Roosevelt Sources Questions
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Coursework
.Source A is a speech made by Governor F. D. Roosevelt in 1930, when the Depression was really beginning to bite. He says that Central Government has a responsibility to those citizens who are in real trouble, or even starving, to help those people.
Source B is another speech from Gov. Roosevelt, this time in1932, while campaigning to become President. He says that the times call for bold, sweeping changes that will involve the forgotten man at the bottom of the pyramid. He is promising to rebuild the nation, bottom up.
Both these sources show that Roosevelt believed in the welfare state, in helping those not as fortunate as the higher classes, and in equality in society. This was in sharp contrast to the 'rugged individualism' policies operated by President Hoover and Congress.
2. i) In source C he says that if the situation occurred that he would have to spend more funds on the people of America he would even if it would unbalance the budget. However in source D he says that the current government is wasting money on doing such things, they didn't anticipate the dire needs and reduced earning power of the American people.
In both sources he is talking about the same situation however he is clearly giving two very different answers. This may have some thing to do with the time at which these two speeches were given source C was given when he was in the running to be president and so was talking to the people of America trying to win their votes with propaganda. Whereas source D was given just before he was in the running to be president. These sources show the different sides of Roosevelt, how he can condemn the government and then turn around and do exactly the same thing without hesitation as he put.
2. ii) These two sources are different because the speeches they have been taken from were given at different times in the running for U.S president. Source C is Roosevelt after winning the election in 1932, he is setting out is real policies, perhaps a little different to the policies he would have mentioned before the voting day. A reason for his policies being a little different would be that they would have been designed for propaganda purposes, allowing the voters to believe that they are going to be getting some thing more than what he will really give them.
Source D is just propaganda before the election, trying to give the public the idea that Hoover is an extremely poor leader and is allowing the country to go into ruin.
3. In Source E, Walter Lippman is highly sceptical about Roosevelt. He patronises Roosevelt, saying that while he's a nice person, Roosevelt has no real reason for being in the White House - he'd just like to do it.
By the time he writes Source I, Lippman has been completely converted. The Hundred days are up, and Lippman is singing the praises of Roosevelt as far as he can go. He says that Roosevelt is the best thing to happen to the US in a long time. He mentions that Roosevelt has restored the faith of the ...
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3. In Source E, Walter Lippman is highly sceptical about Roosevelt. He patronises Roosevelt, saying that while he's a nice person, Roosevelt has no real reason for being in the White House - he'd just like to do it.
By the time he writes Source I, Lippman has been completely converted. The Hundred days are up, and Lippman is singing the praises of Roosevelt as far as he can go. He says that Roosevelt is the best thing to happen to the US in a long time. He mentions that Roosevelt has restored the faith of the people, and has acted quickly and decisively. Why did Lippman change his tune? There are 3 sources to give reasons for his change of heart.
Source F is President Roosevelt's inaugural address on March 3 1933, or 3.3.33. He says that the only thing to fear is fear itself, and that the people should regain their confidence. To help get things done, he will attempt to be granted 'sweeping executive power, equal to that...if we were indeed invaded by a foreign foe'. This speech certainly inspired the American people, and it is highly likely Lippman was inspired by it as well.
Source G was written a year after Roosevelt died in 1946, by Frances Perkins, the first woman in a US Cabinet and personal friend of Roosevelt himself. It tells of Roosevelt broadcasting his 'fireside chats', in which he would tell the people what he was doing, and explain it. It says that 'his face would light up, and his hands would move in natural gestures, as though he was sitting...with them. People felt this...bonded them to him in affection'. This is showing two things. The obvious message is that Roosevelt was popular with the people, and that his broadcasts drew millions of listeners. The secondary message is 'Roosevelt was not a fraud. He cared'. We can see this by referencing the phrases 'simple, natural, comfortable gestures', and by her observation of 'how clearly his mind was focused on the people listening on the other end'. The main problem with this source is its source. It comes from the first woman to be in a Cabinet. This probably means that she might be feeling a debt of gratitude to Roosevelt which she's trying to repay somewhat by writing nice things about him. If the majority of the American people felt good things about him, which they did, then it is likely that Lippman felt good things about him because of these broadcasts.
The final source is part of another speech by President Roosevelt. He says that society must not be controlled by people whose idea of a good state of society is 'me making fat wads of cash, sod the rest of them'. Lippman could easily have agreed with this view.
4. Sources J and K both suggest the same attitude towards Roosevelt. It was said that Roosevelt robbed from the rich to give to the poor. This was correct the Rich did get taxed more and had more outlays than the poor. In some ways this statement is correct. Source J explains how many members of the so-called upper class, the rich, hate Roosevelt. This was because the majority of his polices helped the poor and not the rich or upper class. Source K simply illustrates this point. In the picture there are two children one boy one girl both in school uniform and thus suggesting that they go to a public school and of the upper class, the boy has written Roosevelt on the pavement and the girl is saying to her mother "Mother Wilfred Wrote a Bad Word". This implies that the mother has taught her children the Roosevelt is a bad word or person. This shows us that she must hate Roosevelt and tries to deny her children the fact that he is president.
Source L says how Roosevelt is going to take America so far down the suicidal road that all men will loose their freedom and will not have any rights to oppose the government like a dictatorship, Hoover meaning another Nazi Germany. Herbert Hoover truly hates Roosevelt if he believes he will do this. There is no reason for this hatred in the source but it is clear that Hoover does not want Roosevelt to be the next president if he believes that he will kill men's' freedom by taking away the supreme courts independence the last safe guard of free men.
Source M is a speech from Roosevelt at the opening of the Tennessee Valley Dam. It suggests no attitude towards Roosevelt because it was a speech given by him. However it seems to be a reply to Hoovers speech in 1937 how Roosevelt will take away American men's freedom, Roosevelt says that no one was forced to work on the dam and that no one was under paid they all received a rightful wage. He says how no citizen has lost any of his or her highly prized human liberties.
It is only sources J, K and L that suggest attitudes towards Roosevelt and they are all bad attitudes all of these sources hate Roosevelt or seem to in the way they have explained them selves. These attitudes or opinions are different from that of Lippman, the reason for this is due to Roosevelt's polices. The majority of his polices are to the advantage of the poor or working classes. None of the rich or upper classes gain from any of Roosevelt's polices. Hoover was a member of the upper class and so is the voice of these people, what he has said is probably the view of the majority of the upper class. However this is something out of Roosevelt's control, conversely he has done the right thing, he has given the advantages to the majority, there are more working class voters than upper class voters so anything put to a national vote that will effect the working classes will always win because the numbers are so very different. The attitudes presented in sources J, K and L are of the minority and are only viewed by the people who don't benefit from the majority of Roosevelt's polices.
5. "It was hopeful voice of FDR that got us out of the swamps" obviously this statement is not to be taken literally that it was only his voice. The meaning of this statement depends more on the radio broadcasts that Roosevelt did to the America people.
I agree with this statement. It was Roosevelt that helped America get out of the swamp or the depression they were in. without Roosevelt they may not have recovered so well. It was his ideas and polices that gave the American people the confidence in themselves, the country and the government.
Roosevelt exposed the present government before him showing the public what it was doing and how it was wasting money, sources A and D show this. He described how he would do these things in sources B and C. He gave the American people hope in his inauguration speech in source F, he provoked a patriotic sentiment in them all and gave them confidence in the government. Source G describes his manner when doing the radio shows, as if he was in the paler or on the porch with that particular person, who spoke to the nation as a friend not as their leader. He showed in source H how the rich or upper class exploited the working classes just for profit " Their chief outlook upon the good of society was coloured by the fact that they can make huge profits.
Sources E and I are examples of the way in which the countries population allowed their opinions of Roosevelt to change with his speeches and the things that he did. Growing from an unqualified competitor who would like to be president to becoming a kind and intelligent man who gave the American people in only one-week confidence ion them selves, the country and the government. Described as being Americas good fortune in life that he had become president.
However not everyone liked Roosevelt. The rich or upper classes hated him. This was probably due to the fact that none of his polices would benefit them, only the poor or working classes. If source K is anything to go by then it seems that saying the name Roosevelt was as bad as swearing.
Source L a speech by Hoover the former president of America really attacks Roosevelt, saying that he is taking American down the suicidal road and that it will end up with all mans freedom taken away, no human rights of liberties.
Source M seems to be a reply to Hoovers' speech and reinforces the way in which Roosevelt had restored confidence to the people, the opening of the Tennessee Valley Dam. Roosevelt says no one was forced to work on the dam and no one was under paid they all received their rightful wage. No human liberties were lost under Roosevelt, as Hoover had said. Even Roosevelt says that no human liberties were lost in the building of this dam.
All of the sources except for J, K and L support the statement, and so I can see no reason to doubt the fact that it was Roosevelt that gave the American people hope and confidence and brought them out of the swamps of depression to a revived and prosperous America. It seems that Roosevelt's system of "taking from the rich to give to the poor" worked, he had the support of a very large majority through out his reign as president of America.
"It was the hopeful voice of FDR that got us out of the swamps" an excellent statement that is backed up well by the sources provided. It may have more meaning on the radio broadcasts that Roosevelt gave to the American people but it does still describe the way in which he got America back on its feet and into the world economy once more as one of its leaders. If it was not for Roosevelt the U.S dollar $ may not be as strong as it is today, he was a truly great leader who would stop at nothing to give his people what they wanted to benefit them and him with huge popularity the population of America were probably sad to see Roosevelt leave the white house.
