Franklin Delano Roosevelt: The New Dealer

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Who have helped the United States become a country for the better? The Presidents! The Presidents have helped us through bad and good times. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the President of the United States during the Great Depression. The Great Depression was a time period when the stock market crashed, the economy was bad, and many people lost their jobs. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, or FDR for short, tried to get the country back together during this time period. He set up the New Deal. This New Deal helped the economy get better. He was not only a hero because of his presidency, but he was also a hero because he had a disease known as poliomyelitis, or polio. Even with poliomyelitis, he had the courage to keep on going.

Who is Franklin Delano Roosevelt? FDR was the thirty-second President of the United States. He was the president during the Great Depression, which was a time period where the economy crashed. The Great Depression started with the Stock Market Crash of 1929. During the 1920s, the value of these stocks increased a lot. In 1932 and 1933, the Stock Market decreased rapidly. This decrease affected everyone in the United States. People began to feel as though they were at risk of losing all their savings and, because they were so poor, they did not buy a lot of products. Many people who deposited their money into the banks wanted to withdraw money, but these banks could not give back all of the money that was deposited. One hundred forty billion dollars that was deposited in the banks was lost and disappeared.

In 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected into office. America had a “Bank Holiday,” which was when FDR closed the banks for three days. He created the New Deal, which was meant to help the economy to recover. The Congress made up many groups to help to relieve the economy. Some of these groups were NRA, FDIC, and AAA. This was part of the first phase of the New Deal. The second phase of the New Deal was to help the people of America get jobs. The social security system was established in 1935 for people to have economic security.

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Roosevelt had to have a lot of courage to run this country during such harsh times. He also had a lot of courage because he was suffering from poliomyelitis. In summer 1921, he was diagnosed with this disease. He started to get tired, and he couldn’t move his legs. With this disability, Roosevelt could not do things by himself. He had to have someone help him do everyday things. He swam to try to get more movement into his legs. He spent a lot of money trying to find a cure for poliomyelitis. Jonas Salk made a vaccine to stop poliomyelitis because of Roosevelt’s efforts to find a cure for it. Even with this disability, Roosevelt ran the country through the most devastating time the United States had ever faced.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt is my hero because he showed that anyone can do anything if they put their mind to it. He is my hero because he was brave to lead the United States during the Great Depression. Many people lost their jobs during this time period, and the United States was out of place. He got America out of this troublesome time period, leading it to a successful future.