Hoover vs FDR

FDR vs Hoover The Great Depression caused hardship for almost everyone in America. Franklin Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover were two presidents during this era with two very different approaches on how to deal with it. Roosevelt is generally thought of as a liberal, while Hoover is considered a conservative. A liberal is generally someone who pushes for direct government involvement in citizens’ lives, while a conservative typically pushes for limited government. Roosevelt did indeed have a more liberal approach, putting mammoth sums of money into relief programs directly for the people; Hoover was conservative in his approach—he claimed it was the job of churches and private charities to provide relief, however became less conservative towards the end of his term. Hoover was especially conservative for the beginning of his term. He showed limited government involvement through very limited spending. In 1929, the first year of Hoover’s term, the government expenditures were only $3.127 billion, barely rising in the next few years: $3.320 billion in 1930 and $3.577 billion in 1931. In 1932 and 1933, however, spending increased to $4.659 billion and $4.598 billion, respectively (Doc F), showing that his conservatism decreased a bit. The deficit still remained extremely low, showing Hoover’s unwillingness to be too involved in recovering the economy, but rather allowing the private factor to grow. Hoover also worked on limiting government by literally limiting government—by not increasing control or spreading bureaucracy. He said that Liberalism, “should not be found striving to spread bureaucracy but striving to set bounds to it” (Doc A). He showed his conservative values by criticizing a large government. He also left the charity work to private charities and churches, saying that “economic depression cannot be curbed by legislative action or executive pronouncement (Doc B).
Later in his term Hoover became slightly more liberal in his approaches to ending the