Why Roosevelt won.

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The 1932 elections were very important, as they were to decide the future of America. Roosevelt won, with a huge proportion of the votes. He won 42 out of the 48 states that voted. Hoover won a mere 6. So what made this great man win the election? In this essay I will explore the possible answers to this question.

Roosevelt himself contributed greatly to his huge scale of victory. FDR's personality was very popular with the American people. He was very caring and empathetic; he truly wanted to help. The affluent society in which Roosevelt was brought up in, taught the spirit of service to others. Roosevelt felt that he should help those worse off than him. This taught him to respect those below him as much as he'd like them to respect him. This attitude was very appealing for the struggling Americans. His status, also made him very popular.

The most character building experience in FD Roosevelt's life was when he suffered from polio. He was close to death, and recovery was slow and painfully hard work. He ended up paralysed from the waist down. Roosevelt's struggle with polio helped him a lot to empathise with the American people's struggles during the depression. There are many parallels between his plight during polio and their predicament during the depression. Both had a total lack of control. Roosevelt had lost control of his body, and the Americans had lost control of their lives. Roosevelt's warm, inviting, yet still dominant, personality, made him incredibly popular among the Americans.

" Roosevelt had great self confidence. He felt he had been given a grand opportunity to do something about the problems which faced the nation."

Roosevelt was not afraid to ask for advice on important issues from a wide range of experts such as factory owners, union leaders or economists.
Roosevelt's policies were very popular with the public. He believed strongly in an "active government", trying to improve the lives of ordinary people. This paternalistic government was very alluring as Americans were looking for a way out, and they needed help. This empathetic government would be very much appreciated, in contrast to Hoover's laissez-faire attitude to those in trouble.
During the depression, unemployment numbers were up to 13 million. FDR had plans to spend public money on getting people back to work. As Governor of New York he had already started doing this in his own state.

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Roosevelt had an excellent campaign team, and he himself was a brilliant campaigner. He was excellent at speechmaking. One of his most infamous quotes is probably:

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

This wonderful speech spoke volumes to the American public as they were living in terror, the needed to be reassured and encouraged. Many of Roosevelt's speeches did this:

"Millions of our citizens cherish the hope that their old standards of living have gone forever. Those millions shall not hope in vain. I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a New Deal for the American ...

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