Features of the New Deal

Features of the New Deal

When Roosevelt won the American Presidential Elections in 1932, he

needed to act quickly to provide the general public what he had

promised. His first hundred days in office was a time of dramatic

change to the American system of government. Never before had American

Presidents been so involved with the every day life of their people or

worked so hard to improve the country in almost every aspect affecting

the lives of the public and the economy. However, it can not be

doubted that the period that followed the Wall Street Crash in 1929

were times of desperation and depression for the vast majority of

people from all walks of life. As people obviously thought during the

era of Roosevelt's presidency; desperate times call for desperate

measures and the Great Depression was probably the period of greatest

desperation in American history

One of the most notable and dramatic changes he made right from the

start of his presidency was to completely ignore the Republican policy

of 'Self-Help' or Laissez-Faire. The prospect of the government not

meddling with the everyday lives of the American people had been a

long standing tradition in the American way of life and drastically

went against the idealistic visions of the 'American Dream.' The main

concept of this belief was that if you tried hard in life, you would

succeed and lead a prosperous lifestyle. On the other, and more

popular side (at least in the 1930's) was Roosevelt's New Deal, which

provoked anger from its oppositions, who claimed it was

unconstitutional. For the first time in American history, the

President had become directly involved with the...

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...velt offered a shortcut, and

although there may have opposition to it at the time, I feel that not

many people now would choose to criticize it. By actively getting

involved with the economy, he rescued it from the brink of disaster,

and whilst he did not manage to lift it back onto the plateau of

prosperity, it would have taken superhuman strength to do so. This is

portrayed by the fact that he served three Presidential terms, with

each election winning by an overwhelming majority and so was clearly

held in high esteem by the people of America. That is why I do not

deny the fact that the New Deal was not a complete success and yet I

feel I would struggle to find anyone who would not say it was

successful in comparison to what Hoover would have done (bearing in

mind this would have been nothing) had he stayed in power.