Fdr:New Deal/Radical Policies Essay, Research Paper

President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the New Deal program to attack the Great Depression that was

plummeting the nation into a financial crisis; his plan can be said to have been a radical departure from

Roosevelt s predecessors. Roosevelt was brought to power with the expectation that he would initiate a

major shift in the nature of government, and his actions following his campaign can rightfully be dubbed

as the work of a radical.

Roosevelt s predecessors can be said to have been more conservatives than radicals. President

Coolidge s objective was to reduce the significance of the presidency and to limit the powers of the

government. He was content to let all of the nation s problems work themselves out. He twice vetoed the

McNary-Haugen bill, which would have drastically helped farmers by buying crop surpluses. President

Hoover believed that the role of the gov t. was not to solve the problems, but to help the problems

disappear. He stated that if gov t solved society s problems directly, people would give up their freedom

and gov t. would become the problem. From public pressure, however, Hoover began to promote more

direct fed. involvement, initiating such programs as the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and the

Agric. Marketing Act, which helped farmers by buying their crop surpluses. His actions had little effect on

the economy, but FDR made sure that his actions did. Roosevelt took a much larger step in using fed.

involvement, more then any other President had done before.

Roosevelt s philosophy differed in that he promoted direct relief for the forgotten man in

financial trouble. He saw nothing wrong with gov t. activism, and he chose to use the fed. gov t. to try to

regenerate economic growth. Some programs, including the Agric. Adjustment Act and the National

Reconstruction Administration, even allowed gov t to become too involved, resulting in Supreme Court

legislation declaring them illegal and unconstitutional. His instituted loan and price-support programs

which farmers became dependent upon, the Wagner Act as the overseer of labor-management relations,

and a program to regulate the banking system and financial systems. In other words, he significantly

changed the role of gov t in the ecomony and in society by granting gov t more control over them.

After the New Deal and the Second Hundred Days were over, society held the expectation that

the Pres. and the gov t. were responsible for correcting any or all problems that they had. Even so,

Roosevelt s radical actions had stabilized the economy and prevented economic collapse. Conservatives

argue that Roosevelt undermined individualism and free enterprise, but really he simply saved the nation

with his ideas and reforms. Roosevelt may have used the fed. gov t. intensely in society, but he saved

thousands of unemployed workers and helped his fellow man.