Despite his own defeat, Mr. Roosevelt answers the title question with an emphatic Yes. "I think that the role of the third party has been, especially the Liberal Party- It has been often said in jest that its role in New York politics has been to keep the Democratic Party honest and the Republican Party more liberal. Now, I suppose you could turn that to say that the Conservative Party, on whose line you ran for Mayor a year and a half ago-their role, I suppose, would be to make the Republican Party more the party of McKinley, or Adam Smith, and-" WFB: "Are you against Adam Smith?" FDR: "I think that he's a bit out of date."