Franklin Roosevelt And The Establishment Of The Modern American Presidency

Franklin D. Roosevelt, the32ndAmerican president, is acknowledged as thefounder of modern American presidency. During the process of tackling bothdomestic and foreign crisis, he launched numerous reform measures and graduallyexpanded presidential power, resulting in huge transformation of traditional Americantripartite political system. Since president became the power center of federalgovernment, a brand new modern American presidential government was shaped andcontinued afterwards, leaving profound impacts on American government as well asworld politics.From the perspective of Franklin Roosevelt’s outstanding contributions topresidential reform and its particular meaning, this thesis will review the radical shiftof presidential system occurred during his tenure. By discussing the establishingbackground, characteristics, process and the far-reaching influences of modernAmerican presidential system on American and world history and politics, this thesiswill finally summarize the useful experience of America. After all, as a typicalcountry with separation of the executive, legislative and judicial powers, America hasundergone crises, yet it maintains social stability and prosperousness.The first chapter will give a brief introduction to traditional American tripartitepolitical system and presidential system, the counterbalancing relationship betweenParliament, President and the Supreme Court, the status of and the role played byexecutive power, so as to lay the foundation for the following analysis. Affected byinternal and external environment, since the establishment of presidential system inconstitutional assembly, president had been in a weak position, constrained by andstruggled with parliament for a long time. Until in early20th century, the increasedcomprehensive strength steered American economy into the most formidable one inthe world. Thus, it engaged more and more in international affairs, playing anincreasingly important role. Restricted by their functions and features, the parliamentand the Supreme Court could not lead all these affairs. Therefore, after his takingoffice, Roosevelt succeeded in coping with crises and strengthened the presidentialpower unprecedentedly. The constitutional government system transformeddramatically correspondently. The absolute authority of federal government was established. President became the dominant power of tripartite political system.The second chapter will analyze the presidential transformation backgroundduring Roosevelt’s tenure. Four factors are included:1)The original drawbacks ofconstitutional design offers possibility for the expanding power of president;2) Theinevitable contradictions ignited by the development of monopoly capitalism andperiodic economic crisis required a powerful and centralized government. On thepremise of defending capital democratic institution, the government interfered withsocial economy, reinforce social assistance and welfare, improve the relationshipbetween labor and employers;3) The World War Ⅱ provided an opportunity formodern American president transforming in diplomacy;4) Doubtlessly, the leadershipcapabilities of Roosevelt also were dispensable. His political talents and governancestyle were also key factors promoting the presidential post transformed from traditionto modern.The third chapter expounds the various domestic measures taken by Roosevelt,specifically focusing on the Hundred days the establishment of Executive Office ofthe President, the deployment of veto and media struggle for reforming the SupremeCourt. Such events shed light on Roosevelt’s creativity in changing presidential post.the Hundred days redistributed the power between president and the parliament,setting performance criterion for later presidents. The expansion of presidentialaffiliated organization laid the foundation for the incoming “Big Government”. Thefederal court reform was of paramount importance to eliminate obstacles for furtherreform because the Supreme Court eventually supported the new policies. Thus,America headed forward a new era during which period federal government carriedout comprehensive and extensive management and supervision measures for economyand commerce.The fourth chapter mainly discusses Roosevelt’s diplomatic policies related tostruggle with isolationism. Roosevelt held a strong internationalism idea and opposedisolationism. Since taking office, he committed to establish diplomatic relationshipswith the Soviet Union, meeting whose ambassador without the direct contact withparliament and finally, a formal diplomatic relationship was established between thesetwo countries. For Latin America, Roosevelt implemented “Good neighbor policy”.He also afforded active assistance to anti-fascist countries, passing the Lend-lease.Such expansion of diplomatic power was accepted and supported by the SupremeCourt. In turn, the fresh new diplomatic power cemented the status of modernAmerican presidents. The fifth chapter summarized the implications of modern presidentialtransformation. The new status of American presidents entitles them the empiricalpower, influencing both federal governments and global societies. In America,traditional tripartite political system was altered and president began to dominatepolitics; The size and power of executive departments expanded; Binary federalismwas replaced by unified federalism; Political parties broke the restrictions of regionand developed into national parties; Later presidents imitated Roosevelt andsurmounted their power above the parliament. Globally, the success of the New Dealimpressed primary capitalism countries, who followed the example; America leapedforward as the number one country in the world, dominating and determining postwarinternational pattern.The thesis concluded by pointing out that the presidential transformation led byRoosevelt was inevitable and necessary so as to cater for the internal and externalchanging situations. Roosevelt was adept at applying power, perfectly integrating hispolitical skills with administration reform, thereby setting up a brand new politicalmodel and power counterbalancing structure. Compared current situation of Chinawith crises America faced in1930s, the practical implications of this research are:based on the research of American administration institution, Chinese governmentreform can take advantage of their useful experiences. Suggestions on Chineseadministration reform include:1) Improve Chinese institutional system;2) Createeffective administration sectors;3) Expand democracy;4) Promote independentjustice.