National Recovery Act Presidents Theodore And Fr

This
discussion assignment focuses on Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin
Roosevelt as presidents. You are to read Chapters 10 and 11 in the text,
read the lectures on Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt and watch the
videos on these presidents.

You are then to write a description of your presidency as becoming
either Theodore Roosevelt OR Franklin Roosevelt. You are going to show
how Theodore Roosevelt created the modern office of the presidency
through his domestic and foreign policy and Franklin Roosevelt created
our modern system of government through his New Deal programs of relief,
recovery and reform.

PLEASE USE ONLY THE SOURCES THAT I WILL PROVIDE FOR YOU !

Finally you are going to tell which of these two presidents would be
rated higher in your opinion and why. And agree or disagree with TWO
students with their opinions here. Good luck on this fifth discussion
assignment.

STUDENT NUMBER ONE :

Theodore
Roosevelt was a self-made man in the purest form of the phrase. As a
young child he suffered complications from asthma and poor vision. While
glasses were able to correct his vision, exercise eliminated his asthma
and built up his physique. He was always into nature, with his room
often smelling of animals. After studying at Harvard and Columbia
University, he joined the New York State legislature at the age of 23.
Upon the death of his mother and wife on the same day, he retreated to
the farmlands of the Dakota Territory, where he gained the respect of
many ranchers and cowboys. He later reentered politics and became the
New York City police commissioner, where he brought reform to the
department. In 1897 he became assistant secretary of the Navy under
President William McKinley. In 1898 he became the governor of New York
and was able to bring about reform yet again. With his popularity he was
elected Vice President in 1900 and came after closer to the highest
political office, much to the fear of many conservative Republicans.

Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency came to fruition upon the
assassination of President William McKinley. Under McKinley, the
business empires that had made life difficult for many workers had
continued to reign supreme. Theodore Roosevelt would begin a new era
which would bring about social change and a new role for the Federal
Government in business regulation. Theodore Roosevelt was a cornerstone
of the progressive movement and quickly developed a reputation as a
“trust buster.” Though Roosevelt was a Republican, he often based his
policies on nonpartisan ideals and preferred to base policies on what he
believed would be best for the American people. This meant that he was
willing to work with opposition, rather than being beholden to his own
political party. Unlike more extreme progressives, Roosevelt was not
interested in completely getting rid of big businesses, but in making
them function fairly. He sought to break up monopolies, going after
business trusts through the courts. In fact, his first initiative
involved attacking the power structure of the Northern Securities
Company, a company created by some of the most powerful bankers in the
US. Roosevelt enacted the “Square Deal,” a domestic program that
highlighted three of Roosevelt’s most important goals: conservation of
resources, control of corporations, and consumer protection. His
progressive philosophies were summed up in his quote “We are neither for
the rich man nor the poor man as such, but for the upright man, rich or
poor.”

I think that Theodore Roosevelt ranks slightly higher than
Franklin Roosevelt. I look at it from the context that if Theodore
Roosevelt had not laid the foundation for what a modern president does
with their power, then later presidents would not have had the
opportunity or ability to make further progress. Theodore Roosevelt
marked the first major progressive shift in the American way of life and
created the persona of the modern media president. He was able to
create the modern policies that regulate business, he was able to create
policies to preserve natural parks and monuments, and he was able to
lay the groundwork for laws that would protect workers and prevent the
working class from being treated the way the were under the empires of
the business moguls of the 19th century.

STUDENT 2 :

My name is Franklin Delano Roosevelt
and I was elected president of the United States of America in 1933.
Upon becoming president, I feel as though I must step up and take a new
approach to the government and the relationship between the government
and individual American citizens. I did this by creating the modern
system of government. I decided that the government must provide
programs (aka The New Deal) for the people to help them. These programs
require government bureaucracy to run the programs and spending to
finance them as well. My goals are to provide relief to American
citizens through laws that will create social welfare programs. I desire
to expand relief through recovery and also pass a series of reform
programs in order to avoid prevent future Great Depressions in order to
create positive relationships between the government and American
citizens. The New Deal consisted of experimental programs that required
powers of the federal government in order to help individual citizens
and to alleviate the negative effects of the Great Depression. An
example of one of the relief programs (the first one created) is the EBA
which stands for the “Emergency Banking Act”. This law provides bank
relief by the increased involvement of the federal government in the
banking industry and to have the federal government protect the money of
the American citizens in the banks. Another program that I created was
the AAA which stands for the “Agricultural Adjustment Act” which
provided farm relief. The NRA is the “National Recovery Act” providing
business relief with the federal government being involved in wage and
price control. Creating job relief is very important to me and is met
with a series of programs such as the TVA (Tennessee Valley Act), PWA
(Public Works Act), and the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps). The TVA
created a government corporation to build a dam on the Tennessee River.
The PWA created government construction jobs. The CCC employed young men
to work in conservation projects. One of the last programs was the FERA
(Federal Emergency Relief Act). This act provided state relief through
large amounts of Federal money being poured into state projects. After
realizing that the relief job programs failed to solve the unemployment
problem, I moved to recovery-expand relief with the WPA (Works Progress
Act). Proudly stating, this act became the largest job program ever of
our Federal Government and made us the largest single employer.
Employees were being hired based on background, skills and training.
Through all of these programs/acts, the results of the Great Depression
are becoming less severe. An example of one of the reform acts is the
Social Security Act giving each American a number. Not only did this
establish a program for benefits for the Elderly when they retire, but
it includes death, unemployment, and disability benefits.

In my opinion, I think that Franklin
Roosevelt in comparison to Theodore Roosevelt would be rated higher
considering he served 4 terms which were filled with crisis. Not only
did he lead us through the worst economic crisis, but he led us through
our largest war. He served the United States like no other president
before him. His influence on the New Deal still exists today.