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Franklin D Roosevelt Media Issues

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President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s term lasted a total of 12 years; from March 4, 1933 until April 12, 1945 he spent his presidency trying to better the lives of the American people. Having inherited the worst economy that this nation has ever seen, he implemented various programs and institutions, outlined in his New Deal, with the hopes of fixing the mess he was given. With all of that being said, Roosevelt’s record is not squeaky clean, and just like every individual on this planet, he did have his flaws. Between his struggle with polio and his ongoing affair, he was not a perfect president; however, due to the fact that the media was not as constant and vicious as it is now, he was able to disguise his flaws pretty well. All of that to say, …show more content…

Nowadays the media acts more as paparazzi than actual news outlets. They stalk the president’s every move, in order to catch a mistake. This was not necessarily the case with President Roosevelt. His administration was able to keep Roosevelt’s affair out of the public eye, throughout the duration of his presidency and even after his death. This was only made possible due to the media climate he was in. If that affair were to occur today, the media would have the story covered and ready to deliver in 5 minutes. This can be seen with what happened with President Clinton’s affair. During his presidency, President Clinton had an affair with an individual named Monica Lewinsky. This affair was made public by Linda Tripp, Monica Lewinsky’s civil servant, when she taped conversations that she had with Lewinsky about the affair, and sent it to the media. This eventually led to the impeachment of President Clinton, and a stain on his legacy forever. Again, in President Roosevelt’s scenario this was not the case. His affair was never made public until years after his death, and even now the details of his affair are rather murky. Nonetheless, had President Roosevelt been exposed to the same type of media that is prevalent now, he would have probably faced the same fate as President …show more content…

Currently, there are channels where you can get the news all day every day. Meaning, the president’s every move is ridiculed, analysed, and displayed on national television, every single day. This is not the environment President Roosevelt encountered. During the 1930s to the 1940s when he was president, the news came in the form of radio, newspapers, and film newsreels. Now while the radio was not easily available to most citizens, considering they had just gone through the Great Depression and a radio would have been considered a luxury, the newspaper was a common way for the general public to obtain their news. However, the newspaper is not immediate, it is not like Twitter or Facebook that can cover a news story the minute it happens. Because of these differences between the media then and the media now, President Roosevelt was not under the constant scrutiny as our current leaders are. Every act President Trump conducts is posted on Twitter in minutes, or ridiculed on television for hours. During Roosevelt’s presidency that was simply not the case. The media took a longer time to cover information, and it also took the public a longer time to obtain the information as well, meaning Roosevelt would have more time to strategize his approach to the public than a current president would

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