Many of the people who have served as president have had a significant impact on the character of the United States. While most have served diligently, some have not. For example, President Warren Harding’s most notable accomplishment was to appoint his crooked friends to high positions, and he did very little else. Others, however, have been outstanding in shaping America into what it is today. This lesson will highlight a few of the most influential later presidents through some of the speeches they gave and by showing how each of them influenced America.
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.45
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, commonly called FDR, was among the best-known presidents, being incredibly influential in implementing programs that we still see in our country today. Roosevelt came into his presidency when the Great Depression, a time period that brought people to the depths of poverty and despair, was in full swing. The face of America was hardly recognizable. The United States Bureau of the Census has estimated that in 1933, nearly one in four people was out of work—24.9 percent unemployment! Additionally, many states had been experiencing one of the most devastating droughts the U.S. has ever seen, with people being forced to move to cities to find work. Roosevelt recognized the problem and launched a huge social-services program called the New Deal, which created a push for big government like never before.
Because of FDR's charisma and big heart, many people began to revere him as their personal friend. Roosevelt served longer than any other U.S. president—he was elected to four terms. His New Deal programs and the onset of WWII helped create jobs and revive the nation’s devastated economy. Roosevelt shaped the character of America during a trying time in the history of the United States by giving people hope that things would improve.
Day after day, President Roosevelt and his equally well-known wife, Eleanor, received letters from the downtrodden and hopeless asking for some sort of help. The following letter is an example of the type of mail the White House received every day.
Columbus, Georgia
October 24, 1934
Dear President Roosevelt:
I hope you can spare the time for a few words from a cotton mill family, out of work and almost out of heart and in just a short while out of a house in which to live. you know of course that the realtors are putting the people out when they cannot pay the rent promptly. and how are we to pay the rent so long as the mills refuse us work, merely because we had the nerve to ask or “demand,” better working conditions.
I realize and appreciate the aid and food which the government is going to the poor people of work Thanks to you.
but is it even partly right for us to be thrown out of our homes, when we have no chance whatever of paying, so long as the big corporations refuse of work. I for one am very disheartened and disappointed guess my notice to move will come next.
what are we to do. wont you try to help us wont you appeal, “for us all,” to the real estate people and the factories
hoping you’ll excuse this, but I’ve always thought of F.D.R. as my personal friend.
C.L.F. [male]
President Roosevelt’s presidential cabinet grew larger and larger as he hired more and more people to manage the problems of unemployment and poverty. It was through his presidency and his New Deal programs that the Social Security program was started, as well as most of the social services that we see today, including things like welfare, health and human services, and workforce services. We still feel the effects of President Roosevelt’s work in our society today.
During his tenure, Roosevelt began a new program of speaking to the American people. He started giving regular radio broadcasts called “fireside chats,” in which he sought to boost the morale of the American people by addressing their needs directly and in a conversational tone. Here are excerpts from one of his fireside chats.
I am happy to report that after years of uncertainty, culminating in the collapse of the spring of 1933, we are bringing order out of the old chaos with a greater certainty of the employment of labor at a reasonable wage and of more business at a fair profit. . . .
Our first problem was, of course, the banking situation because, as you know, the banks had collapsed. Some banks could not be saved but the great majority of them, either through their own resources or with government aid, have been restored to complete public confidence. This has given safety to millions of depositors in these banks. . . .
The second step we have taken in the restoration of normal business enterprise has been to clean up thoroughly unwholesome conditions in the field of investment . . . . I sincerely hope that as a result people will be discouraged in unhappy efforts to get rich quick by speculating in the securities.47 The average person almost always loses. Only a very small minority of the people of this country believe in gambling as a substitute for the old philosophy of Benjamin Franklin that the way to wealth is through work.
In meeting the problems of industrial recovery the chief agency of the government has been the National Recovery Administration. Under its guidance, trades and industries . . . have adopted codes of fair competition, which have been approved by the president. Under these codes . . . child labor has been eliminated. The work day and the work week have been shortened. Minimum wages have been established and other wages adjusted toward a rising standard of living. . . .
The gains of trade and industry, as a whole, have been substantial. . . . We count, in the future as in the past, on the driving power of individual initiative and the incentive of fair profit, strengthened with the acceptance of those obligations to the public interest which rest upon us all. We have the right to expect that this driving power will be given patriotically and whole-heartedly to our nation. . . .
To those who say that our expenditures for public works and other means for recovery are a waste that we cannot afford, I answer that no country, however rich, can afford the waste of its human resources. Demoralization caused by vast unemployment is our greatest extravagance. Morally, it is the greatest menace to our social order. . . . I stand or fall by my refusal to accept as a necessary condition of our future a permanent army of unemployed. On the contrary, we must make it a national principle that we will not tolerate a large army of unemployed and that we will arrange our national economy to end our present unemployment as soon as we can and then to take wise measure against its return.
Some of the presidents were great and some of them weren’t. I can say that, because I wasn’t one of the great presidents, but I had a good time trying to be one, I can tell you that.
As president, Harry S. Truman made some of the most crucial decisions in history. Truman served as vice president under Franklin D. Roosevelt for only a few weeks before being thrust into the presidency on 12 April 1945 by FDR’s sudden and tragic death. Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 had pulled the United States into World War II, a worldwide battle against the Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan. By April 1945, the war was nearing its conclusion in Europe. V-E (Victory in Europe) Day arrived less than a month after Truman took office, and soon after that, the war against Japan reached its final stage. Japan had seen the two Axis members in Europe fall to the Allied nations but still had refused to back down. An urgent plea to Japan to surrender was rejected. Truman, after consulting with his advisers, ordered the dropping of atomic bombs on two Japanese cities devoted to war work, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Of the bomb, Truman said in an August 1945 radio address:
Having found the bomb we have used it. We have used it against those who attacked us without warning at Pearl Harbor, against those who have starved and beaten and executed American prisoners of war, against those who have abandoned all pretense of obeying international laws of warfare. We have used it in order to shorten the agony of war, in order to save the lives of thousands and thousands of young Americans. We shall continue to use it until we completely destroy Japan’s power to make war. Only a Japanese surrender will stop us.
After only two bombs were dropped, the Japanese quickly surrendered.
This event reshaped the face of America’s involvement on the international stage. The United States strengthened its position as a world leader. Truman’s decision was probably one of the most dramatic illustrations of how a president can affect the direction America moves. Truman’s actions, influenced by many of the presidents before him, were far different from George Washington’s attitude toward international affairs. Washington avoided foreign involvement at all cost, but presidents who followed him gradually moved the United States toward involvement in many countries’ problems.
Truman led the nation through some of its most difficult days following the end of World War II, when the United States found itself involved in the cold war with Russia. Truman said in his final address as president on 15 January 1953:
I suppose that history will remember my term in office as the years when the Cold War began to overshadow our lives. I have hardly a day in office that has not been dominated by this all-embracing struggle…. And always in the background there has been the atomic bomb. But when history says that my term of office saw the beginning of the Cold War, it will also say that in those eight years we have set the course that can win it.
The president did set the course for future presidents to deal with the Cold War, an international conflict that would last until the late 1980s, when communism in Eastern Europe and in the former U.S.S.R. would fall.
My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.48
John Fitzgerald Kennedy is regarded as one of the most popular presidents the United States has seen. He was the second youngest president in U.S. history and was assassinated just one thousand days after taking office. Perhaps his popularity came not from his charismatic personality alone, but from the things going on in the United States during his presidency and from the leadership he offered.
Kennedy came into office in the midst of the Civil Rights movement. The character of America was changing dramatically as leaders like Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, and Thurgood Marshall challenged the ugly face of racism that had tainted the American dream for countless Americans. President Kennedy wanted to create equality for all. He was dedicated to legislation that made equal rights available to all. Kennedy demonstrated he was an advocate for human rights the world over. He became heavily involved with humanitarian efforts and founded the Alliance for Progress and the Peace Corps, which brought American idealism to the aid of developing nations.
Kennedy’s strength of leadership when dealing with other nations became evident by the way he dealt with Russia and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Russians began to plan and build facilities for nuclear missiles in Cuba. When air reconnaissance discovered this in October 1962, Kennedy sent a naval fleet to block Russia’s shipments of nuclear weapons to the small Caribbean nation. For a few tense days, the world trembled on the brink of nuclear war. Eventually the Russians backed down and agreed to remove the missiles.
Although Kennedy’s presidency was filled with many troubling events, it was also filled with exciting changes for the nation. The following excerpt is from a radio address President Kennedy gave that focused on the concerns surrounding civil rights issues in Alabama and in the United States as a whole. While you read through Kennedy’s remarks, think about how different life might be if we still lived like the people in the South did during the times before President Kennedy’s fight for civil rights. What would it be like to have people refuse you service in their store just because of the color of your skin? How is life different because of Kennedy’s work in the government to make laws regulating civil liberties?
This afternoon, following a series of threats and defiant statements, the presence of Alabama National Guardsmen was required on the University of Alabama to carry out the final and unequivocal order of the United States District Court of the Northern District of Alabama. That order called for the admission of two clearly qualified young Alabama residents who happened to have been born Negro.
That they were admitted peacefully on the campus is due in good measure to the conduct of the students of the University of Alabama, who met their responsibilities in a constructive way.
I hope that every American, regardless of where he lives, will stop and examine his conscience about this and other related incidents. This nation was founded by men of many nations and backgrounds. It was founded on the principle that all men are created equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened. . . .
The heart of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities, whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we want to be treated. If an American, because his skin is dark, cannot eat lunch in a restaurant open to the public, if he cannot send his children to the best public school available, if he cannot vote for the public officials who will represent him, if, in short, he cannot enjoy the full and free life which all of us want, then who among us would be content to have the color of his skin changed and stand in his place? Who among us would then be content with the counsels of patience and delay?
One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free. . . . They are not yet freed from social and economic oppression. And this nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free. . . .
Now the time has come for this nation to fulfill its promise. The events in Birmingham and elsewhere have so increased the cries for equality that no city or state or legislative body can prudently choose to ignore them. . . .
We face, therefore, a moral crisis as a country and as a people. It cannot be met by repressive police action. It cannot be left to increased demonstrations in the streets. It cannot be quieted by token moves or talk. It is time to act in the Congress, in your state and local legislative body and, above all, in all of our daily lives.
This country has many challenges. We will not deny, we will not ignore, we will not pass along our problems to other Congresses, to other presidents, and other generations. We will confront them with focus and clarity and courage.51
George W. Bush is one of only two presidents whose fathers had previously held the presidential position. President Bush brought what has been called a compassionate conservative attitude into his presidency after a controversial win over his opponent, Al Gore. He also committed himself to ushering in a responsibility era in America, and he has called on all Americans to be “citizens, not spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens building communities of service and a nation of character.”
Only seven months into his presidency, the United States was attacked by terrorists, causing more deaths on American soil than the country had seen since the Civil War. President Bush quickly gathered his cabinet and other significant leaders from the country to decide how to best handle the situation. He responded by inviting people to do everything from giving blood to participating in prayer and remembrance ceremonies. He led the American citizens through a sad time full of difficult decisions. A new sense of unity and patriotism flourished. This brings us to the America we know today.
We know what it means to be at war again. We know how important it is to be led by a president who is trying to do the best he can with the information that he has. President Bush reminded us in his 2003 State of the Union address that, “In all these days of promise and days of reckoning, we can be confident. In a whirlwind of change and hope and peril, our faith is sure, our resolve is firm, and our union is strong.”
Following the September 11 attacks, President Bush recognized the need to pull together the nation and help the people know what was in their future. The following is the radio address he gave on 14 September 2001, discussing those needs.
Good morning. This weekend I am engaged in extensive sessions with members of my National Security Council, as we plan a comprehensive assault on terrorism. This will be a different kind of conflict against a different kind of enemy.
This is a conflict without battlefields or beachheads, a conflict with opponents who believe they are invisible. Yet, they are mistaken. They will be exposed, and they will discover what others in the past have learned: Those who make war against the United States have chosen their own destruction. Victory against terrorism will not take place in a single battle, but in a series of decisive actions against terrorist organizations and those who harbor and support them.
We are planning a broad and sustained campaign to secure our country and eradicate the evil of terrorism. And we are determined to see this conflict through. Americans of every faith and background are committed to this goal.
Yesterday I visited the site of the destruction in New York City and saw an amazing spirit of sacrifice and patriotism and defiance. I met with rescuers who have worked past exhaustion, who cheered for our country and the great cause we have entered.
In Washington, D.C., the political parties and both houses of Congress have shown a remarkable unity, and I’m deeply grateful. A terrorist attack designed to tear us apart has instead bound us together as a nation. Over the past few days, we have learned much about American courage—the courage of firefighters and police officers who suffered so great a loss, the courage of passengers aboard United 93 who may well have fought with the hijackers and saved many lives on the ground.
Now we honor those who died, and prepare to respond to these attacks on our nation. I will not settle for a token act. Our response must be sweeping, sustained, and effective. We have much do to, and much to ask of the American people.
You will be asked for your patience; for, the conflict will not be short. You will be asked for resolve; for, the conflict will not be easy. You will be asked for your strength, because the course to victory may be long.
In the past week, we have seen the American people at their very best everywhere in America. Citizens have come together to pray, to give blood, to fly our country’s flag. Americans are coming together to share their grief and gain strength from one another.
Great tragedy has come to us, and we are meeting it with the best that is in our country, with courage and concern for others. Because this is America. This is who we are. This is what our enemies hate and have attacked. And this is why we will prevail.
45. Roosevelt, Franklin D. “First Inaugural Address.” Washington D.C., March 1933.
46. McElvaine, Roberts S. Down and Out in the Great Depression: Letters from the Forgotten Man. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1983.
47. stocks, bonds, etc.
48. Kennedy, John F. “Inaugural Address.” January 20, 1961.
51. Bush, George W. “State of the Union address.” 2003
