Conservatism Vs. Roosevelt: A True Conservative

Political ideology has been a revolving door of principles that have been prescribed to a certain group. Conservatism and liberalism have been two of the largest political ideologies in the United States and has been ever present throughout the development of this country. However the ideologies of presidents throughout their terms has not always been consistent which is displayed throughout the terms of conservative Hoover and liberal Roosevelt. Conservatism and liberalism has been placed on opposing ends of the political ideology spectrum. President Herbert Hoover has been historically regarded as one that agreed with the philosophies and principles of conservatism. Throughout his presidency, many of his actions displayed that conservative

Roosevelt attributed many of his effective actions to be rooted in liberalism steering him in the direction of humanitarian action. However that liberalism was not a reflection of what his core values were, but those values were a presentation on how to be an effective conservative (Document 6). Within a speech presented in New York, Roosevelt outlined his definition of a conservative and how to be a “true” conservative by using liberalism to ground ideology in humanitarianism. President Roosevelt implemented multiple programs to aid in relief from the effects of the Great Depression. The implementation of those government programs were to support the New Deal which was presented with the sole purpose of providing relief to struggling Americans. Those government programs were brought along with a sharp increase from deficit spending from his predecessor, President Hoover; the deficit spending increased 1 billion dollars following Roosevelt’s election and continued to increase throughout his presidency (Document 5). The display of his spending and increased government involvement is consistent with his traditionally viewed liberal philosophies, but his policies and actions deviated from those liberal principles. During his campaign, Roosevelt took careful time and measures to outline what the very being of liberal thinking was and how he planned to frame his policies around that (Document 1). His promises were inconsistent on the campaign trail such as reducing government operation cost which would ultimately result in reducing government involvement and provision for equal opportunity (Document 4). His wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, was far more heavily enthralled with ensuring that equal rights, especially for African-Americans, were provided at all cost, but her husband was not as heavily concerned with ensuring that his New Deal program would equal benefit