Us Presidents 3042 Essay Research Paper 30 — страница 2

the senate dwindled to a plurality of one. Hoover believed that aid to the hungry and the deserving unemployed should come from local governments in the states and counties, not from the federal government. Yet he recommended and Congress appropriated funds for huge public works. On Hoover’s recommendation, Congress established the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, approved Jan. 22, 1932, with an initial working capital of $500 million. It tried to provide indirect relief to the unemployed by lending insurance companies, banks, farm organizations, railroads, and state, county, and city governments money to stimulate economic activity and employment. His opponents criticized him for this “trickle down” theory, based on the idea that if the government aided big business at

the top of the nation’s financial structure, business would then create more jobs and relieve unemployment at the bottom. Yet, he inaugurated a new policy of government assistance to those in need in time of economic crisis, though not directly to the masses of unemployed. 32. President – Franklin Delano Roosevelt Term – March 4, 1933 to April 12, 1945 While Roosevelt was governor of New York, the Great Depression tightened its grip on the country. Roosevelt, seeking new ideas, enlisted a “brains trust” of Columbia University professors to help him devise programs against hard times. These professors included Rexford Tugwell, Raymond Moley, and Adolf Berle, Jr. All became leading figures in the national administration in 1933. Acting on their suggestions, Roosevelt

stressed the need to assist the “forgotten man.” He added “the country demands bold, persistent experimentation.” Meanwhile, Farley and other supporters were lining up delegates for Roosevelt throughout the country. By the time the Democratic national convention opened in Chicago in June 1932, Roosevelt stood out as the most dynamic and imaginative contender for the presidential nomination. Despite these assets, FDR faced formidable opposition at the convention, from House Speaker John Nance Garner of Texas; former Secretary of War Newton D. Baker of Ohio, a potential compromise choice; and former Governor Smith, who still cherished ambitions of his own. For three ballots Roosevelt held a large lead, but lacked the two-thirds margin necessary for victory. Farley then

promised Garner the vice-presidential nomination. The move succeeded. Garner reluctantly accepted the vice presidency, and FDR took the presidential nomination on the fourth ballot. Most party leaders applauded the Roosevelt-Garner ticket, which closed the heretofore-fatal gulf between the urban-Eastern and rural-Southern-Western wings of the party. They responded especially to Roosevelt, who broke with precedent to fly to the convention and to tell the delegates, “I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people.” 33. President – Harry S. Truman Term – April 12, 1945 to January 20, 1953 The Truman Doctrine, which granted aid to Greece and Turkey and promised assistance to other nations threatened “by armed minorities or by outside pressure”; the

Marshall Plan, which used American economic resources to stimulate the recovery of European economies outside the Soviet sphere; the Berlin airlift, designed to maintain the Western presence in that city, which was surrounded by the Russian-occupied zone of Germany; and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the nation’s first peacetime military alliance. Truman’s Point Four program helped new nations develop economically. These steps, which added up to a policy of “containment” of communism, constituted unprecedented U.S. involvement in Europe during peacetime. Truman not only made the decisions but also used all his power to get the policies accepted. His success also owed much to a bipartisan group in which a Republican, Sen. Arthur H. Vandenberg (Mich.), played a key

role. Truman accomplished less in domestic affairs, in part because he was so busy with international concerns. Beginning in September 1945, he fought to continue and expand the New Deal, soon labeling his program the Fair Deal. He encountered the same coalition of conservative Republicans and Southern Democrats that had frustrated Roosevelt frequently after 1936. This coalition effectively opposed Truman when the Democrats dominated congress (1945-1946 and 1949-1956) as well as when the Republicans were in control (1947-1948). One of his few domestic victories was the passage of the Housing Act of 1949, which included a provision for public housing. In another area in which Truman made important contributions–civil rights–he had to rely chiefly on executive action,