Critics and Admirers

FDR was an activist president who fundamentally changed American political and economic life. Inevitably, he stirred emotions and generated controversy. By the mid-1930s, he was arguably the most admired - and despised - public figure in America.

Roosevelt inspired intense devotion from his supporters. Millions of people felt a deeply personal connection to him for saving the family home from foreclosure, bringing electricity to their farm, providing a job for an unemployed father, giving a young person a chance to attend college, or ensuring a pension for an elderly parent.

Roosevelt's critics were just as intense in their hatred of "that man in the White House." Conservatives believed he and Eleanor Roosevelt were dangerous radicals leading the nation into socialism and, possibly, dictatorship. Left-wing critics complained that the Roosevelts were too moderate and unwilling to challenge entrenched interests.