FDR Synthesis Essay

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People thought, “well if FDR was able to dig us out of that hole, maybe the federal government is not really all that bad.” From the 1930’s in FDR’s presidency to the 1960’s during Johnson’s presidency, we saw a massive growth in the central government, and the individualistic America was very much okay with it because it was getting the job done. The citizens were happy to see the government able to step in and begin to help solve their problems, but that wasn’t the only reason why FDR’s presidency was so successful. FDR had a knack for public speaking. Historical accounts claim that when he would come over the radio in households across America discussing an important topic, everyone would take a ‘sigh’ of relief because of the way he talked and the …show more content…
However, that all changed when the race riots and the Vietnam war in the 60’s and 70’s came, the people’s view of the government shifted back to a more libertarian state. A name that many American’s, if not all, are familiar with is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Many know the story behind Dr. King and why he protested. He rallied against the discrimination of black Americans saying that they had the same rights as whites. A key element to his argument was that of civil disobedience or non-violence. Examples of this would include sit-ins, boycotts etc. A big reason why this is such an intricate part to our nation’s history is how we dealt with it. Individuals on their own weren’t getting anywhere. MLK and others like Stokely Carmichael could rally and protest all they want, but that wasn’t changing the views of the public. The general public were going to continue to act this way regardless of what these gentlemen had to say. It wasn’t until the Federal Courts, The Supreme Court, and the Federal Government stepped in that pieces actually started moving. The institution of the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act and the ‘Brown vs. Board of Education’ ruling were all key determinants in the process the

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