President Franklin D. Roosevelt is generally considered a liberal and President Herbert C. Hoover a conservative. How valid are these characterizations? President Franklin D. Roosevelt is commonly identified as a liberal and President Herbert C. Hoover as a conservative. The validity of these characterizations, however, depends on the definition of these labels. If one adopts the most conventional contemporary definitions of the terms "liberal" and "conservative," then the characterizations of Roosevelt as liberal and Hoover as conservative are valid, but the definitions of liberal and conservative vary and change over time. time and place. At the start of the Great Depression, the meaning of the term "liberal" was contested. The conventional meaning of the term "liberal" was defined by President Hoover, who championed "political equality, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, and equality of opportunity." For Hoover, “freedom” was primarily associated with individual freedom and self-determination. By the end of the Great Depression, the content of the term "liberal" included different properties. President Franklin Roosevelt defined freedom as consisting of "four freedoms": freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. Today, the definition of the term "liberal" is relatively uncontested, and its content is relatively well defined. A liberal today is someone who advocates government solutions to various problems, not unaided individual freedom. Today, liberals trust and call for government action, not the type of self-determination Hoover supported. Contemporary liberals believe in individual liberty, but they generally advocate the "middle of paper" drafted under Hoover. Likewise, it also experienced erratic fluctuations under Roosevelt; Up, down, but one obvious trend is that despite the efforts of both men, total public debt has continued to rise. Neither economic policy really “worked”. The difference, however, was in the delivery. Hoover advocated a change in the economy by forcing large corporations to act with "pockets of glass" to expose any unethical tactics they might employ. He is not deciding to make significant government changes but simply more regulations on businesses that directly contribute to the economy. By this, Hoover shows his conservatism. Roosevelt, for his part (Doc G), identifies “the most serious threat to our institutions” as coming from “those who refuse to face the need for change.” He goes on to identify this will as being both conservative and liberal..