Ronald Reagan was a better President than FDR

Introduction: FOUR, or the number of times Reagan voted for FDR FDR is one of the most influential and respected of U.S. presidents, garnering admiration across the political spectrum. Even amidst criticisms of specific aspects of FDR’s policy, the broad and long lasting impact of FDR on American society has earned the gratitude of conservatives like Newt Gingrich. Reagan himself voted for FDR in 4 presidential elections and stated that he was not against the New Deal. A) FDR beat Hitler The incredible victory of the US in WWII and the subsequent positioning of the US as global hegemon are directly attributed to FDR. I assume Pro is joking that the Cold War was a more serious threat than WWII, considering WWII is the deadliest conflict in history with over 60 million killed. 1. Management pre-war involvement FDR’s management and navigation of public opinion pre-WWII were essential to the final victory. The U.S. was heavily isolationist in the post-WWI era; not only public sentiment but legal barriers such as the Neutrality Laws prevented material support of belligerents. Without the military and financial aid to the Allied belligerents, WWII would have been lost long before Pearl Harbor forced direct U.S. involvement. FDR deftly worked to repeal aspects of the Neutrality Laws to permit the “cash and carry” policy that allowed for limited aid to Britain and Russia. As Britain’s situation worsened, FDR personally came up with the concept of Lend-Lease as a means of providing weaponry and war machines to the belligerents. Stalin said after the war at the Tehran conference: “Without the use of those machines, through Lend-Lease, we would lose this war.” Roosevelt also fought isolationist sentiment to pre-emptively massively build up U.S. military. 2. Management of war involvement A number of FDR policies were crucial to the war effort: joint command and collaboration on atomic bomb research with Britain; The Atlantic Charter, i.e. affirmation of the right to self-determination; “Hitler first” policy setting clear strategy early in the war; a call for “unconditional surrender” and the absolute destruction of fascism. FDR also pushed Churchill on opening a second European front- a crucial move repeatedly requested by Stalin. Churchill wished to continue with a Mediterranean campaign, but FDR and Stalin forced definite plans for D-Day and the eventual liberation of France. B) The Bomb FDR began research on the atomic bomb, making the US the first nuclear power and preventing a prolonged conflict in the Pacific. The atomic bomb has supported the U.S. as global hegemon. US dominance of the most important feature of post-WWII global security is due to FDR. C) The G.I. Bill The G.I. Bill transformed the face of American post-WWII, sending over 2 million veterans to college, 6 million to job training, and offering low-rate home mortgages that fueled the post-war housing boom. The G.I. bill had a long lasting economic impact on the U.S. economy and society by creating a strong middle and professional class and boosting home-ownership, propelling the post-war boom. The G.I. Bill prevented a post-war recession or a repeat of the post-WWI Bonus Army as millions of veterans flooded the U.S. job force. D) FDR Saved Capitalism and Democracy 1. Solving the Crisis At minimum FDR is responsible for the preservation of the capitalist market system. The Hoover administration left the country on the brink of revolution. 20,000 impoverished veterans sat outside D.C. and were violently expelled by the Army, food riots across the country, states took radical action like forcibly preventing farm foreclosure via the National Guard. Radical political leaders like Coughlin and Huey Long advocated for fascism or outright redistribution and gained considerable political traction. If nothing else, FDR’s 100 days captured public trust in the government. Even if the New Deal policies weren’t optimal, they still saved the country from collapse. This is on face a greater achievement than anything Reagan did. 2. Consensus Supports New Deal There simply isn’t enough space to hash out economic impacts of the New Deal, but the overwhelming consensus is that the New Deal did NOT lengthen the Great Depression [1]. Even looking at Pro’s unemployment chart, it is clear that unemployment rapidly fell following the New Deal. The bottom line is FDR entered office at the worst point of the Great Depression and was followed by the largest economic expansion in US history and a prolonged period of economic stability [7]. 3. Banking Security Following his election FDR restored confidence in the banking industry with the Banking Holiday, FDIC, SEC. These are independent of the Keynesian aspects of the New Deal most people critique. Continuation of bank runs in 1933 would have been disastrous, but instead FDR’s policies resulted in a reversal of the hemorrhaging bank cash flow with deposits exceeding withdrawals by a factor of 2 and 15% single day rise in Wall Street stock prices. Unlike controversial New Deal policies, the FDIC undoubtedly provides banking stability, which is why every bank in America today has an FDIC insured sticker in their window and no one talks about repealing the FDIC. Even Milton Friedman agrees, calling the FDIC the “most important structural change in our monetary institutions since at least 1914.” [2] E) FDR Feeds Grandma Possibly the most important U.S. social program, FDR launched the Social Security program to fight elderly poverty and assure everyone in the U.S. a financially secure retirement. Economic studies have confirmed that SSI does have a large impact on poverty for the elderly [3] F) He Just Did So Freaking Much -Executive Order 8802, first federal order to prohibit government racial employment discrimination. -Founded March of Dimes, eliminating polio from the U.S. -War refugee Board- saved up to 200,000 Jews -Repealed prohibition with 21st Amendment G) Rebuttal Court Packing is a non-issue, FDR lost that battle and so it had no negative impact on public policy. Pre-FDR presidents had succeeded in court packing schemes; Court Packing was beneficial insofar as the political backlash ensured no president would try the maneuver again. Japanese internment was a terrible policy. I can only point out that this was a case of FDR deferring to military advisors, though ultimately FDR signed the orders. War is hell, and every war president has made the wrong call on a tough decision. Reagan A) Reagan Dines-and-Dashes Reagan failed abysmally if his goal was to run a low-spending government. Reagan massively increased US debt as % GDP and spent on average 22.4% GDP compared with average spending of 20.6% between 1971-2009. Reagan took the U.S. from being the world’s largest creditor nation to the largest debtor nation. The Reagan economic policies were not bad ones, but they were largely in line with trends of the time and most of the Reagan expansion was due to a natural upturn in the economy following stagflation. Deregulation actually started under Carter, and even Milton Friedman thinks the Reagan expansion was due to Carter-appointee Volcker’s monetary policy. [6] B) Reagan did not win the Cold War- the USSR lost it USSR was facing massive imperial overstretch, e.g. 10% of the Polish population belonged to the anti-USSR Solidarity party by Reagan’s first year in office. The USSR Era of Stagnation began in the early 70’s. The Soviet system was a failure- it flourished while economic success meant production of raw resources like coal and oil but faltered as Western countries pulled ahead in innovation-driven markets. Alcoholism in the USSR was rampant and life expectancy began to FALL between 1970-85. These causes all pre-date any impact from the Reagan administration, collapse of the USSR was only a matter of time. Pro touts SDI as a Reagan success but it was a failure! Most of the SDI programs were cancelled as infeasible; we still don’t have a comprehensive missile defense system Much of Reagan’s policy was a continuation of Carter. The Carter administration began the ramp up in military spending that Reagan continued [4]. The “Carter Doctrine” declaring U.S. strategic interest in the Persian Gulf setting a hard-line military tone, followed by actual military engagement in Afghanistan, had much more of an impact than Reagan’s needless comments about an “evil empire.” C) Reagan’s Failures 1) Reagan Supports the Terrorists The Reagan administration oversaw the violation of an arms embargo on Iran and illegally sold weapons to the country and used the funds to again, illegally fund the Nicaraguan Contras. To be clear, U.S. law prohibited these activities because Iran was designated a State sponsor of Terrorism and the Contras were known to employ rape, torture, and kidnapping of civilians. To this day the incident vastly undermines U.S. credibility in advocating for Human Rights and Iran-Contra is a byword for US hypocrisy. 2) Savings and Loan Reagan’s revision of the tax code in 1986, combined with deregulation, led to the failure of Savings & Loan institutions that were essentially acting as bank. Fortunately the FDR’s FDIC was there to make sure there wasn’t a total collapse of the banking industry, but the scandal cost the U.S. government roughly $150 billion. The S&L crisis combined with Reagan tax disincentives for home buying caused new home construction to drop by nearly 50% and led to the 90’s recession [5]. [1] http://employees.csbsju.edu... [2] The Essence of Friedman, p. 424 [3] http://www.nber.org... [4] http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil... [5] http://filofetch.com... [6] http://en.wikipedia.org... [7] http://en.wikipedia.org... General Info: Jean Edward Smith, “FDR” James Stokesburry, “Short History of WWII” Daniel Sargent, UC Berkeley Hist 186 Spring 2012 via iTunes