Fdr/hoover

Roosevelt and Hoover

President Franklin D. Roosevelt is commonly thought of as a

liberal and

President Herbert C. Hoover as a conservative. The validity of

these accusations,

however, is uncertain.

Before classifying each president in the categories of

"liberal" and

"conservative," it must first be understood what is meant by each

term. During the time

of the Great Depression, a liberal was usually associated with

"political equality, free

speech, free assembly, free press, and equality of opportunity." It

was directly derived

from the word "liberty" which meant freedom. Today, the definition

changes drastically.

A liberal is someone who thinks government can solve problems, and

someone who

trusts government. They believe in more government spending (such as

in social

plans) and are not turned off because of raised taxes, knowing full

well the money taken

away will do the country good. Frankly, liberals believe in more

government in the daily

lives of people. Conservatives believe in directly the opposite of

what liberals do.

They believe heavily in the free enterprise system (private

ownership). Their

economics rely on the theory of supply and demand and profit motive.

Their

lassiez-faire policy was introduced in a book The Wealth of Nations

by Adam Smith.

This economic policy can be seen directly in the rest of what

conservatives believe in.

They are resistant to change, being strong believers of traditional

values. They thought

money should be spent on defense, not social programs. In a nutshell,

they want

government to stay out of people's lives. The modern definitions of

each term will be

used in categorizing Roosevelt and Hoover.

President Hoover, a strong believer in traditional values,

can definitely be

described as a conservative. His initial "hands-off" policy in

dealing with the Great

Depression show this well. He believed in the business cycle and

that the country

would pull its self out of the depression. He did not want to use

government power in

dealing with this catastrophe, mainly because of his predecessor's

tradition of

lassiez-faire. Hoover stated in an election speech, "Every step of

bureaucratizing of

the business of our country poisons the very roots of liberalism (old

definition)." As

government gets bigger, there are needed more offices, agencies and

bureau's to

handle affairs. This bureaucracy, he said, would take the American

people's freedom

right from them. He felt a great need to take government out of

peoples lives more

then ever. Even after the depression hit, Hoover was convinced that

government could

do nothing to help the country out this cataclysm. He said in 1930,

"Economic

depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive

pronouncement." He felt

that no matter what happens, government actions can do no good for

the economy,

and that only the people can pull themselves out.

As the depression worsened, Hoover began to think he should

not sit back and

watch the depression thorough, but help out as much as he can to

quicken the arrival of

prosperity in the business cycle. While this government action was

one of liberal

proportions, Hoover is still classifies as a conservative because of

his long terms goals

having conservatism written all over them. Drastic times call for

drastic measures, and

he felt the only way to preserve tradition was help out the people.

He first started

helping out by merely encouraging voluntary groups in the community

to help out the

less fortunate. He felt that "government -national, state and local-

can join with the

community in such programs and do its part."