Franklin Delano Roosevelt: A Comparative Analysis

In all the history of America, many presidents are known as important, influential figures in the shaping of the United States of America, but few have come close to matching the reputations of Ronald Reagan and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Although about forty years apart, the vast majority of people consider them to be not only expert leaders with great achievements but also agents of political change. They earned this title because they both “shared an ability to replace exhausted old leadership with a genuinely new vision.”(1) Though they had very different political views, they were both very similar in the way that they changed the politics of America. The earlier president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was a renowned democrat with a tragic

Both were thrust into office in a period of economic collapse, and both had to clean up the mess the previous presidents had left. Because of these situations, “both had to develop strong economic policies to get the economy back on track.”(6) Reagan’s plan, Reagonomics, and Roosevelt’s plan, the New Deal, both helped to not only rescue the country from the failing economy but also to change it. Both presidents spent more money on military and “ushered in an era of social change and government responsibility that was a great departure from previous administrations.”(6) These two presidents knew what to do to rebuild the economy and did it. They both created legacies for themselves that still last today. So despite a few differences in the way they lived their lives, Ronald Reagan and Franklin Delano Roosevelt were both incredibly similar in tactics and situations. Known as the most influential presidents of the 20th century, they proved themselves to be agents of political change. Leading America out of potential economic collapse and ushering it into a new era of social and political change, Roosevelt and Reagan secured their place in history as some of the most impactful presidents