Public Policy What Current Event Essay

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S. presidents since 1900 are of special interest to you for their policy formulation and implementation? Discuss your answer giving examples from their Administrations.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt transformed modern American public policy. His New Deal alleviated the crisis of confidence in American government that occurred after the Great Depression. Roosevelt created the first safety net for Americans, in the form of Social Security and unemployment insurance. His public works programs stimulated the American economy and put unemployed Americans back to work. Programs like the Tennessee Valley Administration changed the lives of rural Americans, and many of his programs endure to this day, at least in modified form. Without Roosevelt, the concept of an American government that cares for the least well off in society and restrains the excesses of the capitalist system and the business cycle would never have taken form in the national consciousness. Every time a person sighs in relief that their bank deposits are ensured by the federal government or collects unemployment, he or she is enjoying Roosevelt's legacy (Biography of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 2009, The White House).

President Lyndon Johnson extended Roosevelt's concept of socially engineering society in his Great Society program.
Head Start was one of the most notable innovations of Johnson's Administration, which enabled underprivileged preschoolers to receive help and support their entry into the school system. Major civil rights legislation, Medicare, and Medicaid were all part of the Great Society. These programs, passed during a time of relative economic prosperity, attempted to extend equal rights and improve the lives of even the disenfranchised and the poorest of Americans (Biography, 2009, The White House).

However, many might say that without the efforts of Theodore Roosevelt, the seismic changes in American society fostered by the second Roosevelt and Johnson would not have been possible. Roosevelt's Square Deal plan created the modern Food and Drug Administration (FDA), effectively paving the way for the systemic regulation of drugs, food, and healthcare that Americans now take for granted. He also regulated railroad rates through vigorous enforcement of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and backed environmental protection laws, added national forests in the West, reserved more lands for public use, and created irrigation projects (Biography, 2009, The White House).

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