What Americans Thought of the Roosevelts During the Depression
This paper examines letters written to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt during the early years of the Great Depression, as compiled in Robert S. McElvaine's Down and Out in the Great Depression. Drawing on letters from ordinary Americans, the paper explores how writers perceived the Roosevelts as personal friends, parental figures, and even quasi-religious saviors. The analysis highlights that public support for Roosevelt rested less on specific policy knowledge than on his commanding personal presence, his pioneering use of radio, and the emotional trust he inspired in a desperate populace.
- Introduction: Letters from a Desperate Nation: Context and tone of Depression-era letters
- Roosevelt as Friend and Savior: Writers address FDR as personal friend
- Religious and Parental Imagery in the Letters: FDR portrayed as saint and father figure
- Roosevelt's Mastery of Radio and Media Presence: Radio brought Roosevelt into American homes
- Policy Vagueness and the Power of Personality: Praise focuses on persona, not policy specifics
- Conclusions on Roosevelt's Popularity: Charisma and trust explain Roosevelt's support
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper uses close reading of primary source letters to support each analytical claim, grounding abstract observations about public sentiment in concrete quotations.
- It draws a consistent and compelling throughline: that Roosevelt's popularity stemmed from personal charisma and emotional resonance rather than policy specifics — a claim reinforced across multiple letters.
- The opening contextualizes the historical analysis within a contemporary political moment, immediately signaling the paper's relevance without overextending the comparison.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates effective use of primary source analysis. Rather than summarizing what historians say about Roosevelt, the writer reads the letters themselves as evidence, identifying recurring motifs — religious imagery, familial language, media intimacy — and drawing interpretive conclusions from those patterns. This is the core method of historical close reading.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a framing observation about the emotional tone of the letters, then moves through a series of thematic observations: the intimacy of address, religious veneration, the role of radio, and the vagueness of policy praise. Each paragraph introduces a new letter or passage and builds on the central argument. The conclusion synthesizes these threads into a judgment about why Roosevelt commanded such loyalty.
Introduction: Letters from a Desperate Nation
It is humbling and even awe-inspiring to read between the lines of the letters written to President and Mrs. Roosevelt during the early years of the Great Depression. In an election year that proved so divisive to the American populace and provoked such widespread cynicism, letters such as these seem to come from another world — another nation — where the president's wife is a friend and the president himself is a friend and savior. One such letter, addressed to the First Lady by a Kansas housewife in 1934, begins simply: "My dear Friend." (McElvaine 218–222)
The author addresses this politician's wife — a woman from an entirely different social class and milieu, whom 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 218–222) Roosevelt's policies are given short shrift in this letter, suggesting that people responded more to Roosevelt's persona than to the specifics of his programs during the initial phase of his New Deal.
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