Important people Flashcards
Who was Herbert Hoover?
Republican president from 1929-1933 (defeated his opponent Al Smith in a landslide)
The American dream incarnate: orphan, did not grow up with wealth, self-made millionaire (as mining engineer)
He was seen as a do-nothing person at the time. He was very set that the budget should be in balance no matter how bad things got. Did not want to realise that some people were suffering.
Hoover took action but it was limited to the idea of voluntarism. The role of government should be limited –> the market needed to have a bigger role than government. Keep wages up, don’t fire employees, raise money.
Buck-passing: Pointed a finger at Wall Street as responsible. And also pointed fingers at Europe for problems (war depts) in the US. “Blame anyone but me”.
He strongly criticized Roosevelt’s foreign policy and New Deal domestic agenda.
Who was Franklin D. Roosevelt? (including influences, career and values)
Democratic president from 1933-1945 (when he died), only president to serve for more than two terms
Excelled at making a good impression. Few people knew his innermost, but still troubled Americans felt like he was a personal friend.
Influenced by his wife and progressivism (grew up in a progressive era): this belief holds that it is possible to improve human societies through political action
Illness: Struck down by polio (børnelammelse). Confronted him with powerlessness and being the underdog. However, back then there were few pictures of him in a wheelchair.
Values: Christian, anti-urbanism (deep sympathy for the countryside in contrast to others who were more anxious about industries and cities), limits on competitive individualism (instead cooperation for the common good), active government, planning, pragmatic (judged action as right or wrong according to consequences)
Career:
- New York Senate (1910-1913)
- Campaign for Vice-Presidency (1920) – this election was lost but it widened his horizons as he got to travel a lot.
- New York Governorship (1929-33) – dealing with business failures, bank trouble, unemployment.
- Is ranked as one of the greatest presidents in American history
Quotes:
- “But above all, try something”
- “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” (inaugural address)
Who was Eleanor Roosevelt and how was she significant to Roosevelt’s presidency?
FDR’s wife and first lady
Most significant of all the first ladies. Extraordinarily active. Political creature herself. Interested in arts. The 1932 was one of the greatest two-for-one deals in American political history. But she was not a part of Roosevelt’s inner circle.
Working relationship with FDR:
* As agent, advisor, lobbyist and lightning rod –> very effective political operator, she was FDR’s eyes, ears and legs, she was the face of him when he was recovering from illness.
* As First Lady: tours, meetings and media activities –> especially because of FDR’s illness
Her impact on women: She comes from a world of a clear gender divide, but she is pushing through it. Believed in women’s capabilities, and she supported women’s causes –> provided access to women who had ideas that they wanted brought to the attention of the President. It is practically impossible to imagine so much progress for women in the New Deal without Eleanor Roosevelt in the White House –> but without the support of Eleanor from Franklin this positive development would not have been possible.
Who was John Maynard Keynes?
English economist and founder of modern macroeconomics.
He believed that the economy/the market was not self-regulating. The state had to intervene.
He thought that the US should increase spending: Keynes’ compensatory (counter-cyclical) approach: strategic public spending, taxation and interest rate policies.
FDR’s reception of Keynes’s ideas: as theory, no; in practice, yes –> Roosevelt says that the theory is jargon, he cannot grasp what Keynes is talking about, but he is persuaded by his advisors that Keynes is onto something.
The thing to grasp: Keynes’ influence steadily grows, meets Roosevelt on a number of occasions.
Who was Harry Hopkins?
The head of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and also in charge of the Civil Works Administration (CWA).
Who was Harold L. Ickes?
The head of the Public Works Administration (PWA).
Who was Rexford Tugwell?
A part of Roosevelt’s Brains Trust and helped design the New Deal farm program and the Resettlement Administration (RA).
What was the Brains Trust and who were a part of it?
It was a group of Columbia University academics who helped develop policy recommendations leading up to Roosevelt’s New Deal.
Key Brains Trust members:
- Raymond Moley
- Rexford Tugwell
- Adolf Berle
