Roosevelt New Nationalism Analysis

Roosevelt's "New Nationalism" The dawn of Imperial Presidency, also known as Roosevelt's "New Nationalism" became a role of executive power that would never diminish in the U.S. for a variety of economic and political reasons. To achieve the prominence and longevity of "New Nationalism," Roosevelt and his surrounding "Brain Trust" of lawyers and professors reasoned that "bigness was unavoidable" and that "competition in most of its forms is wasteful and costly" (759). One economic example that gave rise to "New Nationalism" was a method called the New Deal. Under the New Deal Roosevelt proposed many reforms that aimed to decrease the financial strain of many Americans. For example, the Beer-Wine Revenue Bill and the Agriculture Adjustment Act both increased the purchasing power to the people. Another political and economic instance that gave rise to "New
Nationalism" was the demand by Roosevelt that the federal governments take on centralized economic planning and experimentation to create recovery.
This demonstrated that he cared about the American people and in return they showed him a great deal of support in the polls. To invoke courage, Roosevelt then proclaimed "the analogue of war" which said that the American people must act, "as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline" (760). By doing this, Roosevelt was telling the American people to continue the mentality of the First World War. Another political and economic example that brought on "New Nationalism" was the fireside chats because they made people confident in the executive and in the progress of the economy. Roosevelt's strong and confident broadcast made people like and want to be an American. The Second New Deal also brought on "New Nationalism" because it enacted an important law called the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act which allowed Roosevelt to created many programs that would help the unemployed. For
example, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) helped employ millions of people, built thousands of miles of highways and roads, and created buildings, parks, and airports. One final political example is the "imperial presidency" in which Roosevelt's character helped strengthen the presidency and the federal government in general. By doing this, many people said that Roosevelt put the power back into the federal government where it was able to control over state and local societies. The beginning of the Imperial Presidency and Roosevelt's "New Nationalism" were created by numerous political and economic deals and acts that are still relevant today, which is why this role of executive power still has not diminished.