(Repost)

After listening to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s speech, what I found to be most compelling was his directness towards those who opposed him and his policies. In today’s politics, there is also direct opposition, but in most cases the Presidential candidate will remain mum about such negative remarks, or perhaps defend them in a less direct way- such as in a political ad. I did find FDR’s speech very convincing. He spoke with such passion and enthusiasm. When I picture Franklin D. Roosevelt, I think of his Fire Side Chats. Though his “chats” were very effective and enabled thousands of American’s to become more engaged in what was happening in America politically, they were greatly different than the FDR who was giving the 1936 speech.

In his speech, he tackles monopolies and big banks, and forces American citizens to stop to see how they could be considered the “enemy”. He claimed that a lot of the governmental and economic problems stemmed from big business bullying the government and having too much involvement in affairs. FDR’s bold claims can be considered extremely controversial, and some would argue that he was in a great position to be saying these things. He was still in office and running again, but at the same time his New Deal was not as successful in helping the economy as it was anticipated to.

All in all, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s speech was lively, passionate and made a large impact on the American people. It showed a side of FDR that most people do not think of and proves that he can stand up for himself and not just be a quiet, policy making President. But instead, he was a President who knew how to fight, and asked the American people to believe in him and to give him another chance to finish what he had started.