Reagan Vs. Roosevelt: Who Was Better?

Paper Summary:

The paper points to the many similarities between President Franklin D. Roosevelt and President Ronald Reagan and shows how they both left great legacies and accomplished much while they were in office. The paper discusses the achievements of Reagan but asserts that his legacy is not as strong as Roosevelt's because Reagan did not accomplish as many sweeping changes and policies that have lived on after he left the White House. The paper contends that Reagan was a good president, but he is not in the same caliber as Roosevelt who was a great president and a great leader. The paper does point out, however, that it is difficult to determine which president accomplished more, because they essentially accomplished very different things.

From the Paper:

"Franklin Delano Roosevelt is the only president to have been elected to office four times. Like Reagan, he served in other political capacities before he took over the job of President. He was the governor of New York from 1929-1933, he served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy under Woodrow Wilson from 1913-1920 (during World War I), and he served in the New York State Legislature from 1911-1913. He was educated as a lawyer and attended Groton, Harvard, and Columbia, all prestigious and well-known schools, and he did practice law for a short time."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Felzenberg, Alvin S. "There You Go Again:" Liberal Historians and the 'New York Times' Deny Ronald Reagan His Due." Policy Review, no. 82 (1997): 51+.
• McKenna, Marian C. Franklin Roosevelt and the Great Constitutional War: The Court-Packing Crisis of 1937. New York: Fordham University Press, 2002.
• Reagan, Ronald. 2008. Inaugural Address. [Online] available from the Internet at http://www.americanpresidents.org/inaugural/39a.asp accessed 3 May 2008.
• Siracusa, Joseph M., and David G. Coleman. Depression to Cold War: A History of America from Herbert Hoover to Ronald Reagan. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2002.
• Sloan, John W. 2007. Clashing Visions: The Reconstructive Politics of Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. [Online] available from the Internet at: http://www.allacademic.com/one/prol/prol01/index.php?cmd=Download+Document&key=unpublished_manuscript&file_index=1&pop_up=true&no_click_key=true&attachment_style=attachment&PHPSESSID=8c57d9551764af678ac68423b9b333b2 accessed 3 May 2008.

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