Franklin Delano Roosevelt And The Great Depression

Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s public image has been nothing short of superb. He was the charismatic man who overcame polio and brought back America from the Great Depression and led them to victory in World War II. But, in actuality, Roosevelt was not as great as the history books make him seem. Where he succeeded in some areas, he failed in others. FDR’s lack of moral principles and abuse of federal power, as well as his inept handling of the Great Depression and failure to retain any foresight of his actions, results in an evaluation of a 3 out of 10 rating.

Compared to the era’s earlier presidents, Roosevelt stands out to be incredibly socialist and sought to expand federal power like no incumbent had done before. FDR tried to put his mark

The Roosevelt Recession is an obvious example that supports the notion that the New Deal feigned progress. In 1937, unemployment was around fourteen percent, nearly eleven percent lower than four years prior. However, once government funding and support was reduced for many of Roosevelt’s programs the economic advancements reverted back to their previous stages. Unemployment crawled back to twenty percent and the stock market tanked once again, indicating that the New Deal had been a massive failure. Ironically, FDR still managed to dupe the American public into thinking that the New Deal’s were working. Somehow, Roosevelt erected a sense of optimism in America, but he failed to solve any real problems involving the Great Depression. It is a great and utter fallacy to credit America’s recovery from the Depression as a result of Roosevelt’s actions: the country should be more grateful towards World War II than FDR’s New Deal

While many reform measures like the restriction of child labor and a minimum wage are still around today, he also created a series of predicaments that would burden America for decades. For instance, at the Yalta Conference, FDR failed to see Stalin’s expansionist goals and essentially allowed the Soviet Union into Eastern Europe. These events in conjunction with the usage of the atomic bomb would deteriorate Soviet-American relations until the commencement of the Cold War. Perhaps if Roosevelt looked to resolve issues with the U.S.S.R before a transgression of events the two countries could have avoided the Cold War all together. Another instance where FDR failed to show foresight is his Social Security Plan. Did he ever wonder what would happen if the program paid out more than it brought in? The system beginning to default today, and it will most certainly have economic and social ramifications. The idea of social security today has also shown the people’s dependence on the American government, and it has developed into the fallacy that social security is a retirement investment fund: it most certainly is not. FDR’s original concept of Social Security was not that it would serve as a replacement to savings but as additional allowance. But today, because of the nature of the program, people view Social Security as a bank with unlimited funds to which they are entitled to. Roosevelt 's failure to see the potential flaws in his