Explain the differences in thinking between Hoover and Roosevelt in their approach to The Depression

President Hoover had to work for most of his life to get where he was in 1932. Hoover’s first major job was where he was working at gold mines all over the world. The reason he believes that the Government shouldn’t interfere with personnel wealth is because he became rich by hard work and a lot of individual effort. He believed that if he could done that everyone in America could also become rich he called it “the American system of rugged individualism”.

When Hoover realised that The Great Depression was not going to sort itself out which just happened to be before the Presidential elections he decided to take action to stop the Depression. He set up the Reconstruction Finance Corporation who’s job it was to lend money to companies with financial problems in order to stop them from going bankrupt and closing down. Which ironically is how the America got into the economic mess that it was in already because the banks were lending money to buy shares. He also gave small loans to farmers and a road building programme created some new jobs but it was too little too late for Hoover.  

Roosevelt started life in a rich family with everything that he could ever want. His family moved in circles of the same class but by the time he left Harvard University he wanted to help other people, people who were poor and needy. During his time at Warm Spring he learned what the ordinary people in America want and what they need, that is how he know what to do about The Depression because he had spent so much time with ordinary people at Warm Springs.

Roosevelt’s way of dealing with The Depression was to spend $20 million on helping the “forgotten” American people like the unemployed, the homeless and the hungry. The American people liked Roosevelt’s way of dealing with The Depression more than Hoover’s way so when the election came the Americans voted for Roosevelt to be their President, the first President ever to have a disability.

My conclusion is that Hoover’s approach to The Depression was that it would go away and sort itself out without the Government doing anything about. Roosevelt’s approach to The Depression is that only the Government intervening could stop The Depression. My view is that Roosevelt’s way of dealing with The Depression is much better than Hoover’s because he wants to do something about it where as Hoover just wants it to sort itself out.