“The test of rightfulness of our decisions
must be whether we have sustained and advanced … prosperity.” These words spoken by Herbert Hoover truly
exemplify the leaders of the early twentieth century. Herbert Clark Hoover was commonly known as a
conservative and as a worker of miracles.
He was also noted for his cool calculation as an efficiency expert. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a liberal who
had a great sense of enthusiasm for his job.
He showed a great amount of empathy towards his people’s problem, as
well as he was always willing to experiment. Herbert Hoover and Theodore
Roosevelt stayed true to their political beliefs throughout the early twentieth
century, however there were times when they both had to venture to the other
side of the political spectrum in order to obtain the best result for the
nation.
Government intervention within the
economy, business, and community projects was a key political issue during the
times of Hoover and Roosevelt. At the
time of Hoover’s presidency, he believed in a laissez fair system; a hands off
approach or the term commonly used “let it ride.” Hoover believed that there should be little
government involvement within the private enterprises owned by members of the
community. However, Roosevelt believed that the government should have more
control over the economy. The New Deal
was an example of this. Roosevelt’s New
Deal programs were to relieve people out of work, make sure that businesses, as
well a the economy would recover as a whole, and that American economic
institutions would become reformed.
Roosevelt wanted the industries to be owned by the government.
Both Hoover and Roosevelt had creative
ideas of overcoming a financial deficit.
As a conservative, Hoover was fond of cutting taxes. He also sought to increase government
spending and investment. He and his
administration had this idea that everything should be controlled (federally)
within Washington. On the other hand,
Roosevelt wanted less government spending, as well as he questioned the
possibility of raising taxes. However, Roosevelt was required to raise taxes in
order to maintain and keep an equal budget throughout the depression. Roosevelt
also promoted
government projects such as the welfare system to help the unemployment
situation with the United States.
Universally, Hoover and Roosevelt were determined to fix the financial
deficit that was present in the early twentieth century.
Both Hoover and Roosevelt left their
original political identity at times, in order to obtain the best results for
their country. As stated in Document B,
Hoover explains that the best way to cure the economic depression was to have
government intervention within the community.
He stated that the government should join and take its part within the
community’s programs to do its part. Due
to the Great Depression, Roosevelt became somewhat of a conservative, because
the federal spending increased significantly (Document F) in order to set up
projects that would find people work.
Equally, Hoover and Roosevelt where somewhat liberal and conservative.
During their times as Presidents, Hoover
and Roosevelt stood firm in what they believed in, and yet they shared common
ground in how they both swayed their political positions in order to obtain the
best result for their country.
Hofstadter stated that Hoover “…expected to see a brilliant and
expansive future, but he expected to reach it along the traditional highway. [Roosevelt’s] capacity for innovation in
practical measures was striking, and the New deal marked deviations in the
American course; but his capacity for innovation in ideas was far more
comparable.” Both were men who
contributed top the political tradition of America.
No comments:
Post a Comment