In “The End of Reform”, Alan Brinkley makes it very clear that there are two types of liberalism. The first type came from conservationism, which is what can be titled as liberalism today. This form of early liberalism was as a result from the new deal. The ideas of this new deal were clearly stated as to help the American people come out of an economic depression. Essentially, the objective behind it was to keep the people alive. Due to damages of the great depression, it was a rarity to find someone who could support his or her family. The people of this country wanted two things; food for their family, and for the government to protect them from the discomfort of their current financial problems. This in turn created a reliance on the government.
With Roosevelt being of a progressive mindset, he wanted the government to be responsible for the people. This is where the second form of liberalism came into play. Instead of just taking care of the people by providing them with money therefore creating jobs, the government started supporting and helping minorities. During this, Brinkley states that the progressives wanted the government to take more power over the economic affairs of the country. The mindset of people at this time were that if one wasn’t born rich into a wealthy family, then he would probably be poor the rest of his life. The new deal was created to solve that problem by offering money to businesses therefore making it able for them to hire on more people to work, which made the unemployment rate decline.
The goal of the first new deal was to keep people alive, but the second was more focused on a reformation. Brinkley argues that the new deal was the end of a progressive push that just solved personal problems. ...
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...was very difficult for me. I’m not a huge expert in the knowledge of history, nor am I a very avid reader. It took a lot of researching of topics (such as Keynesianism, which is when the economy becomes better due to the people spending more on goods) for me to understand this book.
With Brinkley focusing more on certain people when writing this book, and their significance towards it, it is hard to understand what his point of view is. On a lot of the topics, he gives one side of a problem, but gives another side too, so it makes it very difficult to understand what he thinks about the topic. Due to Brinkley’s credibility, I know what he is writing is very important and relevant to the subject written about. I would recommend this book to someone who absolutely loves to read, and has a good understanding of basic principles of the New Deal Era and World War II.
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.
The political shifts in American history during the last two centuries are often explained by Arthur Schlesinger's cyclical explanation of eras of public purpose followed by private interest. What is considered liberal versus what is considered conservative shifts in a similar pattern. While laissez-faire policies are considered liberal in the Roaring 20's, the onset of the Great Depression in 1929 quickly changed America's view of liberalism. Suddenly, the small government politics of Hoover were conservative and the progressive politics of Roosevelt were considered liberal. Thus, because the Great Depression quickly changed America's view of liberalism, Roosevelt can be considered a liberal and Hoover a conservative, despite occasionally supporting similar policies.
On October 29, 1929 marks the official opening of the Great Depression. During 1933, the unemployment rate in United State reached 25%; it was not until the second quarter of 1933 where the US economy started to reclaim. President Franklin D. Roosevelt formed the foundation of the New Deal within the First Hundred Days when he came into power. To determine the New Deal Program’s role during the Great Depression, the sources used in this investigation include: The Great Depression and the New Deal by Robert F. Himmelberg, and Depression Decade: From New Era through New Deal, 1929-1941 by Broadus Mitchell. There will also be a discussion involving World War II’s role in ending the economic crisis. A journal article “The Reality of the Wartime Economy” by Horwitz, Steven and McPhillips, Michael J. will help disperse the theories behind Second World War.
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.
David M. Kennedy outlines the effects of the New Deal on society in his piece What the New Deal Did. He begins by pointing out the negative outcomes of the New D...
It started off with momentum and true intentions to jumpstart the economy. Various relief programs were enacted with intent to help those who could not help themselves, to ease the burden of such a low quality of life created by the Great Depression. Eventually though, the New Deal ran out of steam, people were still waiting for relief after several years. They started to question the effectiveness of the New Deal, itself. Roosevelt started to find himself and his board of experts running out of ideas to improve the economy. It was only after the New Deal when the economy finally started to right
During the great depression, then President, Herbert Hoover disappointed Americans. America was therefore ready for a change. In 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected as President. He pledged a “New Deal” for the country. According to Exploring American Histories, this New Deal would eventually “provide relief, put millions of people to work, raise price for farmers, extend conservation projects, revitalize America’s financial system and restore capitalism.”
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.
These programs worked to keep people on their feet until America pulled out of the deep recession. The New Deal was not liberal because it was not even what ended the Great Depression. What actually ended the Great Depression was when World War II began trickling over into American affairs. The spending that came along with the war and the demand for new industries greatly improved the economy along with the actions taken to finance these investments. There are always critics to any program or plan that the government creates and the New Deal was no exception; FDR had the good intentions of America in mind. He was not looking to create a monster government, he was looking to help the citizens have better lives in the crashed economy. Some of his acts have lasted until modern day, meaning that they must be working. The Social Security Act is still in effect today for example; this act provides a security net for the retired and disabled. FDR had great intentions for his programs and it is proven by how some are still in effect in 2016. Without his experimenting, America might not have programs that affect modern day
Essentially, the New Deal did not work to include and employ as many people as it could or should have, even excluding major population types from any possible benefit from the programs. It failed to provide hard-working citizens with a steady job and food to eat. This question of whether or not the New Deal was a success has a substantial significance. If any country goes into a economic collapse like one of the Great Depression, one could use America’s experience as an example as to what steps should or should not be taken though such a time. Afterall, the importance of studying history is to learn from mistakes made in the
Regarding “The Age of Globalization” by Alan Brinkley I thought that the reading selection provides good details on timeline of significant events that significantly affected the global economy. The reading selection from the American History textbook starts off with a summary of event of September 11, 2001, and the role they played in the changes within global economy. On the next page we are presented with a timeline of events that will be described later in the reading selection. The purpose of this section is to illustrate how each of those events contributed to the world we live in today, particularly their influence on the global economy.
It is worth examining how the New Deal period represented a significant departure from US government and politics up to then. From the start of Roosevelt's period in office in 1932, there was a widespread sense that things were going to change. In Washington there was excitement in the air, as the first Hundred Days brought a torrent of new initiatives from the White House. The contrast with Herbert Hoover's term could not have been more striking. By 1934, E.K. Lindley had already written about The Roosevelt Revolution: First Phase. Hoover, meanwhile, denounced what he saw as an attempt to "undermine and destroy the American system" and "crack the timbers of the constitution." In retrospect, it was only a "half-way revolution", as W. Leuchtenburg has written. Radicals have been left with a sense of disappointment at the "might have beens", in P. Conkin's words.
The United States faced the worst economic downfall in history during the Great Depression. A domino effect devastated every aspect of the economy, unemployment rate was at an all time high, banks were declaring bankruptcy and the frustration of the general public led to the highest suicide rates America has ever encountered. In the 1930’s Franklin D Roosevelt introduced the New Deal reforms, which aimed to “reconcile democracy, individual liberty and economic planning” (Liberty 863). The New Deal reforms were effective in the short term but faced criticism as it transformed the role of government and shaped the lives of American citizens.
Liberalism, formed in the latter part of the 18th Century from opposition to existing political monarchies in Europe, was based on rights of individuals and the responsibility of government to protect those rights. Conservative philosophy was born as a reaction to dangerous tendencies detected within the liberal movement toward excessive governmental control. While conservatives form the base of their beliefs on traditional values, respect for authority, and maintaining custom, liberals fought government tendencies to diminish, ignore, or abuse individual human rights. Both beliefs balanced each other until liberalism shifted its emphasis from protecting individual rights from government to using government as a source for supplying basic life necessities. The modern liberal agenda began as President Johnson's Great Society to wipe out poverty and enhance the quality of life for all Americans.
Liberalism is an ideology and due to the changing views of historical persons, who have each viewed themselves to be Liberals, is difficult to define precisely. There are five agreed defining tenants of Liberalism. The most important of these, percolating through the ideology, is the ‘Importance of the Individual’, and closely interlinked with this is ‘Freedom’, which leads on to the concept of ‘Individual Freedom or liberty’. Liberals believe that humankind is a rational species, and thus ‘Reason’ is a third tenant. Furthermore Liberalism advocates that the principle of ‘Justice’ and Toleration’ are fundamental in the well being of society and each of these aspects relates directly back to the quintessential first tenant. Liberalism, according to Habermas “emphasizes individual freedom from restraint and is usually based on free competition, the self-regulating market, and the gold standard; c: a political philosophy based on belief in progress, the essential goodness of the human race, and the autonomy of the individual and standing for the protection of political and civil liberties.” As an individualist, rather than a collectivist ideology the individual is placed as the building block of society. J. S. Mill says ...