Roosevelt And Hoover Essay, Research Paper

President Franklin D. Roosevelt is commonly thought of as a

liberal and

President Herbert C. Hoover as a conservative. The validity of

these accusations,

however, is uncertain.

Before classifying each president in the categories of

“liberal” and

“conservative,” it must first be understood what is meant by each

term. During the time

of the Great Depression, a liberal was usually associated with

“political equality, free

speech, free assembly, free press, and equality of opportunity.” It

was directly derived

from the word “liberty” which meant freedom. Today, the definition

changes drastically.

A liberal is someone who thinks government can solve problems, and

someone who

trusts government. They believe in more government spending (such as

in social

plans) and are not turned off because of raised taxes, knowing full

well the money taken

away will do the country good. Frankly, liberals believe in more

government in the daily

lives of people. Conservatives believe in directly the opposite of

what liberals do.

They believe heavily in the free enterprise system (private

ownership). Their

economics rely on the theory of supply and demand and profit motive.

Their

lassiez-faire policy was introduced in a book The Wealth of Nations

by Adam Smith.

This economic policy can be seen directly in the rest of what

conservatives believe in.

They are resistant to change, being strong believers of traditional

values. They thought

money should be spent on defense, not social programs. In a nutshell,

they want

government to stay out of people’s lives. The modern definitions of

each term will be

used in categorizing Roosevelt and Hoover.

President Hoover, a strong believer in traditional values,

can definitely be

described as a conservative. His initial “hands-off” policy in

dealing with the Great

Depression show this well. He believed in the business cycle and

that the country

would pull its self out of the depression. He did not want to use

government power in

dealing with this catastrophe, mainly because of his predecessor’s

tradition of

lassiez-faire. Hoover stated in an election speech, “Every step of

bureaucratizing of

the business of our country poisons the very roots of liberalism (old

definition).” As

government gets bigger, there are needed more offices, agencies and

bureau’s to

handle affairs. This bureaucracy, he said, would take the American

people’s freedom

right from them. He felt a great need to take government out of

peoples lives more

then ever. Even after the depression hit, Hoover was convinced that

government could

do nothing to help the country out this cataclysm. He said in 1930,

“Economic

depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive

pronouncement.” He felt

that no matter what happens, government actions can do no good for

the economy,

and that only the people can pull themselves out.

As the depression worsened, Hoover began to think he should

not sit back and

watch the depression thorough, but help out as much as he can to

quicken the arrival of

prosperity in the business cycle. While this government action was

one of liberal

proportions, Hoover is still classifies as a conservative because of

his long terms goals

having conservatism written all over them. Drastic times call for

drastic measures, and

he felt the only way to preserve tradition was help out the people.

He first started

helping out by merely encouraging voluntary groups in the community

to help out the

less fortunate. He felt that “government -national, state and local-

can join with the

community in such programs and do its part.” He put people to work

in construction

and doubled the government expenditure. He favored “temporary

expansion of these

activities in aid unemployment during this winter.” While no other

president had ever

participated in the people’s lives as much as Hoover, he was still

considered a

conservative because of his goals for the end of the depression.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt could also be termed a

conservative. In an

election speech in 1932, Roosevelt attacked the Hoover administration

for their

increased government spending and involvement in people’s lives. He

said, “It (the

Hoover administration) is committed to the idea that we ought to

center control of

everything in Washington as rapidly as possible.” This highly

liberal actions would

appall any true conservative, just as it did Roosevelt. He proposed

a twenty-five

percent cut of federal spending, abolish the “innumerable boards and

those

commissions” and balance the budget. In his second election campaign,

he spoke of

himself as a true conservative. He said, “the true conservative is

the man who has a

real concern for injustice and takes thought against the day of

reckoning.” Even in the

heart of the depression, he still felt himself to be a great

conservative. He perhaps

defended his title as a conservative best when he stated “worthy

institutions can be

conserved only by adjusting them to the changing time.” When

Roosevelt formed a

rebuttal against his New Deal as being liberal, he perhaps best

described his political

career by saying “I am that kind of conservative because I am that

kind of liberal.”

Roosevelt’s New Deal was perhaps the most liberal set of

government actions

this country will ever see. While the goals of this New Deal were

liberal, it was all put

into effect to preserve conservatism. The country was so down and

out, something had

to be done to pull itself out so the economy and the people could

return to their normal,

post-depression lives. Government seemed to have the only answer.

Much of the New

Deal contradicted itself with what Roosevelt said he would do in his

campaign

speeches. He said he would balance the budget, yet his devotion of

John Maynard

Keynes idea of deficit spending led this country to almost triple its

indebtedness

between 1929 and 1941. Perhaps Roosevelt did realize at the time

what the true,

horrendous condition of the country was during the time. He knew he

had to act fast, in

order to keep the country “alive”, and capable of living without

government support. He

established agencies and boards like the CCC, CWA, and PWA to provide

jobs. He

also provided loans to farmers and established the AAA to help them

with their farming

difficulties. He hoped that if he could give the people a boost,

they might just get out of

this depression and be able to support themselves, without government

help. If he

could end the depression with these “liberal actions” and make it so

lassiez-faire could

reign supreme again, Roosevelt would be happy.

To say that President Franklin D. Roosevelt is a liberal and

that President

Herbert Hoover was a conservative is only half-true. Both men lead

their country

through the perils of the depression with conservative goals in mind,

and both men had

to resort to liberals actions to preserve conservatism. Roosevelt

best described himself

and Hoover as being “that kind of conservative because (of being)

that kind of liberal.”

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