My grandfather, who would be well over 80 today, he’d be 115..born in 1899..hated FDR. (He married my grandmother November 21, 1929 a month after the stock market crash.) He worked for Western Union his entire life so was able to be working despite the depression.
Well I'll be 89 this year which made me a grade school kid in NYC during the depression. As for FDR, what I remember is that when he got elected the streets were filled with people singing Happy Days are Here Again. FDR started the WPA which provided work.
There is a lesson here for today's GOP. The people wanted hope and FDR had a plan. The GOP had no plan other than the 'in the long run all will be well'. The party without a solution lost. The 'long run' ended with the next election. Today's GOP 'economy watch and wait' plus frying Obama may turn the trick in 2016 if they are not running against another FDR. BTW - My family did not like FDR, they were 'Al Smith' democrats. But he was a Catholic who wanted the end Prohibition and that didn't go over in the Bible Belt.