The terms of liberal and conservative are loosely defined. During the great depression there were two presidents, one claiming to be conservative and the other liberal. These two presidents had extremely controversial and contrasting attitudes when it came to solving the great depression. There are some speculations that neither Hoover nor Roosevelt followed their own parties belief. After defining Liberalism and Conservatism, Hoover and Roosevelt are examined to find truth behind their claims. After studying the differences between liberalism and conservatism, it is differentiate the two ideologies. During the colonial era, liberals supported Democracy over monarchy and wanted freedom and rights. Conservatives, wanted to keep the monarchy. Based on these ideas, all Americans are liberal because they are in favor of freedom and rights. However, with the new ideas, now Liberals believe that the government and laws need to change for the new times. …show more content…
He limited spending and let large business’ fail. Believing that the economy would recover on its own, he thought that there was little need for government intervention, indicating the want for a small government. This can be supported because Hoover announced, “...there shall be no domination by any group or combination in this republic...”, during his candidacy showing he believed the government should have little intervention. Hoover later stated during his presidency that “The government--nation, state, and local--can join with the community in such programs and do its part.” which indicates that he then thought that the government should intervene. However, in the same speech Hoover admitted that “I favor still further temporary expansion of these activities in aid to unemployment this winter.” showing that he did not completely agree with the idea of a bigger government providing even further that he is
Conservatism is a classic ideology that defends and promote existing traditional arrangement by encouraging structured community is maintained while ensuring common values to the people. They tends to oppose liberalist as the see liberalism as an ideology that preaches individualism rather than encouraging more benefits that a group of people or society can bring to people in general. The benefit would be much, should such group exists and well maintained within the society (Shively,
President Hoover believed that too much intervention by the government would destroy American individuality and self-reliance, which he thought were
After the Great Depression, many Americans were left disheveled. They needed some form of financial assistance to help them get their lives back to normal. Many government officials such as Hurbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt helped to enact bills and programs that would assist Americans in rehabilitating their lives. The amount of unemployed workers, the economic relief for retired workers, and the creation of legislature directed towards financial stability all illustrate that the most important effects that the New Deal legislation had on the American government was a liberal one..
Herbert Hoover, the president in office when the Great Depression hit the country, did very little to ameliorate the devastating situation. Hoover underestimated the seriousness of the crisis, misdiagnosed the causes of the problems, and clung to his beliefs in individual achievement and self-help. His corrective measures, aimed at inflation and the federal budget, were thus damaging themselves. Furthermore, he hesitated to mobilize government resources to aid Americans and instead appealed to private groups to lend a hand (Encarta). Thus Hoover’s administration did little to mitigate the impact of the Depression.
Hoover was beginning to demonstrate conservative beliefs even before the onset of the Great Depression. Document A shows Hoover’s wish to avoid being thought of as a complete supporter of laissez-faire ideas. He appeared irresolute when it came to preserving the capitalistic society of the 1920s. During this time, society was managed by corrupt political bosses, such as Tweed. The American economy had flourished under the private interest policies of Harding and Coolidge, which forced Hoover to promise the American people that he would not abandon the laissez-faire economics, which had been so successful during past presidencies. Hoover was sure, however, that working class Americans would not be opposed to restricting unfair business practices. Documents B and C depict Hoover’s lack of support for private interest or public purpose policies. In these documents, Hoover stresses the significance of individual interests
The book “Taking Sides: Clashing Views in United States History” by Madaras, Larry and James SoRelle draws attention on controversial issues. James and Madaras wrote the book in a debate-style format, which intrigues many students, hence supporting them in enhancing their critical thinking skills. James and Madaras ensured that every issue in the book has a summary, introduction, challenge question and postscript. Therefore, the paper will focus on issue 10, which debates on whether the new deal prolonged the great depression. The great depression refers to an era in US history, which happened from 1929 to 1941 during president Franklin Delano Roosevelt era, and it made the US citizens face economic hard times. The great depression era had much overproduction, inequality in wealth distribution and over borrowing. Consequently, the president implemented the new deal with the aim of saving American citizens from the great depression. However, people had different feelings regarding the effectiveness of the new deal, which brought up the debate in the book. For example, Burton Folsom believed that the new deal was not effective because he thought that it prolonged the great depression. On the contrary, Roger Biles alleged that the new deal was effective, and it did not prolong the great depression (Madaras and James 227).
In his inaugural address, President Franklin D. Roosevelt set the tone for the upcoming half century when he confidently said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. In response to the economic collapse of the Great Depression, a bold and highly experimental fleet of government bureaus and agencies known as Roosevelt’s Alphabet Soup were created to service the programs of the New Deal and to provide recovery to the American people. The New Deal was one of the most ambitious programs in American history, with implications and government programs that can still be seen to this day. Through its enactment of social reform and conservation programs, the New Deal mounted radical policies that gave the federal government unprecedented power in the nation’s economy and society, however, the New Deal did not bring America out of the Great Depression and could be considered conservative in the context of the era, ultimately saving capitalism from collapsing in America.
Compare and contrast Hoover and Roosevelt’s actions in the aftermath of the Crash of 1929. How did both administrations attempt to deal with the economic stagnation, social hardship and psychological impact of the depression? What needed to be fixed and which approach proved more successful? In your essay you should address not only the underlying economic and social problems that both administrations had to deal with and the various corrective measures they adopted, but also the underlying philosophical approaches of Hoover and Roosevelt and their supporters.
This lack of complete dedication to private interest or public purpose is further displayed in Documents B and C where Hoover stresses the importance of the individual in ending the Depression while also assuring government support for job production if the situation required it. Hoover's speeches are remarkably similar to Roosevelt's speech in Document E. Here, even during the Depression, Roosevelt stressed the importance of balancing the budget unless unemployment required the government to spend money stimulating the economy. Instead of Hoover's desire to continue restricting government, Roosevelt wanted to balance the budget. The Depression created the need for government intervention and an unbalanced budget as shown in Document F. However, despite a few efforts by Hoover to create jobs, he still seemed much different than Roosevelt who insisted in 1936 that America must not go back to supporting Conservatives who protected private interest unjustly. (Document G)
President Franklin D. Roosevelt is commonly identified as a liberal and President Herbert C. Hoover as a conservative. The validity of these characterizations, however, is conditional upon the definition of these labels. If one adopts the most conventional contemporary definitions of the terms “liberal” and “conversative,” then the characterizations of Roosevelt as a liberal and Hoover as a conservative are valid, but the definitions of liberal and conservative vary and change over time and place.
Contrarily before the Depression, there were signs that pointed to President Herbert Hoover becoming more conservative. Document A suggests that Herbert Hoover didn't want' do be considered strictly laissez-faire. Document A proposes that Herbert Hoover wanted to liberalism to be found not " in striving to spread bureaucracy but striving to set its bounds, " but also wanted The United States to know that, " he doesn't want to be misinterpreted as believing that the Untied States ins a free for all, or system of laissez-faire." Hoover appeared as if he was less determined to preserve the capitalistic society of the 1920's seeing that he argued that capitalism also has social obligations. However, the success of the American economy under presidents Hading and Coolidge who believed in private interest beliefs required him to make sure that the lack of intervention in the economy would be maintained. Also Hoover began to sense of the public disapproval and transformation of the working masses and public views. The public mass began to start looking favorably on restriction of unfair business practices. This transformation of the public opinion gave president Hoover trouble since he wasn't completely dedicated to the private interest or public purpose.
Hoover felt that economic downturns were a normal part of capitalism. They weeded out unproductive firms. He, like many other businessman, opposed federal aid to the unemployed. Many political leaders at the time held the view that the government should not fiscally aid the unemployed as it would do little to spur economic recovery.
The American History provides a predicament between the actions and different point of views of President Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR),in the new deal to save the American people during the Great Depression of the 1930s. In David M. Kennedy essay “FDR: Advocate for the American People” describes the difference between these two presidents, and also explains how the New Deal proposed by President Roosevelt help to deal with the chaos that whats’ happening at the time. The President FDR played an important role in bring reforms, and changing the way of life for many Americans. The New Deal stressed recovery through planning and cooperation with business, but also tried to aid the unemployment and reform the economic system.
Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt were both presidents during one of the most difficult times in American history, the Great Depression. To try and ease the hardships that many Americans were facing, each President developed many different programs. The different actions that each took to lessen the blow of the depression classified them as either a liberal or conservative. If their actions focused on helping the economy, they would be considered a conservative. If they were more focused on helping the lives of the American people, they would be classified as a liberal. Neither President can be labeled as strictly one. Although Franklin Roosevelt was
The legacy that President Hoover passed to his successor was disastrous. The country experienced an unprecedented economic depression. However, in his speech during the presidential campaign in 1936, he expressed a deep concern that the New Deal is directed against the interests of ?poor Americans?[footnoteRef:2]. He also blamed the Roosevelt policy in violation of ?fundamental American ideals and liberties?[footnoteRef:3]. While Roosevelt was rebuilding America, Hoover attacked