Who was a better leader, Franklin D. Roosevelt or Herbert Hoover?

Question

What were some of their political ideals, policies and leadership qualities that made one better than the other.

Answer 1

Basically the difference that gave FDR the edge was that FDR wanted to try to get the US out of the Great Depression. Hoover felt that market forces would eventually lift the US back to prosperity.

The people saw Hoover ask unwilling to help, if not uncaring--or perhap simply paralized by the Crash. FDR was dynamic.

In the end, FDR's policies by themselves did not get the country out of the Depression, WWII did. But I think a case can be made that without his leadership, the US would not have been ready for WWII.

Answer 2

HERBERT HOOVER!!!!! He was an incredible man, no question. If you ever get to go the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library in Iowa it was very informative. They can answer all your questions about him. He was one of the most accomplished men I"ve seen. He was an engineer, did relief work, responsible for saving millions of lives in Europe, and on and on. He gets a bad rap for the depression, but Coolidge was mostly responsible for that. It already started before he took office. Roosevelt gets all the credit but implemented policies still haunting us today. I still think his policies were questionable and damaging. He was also unfaithful to his wife. He died in the arms of his mistress, not his wife. Herbert Hoover was a kind and generous man. Roosevelt had good qualities too, but he wasn't the kind of person I'd want to know. Herbert Hoover was. do you care about what he accomplished in office? I"m looking at the other things Hoover did. Roosevelt was a liar, a compulsive one. Roosevelt accomplished more in office, but he was not the man that Hoover was. No way. Just look at how he treated his wife. That should say enough. You asked about leadership - not economic prosperity. Keep in mind that when you have a bull market for 10-15-20 years that sooner or later the crash has to come, it always does. In the Reagan Bull Market from August 1981 to April 2000 people thought it would last forever, it never does. There is always a correction. The blame for the depression is really not Hoovers, it was bad timing. Roosevelt did'nt give people relief right away. It took 14 years to get better. Had he only served 2 terms he wouldn't look like the saviour that he does today. His 8 years would have looked quite futile. Especially his first term. Things actually got worse under Roosevelt's tenure before they got better. The Dow was in the 700's when Hoover left office, and by July 1932 the DOW hit an all time low of 40. I still don't know if taking us off the Gold Standard and the Bank Holiday was a good idea. The entitlement mentality Roosevelt created wasn't good either. I know Hoover had a rough Presidency but he was great person. The person and the vacuum cleaner have nothing to do with each other. Hoover is mostly associated with the Hoover Dam (now the Boulder Dam?) which He was the engineer of. He was a gifted, soft spoken person.

Answer 3

Ann is right, though really people don't give Hoover enough credit for being the nice person that he was. Given the ideology of his party and his time I don't see how he could have done more. FDR entered office as a conservative, but he was smart enough to do what had to be done, and he had the political backing to do it.

Edit: I was attempting to add Ann as a contact, but the stupid yahoo system doesn't want to let me do it. This has happened to me twice before, and I would really appreciate a solution if one exists.

Answer 4

FDR-
Hoover led us over the cliff with his devotion to laisezz-faire capitalism. He refused relief during the worst parts of the Depression and also presided over the Bonus March Massacre.
US troops opened fire in 1932 upon encamped WW1 veterans and their families.
FDR had his dark moments too, but he also gave us the New Deal, introduces Keynesian economics (which we still successfully use), Social Security etc etc
That and victory in WW2 and it's not even close-FDR!!

Answer 5

Franklin D. Roosevelt!! Do a Yahoo search on the
rest of the info and you'll get better results!!!

Answer 6

All I have to say is Hooverville, Hoover blankets, Hoover cars, Hoover flags, and Hoover hogs....trust me, these were not good things.

Answer 7

That guy said "Hoover sucked" ... well he's right because the vacuum in my house is Hoover. And it literally sucks.