Harry Hopkins replies to Herbert Hoover

(Above: Harry Hopkins, head of the WPA)

                                                   

(Above: Herbert Hoover, 31st president of  the United States)     

Herbert Hoover thought the New Deal was leading America towards fascism (the same type of absurd claim that is made today, when President Obama or the Democrats try to create a policy designed to help the non-wealthy).

Harry Hopkins--head of the WPA--responded: "Is it dictatorship to try to operate a government for all the people and not just a few? Is it dictatorship to guarantee the deposits of small depositors, and keep phony stocks and bonds off the market? Is it dictatorship to save millions of homes from foreclosure? Is it dictatorship to give a measure of protection to millions who are economically insecure and jobs to other millions who can't find work? Is it dictatorship to try to put a floor under wages and a ceiling over working hours?"

(From: "Hopkins denies relief waste in reply to Hoover on fascism," Washington Post, May 9, 1938. Hopkins image courtesy of the Social Security Administration; Hoover image courtesy of the National Park Service)