Roosevelt and Hitler were strong leaders who brought their respective countries together in a time of great economic and political instability during the 1930s. Their methods, however, differed in the fact that one leadership was characterised by sincerity and the other by brutality. Both America and Germany faced numerous economic problems due to the fall of the world economy in 1929. Roosevelt and Hitler became leaders of their respective nations because they offered the people solutions to their economic problems. These solutions included the founding of relief agencies, re-organisation of the economy and government intervention in society. Both leaders faced political opposition in seeking their solutions yet they dealt with this opposition in extremely different ways. One leadership became renowned for its greatness, the other disgraced for its brutality.
Before the Stock Market Crash of 1929, both Germany and America were extremely different countries. The American nation was one where economic individualism flourished, prosperity seemed endless and where confidence for the future abounded. The government had a policy of non-intervention and many believed the "American Way" of "letting things be" was infallible. The German people, on the other hand, lived under a far different situation. The nation was in turmoil under the leadership of the Weimar Republic which was "associated with all things wrong with post-war Germany." (Mason, 1996:99).
After the Crash of "29, Germany was plunged into further turmoil while America was faced with a situation it had never experienced before. The Stock Market resulted in the Great Depression of the 1930s. Unemployment soared, people lost their homes and life savings. In America, the government of the time was headed by President Hoover. He believed that, in time, the economy would regain its past position. However, many were dissatisfied with his apathetic attitude and lost all confidence for the future.
