Franklin Roosevelt and the Depression

How President Franklin Roosevelt got America through the Depression

Throughout the Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt also used the medium of radio to its full advantage. His fireside chats, in which he encouraged and reassured his fellow citizens, became famous. Fifty millions Americans at a time tuned into the chats, which always started with the words "My friends," and always finished on a note of optimism and action.

President Franklin Roosevelt was elected President the second term

He was so popular with the American people that when he was elected for a second term it was an even bigger victory than his first - he won 523 of the 532 electoral votes, and lost only two states. In his Inaugural Address he said: "I should like to have it said of my first administration that in it the forces of selfishness and lust for power met their match. I should like to have it said of my second administration that these forces met their master."

There was still much to do and he was determined to see it through.

President Franklin Roosevelt 's enemies and names they gave him

In spite of his astounding popularity at the polls, President Franklin Roosevelt  was also making many enemies. Many of his programs threatened the special privileges of the rich American elite, who began to call him "a traitor to his own class." Some called him a fascist; others called him a Communist.

The slogan "tax the rich" was bound to make him unpopular in the old familiar circles in which he'd been born and bred. Some hated him so much they refused to use his name, referring instead to "that man in the White House" or "that cripple in the White House."  But President Franklin Roosevelt stuck with his programs of reform, never compromising, even though he made more enemies with each bill and program. There were others, not just the wealthy, who opposed President Franklin Roosevelt because they felt he was giving the government too much power. President Franklin Roosevelt ran into particular problems when he tried to get Congress to give him the power to increase the Supreme Court from nine to fifteen, so he could put his own appointees on it. It was his way of fighting back when the Court declared many of his New Deal programs unconstitutional. But the idea was opposed even by Democrats. Republicans began to organize a revolt against President Franklin Roosevelt, managing to defeat more and more of his bills - including his attempts to establish new Cabinet posts, such as a Department of Public Welfare.

But the masses, who strongly approved of most of his New Deal ideas, continued to support him. By the end of his second term there were two problems bothering many Americans: one was the threat of another world war and the other was the question of whether President Franklin Roosevelt would run for a third term. President Franklin Roosevelt did. And he used the first problem, the threat of war, to defend his decision.