How far was Roosevelt’s victory at the 1932 elections down to him and his ideas?

HISTORY COURSEWORK

Assignment 2

How far was Roosevelt’s victory at the 1932 elections down to him and his ideas?

When Franklin Delano Roosevelt won the 1932 election for the Presidency, it was partly due to his fresh ideas and impressive policies, and also down to other factors,

At the time the American people were in need of a change. The current President, Hoover, had failed to impress the people and could not control the ‘Great Depression’ that swept across America after the ‘Wall Street Crash’ of 1929. Hoover believed in a ‘Laissez faire’ style of government, which assumes that problems will eventually sort themselves out without any interference from the Government. He also told American citizens who did not have a job that they should simply go out and find one. This was of course very unpopular with the American citizens because there simply were not enough jobs available, and they were becoming even less as the downward spiral of the American economy continued.

Hoover had no policies to didn’t do anything to try and increase the number of jobs available and was not willing to spend any money to help the economy’s terrible state. This added to the bitter feelings that the American people felt towards Hoover and made Roosevelt’s election campaign seem very impressive. But there was still further more hatred towards Hoover when he used force against the ‘Bonus Marchers’, his own people who had fought for America in the War. The ex-service men were performing a peaceful demonstration to bring to the attention of Hoover that they were owed ...