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"The nation asks for action and action now"
FDR, First Inaugural Address
President Hoover resisted calls for the government to take dramatic steps to help the economy or citizens. He believed the economy would right itself if left alone and that government assistance to individuals would weaken the moral fiber of the American people. His ideas were very much rooted in his conception of democracy. For Hoover, a government that actively intervened in the economy, even with the goal of relieving hardship, was a step towards dictatorship.
"Economic depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement. Economic wounds must be healed by the action of the cells of the economic body - the producers and consumers themselves."
President Hoover
A desperate American public resoundingly defeated Hoover in the 1932 presidential election and replaced him with Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), who won 42 out of 48 states promising a "New Deal for the American people". Roosevelt's New Deal would ultimately be among the most ambitious plans in the history of the United States and permanently transform the role of government in our nation.
If you glance back at the statistics from Part I, you will notice that all of these (GNP, stock values, and unemployment) were reaching their worse levels in 1933 when FDR was taking office. It is within this context of a nation battered by 4 years of Depression and at its lowest point and darkest hour since the Civil War, that we must place the start of FDR's presidency.
Below are excerpts of his inaugural address upon taking office as President in March of 1933. You can view an original film of the entire speech below (7 minutes).
.... This is the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory....
...it may be that an unprecedented demand and need for undelayed action may call for temporary departure from that normal balance of public procedure….in the event that the national emergency is still critical, I shall not evade the clear course of duty that will then confront me. I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis -- broad Executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.
We do not distrust the future of essential democracy. The people of the United States have not failed. In their need they have registered a mandate that they want direct, vigorous action. They have asked for discipline and direction under leadership. They have made me the present instrument of their wishes. In the spirit of the gift I take it.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President 1933-1944
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