FDR, Hoover DBQ Thesis

            To compare FDR and Hoover, we first must define the meaning of liberal and conservative in context of the period of time. Liberals believed in heavy government intervention and supported many reforms. Conservatives believed that the best kind of government was one that governed the least. America experienced profound change towards the end of the 1920s to the 1930s. They began with Hoover, a President that preferred to not intervene in the economy and said that the economy would naturally improve itself. Dissatisfied, America switched over to FDR, who was the polar opposite of Hoover: he created many reforms, such as the New Deal, that made government heavily involved in the citizens’ lives. Thus to characterize FDR as liberal and Hoover as conservative is a valid statement, as both Presidents adhered to and helped truly define their respective ideologies.