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​ Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Term: 1933-1945 Political Party: Democrat Vice President: John N. Garner(1933-1941), Henry A. Wallace(1941-1945), Harry Truman(1945)

Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president while America was in the middle of the Great Depression. With his promise to provide relief to this country he won the election and started with his New Deal policy. He also greatly helped in bringing the end to WWII. Unfortunatley he did make a few wrong decisions such as his court packing plan. With all this Franklin D. Roosevelt deserves a B+ for his long presidential term.

When Roosevelt was elected president his main goal was to end the Great Depression. To do this he started with his New Deal policy. He installed many new acts and organizations to help the banks and even provide employment. Once more relief was given to the people and the country was starting to turrn around, Roosevelt moved on to WWII. Even though Roosevelt still wanted to stay out of the war, he did start providing relief to the Allies Powers by giving them weapons to fight off the communists. His Good Neighbor Policy also showed that he wanted to keep the war out of America. Roosevelt did a very good job at completeing all of his goals.

For a lot of the time Roosevelt had a pretty good relationship with Congress. During his first and fourth terms it was especially good. He was able to pass most of the legislation he wanted to and the country was helped a lot because of this. During his first term the New Deal was really starting to take off. During his fourth term the Allied Powers were now recieving help from the Americans and WWII was finally coming to an end. During his second and third terms he was still on the same terms as Congress but the realtionship was not as good as it had been. Congress stopped passing some of his New Deal legislation and his court packing scheme really went against what Congress wanted. However Roosevelt still normally had a good relationship with Congress.

The best decision made by Roosevelt during his presidency was all his New Deal policies. These policies provided relief to the banks, certain groups of people, and to individuals. One of thes policies was the Civilian Conservastion Corps. This provided employment to men aged from 18-25. Some of the jobs given to these men were to plant trees, build public parks, work on flood control projects, and other various jobs that helped out the enivronment. The jobs were all jobs that did not necessarily need done; they just helped the unemployment problem. Another of the policies was the Social Security Act. This act provided pension to the old, aid to the disabled, and gave maternity care. The New Deal also did a lot to help restore the banks. Roosevelt installed a national bank holiday. As the years went on more and more banks were able to reopen their doors. Some other New Deal policies also provided financial help to those in desperate need of it, helped out the farmers, and even set up the labor unions.

The worst decision made by Roosevelt was his Court packing scheme. With this plan Roosevelt was be allowed to appoint a new justice to the Supreme Court everytime a justice reached the age of 70 and refused to retire. This would expand the court to 15 members. Roosevelts main goal with this plan was to get the younger people in the Court who would go along with his New Deal policies. This plan started to spit the Dmocratic party. The Republicans just sat back and watched as the Democrats started to fall apart. The public was disgusted at this idea. They felt it was direct attack at the Constitution. This plan hurt Roosevelts popularity throughout the entire country and the people no longer knew if they could trust him.

The decision with the longest lasting effect was eveything that Roosevelt did to end WWII. While still tryig to stay neutral in the war Roosevelt pased the Lend-Lease Act. This act provided weapons to Britain and other countries trying to fight off the communists. Using the nuclear bombs on Japan opened up a whole new way of fighting a war in the future. We could then threaten other countries wih this bomb who were trying to go agaist us. After the war was over the G.I. Bill of Rights was established. It was o provide money to all the unemployed veterans from WWII. This had a huge impact on the country socially and economically.

Roosevelt came into presidency during a very hard time in this country. He knew that he had to do something to end the Great Depression. To do this he enacted the New Deal to provide relief to the country. WWII was also going on over in Europe. Even though he wanted to stay neutral in the war Roosevelt did end up helping out the Allied Powers in order to stop the communists. The court packing scheme does hurt him a little bit, but his good decisions out way his bad ones. With all this Roosevelt deserves a B+ for his presidency.

"Franklin D. Roosevelt." The White House. Web. 16 May 2010. []. "American President: Franklin Delano Roosevelt." Miller Center of Public Affairs. Web. 16 May 2010. []. "The New Deal." Spartacus Educational-Home Page. Web. 16 May 2010. [].