FDR’s New Deal: Democratic Platform Essay

The political powers are not always shared among the strongest political parties that establish well-planned political platforms to meet the expectations of the electorate and win the elections. The importance of the political platform should be taken into account while planning the electoral campaign even if the part has a candidate nominated for the role of a president in case of victory.

However, the economic and social aspects of the political platform are significant for a candidate who is planning to become a representative of the people’s will and demonstration of democratic power and freedoms of the country.

The President Franklin D. Roosevelt is widely known for his struggle with the economic instability in the United States of America right after the Great Depression and enthusiasm that is believed to have contributed greatly to the effect of optimism he shared with people of his country.

The political platform of Democrats can be clearly seen in the inaugural speech of the elected 32^nd President of the United States of America, Franklin D. Roosevelt, which has a few bright recognizable features such as optimism, emphasis on the economical situation in the country, need for social changes, and interweaving of these concepts and problems that occurred in the country due to the crisis with the discussion of moral values and virtues that should be the primary driving forces of each citizen of the United States.

The employment issue is one of the greatest concerns of Franklin D. Roosevelt and his administration and he managed to express this concern in his inaugural speech: “Our greatest task is to put people to work” (Roosevelt, “Inaugural Address” 4).

This means that the President and his administration were going to bring some changes into practice concerning the social and economic stability to foster the prosperity and rise the number of their supporters for the future electoral campaign.

The more the president was talking about the social and economic changes and moral values of people, the more people wanted to believe that their will is influential in this case.

Besides, the structure of the speech was well-planned in order to make people think more positively towards the coming changes and cultivate the willingness in them to become a part of the anti-depression program and serve in the name of good reasons.

The president adds after mentioning the employment opportunities, “this is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously” (Roosevelt, “Inaugural Address” 4). The rest of the paragraph is devoted to explanation of how the administration is going to solve the problem of employment which would be the basis for all other programs and steps planned by the president and his team.

The issues of currency and its safety were also raised by the president in his inaugural speech along with the questions of safety of investments and problem of speculations (Roosevelt, “Inaugural Address” 5). This fact also supports the idea of the economic and social orientation of the political platform adapted by the Roosevelt administration.

In addition, it is necessary to investigate how the president Roosevelt delivered his speech with the help of the first radio address with the suggestions of the New Deal as the program that was aimed at bringing the relief and recovery for social and economic sides of live in the country.

As such, the president talked about the negative side of the situation to emphasize the current conditions in which the population of the country finds itself. The contrast was made with the help of the focus made on changes that are claimed to bring the recovery (Roosevelt, “Radio Address”).

The inaugural address and the radio address of the President were aimed at informing the people that have elected Roosevelt about the changes that are planned to be made and the expected effect of those changes with regard to the current problems and the outcomes of such policy.

Every address of the president was aimed at making people believe that the President is their friend when he talked to each and every of the citizens of the United states and emphasized their status by addressing them as “my friend” (Roosevelt, “Radio Address”).

In addition, the clear contrast depicted in his speeches enabled people to understand the current situation and the effect of the changes; it resembled a clear psychological approach when the patients are informed about ‘before’ and ‘after’ conditions.

The next source to be addressed that helps us to reveal the democratic platform of President Roosevelt is the letter by Frank E. Gannett who criticized the Roosevelt administration and his attempts to bring the changes into the court system of the United States.

Though there were no active public demonstrations against the reform to be enacted to change the court system of the US, some individuals claimed that those changes served as means to cover the egoistic intentions of the president and his administration. Besides, the critical letter contained the depiction of ‘real’ purposes of the court reform (Gannett n. p.).

The author of the letter was claiming that the president wanted to control the Supreme Court of the United States of America though this was one of the symbols of democracy and means for establishing and maintaining democratic freedoms and principles among the citizens of this country.

The content of this letter provides a clear idea of the division that could be observed in the country regardless of the fact that the President Roosevelt was reelected more than one time which can be considered a sign of the trust established by the president to himself and his administration.

People saw the positive changes in the social and economic sectors of life and trusted the president though he tried to change the structure of the Supreme Court by increasing the number of judges from nine to fifteen and bringing the presidential control over the performance of the US Supreme Court.

The letter by Frank E. Gannett was aimed at opening the eyes of ordinary Americans onto the actions of the president and his decision to control the judiciary power of the country as a symbol of dictatorship or monarchy. In addition, this letter can be treated as the evidence of the divided views about the power of President Roosevelt and actions of his Administration.

The economic decisions and the democratic principles can be also seen in the Bill passed by Democrats as a method for changing the situation in the country. The New Deal was expected to become a document and a program pertaining to it that would bring positive changes and bring relief from the depression.

As provided by the section 301 under the title ‘Earnings Tax’, “Commencing on January 1, 1937, there shall be levied and assessed upon every employee as defined in this title an earnings tax, to be collected from and paid by every employer subject to this title” (Doughton 15).

This demonstrates a clear evidence of the first steps for bringing the idea of social security and its main principles into practice because the taxation system is sure to be the great device for filling in the treasury and providing the national budget with costs necessary for pensions that would come as a part of the social security package.

The Bill was also aimed at establishing the rules of actions by the Social Insurance Board as the body that was supposed to regulate the social insurance processes in society. As we can see nowadays, the idea of social insurance was not neglected and most citizens of the United States of American currently have social insurance which can also be regarded as the part f the social bonus package in terms of employment.

In addition, the bill can be considered one of the positive issues that can be analyzed with regard to the New Deal positive program aimed at protecting the instable economy of the country and bringing positive changes into it including social issues such as employment, taxation, and social insurance and economic changes related to the economic growth reached through building of infrastructure.

Employment was one of the most important issues for the New Deal program as it was expected to make some positive changes in the social and economic areas of human activity. The Social Security Act of 1935 contained all major regulations and rules under which the people should have been provided with security in the workplace and employment trust measures as well as unemployment compensations.

In this respect, the old-age benefits as well as taxes paid by employed people were parts of the Social Security Act of 1935 to ensure that every citizen who works receives reasonable payment while those who are not able to work and those who are suppose to retire and receive old-age benefits are provided with appropriate payments.

To conclude, the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt can be evaluated in different ways as well as presidency of each of the presidents who obtained the seat though the number of positive changes that were brought to action surpasses the number of negative issues that are reflected in critical letters of people who try to claim that the actions of the President were inconsistent and aimed at eliminating the principles of democracy.

In this respect, it is necessary to think about the positive effect made by the president and his policies and reforms, namely the New Deal political program aimed at establishing the principles of social security into operation through the adoption of social insurance bases and other regulations necessary for normal maintenance and performance of these reforms.

Every reform was not a method for attracting more electorate on the coming elections and reelections; it was rather the method for bringing the relief and taking care of the people who trusted the president and his policy.

Works Cited

Doughton, Mr. “A Bill: To alleviate the hazards of old age, unemployment., illness, and dependency; to establish a Social Insurance Board in the Department of Labor, to revenue, and for other purposes.” H. R. 4120. 1935. Web.

Gannett, Frank E. A Statement by Frank E. Gannett, Publisher Gannett Newspapers. 1937. Web.

Roosevelt, Franklin D. Inaugural Address of the President. Washington, D. C., 1933. Web.

—. Radio Address by FDR in 1933: Mortgage Foreclosures, Gold Policy, Reflation. “FDR on mortgages, gold, reflation, and labor standards.” 2008. Web.

Social Security Act: The Social Security Act of 1935. Web.