Pros And Cons Of Fdr

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FDR: A Good, Constitutional President or Not?
1932; the Great Depression is at its peak and there is no end in sight. The American people were suffering, and were looking for a President that would listen to their concerns and problems unlike President Hoover who down played all of the issues. Hoover was up for reelection, but his opponent, Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt was looking like a promising candidate. With words of hope and encouragement, Roosevelt was elected into office and immediately got to work reforming the economy. Roosevelt nursed the nation back to health and maintained its health through part of World War II before his death, leading many people to call him one of the greatest presidents America has ever had. Despite …show more content…

In the beginning of his four terms, FDR was on good standings with Congress. They worked together well during his “first 100 days”in order to get the New Deal enacted. He had the support of both Republicans and Democrats in Congress, which would greatly aid him in passing the legislation he wanted. He even become one of three presidents to get more Congressional seats added in his party to make it the majority (Reform: The Great Depression and FDR’s New Deal). After his second reelection, FDR felt that he had the safe majority and attempted to expand the Supreme Court in his favor by proposing it to Congress. It was denied. This court packing plan lead to a general dislike for FDR’s policies in Congress, completely turning the tide on his support. It was seen as him trying to alter the power of the Supreme Court in his favor (Reform: The Great Depression and FDR’s New Deal). FDR ended up vetoing over 600 bills after losing his Congressional support. These vetoes covered a wide variety of subjects as opposed to sticking with just one specific area. He became the first president to veto a revenue bill for the sole reason of him feeling like it “only profited the greedy” (Anderson). FDR liked to demonstrate his vigilance over Congress through vetoes like