Also, this essay was originally written as a DBQ essay. I tried to sift through and change things accordingly, but be sure to keep an eye out for references to documents that I may have missed.
The delineations of the words “liberal” and “conservative” shifted at the start of the Great Depression. Although laissez-faire policy was thought to be liberal in the Roaring 20’s, the year 1929 quickly changed America’s idea of liberalism entirely. The hardnosed Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the saavy Herbert Hoover both believed they alone could improve America’s economic depression. Their political standings have been wholly analyzed, and although the two men did express ideas which were contradictory to their original political standpoints, one possessed more liberal ideas by wanting to change the government, versus more conservative ideas; wanting to keep the government as it was.
Because the Great Depression occurred during the term of Hoover, the public saw him starting his presidency as a liberal and ending it as a conservative. With the end of the Progressive Age in 1910, big businesses were a major success because men like Hoover had kept government from superseding the economy . These laissez-faire policies seemed particularly tolerant to the public, compared to the public-purpose policies sustained by Teddy Roosevelt. The revolutionary idea of the assembly line allowed buisnessmen like Ford to prosper, and this mass-production in America led to mass consumption; mostly of automobiles and appliances. The success of this “all-American” production method led to political support and confidence towards the liberal policies. On the other hand, even before the Great Depression, Hoover was leaning towards conservative ways. Hoover’s speeches show that he was not ready to be considered a full supporter of laissez-faire. He made it clear that he was less eager to save the capitalistic circle, stating that “businesses must be conducted with glass pockets.”
The Term Paper on Hoover, Roosevelt and the Great Depression
New Deal politics and the Great Depression is a time in American history that is often misunderstood. Herbert Hoover is the president seen as allowing the depression to take over the country, where as Franklin Delano Roosevelt is seen as the president that effectively saved many Americans, and put an end to the Great Depression, but what is really true? Herbert Hoover accepted the Republican ...
However, the success of the economy under the private-interest ways of Coolidge and Harding required him to guarantee that the lack of intervention in the economy would be maintained. The views of the working masses who looked favorably on restriction of unfair business practices were changing fast. His impartiality to private interest or public purpose is evident; Hoover relays the importance of the individual citizen in his community, and the “voluntary cooperation” which goes along with it.
These speeches given by Hoover are sometimes similar to speeches by Roosevelt. Even in the midst of the Depression, Roosevelt accentuated the worth of having a balanced budget (unless unemployment rates eventually required the government to spend money).
Roosevelt wanted to balance the budget. Depression caused a great need for intervention by the administration. Even though Hoover attempted to create jobs, he still seemed much different from Roosevelt, who stated that America shouldn’t return to support Conservative minds protecting private interest. Hoover began to actually create jobs when the Depression caused the American people to demand public purpose reform, but the public still considered him a conservative overall, even though he passed some “liberal” legislation.
To begin with, Hoover believed that the government shouldn’t try to end the Great Depression and in 1930, he remained “conservative.” He didn’t meddle very often, giving him the conservative title despite being considered a liberal (while supporting alike politcies only years before).
The Essay on Ending The Depression Hoover Roosevelt Liberal
Roosevelt a Liberal and Hoover a Conservative Thesis: Because the Great Depression quickly changed America's view of liberalism, Roosevelt can be considered a liberal and Hoover a conservative, despite ... a liberal and Hoover a conservative, despite occasionally supporting similar policies. Because the Great Depression occurred during Hoover's term as president, in the public's mind, Hoover started ...
Even when 1931 came, Roosevelt’s New Deal contrasted with Hoover’s ideas that the single citizen can do more than the government ever could to end the Depression. Roosevelt and Hoover both felt that affluence would come again to America, but the populace supported Roosevelt more because he had accepted the demand for government intervention, and worked to create reform.
As the Great Depression continued, Hoover attempted to pass legislation comparable to FDR’s New Deal. The government bought surplus crops in an attempt to increase prices under the FFR. Hoover also proposed the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to loan federal money to prevent bankruptcy. His efforts almost mirrored Roosevelt’s Agricultural Adjustment Administration and the Federal eposit Insurance Corp. Hoover was still considered a conservative by the public’s during the Depression for two reasons. First, he only passed a few reform bills designed to end the Depression, against the popularitiy of the giant amounts of legistlation under the New Deal. Because Hoover’s legislation was limited by this, his programs eventually failed to make a real effect on the economy.
Also, politicians of the 20’s were often blamed fro the entire Depression. Accordingly, Hoover carried the label of “conservative” like the presidents before him, especially when juxtaposed with Roosevelt’s pseudo-radical legistlation. Hoover stubbornly held on to his political beliefs while trying to pass legislation that would appease voters by just barely keeping America “afloat.” Roosevelt’s liberal ideas gained the favor of the public. In his first 100 days, he used the Federal Bank Holiday to stabilize. He used the New Deal to fight poverty with many new programs considered liberal. Because of this result, Roosevelt received all the credit for ending the Depression. However, even though expenditures tripled during FDR’s administration, the economy didn’t fully recover until the second World War.
While Roosevelt can be characterized as a liberal using today’s standards or the standards of the 1930’s, Hoover’s characterization changed with the public’s idea of “liberal”; the standard for liberal became increasingly conservative during the Depression.
The Essay on Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal policies
Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal benefited the lives of most farmers in many different and powerful ways. The combination of the “alphabet soup” acts and the long lasting effects that they produced transformed the modern individual farmer of the late 1920’s and the entire 1930’s from the down and out, could barely survive “Okie” farmer, as depicted in John ...
