Furthermore, he held a strong campaign. He would tour the country gaining support and had first hand experiences. Also giving speeches at any possible chance e.g. on trains, and in streets. This showed his determination and will to succeed, as he would go to great lengths (travel the country) to get what he wanted. This reflected to the Americans what he would be like when he was President, therefore they felt that he would do all that he could to dig them out of bad situations and lead them into good ones.
Also, Roosevelt’s policies proved to be a hit with the American citizens, as he was willing to give them what they needed. One of these most important policies was that he promised an active government, which would spend huge sums of money to help the economic crisis and help the American people. This was a major plus for Roosevelt as the American citizens had been feeling scared and worried about the depression, and things were playing on there minds as they didn’t know if they would get a job or provide food for their families. It was therefore a big relief that Roosevelt was willing to help them out of this struggle.
Other Policies were also going to be brought in by Roosevelt if he became President. These included New Deal Policies, which were to bring about relief, recovery and reform to the United States. This was good as it meant that Roosevelt would change and adapt on all of the mistakes that Hoover had made and bring back the power and economy to the USA, which had been lost. Therefore bringing back their pride and the most powerful country status. These Policies therefore appealed to the American public as they would have their social lives and privileges back again if they voted for Roosevelt.
Famously, Franklin also decided to put a stop to prohibition, which would make a major turning point in his campaign. He became very popular for this choice as it wisely meant that crime rates would go down and also the number of gangster’s smuggling in the illegal alcohol. People would then be free to have a drink and enjoy themselves, while seeing the economy rise again, as it would create jobs and the alcohol could be taxed. Therefore it was an all round plus for the Americans, one that they could not decline. Therefore Roosevelt’s popularity grew significantly. Although Roosevelt did not become popular with everyone, communists did not like him and the rich felt that he had betrayed them, as he had raised their taxes very high to help the depression out.
Also, Franklin proposed to, on the whole, store confidence and stab ability. This is what the Republican government seemed incapable of doing. This was an ‘other’ factor as it was the governments mistake which made him popular with the public, and not himself. It was therefore an eye opener to the public that Roosevelt would be completely different to the Republicans and have a positive approach, which meant that he would try his hardest to do the best that he could for his country. This is because Roosevelt was Democrat, which meant that he was all for the people and his own country. Whereas the Republicans only cared about money and businesses, believing that the businesses would start themselves up again through the depression, and therefore the Republicans did not help the depression. This allowed the public to understand that they were looking for something different and found their trust in Roosevelt as he was all for the people, which was what was needed at that time in hand.
Finally, Roosevelt caught Polio while holidaying in August 1921. Although this was a setback for Roosevelt, it proved great in his campaign. This is because is showed the American public his determination to succeed as he fought as hard as he could by trying to stand up at public occasions and helping out many other people with the illness. Therefore they hoped that this would reflect in his Politics and out of sympathy and analysing his will to do well and be strong, they would vote for him to become President.
Alternatively, Roosevelt did not do all of the work to make himself become President, there was also other factors that contributed to his victory. These factors helped him out a lot, but proved that he was not as capable to do it himself, but instead gave him a push, which contributed to Roosevelt leading to success.
First, he was helped out a lot by Herbert Hoover’s in capabilities, which lead the public to wanting any President, if it meant Hoover being overthrown.
As Hoover’s inability to deal with the Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression led to a loss of faith. This meant that the Americans did not trust him and did not want him President any longer, therefore they would choose anyone, which leads to the fact that Roosevelt was just there at the right time. As Hoover did not want to help out the depression, as his full attention was on businesses, he felt that the depression would fix itself.
It was then that Hoover acted, when the depression had gone on to long and no recovery was being made, but Hoover was ‘too little, too late.’ Even though he did finally act, it took him a long time to realise and react. Therefore people again lost faith in his Government, as it did not deliver the promises that it had made. Therefore he was seen as untrustworthy and the public wanted him out of power, so that they could have someone that cared more, and would choose anybody before him. This shows that Roosevelt may have only been voted into power because of hatred of Hooper and they wanted anybody who could do the job better.
Hoover also showed a lot of inconsideration and thoughtlessness towards the American public. He believed in the policy of ‘Rugged Individualism’ and felt that he should help the big businesses and the economy as a whole out, but failed to help ordinary citizens. Whereas Franklin Roosevelt believed in government help, so that it was the government’s responsibility to help out the American citizens. This meant that a lot of people disliked him and he lost a lot of votes. People would want him gone as quick as possible, even if it meant having anybody as their President as Hooper was careless and impassionate towards the public and his job as a whole.
Also Hooper was seen as cold and distant even though he had come from a poor background, he looked down on the ordinary citizens and did not associate with them. The American public showed their hatred to Herbert by calling the most horrid shantytowns after him ‘Hooverville’s’ and their newspaper blankets ‘Hoover Blankets.’ This showed they despised him so much that they felt that he was the person who had put them in these terrible predicaments and it was only him who could amend it, but he never tried.
Further on through Hoovers power there was a ‘Bonus Army.’ As people were getting so desperate and poor, the old American soldiers and their families marched into Washington and demanded the money that the Government had promised to give them for their good duties. The people did not leave, so Hoover turned on his own people and ordered the army onto them. He then tried to lie his way out of the situation by calling the people ‘Communists.’ Of course this was not true and all of the public knew this, they began to hate Hooper more and felt that he could not be trusted and must be thrown from power at any cost.
Herbert Hoover from then on began to make mistake after mistake, which lead to the USA’s economy nearly collapsing altogether and making the public wanting to overthrow him even more. Hoover decided to introduce a new policy, which meant that other countries would have to pay higher tariffs to import their goods into America. In return the other countries did the same and the USA found it hard to export goods, as it was so costly. This led to the farmers being put out of business, as they could not sell on the produce of their crops.
All of Hoover’s mistakes lead to him spiralling down hill and the public began to reach a climax with him and loose their patience. They did not want him re-elected at any cost as he had ruined the economy and therefore would vote anyone to become President except him, which made it very easy for Roosevelt as the public looked straight towards the opposition to vote them into power instead.
Lastly, Franklin Roosevelt was helped out a lot by his speechwriter Louis Howe. Roosevelt’s speeches and political statements were organised for him by professionals. Louis Howe was also Roosevelt’s friend who boosted his spirit and preserved his political reputation. It was him who wrote Roosevelt’s speeches, which captivated the country and made them feel like a friend of Roosevelt’s and that they could always trust him. Therefore it is Howe who is one of the important reasons why Roosevelt came into power as he made Roosevelt come across kind, nice and down to earth, so that everybody would like him and see him as a saviour and want to vote for him.
Overall, I feel that it was shown to the American public that Roosevelt was very responsible for helping himself to become President, as he knew what he wanted and he pushed himself and aimed high, until he reached his goal. His goal was creating a good campaign, which allowed him to interact with normal citizens and come across as one of them, therefore this would enable him to gain their trust and earn him the much-needed votes. Roosevelt was also pushed into the Presidency by other factors. I feel that the most important of these reasons is the failing of Herbert Hoover, which allowed Roosevelt’s determination and will to succeed to shine through. This was because many Americans citizens had had enough with Hoover as he was not coping and helping the depression, therefore wanting to get rid of him. This resulted with the public choosing anybody else to become President, rather then seeing Hoover be re-elected.
But on the other hand, Franklin Roosevelt also helped himself out a lot. Although he had disabilities he fought through them and showed his passion and commitment to become President. Roosevelt’s popularity was proved when the election took place as he won by an astounding twenty-two million, eight hundred thousand votes to Hoovers abysmal fifteen million, eight hundred thousand votes.
