Franklin Delano Roosevelt: The Savior of America

It seems that everyone knows what these three simple letters mean. FDR, which stands for Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was the 32nd President of the United States, the savior of America during mid-20th century, also the hero of mine. As we all know, FDR, known as Franklin D. Roosevelt, is the only president of the United States who was elected to more than 2 terms and up to 4 terms. It’s not so hard to find out that the reason for being the one elected to 4 terms is leading the whole nation overcome the worldwide economic crisis and the World War II.

In this essay, I am going to discuss how FDR leaded America pull through the economic crisis which happened in 1927 and what FDR did for fighting against the Fascists with the Allies. First of all, I would like to talk about the worldwide economic crisis. It is known to us all that the Great Depression caused by the economic crisis in 1927 destroyed the whole economy of the world, not only the United States, but also the whole Europe and some parts of Asia including Britain, France, Germany, Japan, etc.

It was like a domino effect, all the countries sank into the abyss from which no one can escape. At the beginning of the Great Depression, President Herbert Hoover who was the one before Roosevelt started plenty of programs for reversing the down, but unfortunately all of those failed. Even the worse, the economy and the society turned into a worse condition, and that time became even harder either.

At that time, the rate of unemployment and the rate of crime went up, whereas the standard of living went down, and so a huge number of citizens in the United States could no longer live their normal life as before. During that hard time, a lot of people became homeless and died from starvation and disease while another part of people would rather suicide themselves. Finally, Roosevelt defeated Hoover in the election of 1932 and became the 32nd president of the United States. In his Inaugural speech, he encouraged the whole nation with the words that only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

And then, in his “First Hundred days” in office, he started a new series of economic programs named the New Deal which contained Relief, which aimed at protecting the poor and providing jobs to those people who was unemployed, Recovery, whose goal was recovery of the economy to normal levels, and Reform which means rebuilding the economic system to avoid a repeat depression. To support his New Deal, he also passed the Emergency Banking Relief Act, the National Industrial Recovery Act, the agricultural adjustment act, the Social Security Act, and so on which opened a new era.

Because of all of those, the economy of America began to recover. That’s the evidence which can prove that it was Roosevelt who helped the United States get out of stuck. Second of all, Roosevelt also made a declaration of war with Japan which meant the United States officially participate in World War II and became a member of the Allies fighting against Germany and Japan. In fact, the United States Congress passed The Neutrality Acts in the 1930s which limited the help from the United States to aid Britain against Nazi Germany.

Because of that, Roosevelt opposed the acts and tried to find various ways to assist the Allies. Before the participation of the United States, Roosevelt signed the Atlantic Charter with Winston Churchill, who was the British Prime Minister at that time, and then gave a strong financial support to both China and Britain to fight against the Fascists. On the following day when Japanese attacked on Pearl Harbor, he made a speech calling December 7, when Hawaii Operation took place, “a date which will live in infamy”.

That meant it’s the end of the Neutrality Acts and the beginning of the participation of the United States. After America’s participating, the aspect of World War II has been totally changed, especially after Normandy landings. In the Pacific, The Battle of Midway became the most significant turning point in World War II which caused the cooperation between Japan and America change a lot. At last, as everybody knows, the Axis collapsed, while the Allies got victory. It’s so easy to tell that how Roosevelt contributed to the victory of Allies.

While there are still some people hold a point of view that Roosevelt needs to be blamed because he had known some details about the plan that Japanese attacked on Pearl Harbor before that happened but he kept that as a secret and then he allow that tragedy happened in order to rouse the nation for participation to the war. However, the opinion is wrong because World War II was a disaster for all the human beings, while the participation of the United States let the Allies get the final victory and end the war.

We should not abuse Roosevelt but thank him because he let us have a peace world. Whereas there are still some people holding another idea as Charles Dorn did that FDR did effectively eliminate one global threat – but left us with decades of cold war. I have to say what he thought is right but that is also the thing no one can avoid. Moss Roberts points out that “The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. ” After defeating the same enemy – the fascist, the United States of America and the Soviet Union turned into enemies because of the different profits of two nations.

Actually, the cold war is the best way to solve the problem caused by different profits, compared with wars or battles. In conclusion, Roosevelt is not only the savior of the United States but also the savior of the whole world. He saved America’s economy from the abysm and then saved the world from being destroyed by the Fascists. As the article Visit Little White House to step back into FDR’s time said, “His ‘Fireside Chats’ heard over the radio were as popular as the ‘Grand Old Opry’ or Joe Louis’ prize fights.

His “So help us God” speech at the beginning of World War II pulled the nation together. Then later, when word came that he had died, grown men cried unashamedly in public beside their wives. ” We can easily figure out that FDR himself and the things he did are all unforgettable to every single American who overcame that hard time. Thanks to Roosevelt, we can have a developed America; thanks to Roosevelt, we can have a peaceful world even though there are still a lot of skirmishes in the world.