The New Deal/The `Hundred Days`

When comparing and contrasting the offices of Herbert Hoover and Franklin D . Roosevelt economics was a major issue with both presidencies . Both presidents came into power during a very difficult and dark time in history , The Depression . The first noticeable difference is their views on government and society Herbert Hoover 's office refused to give up the notion of volunteerism when dealing with society and societies woes . Even when it wasn 't working he wouldn 't give up the ideal that helping Americans would be more of a handout and would hurt

the character of Americans sort of like the Kantian concept of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps . Franklin D . Roosevelt had an opposite view to this problem . He understood human suffering because of his own , polio . Roosevelt was a man many considered the man to get the job done . He enacted government programs designed to ease human suffering and worked to combine aid on a government as well as on social levels . Hoover seemed to favor aid to business he still opposed measures such as direct relief and massive public works that would help the millions of unemployed (755 . He believed that drastic change in economics , on the business instead of social , would pull the country from the depths of poverty

Hoovers efforts for ending the Depression was a failure . Roosevelt turned the downslide , upwards . Political leadership at this time was almost looked at in black and white standards and a mans word was only as good as the man . During Hoovers tour in office the assertion that everything was going to be ok could be heard repeatedly , but with no results . This left the population felling cynical and filled them with mistrust . It was Roosevelt 's economic aid plan that really helped gain his public approval . His first step of saving the banks was impressive On March 5 , he issued a decree closing the banks and called Congress back into session (756 ) His new banking legislation was passed in both houses . This measure helped give a secure feeling to the public and that in turn reinforced the banks . It was said that more money was deposited after this was done than what was withdrawn before . FDR 's actions put the government 's resources behind the banks and preserved private ownership . He wanted to reform and restore the economic system not drastically change it as Hoover wanted to do . This action caused the banking structure to go down a path towards collapsing . Bank failure rose steadily in 1931 and 1932 as customers responded to rumors of bankruptcy by rushing in to withdraw their deposits , thereby causing a bank 's failure (755 . This hurt Hoover 's approval ratings more than anything and by then Americans were looking for new leadership in Roosevelt

The appeal in the public on these presidents was on opposite sides , but I believe that this was greatly influenced by the use of media . As I mentioned before Roosevelt had many factors that had gained his...