Roosevelt and Hoover DBQ The Great Depression quickly altered America's view of liberalism and therefore, Roosevelt can be considered a liberal and Hoover a conservative, despite the fact that they did occasionally support very similar policies. The United States experienced political shifts during the Great Depression, which are described by Arthur Schlesinger’s analysis of eras in which public objectives were placed before personal concerns. It seems that the public view of what constitutes as liberal beliefs versus what is thought to be conservative beliefs shifts in a similar way. Laissez-faire ideas were considered liberal during the 1920s, but the coming of the Great Depression in 1929 altered the American view of liberalism. …show more content…
The Second Industrial Revolution was ushered in with the invention of the production line. This made it possible for businessmen, such as Henry Ford, to prosper. Automobiles and a variety of other useful electrical appliances became accessible to the masses. The United States had become more success and this instilled a new confidence in the American people, which caused people to support the liberal policies of the 1920s. Hoover was beginning to demonstrate conservative beliefs even before the onset of the Great Depression. Document A shows Hoover’s wish to avoid being thought of as a complete supporter of laissez-faire ideas. He appeared irresolute when it came to preserving the capitalistic society of the 1920s. During this time, society was managed by corrupt political bosses, such as Tweed. The American economy had flourished under the private interest policies of Harding and Coolidge, which forced Hoover to promise the American people that he would not abandon the laissez-faire economics, which had been so successful during past presidencies. Hoover was sure, however, that working class Americans would not be opposed to restricting unfair business practices. Documents B and C depict Hoover’s lack of support for private interest or public purpose policies. In these documents, Hoover stresses the significance of individual interests
President Theodore Roosevelt was the outmost incredible president of our nation. He cared about every aspect of our country. He was remarkable, brilliant, and strong. He brought something different to the table of the presidential legacy. His personality, however was like no other, he was an impossible act to follow. He also was impetuous and did not hesitate to work around the regulations to get what he wanted.
President Herbert Hoover was the president in office during the Great Depression. Herbert Hoover did not recognize the stock market crash as severe as it was. During the tragedy President Herbert Hoover made many unsuccessful attempts to fix the economy. President Hoover’s response to the Great Depression was insufficient in the ways that he took little to no government action. President Hoover loaned money to corporations and state businesses, at the same he advised corporations to not cut wages or lower the production rate, considering that it was highly necessary. Franklin Delano Roosevelt had a plan set that would throw Hoover out of office and to fix the economy, which Hoover had limited
The United States entered one of the most devastating economic periods in its history after the stock market crash of 1929. The massive damage done to the quality of life of the average American during this time, known as the Great Depression, prompted a fundamental change in the attitude of the nation. The most notable change was a shift in public belief about what type of President would best serve the struggling nation. The election of Franklin D. Roosevelt completely reversed the trend of Presidents that pursued policies focused around benefitting businesses and the wealthy. Whereas leaders before him held fast in their support of big businesses, even to the point of ignoring the harm they had brought to the country, Roosevelt focused his
During both the Progressive era and the New Deal era, policies as well as programs were being created in an effort to assist the American public, specifically those living in poverty. Throughout the early 1900’s Roosevelt had strayed away from the typical laissez-faire policy and decided that the people would need to be guided by the government. “Wilsonian Progressivism” had also aimed at assisting the public with his “New Freedom Program” which consisted of antitrust legislation, banking reform as well as tariff reductions. After the stock market crashed in 1929, America had fallen into a Great Depression resulting in the unemployment of millions. Newly elected Franklin D. Roosevelt decided to present his
The political shifts in American history during the last two centuries are often explained by Arthur Schlesinger's cyclical explanation of eras of public purpose followed by private interest. What is considered liberal versus what is considered conservative shifts in a similar pattern. While laissez-faire policies are considered liberal in the Roaring 20's, the onset of the Great Depression in
President Franklin D. Roosevelt is commonly identified as a liberal and President Herbert C. Hoover as a conservative. The validity of these characterizations, however, is conditional upon the definition of these labels. If one adopts the most conventional contemporary definitions of the terms “liberal” and “conversative,” then the characterizations of Roosevelt as a liberal and Hoover as a conservative are valid, but the definitions of liberal and conservative vary and change over time and place.
The Great Depression drastically changed America's definition of Liberalism. Prior to the onset of the depression, in the roaring twenties, policies of laissez-faire were considered liberal, radical, revolutionary, and even democratic. This was due to the fact that revolution was a horrifying notion and not until after the laissez-faire and the system of free market fails in the 1920's do people begin to look about for alternatives. The time when people starting to seek alternatives was at the onset of the depression when America's political views drastically change. As the Great Depression, started in 1929, America began to view conservatives as following the policies of social Darwinism, laissez-faire, and having
Born on Aug. 10, 1874, the son of a blacksmith in the Iowa village of
Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt were both presidents during one of the most difficult times in American history, the Great Depression. To try and ease the hardships that many Americans were facing, each President developed many different programs. The different actions that each took to lessen the blow of the depression classified them as either a liberal or conservative. If their actions focused on helping the economy, they would be considered a conservative. If they were more focused on helping the lives of the American people, they would be classified as a liberal. Neither President can be labeled as strictly one. Although Franklin Roosevelt was
As the flourishing 1920s began to falter, the United States began its descent to economic downfall. The actions taken by the U.S. government in an attempt to save the country only served to seal its depressive state. It was on October 29, 1929 that the stock market plummeted and crashed, sparking the beginnings of the Great Depression. During the expanse of the depression, both Hoover and Roosevelt held terms in the presidential office. While in office, each man had plans and programs designed to bring the country back from rock bottom. Many people tend to classify Roosevelt as a liberal, and Hoover as a conservative. Conservatives are defined as those that follow traditional values and attitudes, and are skeptical and cautious when it comes to change, while liberals are classified as those open to new opinions and changes. However, each
The economic crisis that showed all the contradictions of capitalism led to an increase of a deep political crisis in the USA in late 1920?s. October 29, 1929 is known in the American history as the Black Tuesday. It was the date, when the American stock market collapsed. In such economically difficult situation, in November 1932, a regular presidential election took place. The Democrat Franklin Roosevelt, who spoke with the program the New Deal, came to presidency. It was a series of social liberal programs applied in the United States in 1933-1938 in response to the Great Depression. The New Deal was focused on three main principles: relief, recovery, and reform.[footnoteRef:1] They promised to bring the country to prosperity and economically stable future. However, the Conservatives criticized the New Deal during the whole period of the reforms. It was expressed by Herbert Hoover in Anti-New Deal Campaign Speech in 1936 and Minnie Hardin in 1937 in a Letter to Eleanor Roosevelt. [1: (notes)]
However, America stood a harsh test. In 1929, Hoover came to the power. He promised that he would make America become powerful and give American a better life but he did not know the great depression would come to America, and it made him lost his trust from American. During the great depression, the masses have no means to live, however, Hoover did not encourage these poor masses and he put a policy. The purpose of this policy was to promote consumption in America. This policy presented the idea of free market. However, this idea did not bring any benefits for American economy. Also, he did not try to help poor man, but he wanted “Laiseez-Faire” capitalism. He suggested that the government would not control the economy and just let the economy develop by itself. These decisions did not help American but caused the gap between rich and poor become larger and larger. According to the statistics, the proportion between rich and poor increased by 48%. During the time that he came to power, the rate of unemployment also increased by 29%. Gradually, people lost their trust and became angry. Along with the appearance of Hoovervilles , people was waiting for a
This prevailing stability of the American economy would have also led the continued dominance of the Republican Party and a greater faith in laissez-faire economic policies. During the 1920s, the booming consumerism created a financial stability that caused Americans to support a succession of only Republican presidents and the party’s stance on avoiding
From the Late 1950’s through the 1960’s a movement started to reclaim the idea of freedom. Until the 1960’s, American Politics was dominated by liberalism. Many presidents defined themselves as being liberal, and the presidents who didn’t during their presidency may be called centrist or left leaning in today’s political climate. The idea to reclaim the idea of freedom gave birth to the Conservative movement. Conservatism was not extinct prior to the 1964 presidential election, it was diminished and liberalisms was thought as “…not only the dominant but even the sole intellectual tradition.” (Foner 308) During the late 1950’s a group of politicians mapped out in private what it actually meant to reclaim freedom. They felt that the “left” or liberals had forcefully changed the definition of freedom through policy implementations. The new conservative definition of freedom was “Freedom, in this view, meant decentralized political powers, limited government, and free market economy.” (Foner 308), the definition criticized the New Deal Coalition and questioned whether the morals and values of freedom had deteriorated. The New Deal was implemented in the 1930’s in response to the economic and social crisis. Many people, especially liberals, looked to blame Conservatism as a whole for the Great Depression and the rise of Fascism abroad. The looming Cold War and a steadily increasing government size gave a spark and attracted many different
During the late 1920’s and 1930’s, the government of the United States followed both conservative and liberal policies. Conservatives policies of the 20th century were small government action and limited regulation of the economy. Liberal policies of the 20th century were regulation of the economy and the use of government for social welfare. The presidents during this time, Herbert Hoover and Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), practiced these policies during their terms. Some of Herbert Hoover’s policies followed liberal ideals and some of FDR’s policies followed conservative ideals, however; Herbert Hoover was primarily a conservative president and Franklin Roosevelt was primarily a liberal president.