Itself

By COREY ROBIN

It was the French essayist Michel de Montaigne who first declared, sometime between 1572 and 1574, "The thing I fear most is fear." Since then, philosophers have taken his lead, deeming fear the enemy of enlightenment and the most lethal impediment to freedom. Though intellectuals often fret over their lack of political influence, these maxims against fear have traveled far and wide, from the halls of power to protests in the street. On his first day in office, Franklin Delano Roosevelt