Roosevelt and The New Deal

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History coursework: The USA

Roosevelt and The New Deal

  1. How far was Roosevelt himself responsible for his election victory in 1932?

Although Roosevelt did do a lot to promote himself, he was not wholly responsible for his election victory in 1932. The general feeling of the time was not a good one, as Hoover, the current President was doing nothing to help his people out of the Depression, which had occurred as result of the Wall Street Crash in 1929. Until 1932, Hoover refused to accept that there was a major problem.

The current government of the time was made up of Republicans, who believed in the policy of laissez-faire (let it be). They believed that people should be left to sort out their own problems; however, it was help from the government that they actually needed. Even though Hoover continually insisted that ‘prosperity is just around the corner’, he did little to help his people towards this.

As Hoover and his government did not do much to help those hit by the Depression, many people ended up living in poverty. Shanty towns called ‘Hoovervilles’ emerged, which managed to show the ordinary people’s contempt for their leader. Hoover also didn’t do much to increase employment amongst those living in squalor. In 1932, 13 million people were out of work and evictions became more common. Hoover even told a newspaper reporter, “Nobody’s actually starving.” Many of the ordinary people were disgusted with the way that Hoover was running the country, so when Franklin D Roosevelt was introduced as a candidate, they were glad, as they saw him as someone who could help them out of this slump. This is nicely summed up by a quote “In 1932, a Chinaman or a monkey could have been elected against him [Hoover], no question about it.”

Roosevelt’s attitude was very different to that of Hoover and the Republicans. He believed in an ‘active government’ that would help the American people, unlike the Republicans policy of laissez-faire. Some of his plans included spending public money on getting people back to work. He managed to slowly restore faith in the American people and one way he did this was through his speeches. In one made in August 1931, fifteen months before he was elected, he said, “One of these duties of the State is that of caring for...its citizens who find themselves...victims...as makes them unable to obtain even the necessities for mere existence without the aid of others.” This was very different to the Republicans policy of laissez-faire, and it showed the people of the time that Roosevelt was willing to help them, unlike Hoover. Roosevelt’s speeches managed to give hope and confidence to the people, although he was quite vague about his own policies. However, this did not stop him from wining a landslide election, resulting in the worst defeat that the Republicans had ever suffered, which manages to show how unpopular Hoover was.

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Therefore, even though Roosevelt did play a part in winning the election in 1932, we can say that other factors such as the Republicans policies and their effect on the ordinary people who were already suffering because of the Depression was a stronger cause.

  1. How much opposition did Roosevelt face to his New Deal policies?

Although Roosevelt did face a large amount of opposition from different kinds of groups, the strength of this opposition is arguable. There were many groups such as the Communists and the Socialists, and individuals such as Dr. Francis Townsend, Huey ‘Kingfish’ Long ...

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