American President: Program 5

Ronald Reagan resembled Franklin Roosevelt in his upbeat approach to the nation's problems, if in little else. After the traumas of Vietnam, Watergate, and Iran, American voters were ready for Reagan's brand of down-to-earth, common-sense conservatism. He delivered this approach to government with a simplicity and clarity that bordered on brilliance. Despite a brush with disaster when it was revealed that his administration had traded arms for hostages with Iran, Reagan rebounded. His hard-line stance on foreign affairs, coupled with his negotiations with the Soviet Union, not only led to the end of the Cold War but may have contributed to the collapse of communism.

Brief Biography Campaign and Election Information

Today the American president is one of the most powerful individuals in the world. Yet, at the nation's inception, the framers of the Constitution wisely sought to create a balance between a weak and an overly strong central government. Throughout the evolution of the country, one thing is clear: the legacy of the American Revolution has made us suspicious of "Big Government." Consequently, a smaller, less intrusive government has remained an appealing ideal throughout the country's history. The four men profiled in this program believed, or professed to believe, that the government governed best that governed least.

A word about this show from the producers.

For lesson plans developed for this program, go to Lessons on the Series.
For discussion questions on the featured presidents in this program, go to Issues to Ponder.

At the time of his election as the nation's third president, Jefferson—as much or more a philosopher than a politician—had already altered the course of Western history by writing the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson instinctively wanted to limit the government's powers. He envisioned the American government as one that was to be unobtrusive, inexpensive, and dedicated to such essentials as national defense. In practice, however, he exercised his presidential powers in broad and innovative ways—as exemplified in his acceptance of Napoleon's offer of the vast new territories, known as the Louisiana Purchase. In steering the U.S. through times of trouble and opportunity, and in clinging to a deeply held vision of what the nation should be, Jefferson was more than a great president: he was democracy's architect.

Brief Biography Campaign and Election Information

The taciturn, principled New Englander assumed the Oval Office upon the death of Warren Harding, under whom corruption was a byword. Coolidge would have none of it, just as he would have no grandiose schemes for the government that he headed. He strove as no president before or since then, to reduce the influence of government on daily life. As Harvard presidential scholar Richard Neustadt says, Coolidge was the "perfect president in an era when people were intent on pursuing their own futures . . ." The anything-goes boom of the Roaring Twenties seemed to vindicate his ideas; and his refusal to seek a second term spared him the necessity of confronting the bubble's burst with the Crash of 1929.

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An archetypal American success story—an orphan at the age of ten who became a millionaire before middle age—Hoover took office in a time of seemingly unbounded prosperity. Ultimately, however, the spiral of prosperity, much of it based on debt, could not continue without correction. The economic readjustment came in the form of the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression. Caught unaware, Hoover was, according to Neustadt, "totally unprepared for what happened." The president underestimated the magnitude of the collapse and then did not take the necessary actions to restore economic stability and regain public confidence. Understandably, frightened Americans saw him as cold and uncaring, and he was helpless against the upbeat candidacy of Franklin Roosevelt.

Brief Biography Campaign and Election Information