Criticism of Franklin D. Roosevelt
During and after his terms, and still continuing, people have criticized Roosevelt. Many people criticized him out of fear that he was heading toward a dictatorship. He did this by attempting to seize control of the Supreme Court in the Court packing incident of 1937(Roosevelt's attempt to add as many as six new Justices to the Supreme Court) it was also known as the Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937. He also attempted to eliminate dissent within the Democratic party in the South during the 1938 elections. Roosevelt broke the tradition established by George Washington of not seeking a third term when he ran for re-election in 1940. After the re-election two historians explained, "In 1940, with the two-term issue as a weapon, anti-New Dealers...argued that the time had come to disarm the 'dictator' and to dismantle the machinery." This criticism finally ended after the attack on pearl harbor.
The New Deal was made to make things better during the Great Depression but really it did the opposite. He got a lot of criticisms for the New Deal even after he died. Many said "FDR's New Deal mad the Great Depression longer and deeper. It is a myth that Franklin D. Roosevelt 'got us out of the Depression' and 'saved capitalism from itself,' as generations of Americans have been taught by the state's education establishment." Historians say that the throughout the New Deal joblessness rates were 17.2% and it never went below 14%. This does not count government workers on the WPA as employed. They think that Depression was worsened and prolonged "by doubling taxes, making it more expensive for employers to hire people, making it harder for entrepreneurs to raise capital, demonizing employers, and destroying food." Liberial historians think it was Hoover who raise taxes, not FDR, and that the New Deal did more for blacks than any administration before or since.
Many allies and appointees of FDR turned against him. Including his own Vice President John Nance Garner. Postmaster Generals, Ambassadors, journalist, newspaper publisher, and historians turned against him. Some supporters, including Lewis Douglas and Dean Acheson, that had turned against him rejoined his administration during the war. Most people turned against him because of the New Deal and others because of the election.
Father Charles E. Coughlin, a radio priest from Detroit, originally supported the New Deal until Roosevelt when he refused to nationalize the banking system and provide for the fee coinage of silver. Coughlin later turned anti-Semitic, blaming the Great Depression on an international conspiracy of Jewish bankers. He formed the National Union For Social Justice and reached a weekly audience of 40 million radio listeners. The greatest threat to FDR politically was Huey "The Kingfish" Long of Louisiana. He was a lawyer who became governor in 1928. He would use strong-arm tactics to intimidate the legislature into providing roads and bridges to the poorest parts of the state. He started the "Share Our Wealth" movement in 1934 with the leading motto "Every Man A King," it long proposed a 100% tax on personal fortunes exceeding million of dollars. This meant elderly would receive pensions and the poorest were promised an estate worth no less than $5000, with a $2500 yearly min. income guaranteed. Democrats were worried that he would steel votes from FDR until he was assassinated by a bulled in 1935.
Democrats and Republicans charged FDR with abuse of power and failed to support the plan. This made Roosevelt have to campaigned really hard against anti-New deal Democrats, during the 1938 Congressional elections. The conservatives always beat Rooselvet. In the 1960's the reform spirit of the New Deal ended.
I personally don't think the New deal helped much anyways. Many people didn't take much consideration of it either which caused it to fail.
Wikipedia. "Criticism of Franklin D. Roosevelt." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Jan. 2013. Web. 20 Jan. 2013.
Hall. "49f. Roosevelt's Critics." Roosevelt's Critics [ushistory.org]. Independence Hall Association in Philadelphia, 2008. Web. 20 Jan. 201
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Excellent summary of information!!