Theodore Roosevelt 

26th President of the United States

Presidential Term: September 14, 1901 – March 4, 1909

“-He opened 40 antitrust cases against corporations. He promoted safe handling regulations for food and drugs, fought against misleading advertising, and encouraged arbitration between businesses and unions.

-As the first conservationist president, he spearheaded the creation of the United States Forest Service, and established five new national parks. He was responsible for the start of the Wildlife Refuge system. During his administration, 42 million acres were set aside as national forests, wildlife refuges, and areas of special interest (such as the Grand Canyon).

-In 1898, he resigned from the Department of the Navy and organized the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, known as the Rough Riders. Among other battles, he led the charge up San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War.

-Other jobs he held were quite varied: cattle rancher, deputy sheriff, historian, naturalist, explorer, author of 35 books, police commissioner, assistant Secretary of the Navy, governor of New York, war hero, and lawyer.” (source: mentalfloss)

 

 

 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

32nd President of the United States (and Teddy’s 5th cousin)

Presidential term: March 4, 1933 – April 12, 1945

-Created Social Security

-Also oversaw the creation of The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933: which prevented commercial banks from trading securities with their clients’ deposits and created the FDIC which insures your bank deposits up to 250,000 as of 2014

Joseph Stiglitz of the Roosevelt Institute, a Nobel Prize winner, said: “Commercial banks are not supposed to be high-risk ventures; they are supposed to manage other people’s money very conservatively…Investment banks, on the other hand, have traditionally managed rich people’s money — people who can take bigger risks in order to get bigger returns. When repeal of Glass-Steagall brought investment and commercial banks together, the investment-bank culture came out on top. There was a demand for the kind of high returns that could be obtained only through high leverage and big risk-taking.” The Glass-Steagall Act must be reinstated.

-The Dust Bowl happened because of incorrect farming methods that destroyed the topsoil, displacing the native, deep-rooted grasses that normally trapped soil and moisture even during periods of drought and high winds. Within his first 100 days of office in 1933, President Roosevelt ordered the Civilian Conservation Corps to plant a huge belt of more than 3 billion trees from Canada to Abilene, Texas to break the wind, hold water in the soil, and hold the soil itself in place.

The administration also began to educate farmers on soil conservation and anti-erosion techniques, including crop rotation, contour plowing, terracing, and other improved farming practices.  The government paid the farmers a dollar an acre to practice one of the new methods. By 1938, the massive conservation effort had reduced the amount of blowing soil by 65%

These men were able to send $25 dollars home to their families every month- AND they planted a mind-boggling 3 billion trees AND helped build more than 800 parks nationwide. FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps singlehandedly saved our nation’s topsoil: https://kimcampion.com/miscellaneous/the-tree-army/