Roosevelt's Rule Fdr example essay topic

Franklin Delano Roosevelt: A Benevolent King By Isaac Graham Introduction FDR Changed the very idea of what it meant to be president of the United States. FDR used his genius political skills and charisma to direct this nation into his own dreams. His ability to communicate encouragement and confidence to the American people aided his presidency more than his legislation's. Winston Churchill likened his first meeting with FDR to "uncorking a bottle of champagne". All future presidents would be forced to reckon with his legacy.

The Beginning Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born on January 30, 1882. He was so sickly that he almost did not survive, and his worried parents held off naming him for two months. His father was James Roosevelt, a graduate of Union College and Harvard Law School, though not a practicing lawyer. James lived a life similar to an English country gentleman, with a large estate at Hyde Park in New York. Sara Delano, James Roosevelt's second wife, came from a family background equally distinguished as the Roosevelt's. His age and her difficulty giving birth to Franklin prevented them from having any more children, and Franklin grew up as their beloved only child.

His relationship with his parents, especially his mother, was very strong. It was her unshakeable faith in him that many believe gave him the self-confidence that enabled him to succeed later in life. French and German governesses educated Roosevelt until he was fourteen, and he spent most of his free time riding on the estate and playing alone. He accompanied his parents on their travels to Europe and to all their social engagements.

This youth spent in the company of adults helped him develop a charm that would prove indispensable later in life, unable to relate to many children his own age. This proved to be a drawback when his parents sent him away to the Groton School, a recently opened school that had the backing of many of the leading men in America, such as J.P. Morgan. Roosevelt's experience at Groton was a personal disappointment because of his inability to win over his peers as he had won over his parents and their associates. It may have been the bitter memories of his years at Groton that made FDR determined to become a leader at Harvard, which he entered at the turn of the century.

Unlike many of his fellow classmates, who were used to living the life of the idle rich, FDR set the pace with his enthusiasm and energy. He studied subjects that would be of great use to him in his political career-history, government, economics, English and public speaking. He lived in one of the three-room apartments on Mt. Auburn St., nicknamed the 'Gold Coast' because of the wealth of the residents.

He sat at the Groton table at one of the eating houses of Cambridge and joined the Fly Club, one of Harvard's many exclusive organizations, when he was passed over by the more exclusive Porcellian Club. FDR cut quite a figure in Boston society, and was especially popular with the women. He was elected editor-in-chief of the Harvard Crimson, partly because of his enthusiasm and partly because his connections to the White House through the Roosevelt family allowed him access to stories other students could not get. Unlike his distant cousin Teddy Roosevelt's stellar academic achievements, FDR's grades were mostly Bs and Cs, and he was awarded the Phi Beta Kappa key later in life only as an honor. The Chosen Running Mate It was during his late college years that FDR met and fell in love with Eleanor Roosevelt, a distant cousin whom he had first met at a family Christmas party in 1898. Eleanor had had a very different family experience from FDR.

Her father had doted on her, but her mother had separated from him because of his alcoholism. Her mother, who had once been a great beauty, mocked Eleanor for her plainness and favored her other children. Both Eleanor's mother and brother died of disease when Eleanor was eight years old, and she was sent to live with her grandmother. In 1894, two years later, her father passed away.

Eleanor's unstable family life may have caused many of her anxieties about being unloved, unattractive, and unworthy of other people's affections. Despite the differences in FDR's and Eleanor's upbringings, both of them seemed to be driven by the same insecurity: they desperately needed the acceptance of those around them. The young couple was married in March of 1905 in New York, where FDR was attending law school at Columbia and Eleanor was working in one of the settlement houses. At the ceremony, Eleanor was given away by none other than her uncle, President Teddy Roosevelt himself. Eleanor and Franklin had five children: Anna, James, Elliott, Franklin, Jr., and John.

Action and AmbitionFDR's inspiration to enter politics was the success of his cousin, Teddy Roosevelt, who became president when Franklin was still in school. While working as a law clerk, FDR boasted to his coworkers that he had already planned his path to the presidency, a path that greatly resembled his relative's. Indeed, politics came calling even before Roosevelt had a chance to act on his own. John Mack, the Democratic District Attorney in New York, came to the office to get some papers signed and offered Roosevelt the chance to run for the Assembly Seat that would be left vacant when a current Assembly member ran for State Senator. FDR was so elated by the opportunity that when the Assembly member decided to stay in his position, he ran for the State Senate seat himself. FDR won his seat into the State Senate.

The victory was as much a reflection of his good luck as his hard work: the Republican Party, having split into two because of Teddy Roosevelt's clash with Taft's policies in office, did not put up as good fight as it was capable of. This luck was to follow FDR throughout his political career, helping him to always be in the right place at the right time. Another example of this would occur early in his political career. On the morning of Woodrow Wilson's inauguration, FDR met with Joseph Daniels, Wilson's appointee for Secretary of the Navy.

Daniels asked FDR to be his Assistant Secretary, thinking that he and Roosevelt would complement each other nicely. Daniels was not nautical, whereas Roosevelt had been an avid sailor since his youth and loved ships. Daniels was a Southerner, FDR a blue blood Yankee. Thus, on March 17, 1913, FDR found himself at his Uncle Teddy Roosevelt's old desk in the Navy department after having been active in politics for less than three years. It was once again due to a combination of luck, charm, and political know-how that Roosevelt had achieved his position in such a short time. The path to the presidency that he had boldly outlined for himself as a law clerk now seemed all the more attainable.

The Democratic National Convention, held in Chicago in 1932, was charged with suspense. In the first three roll calls, FDR was short a hundred votes of the two-thirds majority needed for the presidential nomination. John Nance Garner, a Congressman from Texas, finally threw his support behind FDR, and was given the nomination for Vice President in return. FDR, in an unprecedented move, flew to Chicago to personally accept the nomination, in an effort to assure his party and the people that his paralysis would not prevent him from being an able President. Roosevelt ended this speech outlining his plan for the Presidency with a promise to the people, saying 'I pledge you, I pledge myself to a new deal for the American people. ' American voters were in a foul mood during the election of 1932.

The number of unemployed workers had risen to eleven million and poverty was rampant. Hoover was re-nominated without much enthusiasm. His platform heaped inordinate praise on the Republican anti-Depression policies and harped on the Prohibition issue, saying control would be given back to the States. In sharp contrast, FDR's political appeal was staggering, as he was an excellent orator.

His record of heavy state spending for Depression aid in New York gave him wide appeal, and his wife had a great deal of political cachet among women. His high spirits and jaunty angled cigarette holder were in sharp contrast to Hoover. The theme song of the Democrats, 'Happy Days are Here Again,' well suited the mood of FDR's campaign. The genius of understanding where the people were emotionally, and the genius of how to draw from that mood, gave FDR the White House. King Roosevelt's Rule FDR was committed to progressive ideas and social welfare.

He often feigned conservatism in private conversation with advisors and comrades, especially in the days before his Presidency, so that moderate progressives would be forced to be more extreme in their arguments with Roosevelt, and would therefore be manipulated into pledging their support for Roosevelt's agenda. Some might call that tricky politics. I However, I call it genius leadership. FDR's inaugural address promised a war against the Great Depression, and he indeed moved quickly upon entering office.

As any action was welcome after the inaction of the Hoover administration, Roosevelt received the absolute support of Congress and of the people. He declared a nationwide banking holiday from March 6-10, 1933, and halted all gold transactions in order to open the banks on a sounder basis. He also called a Democrat-dominated and very green Congress into special session. Congress members stayed at their task from March 9 through June 16 in a session dubbed 'the Hundred Days' and passed much of the legislation that formed the New Deal. Legislation passed during the New Deal era had three often conflicting or obstructing goals: Relief, Recovery, and Reform to prevent the recurrence of the boom and bust cycle that had caused the depression in the first place.

Roosevelt called this first round of legislation 'must legislation. ' Congressmen, infused with the panic that had grasped the country, passed every bill that came their way. FDR was excited to be in the executive role. He was constantly active, and the panic-stricken Congress was always ready to follow. Comparing himself to a quarterback whose next play depended on the success of the previous one, he crafted bills and strategies by intuition, always moving confidently even when it turned out to be in the wrong direction. The President's first order of duty was to end the banking crisis, which had forced many of the banks in the country to close and the rest to face severe business loss.

Congress prepared the Emergency Banking Relief Act of 1933 in eight hours, giving the president the authority to regulate banking transactions and reopen dormant banks. FDR then turned to the power of the radio to deliver the first of his famous fireside chats. He assured an audience of over thirty-five million Americans that it was safer to keep their money in a bank in their homes. Confidence in the banks slowly eased back into the country. On the Monday when banks reopened their doors, deposits outranked withdrawals for the first time in months, thanks to the contagious optimism of the President. He ordered all private gold to be surrendered to the Treasury for paper, and took the nation off the gold standard.

Roosevelt also reduced the value of the gold content of the dollar to sixty cents, theorizing, with the help of various economic advisers, that changing the value of the currency would stimulate business through controlled inflation. Although prices did rise a little, they did not reflect the change that FDR had made in the value of gold, and the purchasing power of the dollar went down, especially on imports. The most important fact to note is that even during his failed ideas, his ability to communicate to the people maintained his popularity and insured his own confident momentum. Genius at Work: Fireside Chats Roosevelt had employed the radio to good advantage since his days as governor of New York. He used the radio to speak directly to the people, using his skill at oratory to good advantage.

The first Fireside Chat delivered the weekend before the banks were to reopen set the standard for those to follow. He explained his reasoning behind the proposed legislation and the intended beneficial effects. He also used the medium to convey his unwavering optimism to the people. When the banks reopened the next morning, deposits outranked withdrawals for the first time in months, revealing that FDR's assurances were received with trust and his boundless optimism was contagious. The Fireside Chats are one of the most memorable features of Roosevelt's Presidency. Not adopting a similar strategy, in my humble opinion, is the greatest failure of our leaders today.

If today's presidents would adopt his commitment to communicate his views sincerely on a steady basis, the people of the Unites States would support the government and its commander in chief in a much stronger united cause. The Second Great War Many critics suspect that Roosevelt steered the country to war while professing all the while to avoid it. No matter what his private sentiments were on the necessity of war, FDR chose to wait for cause from the aggressors to push the country out of its isolationist mood rather than act without their support. He attempted to manipulate an incident where torpedoes from German U-boats hit American ships headed towards Britain into a battle-call, but Hitler quickly apologized, and the incident faded into memory. Roosevelt waited in vain for some overt aggression in the Atlantic, but the Germans, wary from their experience with America in World War I, continued without any dramatic inducement to war. In the meantime, Roosevelt had been increasing pressure on Japan by decreasing exports of metal and oil.

When FDR finally cut off high-octane aviation fuel to Japan entirely, the Japanese were pushed into a corner and decided to launch an all-out offensive rather than give up their possessions in China. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, finally provided Roosevelt with the provocation to declare war. The fact that the war had come from the west, not the east, was unexpected, however. Indeed, 265 American aircraft were lost, 2,403 men were killed, and 1,178 were wounded at Pearl Harbor. The Japanese lost only twenty-nine aircraft and fifty-five men. On December 8, FDR asked Congress to declare war against Japan.

Three days later, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. I personally do not think that FDR expected the devastation of Pearl Harbor. FDR seemed to often attempt to mastermind and control issues around him much like a benevolent king. I believe he was using his genius to help people realize that we needed to join the war by goading Japan into an attack. His motive is prevalent when he was quoted saying to his cabinet, 'Anybody who thinks that isolationism is dead in this country is crazy,' he spoke privately. "As soon as this war is over, it may well be stronger than ever.

' He obviously realized we would come out of the war an intimidating superpower. However, there are only so many times you can manipulate a situation and have all the dangerous variables work in your favor. In November of 1943, Churchill and Roosevelt traveled to Tehran to meet with Stalin for the first time. Roosevelt desperately tried to establish a personal relationship with the Russian leader, as he realized that the peace of the world after the war depended upon the cooperation of the great world powers. Many critics of Roosevelt feel that he was far too na " ive about Russian intentions and set the building blocks for the development of the Cold War by appeasing Stalin's requests before the end of World War II. Yet, Roosevelt's attempts to build a friendship with Stalin were characterized not by being na " ive, but by a clash of goals.

FDR it seemed had met his match and was unable to employ his charisma with Stalin. I do not think any less of FDR for possibly being manipulated himself, but applaud him for attempting the near impossible. Conclusion Franklin Delano Roosevelt faced some of the toughest challenges a president could face. Success, in the face of all of those trials, might not have been possible if not for his "fireside chats" and hopeful, confident smiles; assuring the nation that in the end, good people win. In conclusion, I would like to re-emphasize my point: If today's presidents would adopt FDR's commitment to communicate his views sincerely on a steady basis, the people of the Unites States would support the government in a much stronger united cause whether or not they are in full agreement. 1) Jennings, Peter, and Todd B rester.

The Century for Young People. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1999. - The textbook isn't a plethora of info about FDR, however, it does tell some interesting facts. i.e. How he performed many radio broadcasts to speak the public throughout the Depression. 2) Black, Conrad. Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom. Public Affairs, 2003.

-This is a biography that is written by a strong, right-wing conservative. I thought it appropriate to have someone being a strong republican speak praise of one the greatest democrats. 3) Powell, Jim. FDR's Great Folly: How Roosevelt and His New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression. Crown Forum, 2003. -I didn't want to only read books and websites praising FDR.

One thing I have learned is that history telling is often no the whole truth. I think it would be only fair to read the thoughts of those who disagreed with his policies. 4) Arnold, Alex. Nothing to Fear: Lessons in Leadership from FDR. Portfolio Hardcover 2003. -I really liked the back flap intro the book when I read it.

There are many books out there by people that seem to just be inspirational fluff. This book is by an executive who go through many of FDR's tactics in leadership and how effective they were. This book should be a great read. 5) No Author. "Franklin D. Roosevelt" No Date Given. web I thought it would be useful to use this short page that is full of facts. I figure if this is the White House's page, it would be forced by reputation to be on its information.

6) Schlesinger JR, Arthur. Leaders and Revolutionaries: Franklin Delano Roosevelt. web Magazine is one of the oldest and most reputable magazines around. This is a comparatively short, yet compelling bio about FDR. The style of writing I believe will help my in my own writing format.