Ethan Leichter
Junior Thesis
The stock market crash of October 1929 brought the economic prosperity of the 1920s to an abrupt halt. For the next ten years, the United States was thrown into a deep economic depression. By 1933, the unemployment rate had soared to 25%, up from 3% in 1929. Industrial production declined by approximately 50%, and international trade plunged 30%.
After the Stock Market Crash of 1929, the stock market and the entire nation was ushered into a new age, The Great Depression. Many lives were shattered with the downfall of the market, every single movement by the Federal Reserve was watched and banks began to fail with the continuous withdraws of money, forcing many to close down leaving Americans who never get their money in time poor. One man though, had the rights and the responsibilities to change our economic situation, and shape what we know today as America. Franklin D. Roosevelt started The New Deal, many of its individual programs which still to this day affect us. While most people state that the economy recovered due to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal Program, others considered World War II the end of the Great Depression and the economic crisis in its entirety, blaming Franklin D. Roosevelt for not implementing bigger reforms in order to turn the tide of the Great Depression.
Over twenty-five percent of Americans nationwide were unemployed during the Great Depression. With the lack of workers, and lack of production, many companies could not manufacture enough product to supply the demand of foreign importers; therefore, foreign companies began to buy product from other countries that could meet their demands. This led to a vicious circle of turmoil for companies that relied on exporting products to other countries (Rosenberg). The Great Depression was too much for president Hoover to handle. His successor Franklin D. Roosevelt had a bundle of ideas named the New Deal. In which, the birth of United States Government Welfare was born (“New Deal”).
The New Deal was a set of acts that effectively gave Americans a new sense of hope after the Great Depression. The New Deal advocated for women’s rights, worked towards ending discrimination in the workplace, offered various jobs to African Americans, and employed millions through new relief programs. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), made it his duty to ensure that something was being done. This helped restore the public's confidence and showed that relief was possible. The New Deal helped serve American’s interest, specifically helping women, african american, and the unemployed and proved to them that something was being done to help them.
To further fulfill his promise in helping America, Roosevelt made use of the radio to deliver updates to all Americans. He delivered his first Fireside Chat on March 12, 1933 in which he informed America about the banking reforms that were passed to improve a sense of security when investing. The Fireside Chats brought new information to those as far as California who may not be up to date on the latest news at Washington D.C. These Fireside Chats were much appreciated by the American People and got the public involved in politics and the government.
First off, many of the new deal organizations set up by the Roosevelt Administration were not successful, and if they were, they were only successful for a short time. In 1929, the number of unemployed in America was about 2.6 million. After the creation of several organizations aimed at brining that number down, such as the CCC and the CWA, unemployment rose from 1929 to 1933 to a height of 15 million. It dropped to 11 million in 1935, and then to 8.3 in 1937, but this is still grotesquely high com...
The United States experienced as a catastrophic economic collapse in 1929 known as the Great Depression. The economic crisis left many Americans out in the streets as jobs continuously became scarcer. To combat the increasing economic depression, president Franklin Delano Roosevelt implemented Keynesian Economics with the belief government interference in the economy during economic hardships could bolster spending. As Brinkley states, “the government had the ability, through public spending, ‘to put idle money and idle men to work, to increase our public wealth … and to help our system of private enterprise to function’” (Brinkley 104). The new emerging philosophy changed the manner in which the American economy changed. Government programs
Roosevelt became the U.S. president in 1932; he made an attempt to stop the Great Depression by The New Deal, which was based on the idea that the government’s money can save the economy. The New Deal gave jobs for people in governmental projects and also saved the banks from the chaos. However, the new deal didn’t overcome the unemployment issue and the jobs given to the people were only for a short period of time. Also, most of the government’s project created lost much more money than it gained. To be specific, Roosevelt created the Tennessee Valley Authority, which was based on building dams and hydroelectric power, this employed up to 8.5 million Americans; however, the projected costed a huge amount of money and the people were unemployed after the work was done. Franklin’s attempt to end the great depression wasn’t as effective as World War II’s boom in industry and
At the beginning of the 1930’s, over 15 million Americans were unemployed. With many things looming, President Hoover was counted on to alleviate the crisis, but unfortunately he didn’t do much. He argued that “self-reliance” and “patience” was what Americans needed in order to get them through this tough time. Due to the struggles of Americans being able to grasp that concept, they elected a new president. President Franklin Roosevelt was brought into the chair in hopes of restoring America. He vowed to use the power of the government to make the lives of Americans better. During his time, a New Deal was created and it was a new role for government in American life. This deal provided an unheard of safety to millions
In his presidential acceptance speech in 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed to the citizens of the United States, “I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people.” The New Deal, beginning in 1933, was a series of federal programs designed to provide relief, recovery, and reform to the fragile nation. The U.S. had been both economically and psychologically buffeted by the Great Depression. Many citizens looked up to FDR and his New Deal for help. However, there is much skepticism and controversy on whether these work projects significantly abated the dangerously high employment rates and pulled the U.S. out of the Great Depression. The New Deal was a bad deal for America because it only provided opportunities for a few and required too much government spending.