Franklin Roosevelt actually said...

"The death of Senator Couzens to me is a great loss."

"The chief benefit is going to be not to Vermont, but to Massachusetts and Connecticut."

"Your Government in Washington has to keep in close touch with the Governments of the States and of the cities of the Nation."

"But, more than that, it is a great loss to the multitudes of Americans whose needs and problems were always in the forefront of his thought and action."