The next part of the sentence is: ‘He dealt with poverty and distress.’ I would like to use Sources A and G to illustrate this. Source A demonstrates that he deals with poverty and distress by helping individual Americans with their problems. In this source, Roosevelt gives an American a mortgage extension and on top of that he ‘returns the man’s furniture.’ Source G is a table showing the figures and comments on performance of the US economy. Underneath the table is some information about Roosevelt’s performance in the economy of the 1930’s. The commentary stated that Roosevelt created millions of jobs stabilized the banking system and cut the numbers of business failures. I am also aware that ‘alphabet agencies’ to help farmers, unemployed, the needy and to get industry back on its feet are relevant here.
The third part of the source says: ‘He dealt with the problems of the depression in an imaginative way.’ Sources A and H help demonstrate this. Source A suggests that he got people to help other people, (paying attention to individual Americans.) Source H shows that he showed initiative regarding employment, social and economic welfare and used his presidency to help the people. Prohibition could also be considered here and although it did help to some extent the idea did eventually fail.
Now I am going to consider an alternative view of Roosevelt. Statement two starts off by saying: ‘He was an inconsistent as president, changing his mind regularly and bullying people into accepting the New Deal.’ I have chosen to use sources C, E, I and J which show this in the best way. Source C shows Roosevelt wasting American money, and bullying a tax payer into carrying the burden for him. Source E suggests Roosevelt is taking money from the ‘thrifty’ and using it for his own use. Again Source I suggests that Roosevelt is wasting money. In this source his is also compared to being similar to the likes of Hitler and Starlin (‘dictator’s crown’,) Thus suggesting he is acting like a bully. Source J suggests that Roosevelt is being inconsistent. It say’s that there are too many people unemployed, homelessness and misery all because of Roosevelt. I also found that Roosevelt wasted money and taxing the rich was not always deemed favourable. However these sources are not that complete about Roosevelt accepting the New Deal.
In the second part of the source it says: ‘Roosevelt was not solely responsible for the recovery of the USA. I have chosen sources I, J, C and G which give the most relevant information to whether he was responsible for the recovery of the USA. In source I Father Coughlin suggests that any ‘Jackass’ can do what Roosevelt did. Source J Hugh Long suggests that if anything he has made matters worse, by making people unemployed and homeless. Source C suggests that he is responsible, he is pouring water into a well which is leaking, and a weighed down tax payer is coming up the hill to put more money into the leaking pump. Finally Source G gives statistical evidence of a long period of time, showing that the Labour force actually went down from 1932 to 1938 and it was actually war that brought an end to unemployment and an increase in production.
So now I have supported both arguments with reference to the sources, I am going to make my own judgement as to which statement best represents Roosevelt.
From looking at the sources to help my answer I feel that statement one gives the best representation of Roosevelt, for example sources G and H. which I feel are more unbiased sources which show Roosevelt as a great leader who inspired in the country.
Although he died in April 1945 and any consideration of his leadership will be coloured by the result of the Second World War, I also realise that he was the driving force behind the New Deal which left much lasting value to America e.g. roads and schools, he helped millions of Americans by organising government funded relief, he rescued the banking system, he probably saved democracy in America and saved businesses from collapse and inspired hope during the depression.
I feel these factors outweigh some of the criticisms levelled against him such as him making central government and presidency too powerful, not getting the American economy out of the depression, continued high unemployment and also the fact the he interfered to much in peoples life’s while not doing enough for certain groups e.g. blacks.
Even today Republicans still argue that aspects of the New Deal went against the rules of the US constitution. They argue that the New Deal was unconstitutional and the Supreme Court judged this over the NRA. On the other hand the Democrats still argue that aspects of the New Deal went against the rules of the US constitution. They argue that the New Deal would have been a lot worse of during the depression had it not been for the New Deal. They point to Europe, where the depression either help lead to very repressive governments (Nazis in Germany) or helped justify the repressive policies of these governments (Fascist Party in Italy, Nazis in Germany.) Also a debate still rages on about whether WWII rescued the American economy or whether the economy would have recovered without the war.
