THE BEST PRESIDENT TO EVER LEAD THE USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[elprincipe]

Final-Fan said:

elprincipe said:

damkira said:
FDR! He defeated the depression and the nazis!

A common misconception (as evidenced by this thread) is that FDR's "New Deal" policies brought the country out of the Great Depression.  In fact, they made the depression much worse than it was when FDR's term in office began, and it was only the manufacturing boom demanded by World War II that ended the depression.  Unemployment was much higher just before WWII than when FDR took office, for example.

Sorry, you fail. 
Eyeballing it:  1932, 22%; 1939, 12-17%; 1941, 7-10%.  That's ignoring the "second depression". 

I would debate on the benefits/drawbacks of the New Deal and whether it worsened the Depression, but at the risk of hypocrisy I ask that you not derail the thread like that. 

 

Upon further research you're right, I misremembered the stats.  Unemployment was down slightly at the end of the '30s compared to when FDR took office, from insanely high to slightly less insanely high.  The New Deal was a dismal failure, in other words, as it completely failed to produce an economic recovery, thus proving for all time that government cannot produce economic prosperity.  But yes, let's not derail the thread from other fascinating discussions.