Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt

Over the past four decades, historians have rated George Washington and Abraham Lincoln as two of our nation's greatest presidents. Over the course of their presidencies, each man proved himself a capable and respected leader. Washington and Lincoln should very well be considered two of our greatest presidents.

When Roosevelt was elected in office he was challenged with one of the largest and problems any president before him had ever had to deal with: the Great Depression. Roosevelt faced the problems of the great depression and immediately began to bring the nation to recovery by calling for a national banking holiday to stop people from taking their money out of the banks, which in effect was causing many bank failures. This was a very successful move by President Roosevelt. The New Deal was also put in place by Roosevelt to help the people during the depression. The New Deal was a reform package that put the American people to work, through government run agencies such as the NIRA and the Civilian Conservation Corps, and a package that also provided care for the elderly through social security. Though not all of the programs of the New Deal were successful, some were ended, replaced by new ones, which in effect still affects America in today’s day in age. Roosevelt defiantly should be given credit for helping the United States through the problems of the Great Depression and also given the reputation as one of the greatest presidents in US history.

Abraham Lincoln was elected in office and he assumed office during a time of threat of an outbreak of a civil war. He had the task of leading the North to victory, in order to bring the nation back to a whole. During Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, he explained exactly why we were engaged in war. He was a brilliant statesman and he eloquently informed the people why the war had to be fought and why their loved ones had to be sacrificed. He explained that our nation was unique and must be preserved.