Franklin Delano Roosevelt A True Leader essays

Franklin Delano Roosevelt A True Leader essays Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) entered the White House in 1933 in the midst of the nation's largest economic depression. Approximately 25 percent of the work force was unemployed, industrial production was bleak, and the bank system was collapsing. Overseas, the economic situation resulted in Faced with these challenges, Roosevelt fearlessly experimented with the power of the federal government. His greatest accomplishment was his ability to lead, inspire, and help Americans through bad spells as he "I want to talk for a few minutes with the people of the United States about banking," he said on March 12, 1933, the first of about thirty informal "fireside chats" that Roosevelt gave over the radio. His ability to communicate directly and personally through the media, addressing each listener as his friend, gave Franklin D. Roosevelt a powerful tool to shape public opinion. This paper describes the leadership approaches that FDR During the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, people believed that leaders were born (ROTC, 2002). Basically, this meant that it was assumed that a man's heritage provided an innate ability to lead. A leader was born with special characteristics or traits that gave him the In an attempt to prove this philosophy, researchers undertook long studies of existing political, industrial, and religious leaders (ROTC, 2002). They expected to find that these leaders possessed certain characteristics that would distinguish them from their followers. However, the researchers were unsuccessful. Their study results identified a number of traits that were common to those in leadership positions, including intelligence, dependability, sociability, aggressiveness, originality, popularity, and humor. However, they also discovered that different situations required the use of different traits. Some studies found there was no evidence to support that just having...