Expansion of Presidency under FDR

Franklin Delano Roosevelt is generally regarded as one of the top U.S. Presidents. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt began a new era in American history by ending the Great Depression that the country had fallen into in 1929. When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt assumed the Presidency on March 4, 1933, he gained leadership of a deeply isolationist country struggling to survive a depression and yearning for change. When Roosevelt died twelve years and one month later, he had lifted the United States to world power status, provided recovery from economic depression, incorporated rhetoric as a means to reach the masses, and expanded the powers of the Presidency. In short, FDR had created the Modern Presidency. Through his New Deal Programs, his ability to increase the United States’ worldwide influence, his Fireside Chats, and his expansion of Presidential powers, Roosevelt became the first Modern President and established the precedent all future presidents were to follow. His social reforms gave people a new perspective on government. Government was not only expected to protect the people from foreign invaders, but to protect against poverty and unemployment.

The differences between great and mediocre presidents centers on their ability to grasp the importance of leadership style. Truly great president, such as FDR, understood that the White House was a seat of power from which decisions could flow to shape the national destiny. They recognized that their day to day activities and how they went about them should be designed to bolster support for their policies and to secure congressional and popular backing that could translate their intuitive judgment into meaningful action. Going public and mobilizing public opinion was another great trait of a great president, a concept FDR understood very well. FDR became the first president to communicate personally with Americans across the nation at the same time. He utilized the radio to deliver his series of Fireside Chats in which he addressed citizens as “my friends.” His calm and encouraging rhetoric inspired Americans to renew their faith in banking and to trust Roosevelt’s administration.

When President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent his first legislative package to congress he broke the traditional model of law making. The framers envisioned the congress to be making the laws, but that soon changed as soon as FDR came into power. In the beginning of his first term, Congress passed an unprecedented amount of legislation during the “Hundred Days.” The Hundred Days were crucial in providing direct relief from depression, but a more appropriate model of the president as chief legislator comes from FDR’s creation of the New Deal political coalition. With this, FDR shifted the presidency into a law and policy maker role. Since FDR, modern presidents have played a major role in setting the legislative agenda.

Franklin Roosevelt redefined the American presidency. By leading America from an isolationist to a world power, strengthening the central government through the establishment of the New Deal Coalition, using encouraging rhetoric to establish a connection with Americans, and expanding the president’s administrative capabilities, Franklin Roosevelt set standards of leadership and conduct all current and future presidents would be wise to emulate.