Interview transcripts
Jeffery Urbin:Q: Q: What was the impact of FDR's laws and programs on businesses?
A: The New Deal changed everything. Suddenly people were put to work, banks were more secure, the Stock Market was regulated for the first time, workers had shorter hours each week, and the elderly had some measure of protection granted through Social Security. Q: How did FDR's presidency impact government?A: The Government was greatly expanded under the Roosevelt Administration. It's scope, and role was greatly broadened and people felt for the first time that they could turn to the Federal Government for help. Q: What was the most significant change in America since FDR's presidency? A: The first change was the simple sense that there was someone in charge who was not afraid to confront the issues facing the country and who had some pretty firm ideas about what he was going to do to remedy the problems. This sense of confidence was instilled right from the start, in FDR's inaugural speech. Q: Explain FDR's leadership? A: FDR had a vision about what he wanted things to look like, and he was able to convey that vision to other people, and to get them to act in ways that helped to bring it about. Q: What legacy did FDR leave behind? A: FDR's legacy is the transformation of America from a country flat on its back during the Great Depression to a world leader after WWII. He beat the Depression, won the war and established a new infrastructure in the country. Q: What was the most effective New Deal program? A: Nearly all the New Deal programs were effective to one degree or another. It is difficult to answer that question with just one answer, but certainly Social Security was an pretty impact full program. Q: What made FDR the president that he was? A: He got people work which meant paychecks, which meant, spending which meant more need for more jobs, which meant more paychecks and on and on. Q: What made FDR an effective president? A: FDR was the right man at the right time, he had vision, warmth, charm, and an ability to get things done and to communicate with people very easily about what he was trying to accomplish. Q: Do you think that FDR ended the Great Depression? A: The war ended the Great Depression, FDR's programs made sure that America lasted long enough to see it happen. |
Cynthia koch:Q: What was the impact of FDR's laws and programs on businesses?
A: The First Hundred Days included fundamental reforms of the nation's banking system, which was literally failing when FDR took office. Most banks had closed because people were rushing to the banks to take their money out--and the banks could not make all the payments at once. He called a "bank holiday" and closed what few banks remained open on his first full day in office. Bank examiners came in to analyze which ones could continue to operate and which were too weak to continue. The SEC was also started during the First Hundred Days as was home mortgage and farm loan relief. FDR took the nation off the gold standard and started the NRA, which although it did not survive a Supreme Court challenge, laid the ground work for wage and hours legislation and the right to unionize. All of this virtually transformed the nation's economic life; many say it kept the country from becoming communist or fascist. At the very least these reforms put in place the principle that the federal government had the right and obligation to regulate the nation's financial system. This was transformative and much of the structure put in place then is still guiding our financial system. Q: How did FDR's presidency impact government? A: Because for the first time the federal government was seen as having a responsibility to help people when they could not help themselves, it grew dramatically in size. At the same time FDR was always struggling to try to balance the regular federal budget, seeing many of the new programs as emergency measures needed to address immediate problems. One of the most important changes FDR brought to government was the ability to attract talented and dedicated people to work for the betterment of the country through government. Through the heady atmosphere of the great challenges that needed to be met, people in government were creative and innovative and extraordinarily effective. Q: Explain FDR's leadership? A: I think he was a born leader. He had the right combination of charm and personality, ambition, a sense of political timing, and after his polio, a powerful empathy for the suffering of others. Most important, he inspired people. They gained hope and believed in themselves and their own abilities because of his leadership. Q: What legacy did FDR leave behind? A: Democracy and the United Nations. He liked to say that democracy was on trial in World War II. Remember that all of the democratic nations of Western Europe, except Britain, were overrun by Hitler and Mussolini, who planned on world domination. Japan had similar totalitarian plans for the Far East. Through the UN, which was FDR's revival of the failed League of Nations, he (working with many others of course) put in place the mechanism by which we have avoided global war, which occurred twice within 20 years in the early 20th century. We have had many wars, including the Cold War, but never again a world war, a total war, that involved the use of nuclear weapons. Q: Why did FDR have the longest presidential term? A: I think he really would have retired after 2 terms if it had not been for the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939. He was widely seen as the man best suited to lead the nation as the war became more and more inevitable--and then for the 4th term, we were, of course, in the midst of the war and most people did not want to see a change. Q: Was FDR responsible for ending the Great Depression? A: Yes. But not in the 1930s. Hard to believe, but FDR was a fiscal conservative. Despite the vast expenditures of the New Deal, there was little understanding of Keynesian economics and the good effects of deficit spending. Plus there were always critics, including his own Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau, who wanted to cut spending. The New Deal spending was never as large as it should have been to address the depths of the problem. It was not until the truly vast government spending of World War II that the economy really took off and reached full employment. |