FDR: How he kept getting re-elected

FDR raised taxes to unprecedented levels. He ordered Americans to sell their gold or face prosecution. He jailed people who spoke out against his policies. He put Japanese Americans in Concentration camps. He threatened businessmen with even higher taxes if they didn't support his programs.

Utterly said, despite what we learn in schools, FDR was a scary President. And many people knew he was scary, and knew his programs were making the economy worse rather than better. Despite this, he kept getting re-elected. How?

I have the answers:

1. He used the IRS and FBI to prosecute people who did not agree with him, and therefore many Americans were simply too scared to oppose him
2. Many Americans were afraid if they opposed him they would have their federal relief funds taken away.
3. Many business men were threatened with higher taxes if they opposed him and he won, and therefore they were threatened to vote for FDR.
4. FDR pushed up his opposition and therefore the people were unable to learn about the fact FDR's policies were contrary to improving the economy.
5. He created his programs to buy votes, and used his programs to shut up those who spoke out against him. By doing this, he won re-election three times.
6. Local political opponents of FDR had to keep quiet lest FDR hunt them down with the IRS or FBI or cut other programs to their liking.
7. He used subsidies and political capital, money and tools to get re-elected. He was first to buy votes with the very programs he created. So, however, unpopular his programs were, he kept getting re-elected.
8. He also used political subsidies to punish enemies and reward friends.
9. Special Interests who lobbied in favor of FDR got special subsidies and were favored for government loans.
10. FDR used government expenditures to persuade voters. He was the best at doing this.
11. In 1936 before the Presidential election, FDR added 300,000 to the work relief program (WPA). In the months following the election, 300,000 were removed from the WPA.
12. Work Relief expenditures increased sharply -- 268% increase from fall of 1935 to the fall of 1936 -- the biggest increase of 3,663% was in Pennsylvania, a swing state that Hoover had carried in 1932, and FDR specially targeted in 1936.
13. A plan was in place to make sure the Soil conservation Service checks arrived in Farm households before the election of 1936 to ensure votes for FDR -- 4 farm states were in the balance.
14. Alf Landon said "If he (FDR) did not have $5 billion (of WPA money to dole out) his election would be very much in doubt.
15. FDR ran on this issue with signs saying, "Relief for Votes," subtitled "will the American people accept the imputation that their votes can be bought with relief money." Another leaflet said, "If we don't stop the New Deal the nation will go bankrupt.
16. Funny thing, Landon tried to win votes by denouncing government programs, but he had to do it without alienating the increasingly large number of voters who had Federal jobs, or hoped to have them. In this sense, republicans couldn't get re-elected even though FDR's programs were unpopular.
17. Landon hailed before cheering crowd at Madison Square Garden that it was bad to use "public money for political purposes" as FDR was doing. He said, "I am against the principles of the AAA and... the concentration of power in the3 hands of the Chief executive."
18. Republican problem since 1936 was that they risked offending the 10,000 voters working in federal programs if they hailed for cutting government programs to balance the budget. (this is actually a problem that is ongoing to this day). This is also why many republicans get caught in the trap of increasing government programs to buy votes.
19. He got people excited about voting who normally don't vote, such as young people and blacks

In a sense, the progressives of Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson and FDR started a slippery slope that resulted in an Obama Presidency with our Trillions of dollars in debt and so many government programs we have to borrow from China to pay for it.

Quite often the Presidency is not won by character alone as it was in the past. Now, once elected, a president can buy votes by creating and doling out subsidies.
Material for the above posts came from the following sources:

Further reading and references.

• New Deal or Raw Deal: How FDR's economic policy's damaged America, by Burton Fulsom Jr.
• The Forgotten man: The new history of the Great Depression, by Amity Shlaes

Grover Cleveland could have done what FDR did..

Grover Cleveland had to deal with a depression throughout his second term in office. As a classical liberal president he signed a repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act which many suspected was the cause of the depression, but this did not cause the depression to end.

The unemployment rate was over 2 million, and there was a lot of pressure on Cleveland to take governmental action to turn the economy around and to help all those who were suffering as a result of the depression.

Yet Cleveland believed it was not the role of government to help the unemployed, that this was the job of businessmen. In other words, while he could have signed laws that violated the constitution yet would have benefited his political career, he chose to veto bills based on principle and principle alone.

In this way, Grover Cleveland was the last classical liberal president; he was the last president who did not use executive powers for political gains. Ninety years later, also facing a depression that lingered through his term, Franklin Deleno Roosevelt did the opposite, signing bills that created programs and that also benefited his political career.

And trust me, many of the same programs that FDR signed into law (or tried to sign into law) were thought of during Cleveland's depression. In 1894, Jacob Coxey, a businessman who had been forced to lay off his workers, proposed many programs that would have benefited the underemployed, even going as far to propose a program for creating government jobs for the unemployed.

President Cleveland would have nothing to do with these programs, claiming they were unconstitutional, and they probably were. It would be another 90 years before a president (his name was Franklin Deleno Roosevelt) would have the nerve to step over constitutional bounds to sign programs, many similar to what coxey proposed, into law.

There was a lot of pressure on Cleveland to create programs to help the unemployed, and signing such bills might even have improved Clevelands popularity, and probably would have made him the democratic nominee in 1896 instead of William Jennings Bryan. Chances are he would have gone on to win re-election as FDR did 90 years later.

The truth was that the nation would have benefited from some regulation and monitoring of the economy, and such programs would also have benefited Herbert Hoover as he faced yet another economic down turn three decades later. Such programs might even have prolonged the Roaring 20s, thus preventing an aggressive progressive such as FDR from ever being elected.

But Cleveland was not interested in what might transpire in the future. He was not interested in furthering his political career if it meant violating the Constitution that he respected. He therefore would have no part in any law that violated it, and so he continued making use of his veto pen to veto bill after bill.

Almost every other president after Cleveland, including Bill Clinton, Calvin Coolidge, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush signed laws that might infringe on the Constitution simply for the purpose of political gain. Grover Cleveland was the last classical liberal, and the last president to vetoe bills based on principle as opposed to signing them based on emotion.

Because of the ongoing depression, Grover Cleveland is often cited as an insignificant president. Yet because of his outright respect for the Constitution even though doing the opposite might have benefited his legacy, he ought to be regarded as one of the great presidents.

FDR created the modern economy

While it is probably true that FDR's policies (referred to as the New Deal) prolonged the Great Depression, many of the programs he created benefited future economies.  In fact, one might argue that some of the programs created by him prevented any future Great Depressions.

The best part about the New Deal, however, was that it dealt with the two main problems that plagued Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge, and that was lack of regulations to deal with greedy cooks, and insurance programs to insure invested money.*

There were laws that existed prior to FDR, yet most of his predecessors believed it was not the role of government to enforce them.  FDR changed this by creating organizations to act as monitors to assure regulations were being enforced.

For instance, the New Deal created the:

• Federal Deposit Insurance Program (FDIC) which insured money invested in banks up to $100,000.  
• Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to regulate the stock market
• Social Security Board (SSB) was created by the Social Security Act of 1935 was responsible for monitoring insurance to the elderly, unemployment compensation, and  public assistance. The agency is now called the Social Security Administration (SSA).
• Federal Communication Commission to monitor radio and television
• Federal Housing Administration (FHA) was created as part of the Federal Housing Act of 1934 to set standards for construction of homes and to ensure loans made by banks and other lenders for the purpose of building homes.  It is now called Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This assured that even the poorest people could afford a mortgage on a house. 
• Codes for fair competition were created as part of the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933
  including production restrictions, minimum wages, and working conditions in order to limit competition and foster a spirit of teamwork among industry rivals.

While these programs were inherently beneficial to the nation, in order to pay for them he had to push tax hikes through Congress, which ultimately tripled the tax rate during FDRs terms in office, raising the top income tax rate to 90 percent.

*By saying greedy crooks, I am not referring to people who are rich, as liberals do.  I'm referring to people who actually violate the law for their own personal gain.

FDR's policies prolong the great depression

FDR was Time man of the year in 1933

In 1932 Franklin Deleno Roosevelt was elected in a Landslide. While he was never able to end the Great Depression, he, via his great speaking ability, managed to restore confidence in the American people.

A theory by a great economist and thinker by the name of Maynard Keynes was growing in popularity at this time, and it was termed Keynesian Economics. He believed an economy becomes depressed because people stop spending money. Thus, there is no demand for the goods and services.

Since people stop spending, businesses and industries don’t make a profit. Many of them will lay off workers, many others will close their doors altogether.

To solve this problem, Keynes proposed that it was the role of government to increase demand for these goods and services. It was in this spirit that he believed it was acceptable to return to pre-Roaring 20s tax and spend policies (he created many government programs, and raised the top marginal tax rate back up to 90 percent during his term in office).

FDR, desperate to end the Great Depression, adapted Keynes economic policy. Thus, with the New Deal, he proposed several government programs that would increase government spending. In essence, FDR created Big Government. (He did not, however, intend on it becoming the beast it is today.)

The Great Depression dragged on for years until it ran out its course by the end of WWII. Some experts say it was FDRs policies, coupled with increased spending during WWII, that caused it to come to an end.  But others argue with this theory, noting that, had WWII ended it, then why did the government resort to rations and forcing people to sell their gold to the government.

A better argument is that the depression continued through WWII, only to come to an end as later presidents reduced taxes to encourage savings and investment.  Those who support this argument believe that Roosevelt's tax and spend policies are what turned a regular depression into the Great Depression.

Consider, for a moment, that there were many recessions and depressions prior to the one FDR inherited, and all of those lasted only a few years.  The reason they were short lived was because presidents prior to FDR believed it was the role of government to make minor tweaks to create a stable economic environment, but it was the role of individual businesses to fix the unemployment rate.

Two examples here are Grover Cleveland and the depression of 1893-95, and Warren G. Harding and the depression of 1920-21.  Grover Cleveland believed his role was to stay out of the way, and Warren G. Harding cut spending and taxes to get government out of the way.  In both these instances the depressions were short lived.

Despite this evidence, FDR (along with Herbert Hoover) chose to do the opposite.  He increased the scope and size of government, and to pay for these programs he raised tripled taxes.  While his programs may have helped the poor, they did little to spur economic growth.  By doing so, the argument is that FDR did nothing to end the depression, instead he prolonged it.

So, while Herbert Hoover's policies may have caused the Great Depression, FDR's policies prolonged it.  Yet considering the people were so desperate, and believed (or felt) that doing something (even something stupid) was better than doing nothing, FDR as a hero, and Time Magazine even named him Man of the Year in 1933.

Hoover leads decline of economy

There are many people who continue to blame the stock market crash of 1929, and the Great Depression that followed, on the economic policies set forth by Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge (supply-side economics). Yet a better place to find blame would be in the economic policies of Herbert Hoover. 

It is true that the economic miracle that took place during the 1920s was a direct result of Warren G. Harding cutting federal spending by 40 percent, and the tax cuts of both Harding and Calvin Coolidge. 

These events in and of  themselves resulted in good economic times, and when similar events have occurred in later years -- John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush all cut taxes, although never reined in spending -- similar results were observed, where federal revenue increased and the economy grew. It is quite clear that federal spending and taxes must be kept below a certain level for optimal economic prosperity, as the Laffer Curve suggests.

So, then, what caused the events leading up to the Great Depression?

One theory is that Americans were so indulged in their own happiness during the 1920s that they failed to notice inflation and unemployment were increasing.  There were also not enough regulations in place to monitor business activity, meaning that no one was monitoring to assure workers were getting fair pay and treatment.  There was also little insurance on invested monies to assure it would not become lost in the case of an economic collapse.

To go along with this, you also have to consider beliefs that were prevalent at this time.  During WWI Woodrow Wilson proclaimed that it was the war to end all wars. So there weren't supposed to be any more wars, meaning the world was in a state of world peace.

It was also believed that alcohol was the cause of all crime, so when prohibition was passed there was supposed to be no more crime.  Since there was no crime and no more wars, that meant no more bad people, and therefore there was no pressing need for rules and regulations.  So this also could explain the self absorption without monitors. 

In other words, with the Roaring 20s in full bloom, people believed they had created a euphoric nation, and they figured it would last forever. Evidently they were wrong, but this is what they believed.  So to blame the collapse of the economy solely on the economic policies of Harding and Coolidge is poppycock. 

But something did go wrong, obviously.  Only seven months into his term of Herbert Hoover as president the stock market crashed on Thursday, October 24, 1929.  This resulted in an immediate economic downturn, or recession. Despite what some claim, the economy did not immediately fall into a depression.  Yet poor decisions that followed the crash would lead it into one.

Before the recession people readily invested their money in banks and the stock market, both for safe keeping and to make more money off interest and capital gains.  This system had worked so well during the 1920s that people had no reason to suspect it would ever end.  

Due to the euphoric state of the nation prior to the collapse, Americans were completely caught off guard. Their utter despair at what happened caused them to lose all confidence in the American economic system, particularly the stock market and banking system.  The general consensus now was that these were no places to put your hard earned dollars.  

Now, in lieu of taking risks and investing, people starting tucking their hard earned dollars under their beds, or inside their pillow cases.  The last thing they wanted to do was put it in banks that were not insured, or businesses that were not regulated.  Such lack of trust, and lack of confidence, is what lead to the recession.

What transpired next would have an immediate impact on whether the economy would turn around, whether it would remain in a recession, or whether it would turn into a depression. Since so many people blamed tax and spending cuts on the recession, it only made senses (or so it was suspected) that exactly the opposite was necessary to pull the country out of recession.  

So Hoover did have an opportunity to pull the country out of this downward economic spiral, he just didn't know that all he had to do was create insurance programs to protect invested money, and regulations to assure that people did not cheat, in order to regain the trust of the people. 

Either Hoover was unaware of this, or he simply refused to heed the advice of economic experts who advised such.  However, in Hoover's defense, this was, after all, the first recession of a new kind of economy  -- post 16th amendment, and in a modern, global world.  

Hoover sided with the experts who championed for tax increases, and so instead of cutting taxes, he raised the top marginal income tax from 24 percent to 63 percent by signing the Revenue Act of 1932. 

This was coupled with a rise in tariffs that resulted when Hoover agreed to sign into law the Smoot-Hawley Tariff in 1930.  This "throttled trade."

The combination of these two, the rise in tariffs and tax hikes, meant that he was, in effect, taking more money out of the pockets of people and corporations that were already hurting for money. Employers had less money for hiring, and consumers had less money for spending.  It was this, more so than anything, that caused the economy to spiral into the Great Recession.

So the closest our nation ever came to complete euphoria came during the Roaring 20s, and it was all thanks to Harding and Coolidge.  Yet, perhaps due to lack of experience, neither Harding nor Coolidge had the foresight to create minimal regulations for guiding the economy, and insurance programs for protecting against loss of personal investments. 

Yet Hoover had the opportunity, if not prior to the crash, after it, to return the economy to prosperity. 

But he chose to cave in to the raise taxes and increase spending crowd.  He chose big government solutions as opposed to free market solutions.  And for that reason, he, perhaps justly so, is often blamed for turning the recession into what would become known as the Great Depression.