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The Great Depression: Franklin D. Roosevelt and William Lloyd Garrison Jr.
Roosevelt realized that rebuilding the peoples’ confidence in the abilities of their leader, as well as themselves, would be essential in the important task ahead. The United States was suffering from the severe effects of the Great Depression, and his new position put him in a precarious position. Reminding the people of the devastating effects of fear was the first tactic he employed in this endeavor. In addition, he reinstated the peoples’ confidence in themselves and his leadership by reminding them of the need for both parties to cooperate. In addition to bolstering their confidence, he reiterates the need to address the depression as a common enemy – as a country would a foreign foe. After the First World War, feelings of patriotism and national unity were embellished in many people. Roosevelt’s comparison of the Great Depression to a foreign enemy served to reinforce the peoples’ confidence in their ability to recover from its effects.
In his new capacity as president, Franklin D. Roosevelt identified the main problems facing his people under the depression very early and declared them as his lines of attack. According to Roosevelt, the first major problem facing the United States citizenry is unemployment. Too many people had shifted their attention to industrial sources of work and lost their jobs when these firms shutdown due to the depression. The United States relied heavily on agriculture which also fueled the devastation as primary resources that fueled not only the failing industrial sector, but the population were not produced in adequate quantities. A lack of efficient monitoring frameworks in the financial and banking sector also contributed to the continued suffering of the people. Speculation and investment were not adequately monitored resulting to loss of people’s deposits and banks closing. In turn, many people lost their source of income and sustenance through foreclosures.
Franklin D. Roosevelt suggested remedial action be directed to the issues he pointed out as being mainly responsible for the great depression. First, he directed that the balance between the United States industrial and agricultural development be restored to avoid relying too much on one. This would be achieved by encouraging more to take up agriculture and cultivate both food and cash crop. About the issue of financial irresponsibility, he directed the establishment of more frameworks to monitor the country’s investment, financial and banking sectors. This would protect the monetary assets of the people, especially its currency.
Roosevelt referred to the crisis as a war to evoke the deepest respect in the hearts of the people. This crisis had come immediately after the First World War, during which the concepts of national unity and patriotism were tested. Societies learned the importance of uniting to protect their land and its sovereignty thus ensuring a bright future. Roosevelt tapped into these sentiments to ensure the people united their efforts and worked hard to extricate themselves from the devastation.
With regard to their approaches to American economic problems during the depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt and William Lloyd Garrison, Jr are two different individuals. Roosevelt, faced with leading a society riddled with the effects of depression, decided to introduce more controls into the economic factors driving the American economic system that time. He chose to create a balance between industrial and agricultural development to counter the effects of unemployment while introducing more checks and balances to the investment and banking sectors. In addition, he reduced the reliance of the economic system on the gold standard by introducing the American Dollar.
On the other hand, Garrison Jr, was against the government’s plan of monitoring and controlling the country’s economic and financial system. Before the crisis, large-scale investors and industrialists were at the helm of the American financial sector, but their ruthlessness and disregard for the society’s welfare during periods of economic hardship, like the depression, forced Roosevelt’s government to intervene. As part of this band of investors and industrialists, Garrison Jr viewed the government as a hindrance to the affairs of the regular drivers of the American economy. According to them, the suffering economy should have been left to live through its problems, and then start gaining momentum when the general environment of the traditional financial and industrial sector improved.
