The Great Depression and New Deal Practice

Question

Read this excerpt from a 1932 campaign speech by Franklin Roosevelt.

Choose the two highlighted examples that demonstrate his strategy of using unemployment as a key campaign issue.

(1 point)

The president ... preached this doctrine of despair to the suffering farmers of the country. He said in substance that the farmer must wait the long weary process of
industrial reconstruction before aid can come to him. He attempted to close the door of hope with that doctrine of despair. In fact, since the very beginning of this
depression, he has opposed substantially every proposal of the farm leaders of this country for legislative relief, and sometimes with the greatest and most
unbecoming bitterness.

After concealing from the people of the country the constantly sinking condition of industry and the growing unemployment, he opposed the democratic measures
introduced in congress to meet the destitution and give employment to labor. He still contended, as he does now, that there is no hope for the farmer or the laborer
until prosperity returns through the slow process of world reconstruction.

Whenever a remedy is proposed to increase the price of farm products or reduce unemployment in our country, he satisfied himself by engaging in ridicule and
preaching the doctrine of despair. I do not believe in the doctrine of despair.

Now, my friends, let me make clear in as emphatic words as I can find, the fundamental issue in this campaign. Mr. Hoover believes that farmers and workers must
wait for general recovery, until some miracle occurs by which the factory wheels revolve again. No one knows the formula of this miracle. I, on the other hand, am
saying over and over that I believe that we can restore prosperity here in this country by re-establishing the purchasing power of half of the people of the country,
that when this gigantic market of 50,000,000 people is able to purchase goods, industry will start to turn, and the millions of men and women now walking the streets
will be employed.

Answer 1

The two highlighted examples that demonstrate Franklin Roosevelt's strategy of using unemployment as a key campaign issue are:

1. "After concealing from the people of the country the constantly sinking condition of industry and the growing unemployment, he opposed the democratic measures introduced in congress to meet the destitution and give employment to labor."

2. "No one knows the formula of this miracle. I, on the other hand, am saying over and over that I believe that we can restore prosperity here in this country by re-establishing the purchasing power of half of the people of the country, that when this gigantic market of 50,000,000 people is able to purchase goods, industry will start to turn, and the millions of men and women now walking the streets will be employed."

These examples highlight Roosevelt's focus on unemployment and the need for immediate action to restore jobs and economic stability, contrasting his approach with that of Hoover, who he claims advocates waiting for recovery.