Why Franklin D. Roosevelt was a Great President
- Sunday, February 21, 2010, 18:09
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I’ve spent several weeks giving you what some historians thought of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s economic policies as well as my own opinion. What I would like to do now is explain why I feel that FDR was indeed a great president. Now, some may react to this statement by asking, “How can he not be remembered as a great president?” Indeed, some may ask that question.
However, I believe that without World War II, FDR would have been remembered as, at best, an average president. His New Deal policies are debated to this day. Some would say, ah, a “New Deal Denier” as one reader has already accused me of. (Note the connotation of “denier” and think of other historical conspiracies, denials, ect.”)
To settle the New Deal programs debate, there can be no doubt that some of the reforms to this day have made an impact on America: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Social Security Act (though a good idea in theory, the federal government has constantly stolen from it and it is now in serious trouble… and some of you want more government control over things like Health Care!?)
Most importantly, his immediate action (Emergency Banking Act) in 1933 probably avoided hyper inflation and other catastrophic events.
And finally, the New Deal rebuilt America’s infrastructure with programs such as Civil Works Administration, thus placing the United States in a strong position once the war came.
But still, without World War II we do not get out of the Great Depression, and without the war, the brilliance of FDR as a Commander-in-Chief in war time would never have been known.
FDR struggled with the Isolationists and the limitations of the Neutrality Acts, but even as early as 1938 he sought schemes to evade the serious legal and political obstacles blocking his desire to give aid to the British. Clearly that he even considered such actions indicates how far ahead of the American public FDR was in seeing the evil of the Nazi’s and understanding the serious circumstances facing the British. [Source: David M. Kennedy's "The American People in World War II", Oxford 1999] Roosevelt was also effective in guiding a hesitant American populace towards war with his Fireside Chats, press conferences, and unflinching leadership.
After December 7, 1941, Roosevelt was as steely as his British counterpart, Churchill, and was every bit the American Lion as some described him. Churchill and FDR became kindred friends, dominate politicians, and more than competent commanders of the military. Together (with Stalin the Russians) they led the Western World in defeating Hitler and the National Socialists. And just as importantly, together they realized the threat of communism as the war was drawing to an end.
Taken as a whole, there is little doubt that FDR deserves to be remembered as one of our greatest Presidents.
About the Author
Chris has written 592 stories on this site.
A.P. United States History teacher in Colorado and published Author.
3 Comments on “Why Franklin D. Roosevelt was a Great President”
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I often wonder why people still doubt the greatness of one of the finest presidents of The United States of America. If it had not been for Roosevelt’s politics and policies, it would be almost impossible to imagine the world we live in today without them. Let’s not forget that Franklin D Roosevelt assumed the presidency at the darkest hour of history – the Great Depression. Right out the outset, while accepting the Democratic Party nomination for President in 1932, Roosevelt made a promise. `I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people.’ And it is this New Deal that permanently changed the American society and created many structures that maintained prosperity after World War II ended. Find all this a little tough to handle? I do too and that’s why I always go to Shmoop.com for help. I found an interesting fact in connection with this. When Roosevelt raised the top marginal tax rate to 79% for incomes above $5 million a year in the Wealth Tax of 1935, there was only one individual who occupied this tax bracket at the time. You guessed it! It was John D. Rockefeller.
It is certainly true that the New Deal did not manage to completely solve the Great Depression, but that in my opinion is to miss the point of the vital role that it played nonetheless. If the actions taken by Roosevelt had successfully gotten the US out of the depression in the early stages of his administration, then it is likely that he would never have been able to pass nearly as many of the reforms as he later was able to do that continue to have a forceful effect in the lives of Americans today through their legacy. Furthermore, while I largely agree with this article, I would say that a mistake is made in seperating the two vital functions that Roosevelt fulfilled as “Doctor New Deal” and “Doctor Win the War”. I would argue that Roosevelt, insofar as we can tell (and it is always hard to tell exactly what such a secretive man was thinking) did not see them as seperate, but actually impacted each other vitally. Of the major political figures of the period, FDR was unique in that he was probably the first one to see WWII and the evils of Hitler coming, some argue as early as 1932. Roosevelt hoped to avoid war, but also anticipated that should war come it would serve well to completely banish the depression and boost American economic prosperity to heights that it had never before reached. In his vision the New Deal would serve to lift America back up to a position from which it was capable of functioning as it did in the war, and the process of that functioning would then complete the process that he had begun in 1933. Without the New Deal, the United States could never have peformed as it did in WWII, and it was WWII that finished the process of the New Deal. The two are inextricably linked and equally important to each other.
I was attending a conference concerning the new deal period. A Lawrence Hurwitz from City College of New York presented this idea that FDR was concerned about the depression and how it might trigger enough anger to cause the government to be crippled or even collapse. In 1933 strikes became a tool headed by the communists, socialists and Trotskyites. There was a concern that the economy and the government were under attack. So Programs as the C.C.C. had the purpose of putting people to work. Additionally the C.C.C. sent urban young and mostly males t work in the woods. Out in the woods this large group of people would have greater difficulty organizing themselves. Plus be dogged tired at the end of each day. Although I found it difficult to accept this idea I did find iit interesting.