Download Katie JonesMay 13, 2012 History 1000: Final Exam Question 1 1932

Katie Jones
May 13, 2012
History 1000: Final Exam
Question 1
1932, Franklin Roosevelt won the election; he was now the President of the United States, a
country at the time who was slumped in poverty. The United States was having many difficulties,
especially with its economy. This had several affects on the American citizens such as: delayed
marriages, decreases in divorce rate and increases in abandonment, decrease of birth rates, theft
increased as well as alcoholism; it was time for America to change. This is what FDR promised America, a
“New Deal” for the forgotten man. This name, “New Deal”, sounded promising to all, but even Roosevelt
didn’t truly know what he meant by it. The New Deal itself could not decide whether it would be a
program of recovery, reform or both.
Congress quickly acted upon FDR’s proposals, focusing on giving relief to the unemployed and
recovery to agriculture and business. Calling this plan the “New Deal” made it seem like FDR has a well
thought out plan for the country, but truly he had no plan other than change. In the first 100 days of
FDR’s presidency, he tried virtually anything that could make a difference, he was very experimental. His
goal was to make the sick economy well again with all of these programs. Trying all of these programs
seemed like a good idea at the time, but they affect one another, like medicines affect each other
causing drug interaction. FDR and is administration wanted to try any program that could help the
economy.
FDR’s confidence is what made the American public turn to him for guidance and to lead them
out of the depression. His use of radio helped make this bond between the president and the citizens
possible. Through his “Fireside Chats” FDR would have a conversation with the American’s listening,
explaining to them why he was doing his political ways. It was a desperate time in America so FDR had
to call for extreme measures. Without FDR’s bold experimentation and his success of a leader, the New
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Deal would have been very different. This was the first time the government had to assume
responsibility for the economy and managing it.
Several of the New Deal programs were controversial. Roosevelt’s “try something” philosophy
led him to sign off on some programs he did not necessarily agree with. By doing this, he would prevent
holding up other legislation and had to but his trust into his administration.
FDR’s manipulation skills played a large role in his administration. He appointed people who had
different viewpoints and disagreed with each other. This way he could avoid the blame, and it gave him
lots of possibilities to try anything to make the economy better. Although there were differences in his
administration, they all represented the aims of the New Deal, recovery from the depression as well as
relief and reform for the economy.
The NRA was a program which showed one of the more unsuccessful points of the FDR
administration. The NRA set rules to control competition; it asked businesses to engage in price fixing,
which was against the Sherman Anti Trust Act. Associationism played a role in the NRA as well, believing
that “competition is wasteful” and that business’s should cooperate with each other and the
government. For these reasons, the NRA as well as the AAA was not popular with Americans. The AAA
(Agricultural Adjustment Act) was a program implemented in the New Deal which regulated farm
production and stated that the government would hand out subsidies to farms.
Although the NRA and AA were unpopular and were not successful, they did help save America
from communism. FDR’s success as a politician was much higher than the success of the New Deal as a
program. His program was controversial at times, leading him to be attacked by both the right side and
the left side. The New Deal was not completely unsuccessful though, it helped create a new type of
politics, welfare politics. This type of politics catered to interest groups, the New Deal had decided it was
neither a reform nor recovery. The main issue with FDR’s New Deal program was that is lacked focus and
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clarity, the motives behind the New Deal were good, but could not be carried out. After 1937 the
American people along with Supreme Court and Congress, no longer promoted the New Deal.
Question 2
Americans were scared to enter WWII; they didn’t want Americans dying for someone else.
They had this viewpoint because of WWI. This made the Americans non-interventionists, or isolationists.
FDR’s foreign policy at the time was to follow what the American citizens wanted; he wasn’t going to
war unless they said so. The American’s view on the war at this point made the United States pass the
Neutrality Acts. The Neutrality Acts said that the U.S. may not sell weapons to anyone engaging in the
war.
In 1938, the Germans sponsored massacres against the Jews. This shocked Americans, and
convinced them to change their opinion on war. They still did not want to completely enter the war, but
felt something needed to be done. FDR submitted a defense budget, which nullified the neutrality act,
and Cash & Carry was put into effect.
Cash & Carry stated that the U.S. could sell weapons to victim nations in the war. The German’s
involvement in the war increased around 1940. Britain was attacked my Germany’s air force in the
Battle of Britain. Britain then bombed Berlin, and Germany started to attack British cities, not just British
radars. America was already in an undeclared sea war with Germany in the Atlantic Ocean. German uboats would sink American ships transporting weapons. By this time, FDR was in his third term of
presidency. The United State’s involvement increased because the threat of the Germans increased.
Therefore, the Lend Lease Act was passed; this gave military items to countries for money later.
The Neutrality Acts then became a dead letter. Meanwhile, Japan was expanding, which made America
worried that Japan was going to take over their imperials. The U.S. banned the selling of scrap metal and
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petroleum after Japan invaded South East China, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Hong Kong. The
U.S. thought of Japan in the same way as they thought of Germany, which was not right. The Germans
acted as exterminators while Japan was not.
Japan was taking over the Pacific, one island at a time, and the United States was the only
country in the Pacific with power. Japan tried taking out America in the Pacific by attacking Pearl Harbor
in 1941. WWII in the Pacific turned into a race war. Once the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred, the
American people, along with FDR, supported war against Japan, but did not want to go to war with
Germany because they appeared to be a larger threat. Hitler declared war on the U.S. on December 11,
1941 because he thought Japan would then declare war on Russia. This did not happen because Japan
was afraid of Russia.
The motivations of the Axis Powers differed between all of them. Mussolini of Italy had no racial
agenda, but had a national vision. He manipulated government and had a vision of a contemporary
modern Rome. Hitler of Germany, thought people were not using their land properly. He explained his
ideas in his book Mein Kampf. He demanded domination of Jews, gypsies, Slavs, the disabled, and
others. Japan was expanding for resource purposes. They lacked an economy, and their natural
resources were limited. Japan was not acting upon race, as Germany was.
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