How far was Roosevelt responsible for his election victory in 1932? Explain your answer.

The most character building experience in 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 know how the American people struggled during the depression.

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 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.

Roosevelt had had past experience of politics, so this gave him the upper hand. He entered politics as a democrat in 1910 when he was elected as a Senator for New York State. Three years later, he was a member of President Wilson’s Cabinet and in 1920 he was vice presidential candidate for the Democrats. During his struggle with polio, he left politics, but was elected Governor for New York in 1928. As Governor of New York, he started taking action with his policies that he would later promise the whole of America. He proved he was willing to take positive action to relieve the suffering caused by the depression. He persuaded the New York State to spend $20 million on home and work relief. In 1928, Roosevelt had urged a pension scheme and unemployment insurance scheme to be set up.