32nd President of the United States and the longest serving in American history, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) has been called a great leader, humanitarian, competent and reliable politician of him. The American people were looking for help, hope, and reaffirmation that the country would recover again with jobs and financial security. Roosevelt had promised a "New Deal for the American People" and upon coming to power during the Great Depression, FDR immediately took action toward a series of policies, programs and economic projects known as the New Deal. FDR's upbringing, education, and political experience made him well-spoken, while his polio taught him the value of struggle, failure, and perseverance, values ​​for which Americans considered him empathetic to their suffering. He had a great advantage in using radio to talk and explain things to so many people in the comfort of their homes. His “fireside chats” with the Fireside Box were welcome, comforting, inspiring and made people feel included in an after-dinner conversation. During his second fireside chat in 1934, he spoke of capitalism: "We count, in the future as in the past, on the driving power of individual initiative and on the incentive for fair profit, reinforced by acceptance of obligations towards the public interest which rests on us all. » The achievements of FDR's New Deal have been viewed differently by three historians, leading to debate over the effectiveness of this recovery effort. Although Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal did not end the Great Depression, it helped preserve capitalism. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"?Get the original essayAccording to Barton Bernstein, FDR's New Deal was designed to protect and maintain the American system, not to transform it, because he “protected American corporate capitalism.” .” Bernstein is a leftist and argued that Roosevelt's goals were too conservative, narrow, and safe because the New Deal failed to incentivize big business to be more responsible in contributing to the social welfare of our country, as well. than the organization of the economy. As Barton Bernstein explains, Huey Long, a left-wing politician and governor of Louisiana during FDR's presidency, believed in a "Share Our Wealth" program and a "soak the rich" tax program. Roosevelt did believe that current tax laws constituted "an unjust concentration of wealth and power" and Long responded "amen" to FDR's thinking. However, in the end, Roosevelt did not support the bill and his tax measures did not "drain the rich" from the highest income brackets, as taxes on corporations and individuals were reduced and inheritance taxes were abolished. California's Democratic governor, Sinclair, was a staunch defender of the American working class, farmers and factory workers, as he pushed for the unemployed and "production for use." Roosevelt was challenged by this left-wing thinking. Although no radical wanted complete political or social change in the system, they nevertheless sought to preserve capitalism. Left-wing politicians like Long, Sinclair, and Governor Flog Olson were willing to take strong and powerful action to change the economic climate, even if it meant spending enormous sums of money. However, FDR was not as willing to goas far with commitment, as politically. he probably sat more towards the middle. According to Bernstein, Roosevelt's early conservative approach could have been more radical and changed American capitalism. Barton Bernstein believed that the New Deal was a reform that actually excluded many Americans such as blacks, women, and the poor. For example, African Americans received less aid under the National Recovery Administration (NRA) because wages were often below the legal minimum wage, segregation persisted, and lynchings still occurred. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was an advocate for black rights and she pushed for federal action. However, against lynching, the anti-lynching bill was not approved by President Roosevelt. Roosevelt refused civil rights legislation like the one mentioned above as well as voting rights for African Americans in the South because his policies depended on a certain amount of support and he did not want to risk anything by challenging segregation. FDR's Social Security Act guaranteed income to the elderly by requiring workers to contribute to and pay for their old-age insurance, but unfortunately it excluded farmworkers and domestic workers, most of whom were black. The Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) was supposed to increase farmers' incomes by forcing them to decrease production and raise prices. However, these government checks were not passed on to black sharecroppers and farmers. Later, the NRA and AAA were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Robert Higgs says he agrees more with a 1936 author who felt that FDR "took charge of our government when it was relatively simple and, for the most part, limited to essential tasks." functions of government and transformed it into a highly complex and clumsy agency designed to strangle business and disrupt the privacy of free people. Robert Higgs is a conservative and believed that President Roosevelt was an opportunist because he took advantage of the failing economy that President Hoover was unable to turn around. The handsome and charming FDR, as Higgs described him, was a born politician; meaning Higgs thought Roosevelt was devious, dishonest, and manipulative. According to Higgs, FDR really didn't know what to do and so he tried one thing and if it didn't work, he tried another. Robert Higgs believed that the New Deal actually prolonged the Great Depression and that if Roosevelt had simply balanced the budget, reduced federal spending, maintained a sound currency, stopped bureaucratic centralization in Washington, not consulted outside advisors called “Brains Trust” and had not If we had abandoned the gold standard, the economy would have recovered. Bernstein and Higgs were on opposite sides of the political spectrum, Bernstein on the left and Higgs on the right. But like Bernstein, Higgs found flaws in FDR's New Deal for different reasons. Higgs criticizes the effect of the New Deal on a free market system, making the American economy less productive than it could be. There were too many taxes and expenses. He felt that this created a lot of confusion and uncertainty among commercial investors, because private investors and their activity did not allow for normal economic growth; it never reached its potential level of production and employment. The federal government should have let the private economy correct itself. According to Higgs, liberals began to decline because of the New Deal, as everyone looked to the intrusive federal government to get.