Party: Republican
Fact One: This president nominated a former president to the Supreme Court. He was Chief Justice for almost a decade.
Fact Two: During a post war depression this president shot down any proposals for federal unemployment benefits. He believed help should come from charities and local governments.
Fact Three: His Treasury Secretary introduced a tax plan, which totally benefited the wealthy. In fact, he wanted the rich to hold the majority of the capital. Not shocking considering this Treasure Secretary was worth about $127 million (roughly $1.7 billion today).
Fact Four: He was the first president to openly advocate for civil rights. He gave a speech at an all-black college in Pennsylvania days after the Tulsa race massacre and spoke about the wish for the races to be equal and for there to be a oneness as Americans. He was not totally good though, he still believed that racial mixing was bad and the Great Migration was not good for race relations. Baby steps.
Fact Five: After the war, he led the country in a massive disarmament of the military, particularly the Navy. The US agreed to reduce it’s number of warships by 30 if other countries did similarly.
Quotes:
“I don’t know what to do or where to turn in this taxation matter. Somewhere there must be a book that tells all about it, where I could go to straighten it out in my mind. But I don’t know where the book is, and maybe I couldn’t read it if I found it.”
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