Email Interview
April 6, 2014
April 6, 2014
What do you believe was Roosevelt’s most important act or aspect of leadership during the Great Depression?
FDR's leadership success was based on his ability to communicate with people in a way that they understood and trusted what he was saying to them, and his ability to exude calm and confidence that everything would be okay.
How did Roosevelt revise his New Deal programs to improve their efficiency?
The New Deal programs were always meant to be experiments intended to tinker with the problems the nation faced. If parts of the program worked they kept with it if it did not it was abandoned or amended to the situation at hand. The NRA was an example of an abandoned program and the AAA was one that was amended.
What distinguished Roosevelt as a leader?
FDR was a good leader in part because he knew not to get too far out ahead of the folks he was leading. This later led to criticism that he "did not do enough" in some areas. But the key to leading is to be ahead of the people without being ahead of your times.
How did most American citizens view Roosevelt during the Great Depression?
People either loved or hated FDR. The rich hated him because they thought he was ruining capitalism and the poor loved him because he was bringing them jobs.
What do you think was Roosevelt's legacy arising out of the Great Depression?
FDR showed that activist governments could do a great deal to help people. He changed the role of government in the lives of the people.
Many historians agree that the New Deal did not end the Depression. Despite the criticism it faces, what is the New Deal’s legacy?
The New Deal was not intended to "end the Great Depression." It was intended to bring about relief, recovery and reform so that the natural mechanisms of market capitalism [could fix the situation].
FDR's leadership success was based on his ability to communicate with people in a way that they understood and trusted what he was saying to them, and his ability to exude calm and confidence that everything would be okay.
How did Roosevelt revise his New Deal programs to improve their efficiency?
The New Deal programs were always meant to be experiments intended to tinker with the problems the nation faced. If parts of the program worked they kept with it if it did not it was abandoned or amended to the situation at hand. The NRA was an example of an abandoned program and the AAA was one that was amended.
What distinguished Roosevelt as a leader?
FDR was a good leader in part because he knew not to get too far out ahead of the folks he was leading. This later led to criticism that he "did not do enough" in some areas. But the key to leading is to be ahead of the people without being ahead of your times.
How did most American citizens view Roosevelt during the Great Depression?
People either loved or hated FDR. The rich hated him because they thought he was ruining capitalism and the poor loved him because he was bringing them jobs.
What do you think was Roosevelt's legacy arising out of the Great Depression?
FDR showed that activist governments could do a great deal to help people. He changed the role of government in the lives of the people.
Many historians agree that the New Deal did not end the Depression. Despite the criticism it faces, what is the New Deal’s legacy?
The New Deal was not intended to "end the Great Depression." It was intended to bring about relief, recovery and reform so that the natural mechanisms of market capitalism [could fix the situation].