Some historians think that Franklin D. Roosevelt was a hero for his policies during the Depression, and some think he introduced Socialism to the United States – what do you think?
After answering that question read the following peers responses and say whether you agree with them or not and why.
1) I believe that Franklin D. Roosevelt helped people during the Great Depression with some policies he created under the New Deal. The New Deal program had three objectives: Relief, Recovery and Reform. In his first hundred days he proposed the program to help those that were unemployed. He first focused on banks and re opened them only if they were “solvent.” He made sure these banks were stable enough through multiple investigations and implemented the FDIC protecting those deposits up to $5,000. This alone restored Americans Faith in the Banking System. Many programs were then Implemented like the CCC which brought relief to young men by planting trees, the AAA which limited over production to farmers so crop prices would go up, and much more. These Policies did help the economy but it was not enough, which is why there was a Second New Deal, which added the WPA which employed millions through public jobs and the SSA to give benefits to older people. Franklin D. Roosevelt is a true hero, he did not turn his back on Americans in a time of need but instead made new policies to help the unemployed.
2) I think that Franklin D. Roosevelt was a hero during the Great Depression. He introduced policies such as the New Deal to help Americans during this time. The new deal was a series of programs that aimed to solve economic and social problems during the Great Depression. Immediately upon taking office, Roosevelt helped to stabilize the economy and provide jobs to the Americans. Besides the New Deal, he implemented programs such as the CCC and the TVA, as well as many others, that helped bring prosperity the American people. During his presidency, Congress passed the Roosevelt Emergency Banking Act which helped the good banks and closed the bad ones down. He also asked Americans to put their saving back into the banks, and in one month, three quarters of the banks reopened. He greatly helped the economy. Roosevelt was the one who also ended the Prohibition, which bought morale and prosperity back to America. He did other great things, like passing a bill that paid commodity farmers and ended agricultural surplus and increased prices. He led the unionization for workers and helped them get higher wages and better working conditions. Since the Great Depression continued, he made a “Second New Deal” in which he launched new and federal programs to help the American people. He made the Workers Progress Administration which provided jobs for unemployed people. This helped build things like post offices, schools and parks. One of his greatest achievement was when in 1935, he signed the Social Security Act which guaranteed the pension for millions of Americans. He set up policies that helped care for children, the elderly and disabled people. Franklin D. Roosevelt enacted many policies and helped the Americans during the Great Depression. For all these reasons, I would call him and American Hero.
3) President Roosevelt applied many programs enforcing the idea of ‘why not but try’. Some of which were: The SSA, Social Security Act which set up a benefit plan for the retired and handicapped, The WPA, which allowed for more job opportunities to build public buildings and sites, The FDIC, which made banks and savings accounts require approval from government inspection. But unfortunately, along with the idea of trying, it had only meant costly prices on these public works. Continuing with this point, Roosevelts policies could be best considered as an ‘uphill battle’, because the reforms, recovery, and relief programs did not the give immediate results of increased productivity which made citizens only worry more however most continued to abide by it. By the description and definition of Socialism, I think Roosevelt introduced the practice to the United States because before the Great Depression we have noted and discussed about robber barons and their desire for profit and how they influenced other Americans; therefore everything before the time period of reform was about self-profit and until the fall of the economy is when ideas of togetherness and fairness through distribution as a nation began to develop so I believe. I would also consider Roosevelt to be a hero for his policies because though they were costly and time consuming, the concepts of most deals still thrive today and through the programs America was able to re-build the nation as a nation and it wouldn’t have been done without the risk of applying so many programs as Roosevelt did
