Franklin Roosevelt Through the Eyes of Richard Hofstadter
The Great Depression, the bust after the boom of the Roaring Twenties
, changed the very fabric of American society. When many people predicted a second Revolution in the United States, Franklin Roosevelt held the nation together with the promise of change. There is no doubt that he changed America in ways irreversible, but these changes pulled the nation in several conflicting directions, and failed to change the one important aspect of society, the economy. FDR's contradictory policies extended not only to the many New Deal programs he enacted in his political career, but to the ways in which he conducted his economic philosophy and his attitude toward the constitution as well. Hofstadter portrays a very different image of FDR in his essays and takes a decidedly more negative approach to analyzing his administration than many historical texts. It is certain however, that Roosevelt's solution to the Great Depression never fully achieved any of its ultimate goals. This failure can be directly attributed to the political and economic improvisation typical of Roosevelt. The Depression was finally ended by the outbreak of World War II, and Roosevelt's place in history rescued by an event entirely out of his control.
Franklin Roosevelt Through the Eyes of Richard Hofstadter