Conflicting Understandings of Freedom During the Great Depression

Conflicting Understandings of Freedom

• The Great Depression led to conflicting understandings of freedom.

  • This is an example of analysis, highlighting differing viewpoints rather than similarities.

FDR's Interpretation

• FDR viewed freedom as economic security, necessitating government assistance.

Herbert Hoover's Interpretation

• Herbert Hoover defined freedom as a limited government that refrained from interfering in personal lives.

Impact of the Great Depression

• The hardships of the era:

  • People stood in breadlines to obtain food.

  • The US suicide rate reached unprecedented levels.

  • 100,000 Americans applied to work in the Soviet Union due to dire conditions.

FDR's Redefinition of Liberty

• FDR, recognizing the failure of classical liberalism, sought to redefine liberty.

FDR's Definition of Liberty

• Liberty was defined as the ability to have economic security, with the government acting as an ally.

• In his 1936 Democratic Convention speech, FDR emphasized the government's role in sustaining a standard of living.

• This new conception of freedom relied on a government that assisted in ensuring economic security.

Significance of the Great Depression

• The Great Depression and the debates surrounding its solutions ultimately led to the US becoming one of the most powerful nations in the world.

• The speaker emphasizes that the sheer desperation of the Great Depression is exemplified by the fact that 100,000 Americans applied for work in the Soviet Union.

• Social conditions were so severe that people reassessed their relationship with the federal government, becoming receptive to FDR's definition of freedom.

Redefining Freedom

• FDR was able to redefine freedom by associating it with economic security for the average person, including the right to a job and a decent wage.

• Example provided from one of his fireside chats to illustrate this point.

The Fifties

• Social conservatives were organized in the fifties, engaging in grassroots organizing.