Comparative analysis for Anthony badgers FDR: First One Hundred Days and William Leuchtenburg- Herbert Hoover

Introduction

In this paper, we are going to discuss and proceed to comparative analysis for Anthony Badger's “FDR: First One Hundred Days” and William Lichtenberg's “Herbert Hoover”. In addition to this, it will also discuss a connection between Roosevelt and Hoover, trends in society, and how they got where they were at those respective circumstances.

Compare and Comparative Analysis

President Herbert Hoover and Franklin Delano Roosevelt have often been compared to one another throughout American history. For instance, their political views during the Great Depression have often been debated. Early in the 1900s, Roosevelt attended Harvard University majoring in history for three years. After the following three years, he was then enrolled into the Columbia University Law School. After passing the bar examination, his lack of interest in law led to entry in politics. As an acceptance, to democratic leaders in 1910, he agreed to run for the New York Senate and won the election. Three years later, President Woodrow Wilson appointed him as the assistant secretary of the Navy. Throughout the next eight years, Roosevelt worked on war time projects that include a plan to lay antisubmarine mines in the North Sea. With an excessive gratitude, he became known as “the man who got things done” (Rosen, pp.69-72). On August 8, 1921, he had fallen from a friend's boat into some extremely cold water. His body began feeling worse over the next several days. The outcome of the accident conditioned Roosevelt to be partially paralyzed. He was never able to walk again. Many people thought it was the end of his political career.

Although President Hoover is commonly thought of as conservative while President Roosevelt thought of as liberal, this is only true to a certain extent. To be liberal is to have a progressive stance on the government (Clements, Hoover, pp.13-18). During Hoover and Roosevelt's presidency, this implied securing personal freedom for the people, whether that freedom was political or economical. On the other hand, a conservative preserves the ideals of the previous administration. Thus, both Hoover and Roosevelt were liberals because they both involved the government in recovering the economy, sustained individual freedom, and provided economic and social protection in new and innovative ways.

Although Hoover is seen as conservative, he is liberal in that he decreased governmental intervention, which allowed for more individual freedom. By allowing for laissez-faire to occur, he believed that people would make rational decisions which gave them, economic freedom. As said in the Document A, Hoover defined liberalism as allowing political equality, free speech, and equal opportunity. He wanted less government interference to allow more civil rights, but also put bounds on laissez-faire in order for the economy to prosper (Leuchtenburg, pp. 43-50). This was a liberal action in letting people take charge of their economic status, especially during the Great Depression. As shown in Document B, Hoover believed that, through the cooperation of both the government and the community, the depression could be ...