Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
¶ … Americans Think about President and Mrs. Roosevelt: What can you learn from these letters about the writers' impressions of the president and his wife? What do they expect or hope the president or his wife will do? What conclusions would you draw about the popularity of the president or about why people might have voted for him?
It is humbling and even awe-inspiring to read between the lines of the letters to the President and Mrs. Roosevelt during the early years of the Great Depression in this country. In an election year such as ours, that has proved so divisive to the American populace, and provoked such cynicism, letters such as these that begin, in one addressed to the First Lady, from a Kansas housewife of 1934, "My dear Friend," seem to come from another world, another nation, where the president's wife is a friend and the president is a friend and savior. (McElvaine 218-222)
The author addresses this politician's wife, a woman from an entirely different social class and milieu, who she has never met nor is likely to meet, as an intimate and companion. "Just listened to the address given by your dear husband, our wonderful President." (McElvaine...
They found such a friend in the image of Roosevelt. They were looking, to put it bluntly, for a good man, a saving man, and a kindly father and confidant. "When I received this fine picture my dear mother (who has since been called Home) said to Delores 'Who is this man?' And Delores answered without hesitation 'Why who else, but Saint Roosevelt' ... Indeed we all feel if there ever was a Saint. He is one. As long as Pres. Roosevelt will be our leader under Jesus Christ we feel no fear. His speech this morning showed he feels for the 'least of these.'" (McElvaine 218-222) Feeling low, this woman looks to a Christ figure to bring the lowly high.
One man writes to the First Lady as if Roosevelt is both male and female in a Godlike fashion, "strange to say when he was speaking to see the moisten eyes and deep feeling of emotions that gave vent…
Works Cited
McElvaine, Robert S. (Editor). Down and Out in the Great Depression. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1983.
The very crux of the argument comes to the central point of censorship -- who must be protected and why must they be protected? Ideas, political, social, or otherwise, may be the most dangerous form of literature ever. For instance, in 19th century autocratic regimes, the ideas of Karl Marx, even Voltaire, Locke, and Jefferson were seen to be subversive because they challenged the order of things, the idea
American history as a radical and revolutionary society. Specifically, it will discuss the works of "The Jungle," by Upton Sinclair, and "Coming of Age in Mississippi," by Anne Moody. Radical reform and revolutionary ideas are at the very foundation of our freedom in America, and this tradition of freedom of speech and rebellion has continued from 1865 onward in our society. There has always been dissention and disagreement in
The potentially socialist tone of these articles can explain a delay up through the Cold War, but it does not excuse delaying ratification into the twenty-first century. Upon further review, the socialist motive for delaying ratification does not stand. Part 2, Topic 4: The Rwandan Genocide On April 6, 1994, the plane of Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana was shot down over Kigali airport, the main airport for Rwanda, a small country
Blacks and the Great Depression The Great Depression, which had significant impacts across America, had a lesser impact on Black America. The greater is the loss, the greater the impact. Vice versa, the lesser is the loss, the lesser the impact. Historically, Black Americans had relatively less to lose in a Great Depression. Consequently, Blacks, already disenfranchised from American society, were less affected in the Great Depression than White Americans. Understanding the
Incredibly, it was "The Wind and the Lion" that started me realizing this. There is a scene in this film in which President Theodore Roosevelt (played by Brian Keith) is at a shooting range with his children and the Secretary of State. Between firing rounds, Roosevelt takes time to clean his gun and have a conversation with his daughter about respecting one's enemies. It is a very quiet and strong moment...a
history of events in the twentieth century, one might surmise that the twenty-first may not be all that different. Why? Because human nature and the pursuit of self-interest has not changed from one century to the next. To explain what drives international relations, Joshua Goldstein provides a brief history of the world, in addition to information about the geographical features and the consequences of different nation's economies. (Goldstein, 2003)