01:512:104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 34: Eleanor Roosevelt, Unemployment Benefits, Emergency Banking Act
16 May 2018
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Chapter 34 - The Great Depression and the New Deal
FDR: Politician in a Wheelchair
• FDR's paralysis humbled him, and taught him:
• patience
• tolerance
• compassion
• strenth of will
• Eleanor Roosevelt was one of FDR's greatest political assets
• was FDR's legs, she traveled countless miles w/ or on his behalf
• most active First Lady
▪ lobbied
▪ gave speeches
▪ had a newspaper column
• battled for the impovershed and oppressed
• against segregation
• Had massive political appeal
• commanding presence and great speaking voice despite accent
• for big gov't spending to relieve those out of work
• preferred to spend little but believed that money, and not humanity, was expendable
• thought of as a traitor to his class (coming from a rich family)
• Quickly nominated by democratic convention in Chicago
• promised a balanced national budget and new, sweeping social and economic reforms
• accepted nomination in person
• "I pledge you, I pledge myself to a new deal for the American people."
Presidential Hopefuls of 1932
• Roosevelt took the offensive and was eager to show that he was ready and wanted to show
himself off to as many people as possible
• preached the New Deal for the "forgotten man" repeatedly
▪ somewhat vague and contradictory
▪ written by a small group of reform-minded intelectuals who later wrote much of the New Deal
legislation
• promised a balanced budget andd scolded deficits created by Hoover
• very optimistic
▪ "Happy Days Are Here Again" was the theme song and it fit FDR's smile
• Hoover's campaign was much different
• very grim, supporters poorly assured voters that "The Worst Is Past," "It Might Have
Been Worse," and "Properity Is Just Around The Corner"
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