Johnsons State of the Nation and Roosevelt Inaugural Addresses - Essay Example

A comparison of Johnson’s of the nation and Roosevelt inaugural addresses Introduction In the history of the United States, the state of the nation and the inaugural addresses has been used serving and incoming presidents to articulate their policy visions and plans to the country. Different presidents have adopted different plans and these have been communicated through the state of the nation address within the senate chamber or through a national address following swearing in. Franklin D Roosevelt and Lyndon D Johnson served as presidents of the United States at different moments in the country’s history and their performance was influenced by their policies. President FDR served the country at momentous historical moment punctuated with world mistrust and the volatility of the world conflicts. Despite this, Roosevelt organized a campaign that was slow to provide the actual details about its ability to lead the country. Through his inaugural address to the nation, Roosevelt articulated his play and view of the role of the federal government in addressing domestic and international obligations. Johnson also used the state of the nation address to the nation in 1964 to emphasize his Great Society ideals to the congress after assuming office following the death of John F Kennedy. In this paper, the varying views of the two former presidents on the role of the government through these two speeches will be compared and contrasted1. Comparison of Johnson’s state of the nation and FDR inaugural address Johnson made an emotive speech to congress in 1964 in which he highlighted the plans of his administration for the United States as the president. In a speech marked by the articulation of domestic policies and needs of the government to protect its citizens against poverty, disease, lack of education, insecurity and unemployment, Johnson expressed the role of the federal government to its people. Viewed as a promulgation of his election promises during the campaign, Johnson laid his plans to eliminate the suffering of the American citizens through empowering them and eliminating security threats. Though the war of poverty was more dominant in his speech, Johnson articulated the need of the federal government under his administration to ensure that the American people do not suffer from the pangs of poverty, destitution, lack of enough teachers and poor educational opportunities. Through the great society and anti-poverty reforms in the country, Johnson emphasized that it is the role of the federal government to eliminate poverty that has held the world’s wealthiest country hostage2. The commitment to elimination of poverty in the country as highlighted in his speech was seen through his support of the 1964 civil rights act. This act acted as a benchmark for the strengthening of civil liberties and rights of the people to vote and the development of the equal opportunity commission. As stressed in his speech, Johnson envisaged an America where the neither races nor party affiliation affected the ability of an individual to work in the public sector. Johnson emphasized the need for the development of affordable healthcare to the American people and this was achieved through the establishment of Medicaid in the years that followed as an assurance program for the poor3. In his speech, Johnson also highlighted the role of the federal government to assist the disadvantaged in the society through the development of schemes to uplift their living standards. Assistance and support would target the economically and physically disadvantage to uplift their living standards and enable them achieve their dreams. Due to this commitment in the address, Johnson championed the development of the housing and urban development projects to provide low cost housing within the American urban centers. Roosevelt inaugural speech had a number of differences and similarities with Johnson’s state of the nation address and this has been attributed to the difference in historical events. While Johnson ascended into office following the death of Kennedy and the emotional moments enabled him to articulate the visions of the previous president in his address, FDR inherited the great depression that followed the First World War and the volatility of international relations. While Johnson highlighted the role and powers of the federal government to protect the people against poverty, lack of quality education and housing facilities, Roosevelt highlighted the need for the federal government to strengthen the army of the country and defend against external aggression. As a result, he asked for the enactment of laws that could strengthen the wartime powers of the executive to deal with the crisis the country was facing and the American people to bow with military discipline to the powers of his authority. By this statement, Roosevelt highlighted the need for the federal government to stamp its international presence and authority through the demonstration of its military power4. While Johnson concentrated on the reduction of the budget deficit and a reduction in the government expenditure as some of the financial obligations of the federal government, Roosevelt highlighted the need for the federal authority to be felt in the control of the great depression in the country. This will enable the country to regain its economic development and eliminate the suffering that had bedeviled the country following the great depression. Though the two emphasize the need for increased employment in their address, Roosevelt address was entirely punctuated with requests for more federal powers to act against economic sabotage among others5. As a way of eliminating the troubles in the urban centers, Roosevelt highlighted the role of the federal government in town planning and the control of populations in major cities. This was seen through his request for powers to redistribute the population to eliminate the overbalance in population that had been caused by unbalanced industrial development in the country6. Despite the presence of articulation of policy issues in the address as seen in Johnson’s state of the nation address, Roosevelt concentrated more on the need for the executive to be empowered through legislation. He thus called for laws that could strengthen his ability as the head of the federal government to act in different situation that the country could be exposed to. Of prominence was his request for the empowerment of the federal government to have the ability to act promptly to external aggression against the country. Roosevelt foresaw a situation where emerging armies and the volatility and suspicion that characterized the globe after the First World War would compromise the United States Based on this articulation, Roosevelt differs from Johnson in their addresses through the focus of the later on the strengthening of the army, the defense and economic abilities of the country against sabotage. He concluded his remarks by requesting for powers to make ‘direct and vigorous actions when and if need be during his tenure as the commander in chief of the country. Though the speeches had a number of differences, the great society program articulated by Johnson in his state of the nation address was similar to the new deal developed by FDR. In both the speeches, the two highlighted the need to develop approaches to assist the needy and poor Americans. Johnson covered this through his Great Society program that included economic, education and social empowerment of the American people at a time when poverty was high. FDR had developed a similar approach through the new deal program that he introduced during his first inaugural speech to the nation. Through his Medicare program, Johnson extended affordable healthcare facilities as captured in the great society aspect of his speech. FDR also introduced the social security program that enabled the poor and the needy in the society especially the elderly to access quality healthcare services. The work progress administration under the new deal of FDR also enabled the federal government to provide employment to unemployed during the tenure of Roosevelt. Johnson later captured the same program in his address and the implementation of the great society vision in 19647. Conclusion Apart from the similarity in the programs, the new deal and the great society increased the powers of the federal government and strengthen their ability to implement programs aimed at eliminating the suffering of the poor in the country. The elimination of poverty also remained the common denominator in the two programs as was highlighted in the speeches by Johnson and Roosevelt. As a result of the similarities in the two programs, it is accurate to refer to Johnson’s great society as an extension of FDR’s new deal. Bibliography Grossman, Jordan. Lyndon Johnson’s unfinished legacy: The 1964 state of the nation address and the war on poverty. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania, 2007. Rosenman, Samuel. The Public Papers of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Volume Two: The Year of Crisis, 1933 (New York: Random House, 1938), 11–16. Read More