Life did get better for many Americans in the 1930's. How far was Roosevelt responsible for this or was it due to other factors?

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3. Life did get better for many Americans in the 1930's. How far was Roosevelt responsible for this or was it due to other factors?

This essay will sum up how much Franklin Roosevelt actually did for the American public and how much was actually contributed by other factors. It will show the effort that he put in and if it paid off to any extent by improving the life of the Americans. He was very ambitious and determinated to succeed in whatever he did and therefore this reflected in his running of the country. In the 1930's, the average American citizens began to become happy as their standard of living was increasing. The depression was slowly but surely blowing over thanks to Roosevelt. American citizens were now courageous enough to put their money back into banks and many were becoming employed again. This was partly thanks to Roosevelt's aims, including the New Deal, which brought about immense changes in their country and proved very positive. Although, Roosevelt cannot be given all the glory for this rise in employment and standard of living, as World War 2 also contributed a lot with jobs etc. this will be discussed into further detail throughout the essay.

First, Franklin Roosevelt promised the American people an active government, in comparison to the previous government. This meant that Roosevelt was all for the people and focused entirely on their needs, so that they could begin to live out a good life. He promised to spend huge sums of money to end the economic crisis and help the American people overall achieve a better standard of living. His aims were relief, reform and recovery which meant that he would do all he could do all he could to rebuild the country to the power that it was before and recover its economy which would lead to reviving the Americans way of life.

Roosevelt also made a lot of new and important changes when he firstly came into power. This was known as the 'First 100 Days' and proved very important, as it was an example of how Roosevelt would run the USA and stayed in the citizen's minds. Roosevelt used the time from when he won the election, to when he moved in to office in March 1933, to plan the New Deal and other aims. This showed his determination and passion, that he would devote all of his time to making America a better place for the American people.

He immediately set out to implement the New Deal as promised, which shows to the public that he could keep his word, unlike Hoover. He first declared a bank holiday and closed the banks for four days. This shows that he was quickly rebuilding the country, by firstly giving the banks time to organise and get back on their feet.

He then declared the Emergency Bank Act, which kept the weak banks closed and reopened stronger ones, as they would rebuild themselves with financial assistance from the Government. This gave the banking system much needed time and space to avoid panic, as Roosevelt set out to restore confidence in the banking system by encouraging people to put their money back into banks.

He did this in an easy and persuasive way.

He would broadcast himself on the radio in which he explained his policies and appealed for support from the people, also talking about all of his aims etc, which allowed him to interact and become popular with the average American citizens. He made these 'Fireside,' informal addresses from the beginning of his presidency and throughout the Great Depression, until the 1940's when America became involved in World War two, and they became encouraging and comforting to the public throughout the depression. His chats were personal as he used terms such as 'My Friends,' or 'Good Morning Friends.' Which showed that he wanted to be like them and was talking to them like he had known them for a long time and trusted them. His 'Fireside' chats also proved very popular as they seemed to attract more listeners then the most popular radio shows, which showed that Roosevelt had the American publics support fully, as they increased moral amongst the public. Also putting faith back into the American Government and its agencies as Roosevelt would entice the people into using the banks etc by saying 'I can assure you that it is safer to keep your money in reopened banks rather then under your mattress.' This would have made the American citizens want to do this as they felt that Roosevelt was a true friend to them and would not lie to them in this way, therefore it would be true.
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Another good plan of Roosevelt's, in his first 100 days in office was to pass a law, which appealed the 18th Amendment (Prohibition). This was successful and good new for everybody. It created jobs and money as the Government could tax the alcohol. It also allowed the public to freely drink alcohol and at long last ended organised crimes. This is because gangsters could know longer import the illegal alcohol.

Also, in Roosevelt's first 100 days of his New Deal, he used the Alphabet Agencies. These were agencies, which targeted the weak points in the USA's economy ...

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