Great Depression Quotes
March 4, 1933 was the date that Franklin Delano Roosevelt had assumed the Presidency from Herbert Hoover and used government to combat the Great Depression whereas Hoover would not take any of these steps as the conservative wing of his party and he regarded anything that government did was “creeping socialism”. Historically, it is useful to recall what steps Roosevelt took that were described as socialism. These include Social Security, Federal Deposit Insurance for bank accounts, aid to farmers, the Civilian Conservation Corps, Regulation of the stock market, regulation of banks and many other things that are key elements of modern capitalism which virtually every capitalistic nations has in one form or another. Long after Truman was out of office, the most conservative elements of the Republican Party have accused every Democratic President of “creeping socialism” when they were actually quite opposed to socialism. Even when their career before their presidency was full of criticisms of socialism and policies that are opposite, as in the case of President Obama, the President has been accused of being a socialist. However, it started with Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry S Truman.
Three days before the Great Depression Stock Market crash
Essentially Mellon told the President to let the entire economy crash. With huge numbers of people out of work, labor would be more humble and not only settle for lower wages, but will work harder, and without "excess" income beyond their basic needs, they would not drink and engage in other immoral activities. President Hoover, a wealthy man himself, did not go along with Mellon's idea of making the situation worse, but his conservative philosophy of government would not allow the Government to "interfere" with the private economy or give any direct assistance to the citizens.
This was written in the early years of the Great Depression. Over 25 percent of Americans were out of world. The stock market had crashed and many banks failed wiping out family savings where there was any. Social Security, Bank and Stock Market Regulations were not yet passed. The New Deal government was just starting creating jobs, but there was great concern that the capitalistic system had failed. Thomas and other critics were right that the U. S. Government had not before used its machinery for “ease and security of living”; they called for the adoption of state socialism. President Roosevelt however instead reformed American capitalism by adding substantial regulation, provided direct relief to the unemployed poor, stimulated the economy, created Social Security, Federal Deposit Bank Insurance, unemployment insurance and initiated massive public works programs. It took almost a decade but American Capitalism was saved and transformed to the greatest industrial output and standard of living increase the world had known. It was not until 2008 that the capitalistic American economy melted down again. Regulation of corporations had diminished. The banks failed and had to be bailed out again but as the result of Social Security, Unemployment Insurance and other programs there was some cushioning of the effect of the Great Recession. The middle and lower class insecurity was back along with the wealthy taking a much larger proportion of the national wealth. The big difference was that few called for an end to capitalism and the political debate was on how best to fix the weaknesses of capitalism. Even most socialists around the world had built their Social Democracies around a capitalistic economic structure.
This is a particularly interesting historical quotation. It shows that when FDR was first elected, he had a classic view of deficit spending. However, above all, Roosevelt was a pragmatist and not an ideologue. Faced with the Great Depression that was not getting much better, Roosevelt turned around, changed his mind and policy about deficits and embarked on the “pump priming” approach of injecting substantial Federal spending into the economy and accepting the deficits in order to improve the situation which had been stagnant. FDR’s new policy staved off total disaster, but few remember that his great success was a total reversal of his earlier views.
The President got the idea for this famous line by reading Thoreau {623573}. Also see Elizabeth I {636845}.for a similar sentiment.
Summarizing his conclusions of the Judiciary Committee investigations regarding Wall Street and the bankers' role in the Great Depression:
This quotation is inscribed on the FDR Memorial in Washington DC.
In the midst of the depression:
Assessing the seriousness of the "Great Depression:"
This is one of the great statements in all political history. The nation was in a mess from the Great Depression, few had any hope, and Roosevelt had replaced a President who maintained that the Federal government could not do much about these business cycles. Roosevelt did not have all the answers and of the ones he had, he was not sure they would all be effective. So in two short sentences he conveyed the fact that he will try different things, not all necessarily successful, but a steely determination and commitment to get the job done. And that is just what happened.
This quotation shows FDR doing something that politicians rarely do. The country was in the midst of the Great Depression and he was running for the Presidency against Herbert Hoover who as President would do little to help the destitute part of the population or improve the economy. Roosevelt did not lay out specific programs which he claimed would fix the problem. He himself really didn’t know for certain what would and what would not. However he promised bold experimentation—trying new things. When he was elected, he was able to fail with one program and just shift to another until enough were successful. But the great contrast was to Hoover who would do little.
Two of the 20th centuries greatest political leaders were Mao Tse-Tung and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In most respects, these two were polar opposites. However, they had one characteristic in common. They were both willing to try things they were not certain of. If they succeeded, make it a part of the national program. If it failed, try something else. See Mao {642795}.
Hope cracked this joke after Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected for an unprecedented fourth term as president:
