Essay --

Roosevelt Roosevelt came into the Democratic convention in Chicago as the front runner. His main opposition was Alfred Smith. Roosevelt secured the nomination on the third ballot. Roosevelt ignored tradition by coming to Chicago to personally accept the nomination. The campaign took place against the background of great depression. Roosevelt campaigned vigorously to prove that despite his disability he could vigorously undertake the job of President. Hoover tried to depict Roosevelt as an extremist who would bring ruin to the country, but with 1/4 of work force unemployed, Roosevelt won an overwhelming victory. President Hoover carried several serious handicaps into the 1932 presidential elections. He was an incumbent presiding over the worst economic collapse in the nation's history. His political philosophy, while progressive, depended on voluntary actions to achieve his goals, and this voluntary approach failed to materialize during the trauma of the Depression. As a public pers onality, he was somewhat dour and he was uncomfortable with the business of campaigning. His notion of the role of the President was that of a facilitator who brought the parties together, encouraged partnerships, and supplied the expertise of the engineer to the social problems of a nation. The idea of the President as a powerful and inspirational leader (an idea that Franklin Roosevelt would come to embody) was foreign to him. Put it all together and a surer prescription for defeat could hardly have been assembled. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, by contrast, was everything Hoover was not. Roosevelt was ebullient and self-confident. He radiated charm and an almost haughty self-assurance. He was supremely optimistic and his big smile and obvious relish of ... ...ind a place in the curriculum of the 3R’s. Although Garvey can be viewed as a reactionary and was belittled by Dubois, the two of them are revolutionary in that they did create change in the black society’s movement to gain more acceptance. The decade of the 1920’s is certainly a challenging one with many mixtures of culture and the social revolution and reaction; and since the economic and former progressive drives were being turned away from the needed political and economic reform, while the technological revolution was creating a new conspicuous consumption. The decade left America stunned and unable to make a comeback throughout the decade of the 1930’s. References http://www.multied.com/elections/1932.html http://www.ssa.gov/history/32election.html http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/presidents/nf/teach/fdr/fdrfc.html http://www.chatham.edu/PTI/Twenties/Frank_01.htm