Location: The Heritage Foundation's Allison Auditorium
Elected on a buoyant tide of promises to balance the
increasingly uncontrollable national budget and reduce the
catastrophic unemployment rate, the charismatic President instead
made dramatic changes to federal programming that directly
contradicted his campaign promises. Price fixing, court
packing and regressive taxes were all hidden in the alphabet soup
of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal. These programs
increased the financial strain on many and discouraged
entrepreneurs from taking business risks that could have revived
the national economy. The New Deal survives in the form of
many current government programs such as farm subsidies, minimum
wage laws and welfare programs. Roosevelt's imperious
approach to the presidency changed American politics forever, and
as he manipulated public opinion, American citizens became
unwitting accomplices to the stilted economic growth of the
1930s. All these years later, America still struggles with
the damaging repercussions of FDR's legacy.
Dr. Burton Folsom Jr. holds the Charles F. Kline Chair in
History and Management at Hillsdale College. He has been a
Senior Fellow in Economic Education and Economic History for the
Mackinac Center for Public Policy and serves as Senior Historian at
the Foundation for Economic Education. He is the author of
several books including The Myth of the Robber Barons, now
in its fifth edition, Empire Builders, and Urban
Capitalists. His latest book, New Deal or Raw
Deal?, is available through Simon and Schuster Publishers.
More About the Speakers
Dr. Burton Folsom, Jr.
Charles F. Kline Chair in History and Management,
Hillsdale College
Hosted By
Joseph Postell, Ph.D.
Visiting Fellow, B. Kenneth Simon Center for Principles and Politics
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