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Taking one side over the other is quite a difficult task, especially when the problem is so complex as the entire economic stability of a country, or that of more countries. And the same conundrum is obvious today, as specific economic sectors (automobile or banking) and specific countries (Greece) face the risks of demise. What should a good leader do? What should have a good leader done?
A responsible leader would have selected the difficult road to recovery; the road which allowed the economy to revive by itself and to realize and correct its mistakes by itself. The measures would have been unpopular as the population would come to feel the repercussions of their extended and unsubstantiated expenses. Still, this approach would have allowed the population and the economic agents to recognize their mistakes and refrain from making them in the future as well. Still, a question is raised...
In this scenario, the agents in the economy would not have learned their lesson, but would have been assured that the government is there to save them. And they did not learn this lesson, as proved by the current economic crisis. In such a context then, the preferred set of actions is that implemented by Herbert Hoover.
References:
Franklin D. Roosevelt, White House, http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/franklindroosevelt last accessed on November 3, 2011
Hoover information, The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, http://www.hoover.archives.gov/info/faq.html last accessed on November 3, 2011
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) created jobs for laborers who were unemployed, but it wasn't just "make work" labor, it actually helped the nation build roads and bridges along with needed public buildings. The Public Works Administration (PWA) helped build dams and other reclamation projects; this served to create jobs and at the same time provide "less expensive electricity, flood control, and irrigation water for farmers" (Etulain 324). The
He was one of the youngest presidents in history (the same age as JFK when he took office, forty-three. He also was an avid outdoorsman and appreciative of the American West (he had a ranch in North Dakota), and his far-seeing vision created one of America's most enduring traditions, the U.S. Forest Service and protected wild lands. Roosevelt's accomplishments may not have been as well-known as some of the
Herbert Hoover When Herbert Hoover became president in 1929, the foundations of economic stability were already beginning to crumble. The demand for mass produced items had peaked, and new areas of spending that would recover the downturn were leveling off. Investors were not hurrying to build new areas of growth since market creation was troublesome. Hoover, or the Great Engineer as he called himself, had many plans for large studies of
William Leuchtenburg's Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal is a text that combines recent American history with a political and sociological analysis of American policy and government, and adds a healthy dose of biography of the president to give the mixture human drama. Leuchtenburg is able to accomplish this literary feat not simply because he is such a skilled historian, but because Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his cabinet exercised
The New Deal also created various social programs aimed at helping people get back to work, but also to ensure all those in society were taken care of. Roosevelt created the Social Security Act in 1935 that would provide monthly payments to everyone over the age of 65, and would provide benefits to surviving spouses and disabled people, as well. The Social Security Act is still in existence today and
Franklin Delano Roosevelt by Roy Jenkins Roy Jenkins, the author of Franklin Delano Roosevelt has had an illustrious career as a politician, academic, and writer which has spanned more than sixty years. He was British, born in Wales, served as a liberal member of parliament, performed service during World War II with distinction, was the Chancellor of Oxford University, and the President of the Royal Society of Literature. His works include