During the Great Depression, many banks bankrupt as many people withdrew savings from banks, because they feared that the banks would be bankrupt. In fact, what caused the banks bankrupt was the feeling of fear. Consumer power dropped drastically because of the end of the "consumer durable revolution" (Taking sides). Therefore firms have to employ fewer people and the unemployment increased. Between 1929-1932 there were 85,000 business failures involving four and a half billion dollars (Howard Cincotta , 87). By the end of 1931, almost 10 millions wage earners were unemployed (George Donelson Moss, 542). At the peak of the Depression, 25% of the nation's workers, one out of four, were unemployed (Internet). At that juncture, unemployment peoples all over America had to depend on scarce handouts from charity organization to survive. As a result, many Americans suffered from malnutrition. Besides, many people who could not pay their rent or mortgage had to live on the streets (Internet). Perhaps the most serious injury suffered by the American people was spiritual rather than material; many of them lost self-confidence and felt that all the old guideposts had been destroyed. Many Americans were in great dead, what they can do was waiting for the solution from the federal government. Unfortunately, the solution would never come until 1932 President Roosevelt was elected as President.

        During the Great Depression, there were two men installed as US President. There are Herbert Hoover and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Both of them failed to restore the America economy. Even though President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal Policies and Herbert Hoover's domestic policies did not enable the US to recover economically from the Great Depression yet Roosevelt's relief programs demonstrated his love and care for the ordinary Americans while President Hoover's action against the Bonus Expeditionary Force (BEF) showed a less sympathetic President.

        President Herbert Hoover from Republican Party, while he won the presidency easily after Democrat Al Smith decided not to seek renomination in 1928 (Internet). The president in 1929, Herbert Hoover, took the traditional American view that the surest and quickest way out of a depression was to rely chiefly on individual initiative. With a strong faith, he and those around him believed that the economy would soon right by itself, and the government should play only a limited role in financial crisis. He clung to the hope that self-help and voluntary charity, with a minimum of governmental intervention, would restore more prosperous times. In his point of view, only local government and voluntary charity would help to restore the American economy. As a result, he proposed minimum government intervention to overcome the disaster. It is a myth for those two bodies to overcome the needs of millions of people all over America without the federal funds.

        However, the federal government was not entirely inactive. President Hoover called the leaders of industry to the White House and secured their agreement to maintain prices and wages at high levels. Yet, within a few months, employers were reducing wages and cutting prices in a desperate effort to survive. This proposal did not receive any good respond. This was simply because the businessmen could not able to expand production or hire more employees, as there was a great decline in sales and profits. Moreover, banks also refused to give loan.
Hoover refused to borrow money to finance the people because he thought this would affect private industry and the consequences would hurt the economic further. Gradually, Hoover then had to use the national government to promote economic recovery when the economic did not got right by itself but more and more Americans suffered. When there was a sharp economic decline in 1931, he finally realized that he really had to take more positive steps to help the American economy recover. In 1931, Hoover proposed a one-year moratorium on Germany reparation and intergovernmental debts of the former Allies (British and France) in order to restore international trade (George Donelson Moss, 531). Furthermore, Hoover increased spending for Public Work Program that would increase employment. Under a desperate appeal from business leaders to the government to take action, the Hoover administration launched the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) (Mary Beth Norton, 854). In RFC plan companies were given loans from the government fund to keep them operating. However the RFC plan benefited only the very top of the business structure such as banks, building and loan associations, farm credit organizations, railroads and insurance companies that were most essential to the economy. He had not taken any step to relieve the common citizens. In July 1932, Congress and President Hoover yielded to the pressure for emergency relief funds, slightly more than two billion dollars was granted to states and municipalities for construction of public buildings and for emergency unemployment relief (George Donelson Moss, 532).

        In Hoover presidency, he did many mistakes because of his traditionalism and stubbornness. For instance the Hawley-Smoot Tariff and his financial estimates. Despite the warning from prominent economists, he stubbornly approved the Hawley-Smoot Tariff (David M. Kennedy, 689). Hoover argued that the tariff would help in agriculture and manufacturing by keeping foreign goods off the market. Actually, the tariff further worsened the economic crisis because it caused the decline in the demand for the US goods. Hoover believed that balanced budget was important. Despite the suffering Americans, he decreased federal expenditures and increased taxes. But, he did not realize that a balanced budget was useless. In order to reinstate the economy, a deficit spending was necessary.

        What made Hoover even more unpopular was his action against the war veterans (they called themselves Bonus Expenditure Force). In the spring of 1932, thousands of unemployed ex-servicemen began to converge on Washington. Their aim was to urge Congress to pass a bill which would enable them to collect immediately the bonus voted in 1924 for all veterans of the World War I. Hoover grew impatient, carelessly labeled them "Insurrectionists" and Communists, and refused to meet with them. There were two babies died and over 100 were injured in the BEF camp due to the fire and tear gas caused by the army sent from the President (Taking sides). The Americans were shocked and disappointed by the action of their President did to the BEF. In my opinion, Hoover should not take such an action because the war veterans were the men who had contributed to the country in World War I. Moreover, the war veterans were in need of money because most of them were unemployed or suffered from poverty during the Great Depression. Therefore, the only way for them to survive was to claim the bonus. From this situation, we can clearly observe that Hoover was less sympathetic. Hoover should considered and understood their ground, how can he treated the war veterans as enemies.

        The economic condition during Hoover's presidency were so bad that it triggered a worldwide crisis of capitalism that gripped most of the leading industrial countries and Third World producers of raw materials for years. Hoover, was then blamed for not taking good care of his people, he was very unpopular.

        The nation simply could not wait until the economy regulated by itself. In the 1932 election, the Democratic Party won with almost 23 million votes and Franklin Delano Roosevelt became the new President whereas Hoover gained only 15.8 million votes (David M. Kennedy, 658). Succeeded Hoover, Roosevelt inherited a troubled economy. Roosevelt was open-minded and receptive, he was more willing than Hoover to experiment; he surrounded himself with a "Brain Trust" of lawyers and university professors (Mary Beth Norton, 856). "Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror," Roosevelt proclaimed. President Roosevelt gave the famous magic word to recharge the nation's confidence in its future. Roosevelt was an experienced, confident political leader, though he convinced that he could provide both the leadership and the programs to lead his nations out of its greatest economic crisis. Owing to his determination to recovery the country, Roosevelt was then prepared to recommend measures and provide strong leadership to put people back to work, correct the economic factor that had contributed to the Great Depression.

        At that juncture, runs on banks had forced most of them to suspend operation. Fearful that the banking system was on the verge of collapse, Roosevelt declared a bank holiday (March 5-9, 1933). Congress then quickly passed the Emergency Banking Act, which confirm that the banks closing and provided for a sound reopening (William M. Briton). This has effectively worked as people started to deposit their money in bank again. Roosevelt pressed Congress to get his New Deal into gear as soon as he was inaugurated. A series of vital legislation was passed in his first term presidency, it was more than any other four years of US history. He was like whiplash a sluggish Congress with his New Deal Policy. Roosevelt used the power of national government to try to solve the nation's problems. His domestic policies were divided into first New Deal and second New Deal by the historian (William M. Briton). Roosevelt was more caring for the Americans than Hoover was. His first New Deal emphasizes solutions to the pressing problems of relief and recovery. In the first New Deal, (1933-1935) several relief measures were passed by the Congress. Unlike Hoover, Roosevelt supported direct relief program. Federal Emergency Relief Act, one of the first law passed, legislated an amount of $500 million grant to states and local government to be used for direct relief to needy person (William M. Briton). Following FERA was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). It was one of the most popular early New Deal Programs and it was Roosevelt's favorite. Began on 1933, CCC had taken the unemployed young men off the streets to the reforestation program, national-park improvement project, soil-erosion prevention program, and flood-control projects (Mary Beth Norton, 858). In the other way round, Civil Works Administration (CWA) provided unemployed with jobs on make-work public projects including road, street, building and park improvements, and maintenance (Mary Beth Norton, 858). During its ten-year lifetime, both CCC and CWA put over 2 million young men to work (Taking sides).
To provide aid the farmers, the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) was passed in 1933. AAA's chief objective was to raise farm income by raising commodity prices. The law authorized AAA to buy, store and sell the agricultural goods at a stabilized price level that is profitable to the farmers. In addition, AAA encouraged farmers to reduce production because this had been the major cause of low farm prices (David M. Kennedy, 666). To help in business recovery, Roosevelt enlarged the RFC (Reconstruction Finance Corporation) into a program called the National Industry Recovery Act (NIRA). It was to make industries flourished again, to end up the cutthroat competition ragging in all industrial sectors, and to reduce wages (Howard Cincotta, 124). NIRA set up National Industry Administration (NRA) to promote privatization in industrial-wide planning. All the antitrust companies of a single industry had to draw up codes for operation of the entire industry under the NRA. The codes were sets of rules that established fair competitive practices (Guy P. Griggs, 756). But the NRA failed in to promote much recovery in industrial or in reducing the unemployment. In addition, NIRA also established PWA (Public Works Administration) which launched a big public-work program to construct the public facilities such as roads, schools, and others. PWA stimulated the economic by creating jobs and demand for building materials (David M. Kennedy, 668). Though AAA and NIRA failed, Roosevelt did not give up. He proposed a lot of measures such as the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). FHA's aim was to provide Americans a better home by guarantying long-term and low-interest loans made by private lending agencies. It stimulated the construction industry and the American economic (Mary Beth Norton, 860).
Then it was the beginning of the second New Deal in 1935. The second New Deal were programs of lasting economic and social welfare reform. It considered both economic and social aspects. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) placed the earlier CWA was established and this measure was better planned than CWA, it utilized the skills of the unemployed onto make work programs like building projects, and in various art programs (Mary Beth Norton, 820). No part of the New Deal drew more criticism than did these relief programs. Although their cost was enormous, they gave many people the sense that their government cares about them. And never before had any presidential administration shown such concern. The most far-reaching reform, with the greatest impact on American life, was the establishment of Social Security Act in 1935, this law had guaranteed a regular monthly income to retired workers, launched few programs which provide greater security for the masses of Americans, etc (Guy P. Griggs, 761). The New Deal came to an end during Roosevelt's second term in presidency. During the first term, there was a general harmony among Democrats and his patronage assisted the harmony, but then in the second term, the conservative democrats were saying "enough", let's wait and see the result of the programs before going forward with more. Some even has argument upon Roosevelt's programs. Roosevelt wanted to move more rapidly towards his social and economic goals, but it was faster than a majority of the Democratic Party was willing to follow. Roosevelt's New Deal Policy failed to recover the nation's economy, although he had put so many efforts on it. In fact, what helped to recover the American economy was the war industry in World War II.

        In conclusion, President Hoover was unpopular due to his insensitive, stubborn, traditionalistic and less sympathetic characters, whereas, President Roosevelt was so popular because of his understanding, kindness, caring and sympathy. Hoover and Roosevelt had very different ideas on how the Depression should be handled. In Hoover's point of view, depression in a country is inevitable and he took the traditional American view that the surest and quickest way to get out of a depression was to rely chiefly on individual initiative. Therefore, he proposed limited government intervention to overcome the economy crisis. On the other hand, Roosevelt believed that government intervention was necessary. Consequently, he took vagarious steps to overcome the country economy.

        Hoover was brought up in a poor family, and worked almost his entire life. He was a wealthy mining engineer and businessman (Guy P. Griggs, 762). Hence, it is predictable that he would run the country like a business. Besides, his domestic programs, which stressed on economy rather than on American welfare, showed that he was an insensitive man. What he really cared was the economy of the country but not the hard time and feeling of the people in America.

        Roosevelt, on the other hand, was born in a very rich family. He graduated from University of Harvard and had his own pony and sailboat (Fred L, 34). Basically, Roosevelt could have no better campaign than Hoover's presidency. His New Deal Policy was neither a complete success nor a complete failure. In my point of view, whether it was a success or failure, Roosevelt had at least tried his very best to help the nation. He never gave up to combat with the Great Depression. It can be perceived that Roosevelt had his heart and determination to help the nation. In short, Roosevelt would not simply wait for the 'self-recovery'. Since Roosevelt was from rich family, why don't he just think of enjoying his wealth but not insist on involving in politics which was having a troubled economic condition? He did not want to let himself as a simple and rich president, but he wanted to gain respects from his people by giving his efforts on recovering the country. President Roosevelt was so popular and was elected four times and held the office longer than any other man (Fred L, 21)
 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Howard Cincotta, An Outline of American History, United States In formation on Agency, 1994
2. Guy P. Griggs. JR. Perry Mc Candless, The Course of American History, Franklin Watts, Vol.2, 1833
3. George Donelson Moss, The Rise of Modern American, a History of the of the American People, 1890-1945 ed. Prentice Hall, international ( UK ) Limited, 1995
4. David M. Kennedy & Thomas A. Bailey, The American Pageant, Health, Brief edition, Vol. II
5. Fred L, Israel, World Leaders Past and President – Franklin Delano Roosevelt ed. Burke Publishing Company Limited, 1988
6. William M. Briton, Abridged History of the United States, download options, 1996
7. Mary Beth Norton, David Katzman, Paul D. Escott, Howard P. Chudacoff, Thomas G. Patterson and William M. Tuttle, Jr. A People and a Nation: A History of the United States, Vol11.4th ed. Houghton Mifflin Co.: 1994.
8. Taking sides
9. Internet

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