FDR numbers

[Plane]

Numbers       http://www.shmoop.com/fdr-new-deal/statistics.html
Population of the United States in 1930: 123 million
Population of the United States in 1940: 132 million1

Unemployment rate in 1929: 3.2%
Unemployment rate in 1932: 24.2%
Unemployment rate in 1935: 20.1%
Unemployment rate in 1937: 14.3%
Unemployment rate in 1939: 19.0%2

Highest annual unemployment rate ever recorded after World War II:
9.7%, in 19823
Unemployment rate in August 2007: 4.6%4

Percentage of non-agricultural workers in labor unions, 1930: 11.6%
Percentage of non-agricultural workers in labor unions, 1937: 22.6%
Percentage of non-agricultural workers in labor unions, 1945: 35.5%
Percentage of non-agricultural workers in labor unions, 1999: 13.9%5

United States GNP per capita in 1929: $847
United States GNP per capita in 1933: $442
United States GNP per capita in 1937: $701
United States GNP per capita in 1941: $9346

Number of bills sent to Congress by President Roosevelt during the First Hundred Days: 15
Number of those bills passed by Congress: 15

[Plane]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_D._Roosevelt

Government spending increased from 8.0% of gross national product (GNP) under Hoover in 1932 to 10.2% of the GNP in 1936. The national debt as a percentage of the GNP had more that doubled under Hoover from 16% to 40% of the GNP in early 1933. It held steady at close to 40% as late as fall 1941, then grew rapidly during the war, as shown on chart 1.[86]

 
National debt steady at 40% of GNP in New Deal yearsDeficit spending had been recommended by some economists, most notably by John Maynard Keynes of Britain. The GNP was 34% higher in 1936 than in 1932 and 58% higher in 1940 on the eve of war. That is, the economy grew 58% from 1932 to 1940 in 8 years of peacetime, and then grew 56% from 1940 to 1945 in 5 years of wartime.

Unemployment fell dramatically in Roosevelt's first term, from 25% when he took office to 14.3% in 1937. However, it increased slightly to 19.0% in 1938 ('a depression within a depression') and fell to 17.2% in 1939, and then dropped again to 14.6% in 1940 until it reached 1.9% in 1945 due to World War II when increased manufacturing and conscription decreased the labor supply number.[87][88] Total employment during Roosevelt's term expanded by 18.31 million jobs, with an average annual increase in jobs during his administration of 5.3%.[89] [90]

During the war, the economy operated under such different conditions that comparison with peacetime is impossible. However, Roosevelt saw the New Deal policies as central to his legacy, and in his 1944 State of the Union Address, he advocated that Americans should think of basic economic rights as a Second Bill of Rights.

This wiki page is long enough to be a thesis, lots of interesting stuff.

[Xavier_Onassis]

FDR was clearly a better candidate then those who ran against him. He was a symbol of hope, just as TR had been. I recall my grandfather and grandmother had a picture of each of them on the wall of their small home in Kansas City.

[Plane]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Deal

   

"Most indexes worsened until the summer of 1932, which may be called the low point of the depression economically and psychologically."[114] Economic indicators show the American economy reached nadir in summer 1932 to February 1933, then began recovering until the recession of 1937–1938. Thus the Federal Reserve Industrial Production Index hit its low of 52.8 on 1932-07-01 and was practically unchanged at 54.3 on 1933-03-01; however by 1933-07-01, it reached 85.5 (with 1935–39 = 100, and for comparison 2005 = 1,342).[115] In Roosevelt's 12 years in office, the economy had an 8.5% compound annual growth of GDP,[116] the highest growth rate in the history of any industrial country,[117] however, recovery was slow; by 1939, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per adult was still 27% below trend.[84]

[Kramer]

FDR was clearly a better candidate then those who ran against him. He was a symbol of hope, just as TR had been. I recall my grandfather and grandmother had a picture of each of them on the wall of their small home in Kansas City.

I have a picture of Obama in my bathroom.