Domestic and Foreign Policies
Throughout our history, many policies have been made to deal with domestic or
foreign issues or conflicts. One example of domestic policies were the reforms FDR
created called the New Deal. An example of a foreign policy was that of containment
used after WW2.
In the 1930's our country and many others around the world went through a
financial depression. The Depression was mostly attributed to the stock market crash in
1929. President Hoover who served before FDR tried numerous things to try and help
cure the depression. But by the time FDR was elected in, the depression was still very
much present. FDR was open to many different ideas to try and fix the economy. The
government programs he initiated were part of his domestic policy called the New Deal.
President Roosevelt wasted no time once he got into office. Within the first One-
Hundred days of his first term he made more important changes than previous presidents
had made in the whole 1920's. The president clearly showed the nation that he would try
and fix the problems with all he could possibly do.Some people called FDR's, New Deal,
alphabet soup, because the reforms were new government agencies with acronym
abbreviations. One belief of President Roosevelt was that the government should help the
needy directly. One new government agency implemented in 1933, that demonstrated this
belief was the Public Works Administration or the PWA. The PWA put people to work
by having bridges, highways, dams, and other public projects built. One very important
change that FDR made was establishing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The
FDIC provided ins...
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...eir own. But the
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution is what enabled Johnson to send military aid. From Johnson's
presidency through to President Nixon we saw involvement in Vietnam that eventually
ended in United States failure. We left the situation unfinished with the South Vietnamese
to finish without U.S. aid. With Nixon came the beginning to the end of the cold war and
foreign policy of containment. Nixon began to practice a foreign policy called détente
which was an attempt to reduce tension between the United States and Soviet Union.
These policies whether domestic or foreign are greatly influenced by our nations
presidents. There effectiveness reflects on the presidents ability to lead, and the character
and attitude of the general public. These policies often have a great impact on our society.
Eisenhower’s foreign policy was about containment and trying to discourage other countries from joining it by giving them financial and military aid. When he realized that containment itself was not enough to stop the Soviet expansion, he adopted a policy which he called massive retaliation whereby the U.S. was prepared to use atomic weapons if they were to be attacked. He tried diplomacy to develop relation with the Soviets even agreeing to join other leaders in Geneva Switzerland with the intention to calm the temperatures between the two nations. When diplomacy didn’t work, he signed a bill that allowed countries to request economic and military help from the U.S. if they are being attacked by a communist nation. Cold War did not end until after Ronald Reagan’s time as president when he challenged the leader of the Soviet to take down the Berlin wall which was the most recognizable symbol of the Cold War. At this time, the Soviet Union was disintegrating and its influence in Eastern Europe was waning fast bringing the war to an
In its efforts to defend democracy, the U.S. created the policy of containment. In this new policy, the United States would try to block Soviet influence by making alliances and supporting weaker nations. Winston Churchill described this strategy as an?iron curtain?, which became an invisible line separating the communist from the capitalist countries in Europe.... ... middle of paper ...
President Franklin Roosevelt was one of the greatest presidents in the history of the United States. He created economic stability when the United States was suffering through the Great Depression. In his first three months of office, known as the Hundred Days, Roosevelt took immediate action to help the struggling nation.1 "In a period of massive unemployment, a collapsed stock market, thousands of banks closing for lack of liquidity, and agricultural prices fallen below the cost of production," Roosevelt passed a series of relief measures.2 These relief measures, known as the New Deal, provided help for individuals and businesses to prevent bankruptcy. Also, the New Deal is responsible for social security, welfare, and national parks. A further reason why Roosevelt is considered a great president is because he was a good role model for being determined in his...
When he took office, 'the nation was in the fourth year of a disastrous economic crisis' and 'a quarter of the labor force was out of work [and] the banks had been closed in thirty-eight states' (Greenstein 16). In order to remedy these problems and restore trust in the government, FDR enacted the New Deal in the Hundred Days legislation. Many of the programs created in the legislation are still around today in some form, continuing to show FDR's influence on the modern presidency. Such programs as the Works Progress Administration and The Tennessee Valley Authority helped poor Americans unable to get jobs or afford the luxury of electricity. These programs were some of the major reasons FDR was so popular during his terms in office. Also created was the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which insured the money in banks. This helped because then in the case of another bank crisis, people's money would not be lost. The FDIC was another reason, along with FDR's rhetoric, that people began to trust the banks and government again. One major policy FDR began was social security, which is still around today. When creating this idea of social security, it is clear he meant it to help the people, but also that he meant it to be permanent. FDR wanted, and received, a lasting effect on the government. By designing and implementing so many new programs and policies to help Americans, FDR showed what
...y new ideas, presidents after him felt they had a lot to live up to. Franklin D. Roosevelt “cast a long shadow on successors” with his New Deal program. Conservatives were constantly worried about the loss of their capitalist economy, but it is possible that Roosevelt’s greatest New Deal achievement is the fact he never allowed America to completely abandon democracy or turn to socialism or communism. Many New Deal programs fixed economic problems but did not completely solve social ones surrounding equality and discrimination. New Deal programs took radical steps while moving toward government regulation and intervention causing conservatives to fear concentrated power, but the steps and transformations Roosevelt made while in office preserved conservatives’ need of capitalism and democracy in government, defining the New Deal as both radical and conservative.
Through his many programs designed to help the economy, laborers, and all people lacking civil rights, President Roosevelt did not put an end to the Great Depression. However, he did adapt the federal government to a newly realized role of protector for the people. Perhaps Roosevelt’s greatest blunders occurred in his attempts to fix the economy. The Nation claimed that “some [of his programs] assisted and some retarded the recovery of industrial activity.” They went so far as to say that “six billion dollars was added to the national debt.”
President Roosevelt initiated the only program that could pull the U.S. out of the Great Depression. Roosevelt’s New Deal got the country through one of the worst financial catastrophe the U.S. has ever been through. Diggerhistory.info biography on FDR states,” In March 13 million people were unemployed… In his first “Hundred Days”, he proposed, and Congress enacted, a sweeping program to bring recovery to business and agriculture, relief to the unemployed and those in danger of losing their farms and homes”(Digger History Biography 1). Roosevelt’s first hundred days brought relief to the unemployed. He opened the AAA (Agriculture Adjustment Administration) and the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps.). The administration employed many young men in need of jobs all around the country. Roosevelt knew that the economy’s biggest problem was the widespread unemployment. Because of Roosevelt’s many acts and agencies, lots of young men and women around the country were getting jobs so the economy was healing. According to Roosevelt’s biography from the FDR Presidential Library and Museum, “Another Flurry of New Deal Legislation followed in 1935, including the WPA (Work Projects Admi...
...d up to the New Deal and the issues that Roosevelt failed to address with his programs.
In response to the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt was ready for action unlike the previous President, Hubert Hoover. Hoover allowed the country to fall into a complete state of depression with his small concern of the major economic problems occurring. FDR began to show major and immediate improvements, with his outstanding actions during the First Hundred Days. He declared the bank holiday as well as setting up the New Deal policy. Hoover on the other hand; allowed the U.S. to slide right into the depression, giving Americans the power to blame him. Although he tried his best to improve the economy’s status during the depression and ‘pump the well’ for the economy, he eventually accepted that the Great Depression was inevitable.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s program of relief, recovery, and reform that aimed at solving the economic problems created by the Depression of the 1930’s, was referred to as the New Deal. The Great Society was the name given to the domestic program of the U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson. Both programs had similar yet opposing points.
In a time of dire need there is always at least a sliver of hope that remains, a light that never goes out despite the darkness around. If this is the case, for a time such as the Great Depression than what was that “sliver of hope” or that “light in the darkness”, so to speak? Although President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s other efforts are much appreciated, the “light” of the Great Depression is, hands down, the Works Progress Administration. Why? The Great Depression was a time of despair and unfortunate events for all citizens of the United States; left and right, the homeless and the jobless were seen forlornly sauntering the streets seeking jobs that could and would not be found. It is in this instance that the Works Progress Administration takes the stage, created by President Franklin Roosevelt, the WPA’s sole reason of existence was to employ the jobless by funding public works projects. With these projects the unemployed were given jobs and projects were carried out such as the photography projects of the Farm Security Administration. Among the most famous photographers of these projects are Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, and Russell Lee.
Calvin Coolidge even said, "In other periods of depression, it has always been possible to see some things which were solid and upon which you could base hope, but as I look about, I now see nothing to give ground to hope—nothing of man." People were scared and did not know what to do to address the looming economic crash. As a result of the Depression’s seriousness and severity, it took unconventional methods to fix the economy and get it going again. Franklin D. Roosevelt and his administration had to think outside the box to fix the economy. The administration changed the role of the government in the lives of the people, the economy, and the world.
Roosevelt immediately gained the public's favor with his liberal ideas. In the first 100 days, Roosevelt stabilized banks with the Federal Bank Holiday. In the New Deal he fought poverty with the TVA, NRA, AAA, CCC, PWA, and CWA. These policies were definitely liberal in the 1930's and because of the new programs, Roosevelt received false credit for ending the Depression. Ironically Roosevelt succeeded only a little more than Hoover in ending the Depression. Despite tripling expenditures during Roosevelt's administration, (Document F) the American economy did not recover from the Depression until World War II.
The cornerstones of the New Deal were the Public Works Administration and the National Recovery Administration.” (Croft Communications, 2016) Because of taking such aggressive action that brought the government into the private sector, President Roosevelt has been called a socialist, but most historians don’t see him that way. He is known as a pragmatist who was taking action to get Americans back to work in a timely manner, willing to try anything that he could. If something didn’t work, he would ditch it and move onto the next thing.
A change in strategy leads to new perspective over certain matters. During FDR’s tenure many new reforms were adopted as part of the New Deal. Some o...