'Roosevelt was bold. He told people what he was going to do. And he did it. But he was not bold enough'.

Mark Ponsford Page 5/9/2007

‘Roosevelt was bold. He told people what he was going to do. And he did it. But he was not bold enough’

Campaigning for office in 1932 and 33, Roosevelt certainly played to the voters’ desire for economic action and recovery. Hoover’s policy of staying out of the economy, and this impersonal, possibly reserved approach lost him the election. On the other hand, Roosevelt audaciously launched government projects to help stabilise and rebuild the American economy. For instance he backed trusted banks- to make sure these banks wouldn’t go bankrupt. In turn, without the hanging sword of bankruptcy, people could spend their money more freely. Source A ties in with this idea of stabilising the economy, as it shows how an American has been helped by Roosevelt’s policies; (s)he’s got his house back. Roosevelt’s policy directly contradicted the idea of normalcy that had gone before him- but was more successful.

In terms of reliability, source A is probably a carefully selected letter, from the thousands that Roosevelt received. Not all of them may have been as patronising; but the sheer numbers must be an indicator of how much the nation appreciated Roosevelt’s policies. 20% of home and farm owners had their property saved from repossession; this shows how Roosevelt was successful, but could he have saved more people from repossession. If 20% were saved, what happened to the other 80%; Roosevelt could have used funded more banks, and so prevented more repossessions. In this way he was only moderately bold.

Source B shows a relaxed president, at a Govt. project. This source is probably more for propaganda, as it hides the president’s disabilities, and shows everyone in high spirits. He is surrounded by the men employed by the CCC; to this extent it publicises the government’s efforts to reduce unemployment, especially for young men (these were the main targets for the CCC). In this respect Roosevelt was bold enough to spend government money, in order to reduce the unemployment; by spending the huge sums he did. However, his audacity wasn’t without limits- this project, and others like it (social security, ...

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Again linking to unemployment, and an earlier effort by the government to show their success, mainly in the hope of re-election to the public, is source C. As after 1933, when Roosevelt came to power, unemployment begins to fall. It continues to fall until Roosevelt cuts the New Deal budget in 1938. This budget cut was partly in response to the apparent return of prosperity, but was also a concession to the conservatives. In this way, Roosevelt was giving into other peoples’ boldness; he may have thought he had done enough by pouring billions into the economy, but this form of reducing unemployment was more of a quick fix.

On the other hand, perhaps Roosevelt saw the imminent war, and so a cheaper way out of the depression may have presented itself. However, on the surface Roosevelt seemed opposed to war: he made many speeches to this effect. Despite this apparent verbal deterrent, economic recovery must have played a part in Roosevelt’s decision not to enter the war-, which would have provided a greater deterrent.

Source D provides a comedic view on the reforms by Roosevelt to improve working conditions. Although it is obviously not serious, using doctored figures, but it does show that Roosevelt’s policies were controversial: he didn’t give into pressure from big companies to allow cheap labour. In this way he was bold; as to an extent he went against the major corporations: he also encouraged trade unions, to help reduce the power of the industrial giants; this somewhat socialist behaviour explains the slight hostility towards Roosevelt in this piece of Republican propaganda.

The next source is written from beyond the shroud of proximity, but fails to use any real figures. It is supported by sources A and B in terms of positive publicity.

The tone of source E suggests that Roosevelt only projected confidence onto the nation. It neglects the millions who were employed by schemes such as the CCC or those whose homes were saved; so allowing these people to spend with confidence, which would have increased spending and so the economy was recovering. Besides, Roosevelt’s fireside chats did encourage the people to spend. This would, as Mr. Patterson points out, have increased his support; this support would have allowed Roosevelt to take on some less popular schemes, such as the socialist like idea of a welfare state. In this way, to be bold, Roosevelt needed to conform in some areas in order to be bold in others. Besides, extremism was not necessarily a good thing- the same depression brought Hitler into power, with obvious consequences.

Roosevelt was bold in that he stayed within the lines of government, and so remained in power for longer; possibly he thought a gradual change would be more accepted than if he passed a radical amendment, and so lost his office. However he allowed his own belief in the American Dream to be suppressed: he failed to outlaw the lynching of black Americans, due to a lack of support from the South. Because of this, I believe that Roosevelt was only just bold enough, as he could have done more with the support he had. He may have thought he could do more over time, but his support could only fall over time: if he was to act on key issues, he should have done it around 1935.

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The Emergency Banking Act

From Ben Walsh, Modern World History.

The Civilian Conservation Corps

According to Ben Walsh the spending totalled around $15 billion

Through the National Recovery Administration.