Fdr Vs Hoover Essay

Hoover proved to be less proactive than Roosevelt in dealing with the effects of the Great Depression as he was in denial: “there was no crisis, he insisted. All that was needed … was to let the economy cure itself” (pg. 1106). Perhaps he was just wishing that the worse would pass, but regardless he realized that sitting idly would not change anything, and thus he had no choice but to take action. Hoover attempted to cheer up the public by convincing them that the worst had passed, but his optimism wasn’t sincere and the nation was able to see that. Unlike Roosevelt, he wasn’t a natural people-person and his attempts at connecting with the nation on a personal level resulted in him uttering discouraging phrases such as “No one has yet starved” (pg. 1108). The public was naturally not pleased with his inability to show empathy, and thus they mocked him by creating “Hoovervilles” and “Hoover blankets”. Throughout this whole fiasco, Hoover was more concerned with the state of the government rather than the state of the people, and thus he refused to offer “direct support to the poor” out of the fear that it would give rise to socialism (pg. 1108). He cleverly tried to mask these motives by trying to convince the public of the importance of
They realized that many problems could be solved (or at least would be closer to being solved) if the government took an active role in society by actual interacting with it. It could be considered a precedent for how the government is run today. It offered a new way of looking at the problems that the nation is faced with as well as the most efficient ways of solving them. Before it seems as if there was an unspoken taboo that the government and the poeple are two distinct realms which should never directly make contact, however because of the New Deal, it is much more direct in helping the public