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The consequences of the new deal by Roosevelt
Roosevelt's new deal policy and its impact on the American economy and people
Economic impact on the great depression
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Look deep within United States history to find its most significant molding element and one will find that its source stemmed from a great national crisis. At its highest extent, nearly one-fourth of its labor force was unemployed and American confidence in itself was deeply shaken. It is in studying the Great Depression and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal, that America’s most significant influential event can be found. The New Deal and its legacy had the largest impact on American society since the founding of the United States. The New Deal altered the political and social nature of the nation as well as preserved the fundamental capitalist nature of the American economy.
At the outset, the New Deal changed the Americans’ view of their national government. Historian, William Leuchtenburg argues that the New Deal should be recognized for its transformation of how the American government works. First, he states that prior to the depression, it would have been difficult for citizens of the day to recognize a federal presence in their local communities.i Simply, before the depression the federal government rarely had a direct effect on peoples’ lives as there were no programs such as social security, welfare, federal regulation of the stock market, or farm subsidy programs.ii
The role of the federal government not only changed with the coming of the New Deal but the depression also changed the expectations American citizens had towards the national government managing the economy. Larry Madaras, professor of History at Howard College asserts that the New Deal was more than the sum total of a number of economic statistics. The true importance of the New Deal, according to Madaras, lies in the fact that Americans’ expectations towards the federal government drastically changed during the depression.iii
Historian, Carl Degler agrees. He affirms that the most striking change in American thought from the depression was the abandonment of the doctrine of laissez faire. He argues the once cherished principle was largely discarded during the depression era. Almost every New Deal program contradicted the foundations of laissez faire economics and “made inroads into the hitherto private resources of business and the individual.” iv Legislation such as the Securities Act of 1933, which created the Securities and Exchange Commiss...
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xviii Leuchtenburg, New Deal, 276
xix Ickes, Harold. “The Negro as a Citizen.” Quoted in Twentieth Century America: Recent Interpretations. 2nd ed. (San Diego: Harcourt Publishers, 1972, 261
xx Lipset, Seymour. It Didn’t Happen Here: Why Socialism Failed in the United States. W.W. Norton & Co.
xxi Bernstein, Conservative Achievements, 245
xxii Lipset, It Didn’t Happen Here, 6
Works Cited
Bernstein, Barton, & Matusow, Allen, ed. Twentieth Century America: Recent Interpretations. 2nd ed. San Diego, California: Harcourt Publishers, 1972.
Davis, Allen, & Woodman, Harold, ed. Conflict and Consensus in Modern American History. 6th ed. Lexington, Massachusetts: D.C. Heath & Co., 1984.
Hoffman, Ellizabeth, & Gjerde, Jon, ed. Major Problems in American History, Volume II. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2002
Leone, Bruno, O’Neill, Teresa, ed. The Great Depression: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego, California: Greenhaven Press, Inc., 1994.
Madaras, Larry, & SoRelle, James, ed. Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in American History. Vol 2, 9th ed. Guilford, Connecticut: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2001.
Amity Shlaes tells the story of the Great Depression and the New Deal through the eyes of some of the more influential figures of the period—Roosevelt’s men like Rexford Tugwell, David Lilienthal, Felix Frankfurter, Harold Ickes, and Henry Morgenthau; businessmen and bankers like Wendell Willkie, Samuel Insull, Andrew Mellon, and the Schechter family. What arises from these stories is a New Deal that was hostile to business, very experimental in its policies, and failed in reviving the economy making the depression last longer than it should. The reason for some of the New Deal policies was due to the President’s need to punish businessmen for their alleged role in bringing the stock market crash of October 1929 and therefore, the Great Depression.
Tindall, George, and David Shi. America: A Narrative History. Ed. 9, Vol. 1. New York: WW. Norton & Company, 2013. 185,193. Print.
Henretta, James A., and David Brody. America: A Concise History. Vol. 1. Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009.
"America's Great Depression and Roosevelt's New Deal."DPLA. Digital Public Library of America. Web. 20 Nov 2013. .
During the 1920’s, America was a prosperous nation going through the “Big Boom” and loving every second of it. However, this fortune didn’t last long, because with the 1930’s came a period of serious economic recession, a period called the Great Depression. By 1933, a quarter of the nation’s workers (about 40 million) were without jobs. The weekly income rate dropped from $24.76 per week in 1929 to $16.65 per week in 1933 (McElvaine, 8). After President Hoover failed to rectify the recession situation, Franklin D. Roosevelt began his term with the hopeful New Deal. In two installments, Roosevelt hoped to relieve short term suffering with the first, and redistribution of money amongst the poor with the second. Throughout these years of the depression, many Americans spoke their minds through pen and paper. Many criticized Hoover’s policies of the early Depression and praised the Roosevelts’ efforts. Each opinion about the causes and solutions of the Great Depression are based upon economic, racial and social standing in America.
In his book, A New Deal for the American People, Roger Biles analyzes the programs of the New Deal in regards to their impact on the American society as a whole. He discusses the successes and failures of the New Deal policy, and highlights the role it played in the forming of American history. He claims that the New Deal reform preserved the foundation of American federalism and represented the second American Revolution. Biles argues that despite its little reforms and un-revolutionary programs, the New Deal formed a very limited system with the creation of four stabilizers that helped to prevent another depression and balance the economy.
Henretta, James A., Rebecca Edwards, and Robert Self. America: A Concise History.( Boston: Bedford, St. Martin's, 2006),
Divine, Robert A. America past and Present. 10th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education/Longman, 2013. 245. Print.
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.
“American History.” ABC-CLIO. SOCIALIST PARTY OF AMERICA, 4 Mar 2014. Web 4 Mar 2014.
Newman, John. UNITED STATES HISTORYPreparing for the Advanced Placement Examination. Second Edition. New York: AMSCO SCHOOL PUBLICATIONS, INC, 2010. eBook. .
The New Deal sought to create a more progressive country through government growth, but resulted in a huge divide between liberals and conservatives. Prior to the New Deal, conservatives had already begun losing power within the government, allowing the Democratic Party to gain control and favoring by the American people (Postwar 284). With the Great Depression, came social tensions, economic instability, and many other issues that had to be solved for America’s wellbeing. The New Deal created a strong central government, providing the American people aid, interfering with businesses and the economy, allowing the federal government to handle issues they were never entrusted with before.
George Browm Tindall, David Emory Shi. American History: 5th Brief edition, W. W. Norton & Company; November 1999
3. Divine, Breen, Fredrickson, Williams, eds., America Past and Present Volume II: since 1865 sixth edition (New York: Longman 2002).
The New Deal period has generally - but not unanimously - been seen as a turning point in American politics, with the states relinquishing much of their autonomy, the President acquiring new authority and importance, and the role of government in citizens' lives increasing. The extent to which this was planned by the architect of the New Deal, Franklin D. Roosevelt, has been greatly contested, however. Yet, while it is instructive to note the limitations of Roosevelt's leadership, there is not much sense in the claims that the New Deal was haphazard, a jumble of expedient and populist schemes, or as W. Williams has put it, "undirected". FDR had a clear overarching vision of what he wanted to do to America, and was prepared to drive through the structural changes required to achieve this vision.