If only FDR had not been the same as Herbert Hoover & Cal Coolidge.

[graham4anything]

(repeating a common meme that was floating around back then)

[riqster]

1. K&R

& thanks.

[pampango]

2. There was a 'common meme' 'back then' that FDR was the same as Hoover and Coolidge?

I had not heard that. In what ways were they supposed to be 'the same'?

[Recursion]

5. Same crap as today: favoring bankers, pro-corporation

Bailing out business while leaving people without jobs.

And unemployment was three times what it is now, so they may have had a better argument.

[MannyGoldstein]

6. Unemployment dropped 40% and GDP grew 8%+ per year in FDR's first term.

Think about that.

Which is why, IIRC, fewer than 10 Republicans were left in the Senate after the 1936 elections.

[graham4anything]

9. NONE. Same as President Obama and Bush are NOT in any shape or form the same.

[MannyGoldstein]

3. One of us is incredibly misinformed about history. nt

[Capt. Obvious]

7. I know who it is!

[Bluenorthwest]

4. Got a link to show that was a 'common meme' at that time? Because I do not think that is the truth.

Electoral Vote Count Hoover: 59 Roosevelt: 472
Popular Vote: Hoover: 39.7% Roosevelt: 57.4%
Hoover lost 26% of his first term popular vote. 26%.

FDR won 3 more times.

Hoover's second campaign featured more threats and attempts on his life than any other candidate before or since. His trains and cars were pelted with eggs and rotten produce. A man was arrested having removed spikes from the rail line Hoover used.
He was detested.

So I'd sure be interested to see this evidence you claim.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

8. Isn't there a concerted effort on the right recently to lionize Coolidge as a great president?

But didn't Coolidge help sow the seeds that lead to the depression?

[pampango]

10. "But didn't Coolidge help sow the seeds that lead to the depression?" Definitely.

Coolidge signed the Immigration Act later that year, which was aimed at restricting southern and eastern European immigration, though he appended a signing statement expressing his unhappiness with the bill's specific exclusion of Japanese immigrants. Just before the Republican Convention began, Coolidge signed into law the Revenue Act of 1924, which decreased personal income tax rates ... .

With the exception of favoring increased tariffs, Coolidge disdained regulation, and carried about this belief by appointing commissioners to the Federal Trade Commission and the Interstate Commerce Commission who did little to restrict the activities of businesses under their jurisdiction.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_Coolidge#Industry_and_trade

While the GDP and stock market did well (at least until 1929) during the Roaring Twenties, by the end of Coolidge's presidency income inequality was at record levels (since surpassed) and union membership was at historic lows (since surpassed also).

Coolidge's policies were the main cause of the Great Depression. His policy of lower taxes and decreased corporate regulation (sound familiar) coupled with restrictive immigration and higher tariffs were all reversed by FDR during the 1930's.

Herbert Hoover became president just about 6 months before the stock market crash and the beginning of the Depression, so it is difficult to blame those on him. He was totally ineffective in dealing with them after they happened, though.