Compare And Contrast Fdr And Hoover Approach To The Great Depression

The Great Depression was one of the saddest and darkest periods in US history. The Great Depression left people with no money, unemployment, and families hungry. While the Great Depression was happening, two presidents responded to this issue with very different approaches. Franklin D. Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover were the two presidents trying to stop the Great Depression. FDR had a very hands-on approach compared to Hoover’s, which was basically to wait and let the Great Depression die out. As a result of this, FDR’s approach was more effective in fixing the problem of the Great Depression. One of FDR’s approaches was The First New Deal. The First New Deal is a series of programs and projects. Some of these were: the end of prohibition; the Tennessee Valley Authority Act; …show more content…

“Roosevelt kicked things off by asking Congress to take the first step toward ending Prohibition” (New Deal History.com). This is important because prohibition was made to stop people from buying alcohol, which was one of the things that Americans spent a lot of their money on. Allowing the purchase of alcohol from the government makes the government have so much more money to help more people. Another approach FDR used to combat the Great Depression was the Second New Deal. With the great results that came with the first new deal, FDR wanted to continue these results with another new deal. Some of the things that came from the second new deal were the WPA, the National Labor Relations Act, and the Social Security Act. All of these things were made to help the working people and the people who wanted to work. The WPA gave unemployed people jobs. The National Labor Relations Act made sure people weren’t treating their workers unfairly. Finally, the Social Security Act allows people who retire to continue getting money from their jobs. This shows how FDR had a better approach to the Great Depression because he was getting people jobs, which was making them