FDRs Political Gifts and Creative Leadership - Book Report/Review Example

FDR’s Political Gifts and Creative Leadership Political Gifts Winkler (2006) s that FDR demonstrated his political gifts early on in his career, when he was running for state senator of New York in 1910. He was running for a seat in a heavily Republican district, and had only a five to one chance of making it in the election. FDR won that election by concentrating on farmers, who were formerly part of the Republican base, while virtually ignoring the traditional Democratic strongholds in the cities. Roosevelt repeated this strategy when running for re-election, winning the state senate seat comfortably. Although Roosevelt won election by appealing to farmers, he also won because he got his name out in the public by driving around in a red car and talking to common people. Next, Roosevelt ran for governor of New York in 1928. His platform included that women and children need to work a maximum of 48 hours a week, that there should be 8 hour days, and an old-age pension scheme, along with handicap assistance. Once again, although Roosevelt was an underdog going into this campaign, he prevailed, winning by some 26,000 votes out of four million cast. While he was governor of New York, the Great Depression occurred with the stock market crash of 1929, and Roosevelt sought ways to minimize what occurred. To this end, he met with advisers, who told him that businesses should be regulated. At the same time, there was a great wealth inequality, as businesses were posting record profits, yet not sharing these profits with the workers, who were the drivers of the economy. Therefore, the underlying structural problems that Roosevelt sought to correct were the wealth inequality and lack of regulation on businesses and banks. He therefore put together a program that included progressive taxation, unemployment and health insurance, and a reduction in tariffs and taxes. Roosevelt needed a platform for his ideas, which is where he was able to show more political gifts. Specifically, Roosevelt got the idea of talking to Americans on the radio. He found that the radio would be the best way to reach the people unfiltered. In his radio addresses he informed the people that he was looking for bold ways to help the common man, which would, in turn, help the country, because the common man needed more purchasing power to drive the economic engine. This platform of bold ideas helped catapult him to the Democratic nomination for President in 1932, and he took the unprecedented step of accepting the nomination in person, by travelling to Chicago. He swept into office that year, winning an electoral college landslide, largely because the nation was tired of Herbert Hoover – “After years of battling the Great Depression, people were willing to try anyone else” (Winkler, 2006, p. 62). Roosevelt continued his philosophy of boldness in his inaugural address, realizing that what the country needed, more than anything, was confidence. His line of “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance” (Winkler, 2006, p. 69), entered the lexicon, especially the line about fear itself. He also told the people that he wanted to work with Congress, but if Congress would not work with him, he was prepared to use “broad Executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe” (Winkler, 2006, p. 69). Winkler stated that this step – that he would take action, even if he was blocked by the legislator - was all it took for the nation to have hope once more. He combined this resolve with his now famous fireside chats, in which he took to the radio to address the nation directly. This connected FDR with the people. Roosevelt also showed his political gifts in his dealings with Congress. He knew what measures to take that would ensure that he would not alienate the body. Such as when he refused to back an anti-lynching measure, because he knew that, if he did, he would not be able to pass important measures that would keep the country from collapsing – “The Southerners by reason of the senior rule in Congress are chairmen and occupy strategic places on most of the Senate and House committees. If I come out for the anti-lynching bill now, they will block every bill I ask Congress to pass to keep America from collapsing” (Winkler, 2006, p. 128). Nevertheless, he did not alienate the black population because he did assist them, and he made Eleanor a figurehead as somebody who took up the black cause. When America became involved in World War II, with the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt turned his political gifts to his dealings with world leaders. For instance, Roosevelt recognized that Stalin would be an important ally, and treated him as such – “FDR went out of his way to conciliate Stalin, and to try to establish a personal relaitonship with him as well…” (Winkler, 2006, p. 163). This later became important, as Russia was an important front in the war. Creative Leadership One of the examples of FDR’s creative leadership, that ultimately backfired, was his attempting to pack the Supreme Court with six new Supreme Court justices. However, as noted, this creative solution to a conservative court that would surely invalidate Roosevelt’s signature achievement - The New Deal - failed, as “Roosevelt seemed to be attacking one of the nation’s most important symbols…Roosevelt’s efforts to fiddle with it seemed to be all wrong” (Winkler, 2006, p. 118). Moreover, FDR, before the war, committed large parts of the industrial sector to making war time weapons, effectively restructuring these industrial segments. What this did was bring the nation out of the Great Depression – “spending huge sums of money restored economic health, just as John Maynard Keynes had predicted it would, and, as the economy operated at full tilt, Americans finally found themselves free from the ravages of the Great Depression” (Winkler, 2006, p. 181). Roosevelt further aided the war effort by establishing agencies that were geared towards getting the country ready for this war. Further, his creative leadership was shown when he instituted the Lend-Lease Act in March 1941, which recognized that public opinion was against the US getting into the war, but still implemented acts that facilitated other nations’ war efforts. Specifically, he authorized the transfer of military supplies to Britain, China and the Soviet Union (Ware). This was creative, because he was able to involved the US in the war indirectly, thus observing public opinion while helping in the effort. Conclusion FDR did leave the world in a better place than it was before, and not just because he was able to shepherd the nation through World War II. His lasting legacy was that he was able implement policies that helped workers. Before he came to power, wealth was concentrated in the hands of very few, and there was little incentive for this to change. FDR recognized that a strong middle class was important to the economy, so he was able to implement changes that helped strengthen the worker. He increased regulations, and was the driver of the worker protections that led to unionization, and finally led to employers sharing some of their wealth with their employees. While wealth inequality is always a problem, and is still a problem today, FDR at least addressed the problems and his initiatives led to the workers having a better life, and, perhaps more importantly, increased purchasing power. References Winkler, Allan M. Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Making of Modern America. New York: Pearson Longman, 2006. Print. Ware, Susan. “President Franklin Roosevelt.” Read More