Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy - Ludwig von Mises ...

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U.S. International Policy:
1933–1940
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Elected President
March 4, 1933, inauguration day, was a gray day in
Washington, a depressing day like the economic depression
that then enveloped the nation. Th e sun broke through
the clouds only occasionally as President-elect Roosevelt, exuberant
over his victory, and outgoing President Herbert Hoover,
gloomy and distressed not only at having lost the election but also
at not having been able to stem the economic downturn, rode
together up Pennsylvania Avenue to the capitol from the White
House. Roosevelt took the oath of offi ce, promising “to the best
of my ability to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of
the United States.” Hoover and his entire Cabinet went out of
offi ce when Roosevelt was inaugurated and the new president
appointed an entirely new cabinet.
Th e Democratic Party platform on which Roosevelt had
run in the presidential election of 1932 had been “conservative,”
calling for drastic economies in government expenditures and a
sound currency. Th e economic crisis, sparked by the 1929 stock
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