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Franklin D. Roosevelt



**Born**: January 30, 1882
 * Died**: April 2, 1945
 * Political Party**: Democratic
 * First Term of Office**: 1933-1937
 * Vice President**: John Nace Garner
 * Second Term of Office**: 1937-1941
 * Vice President**: John Nace Garner
 * Third Term of Office**: 1941-1945
 * Vice President**: Henry Agard Wallace
 * Fourth Term of Office**: 1945
 * Vice President**: Harry S. Truman

Franklin D. Roosevelt started his legacy as President of the United States at a horrible time, The Great Depression in fact. The country was suffering economically and the morale of the country was down. Roosevelt helped to turn America around as President by enforcing his "New Deal" policies and neutrality beliefs. It is because of both of these reasons that I believe that Roosevelt deserves a grade of a B+ for his terms as President.

Roosevelt's main goal when he first entered the presidency was to enforce his "New Deal" policy. The three main goals of his New Deal policy were to reform the economy and banking systems, to recover the slumping economy, and to provide relief for several unemployed people in the country at the time. Some might say that his goal was achieved by creating various agencies such as the Works Project Administration, Tennessee Valley Authority, and the Social Security System. Those three agencies provided employment opportunities and social security benefited the elderly as well. Multiple acts that were put into action helped to reform the current banking system, one being the Emergency Banking Act, which helped to open banks in the country that were not corrupt. The economy benefited from having agencies like the National Recovery Administration which made survival much easier for companies by creating fair competition.

Due to a Democratic majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, Roosevelt had a good relationship with Congress. Within his first 100 days of being President he sent a record number of bills to Congress which passed easily. There were a few members of Congress that were against him during his first team, Senator Huey Long being one of them. He opposed Roosevelt's efforts to cut veteran benefits by 40%, and made it clear by passing a bonus bill even over the President's Veto. His first term went smoothly other then that, he ended Prohibition and Congress responded by passing the 21st Amendment which was later ratified. The Second New Deal was welcomed by a great number of new Democrats in Congress after the 1935 elections. Though some of Roosevelt's economic ideas were questionable and denied by Congress (proposal for new taxes on corporate savings), he managed to encourage Congress to create an income tax for all federal employees. During his second term very little legislation was passed. One of the only major attempts by Roosevelt was proposing a bill to Congress that would allow him to appoint five new Supreme Court Justices. The was also known as "court packing". It was in 1939 when Roosevelt lost the majority of his ability to get New Deal laws passed when Republicans formed a conservative coalition with Southern Democrats. When Congress passed the Neutrality Act in 1935 a mandatory ban on the shipment of arms from the U.S. to any combatant nation was put into place. His third term was really taken over by WWII, but the fact that there even was a third term led to the 22nd Amendment placing a two-term limit on the presidency. Roosevelt died during his fourth term as President and no major legislation was passed.

The Neutrality Act had the most positive impact on Roosevelt's presidency. At first, he didn't support this idea when Congress proposed it. It would place a mandatory ban on the shipment of arms from the U.S. to any combatant nation. Roosevelt thought that this punished the victims of aggression from the war, he didn't like that this act impacted how nice he could be to certain countries. But because of overwhelming support from the people in his country, he signed the Neutrality Act into law in 1935. This kept America out of the war for a while and this was what the country needed, time. As Adolf Hitler was rising to power and Germany was becoming more of a threat, the country needed time to get itself together. Even with all of the New Deal agencies and acts the economy was still suffering and there were many things that still needed to be worked out.

"Court packing" definitely had the worst impact on Roosevelt's presidency. When he tried to convince Congress to let him appoint nine new Supreme Court Justices it was just too much and seemed very desperate. It made the people of the country and more importantly his supporters look at him differently. It didn't look good that Roosevelt depended so much on extreme liberal allies to do any good in the presidency. He had throughout all four terms, but this was truly the first time that anyone really took notice of it. His popularity decreased after this failed attempt and therefore had a negative impact on his presidency.

There is no doubt that Roosevelt's WWII efforts impacted the nation and any preceding presidents. Roosevelt was one of the first to fight against the threat of communism but he would not be the last. Because of the outcome of WWII, containment of communism became the goal of America later on, and remained the goal into the Cold War. Roosevelt's New Deal also had a lasting impact on the country. there are agencies and acts that are still in action today and are still helping the nation.

The country was better off before Roosevelt's death during his fourth term. He took a great step forward in achieving his goals of recovery, relief, and reform in America. He did depend too much on his party for his ideas though and because of this I believe that he deserves a grade of a B+.

Bibliography: "Franklin D. Roosevelt." //The White House//. 2009. 5 May 2009 <[]>. "Franklin D. Roosevelt." //Wikipedia//. 29 April 2009. 5 May 2009 <[]>. "New Deal." //Wikipedia//. 5 May 2009. 5 May 2009 <[]>.