Germany and the US: Problems and Causes
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New Leaders’ Plans on Combating Unemployment
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The Proposed Rescue of Agriculture
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Saving the Economy
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A Comparison of Foreign Policies
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Conclusion: Similarities in the Plans of Action
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References
In 1933, both Germany and the US suffered from economic collapse and needed leadership changes. In his opening statement, Adolf Hitler states the capitulation of Germany in the First World War as the reason for the collapse, the German people having “lost touch with honor and freedom, thereby losing all” (Hitler, n.d., para. 1). While Germany’s belligerence is stated to be just, the loss of political place thrust the nation into disunity and hatred. Franklin D. Roosevelt, meanwhile, in his First Inaugural Address, reminds Americans that the Great Depression struck because “the rulers of the exchange of mankind’s goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence” (n.d., para. 4). The banking practices, such as lending more funds when the credit fails, and subsequent exhortation, have brought the country into ruin. The collapse of both economies resulted in a multitude of problems, solutions to which both new leaders have proposed in their addresses.
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New Leaders’ Plans on Combating Unemployment
Hitler proposes a “concerted and all-embracing attack,” citing a four-year plan to save the German working class and peasantry and revive the commerce (n.d., para. 11). This plan lies in reorganizing the country’s fiscal and administrative system, along with such severe countermeasures as “compulsory labor-service and the back-to-the-land policy” to boost employment and promote farming (Hitler, n.d., para. 18). Roosevelt, meanwhile, emphasizes the State’s role in combating unemployment, as “direct recruiting by the Government itself,” similar to wartime mobilization, would be instrumental in accomplishing grand-scale projects (n.d., para. 10).
The Proposed Rescue of Agriculture
As was stated earlier, Hitler saw agriculture as the backbone of the German economy, dreading its collapse the most. Therefore, “The German farmer must be rescued in order that the nation may be supplied with the necessities of life,” states he, even if via compulsory labor programs and movements (Hitler, n.d., para. 10). Roosevelt, similarly, sees that a nationwide “redistribution, endeavor to provide a better use of the land for those best fitted for the land” needs to be completed, and the values of the industry’s products need to be raised (n.d., para. 11).
Saving the Economy
Roosevelt sees the need to change the traditional banking ethics, the main culprit in the economic collapse, and urges the fellow citizens to abandon measuring success with material wealth (n.d., para. 7). Politicians, as well as bankers, should not aim for the position only for the prestige of it, recognizing the values of honesty, honor, and obligations. A strict oversight of the banking system and the currency’s fortification are required, financial speculations must end, thus creating new, sound economy. Hitler, similarly, sees the need for drastic changes in the country’s financial and administrative sector and warns against “experiments which would endanger the currency” (n.d., para. 20).
A Comparison of Foreign Policies
As to the foreign policy, Hitler asserts that for Germany becoming the “State of equal value (and of) equal rights,” the “right to live” must be secured, and the country’s freedom regained (n.d., para. 21). This new Germany, thus, would work towards the preservation of world peace and welfare, destroying the chief threat, that of communism, in the process. Roosevelt sees the US as a “neighbor who resolutely respects himself and… the rights of others”, the foreign policy thus lies in respecting international agreements and fulfilling obligations (n.d., para. 16).
Conclusion: Similarities in the Plans of Action
Both leaders see an immediate need for changes in their respective countries’ economic systems. Both pinpoint another industry in need of rescue, the agriculture. Hitler’s vision is infinitely more nationalistic, proclaiming the fight to be on behalf of not citizens’, but Germany’s future; he aims towards leading an authoritarian state. Roosevelt, on the contrary, exhorts the benefits of organization, cooperation, discipline, and teamwork, and sees himself as a leader of an army of people that attacks the country’s problems, a democrat providing leadership at the request of his people.
References
Hitler, A. (n.d.). Berlin: Proclamation to the German nation – February 1, 1933.
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Roosevelt, F. D. (n.d.). First inaugural address. Web.
