Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal Essay

In response to the Great Depression, many of the programs introduced by FDR were effective because they helped fix the economy by using federal intervention and redirecting the economy’s cash flow to help decrease the amount of unemployment.

When the great depression hit America, the country was left in devastation. Due to the

The era of the Great Depression was by far the worst shape the United States had ever been in, both economically and physically. Franklin Roosevelt was elected in 1932 and began to bring relief with his New Deal. In his first 100 days as President, sixteen pieces of legislation were passed by Congress, the most to be passed in a short amount of time. Roosevelt was re-elected twice, and quickly gained the trust of the American people. Many of the New Deal policies helped the United States economy greatly, but some did not. One particularly contradictory act was the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which was later declared unconstitutional by Congress. Many things also stayed very consistent in

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was faced with having to take care of the people during the Great Depression, because they experienced job loss and money loss. And because of this he created the new deal which is to help the people with creating more jobs. The people thought the new deals that were introduced worked well for them. Franklin Roosevelt’s administrations responses to the problems of the great depression were effective. The new deal was effective because the people were provided with jobs and the national income increased.

Presidency changes every four years allowing Americans to see new and different results. From 1929 until 1939 the Great Depression shocked all of America. The Great Depression occurred after the stock market crashed revealing underlying problems in the United States’ economy. The banks were giving out risky loans and the farmers were overstocking on crops. The previous president, Herbert Hoover, did not try much to solve this major economic downfall. He was worried about too much government interference. He resulted in violence when protests arose and people even built shanty towns and called them Hoovervilles to mock him for not helping the poor. The nation really needed the government’s help. When Roosevelt beat Hoover in the following election,

Essentially, the government was intervening in the affairs of these private farmers by getting involved with how much they should produce and by giving funds to said farmers. The AAA was, in fact, successful in its goal of supporting these farmers and raising the prices for agricultural goods. Another and probably the most left system of the New Deal was the development of the Tennessee Valley Authority. The objective of the TVA was for the government itself to provide power to the local areas. FDR described that he wanted to create “a corporation clothed with the power of government but possessed of the flexibility and initiative of a private enterprise.” Not only was the government again inserting itself into the lives of the individuals in these regions, but also it was almost a business itself that could possibly compete with private enterprises. The TVA brought many benefits to the effected people and helped from providing power to those that otherwise wouldn’t have the option to preventing flooding. Yet another left wing change Roosevelt installed was the Social Security Act that Congress passed in 1935. This act provided income for the unemployed and retirees as well as eventually set up a pension system. Yet again the government increased its spending on the people of the U.S. and told private workers what to do with their money in regard to their pensions. Lastly, the New Deal was extremely liberal in the government’s huge amount of spending in its provision of relief to give jobs to their unemployed. From the CCC providing jobs in national parks to the WPA having men work on public buildings, the government saw the problem of unemployment and took it upon itself to provide jobs to the needy. The size of the WPA’s budget alone was humungous with around $5 billion in its first two years (Brinkley, 695). The whole point of these relief programs was to have the government help out its people as the U.S.’s economy and private sector could not support its

The stock market crash of 1929 indicated serious, fundamental problems in the United States economy. However, it was not the sole cause of the Great Depression. The crash further exposed the cracks in America’s apparent prosperity. And, since the causes of the economic crises were complex, the solution to the economic problems facing the United States would be complicated as well. Ready to address the complicated issue of reviving the American economy, as well as its despairing citizenry, was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Roosevelt’s campaign for the presidency in 1932 pledged vigorous action and “bold and persistent experimentation” in response to the Great Depression. Roosevelt defeated Republican incumbent Herbert Hoover in the 1932

Napolean Bonaparte once stated, “A leader is a dealer in hope.” Hoover and Roosevelt had very different viewpoints on how to handle the Great Depression. Hoover preferred “rugged individualism,” and FDR preferred “helping hand” philosophies. Hoover believed in assisting business in hope that this support would create a trickle down impact which would lead to investment and more jobs. FDR, on the other hand, wanted to provide people with jobs to increase confidence and correcting failures in certain economic institutions, leading to a bubble up scenario. It is ironic that Hoover knew how it felt to suffer in poverty as a child, yet FDR better handled the job of reassuring citizens that he was the man to get the nation out of its slump.

“Black Tuesday” is cited to be the day that the Stock Market Crashed on October 19, 1929, and it is believed to have been the beginning of the Great Depression (Schultz). This led to many catastrophes in the United States economic system that lasted ten years, from 1929-1939 (Schultz). During this time period consumer spending declined, unemployment increased, and a severe drought throughout the U.S led to a reduction in agricultural labor, which resulted in even more unemployment (Schultz). Nevertheless, out of this crisis President Roosevelt created programs, throughout his presidency, in hopes of bettering the United States economy. These programs would eventually be called the New Deal and Second New Deal programs. These programs were

Farmers had been hit a lot harder than most in the 20's and past the

When the citizens had bought all that they could buy, there was a decrease in demand. Suddenly, the industries had an excess of goods and no one to sell it to. At this point, the Fordney-McCumber Act began to cripple the economy of America. Other nations introduced high tariffs to boost their revenue and to spite the United States. Sadly for the United States, these high tariffs and low demand were instrumental in the depression that America experienced. When the stock market crashed on October 29th, 1929 or “Black Tuesday”, the united states, along with other nations were in economic turmoil and the widespread prosperity of the 1920s ended abruptly. The depression threatened people's jobs, savings, and even their homes and farms. During the heart of the depression, over one-quarter of the American population was out of work. For many Americans, these were extremely hard times. When Roosevelt was voted into office, he introduced the New Deal. While this plan tried to help the united states out of it’s isolationist rut, the second world war was the final solution. Mobilizing the economy for world war finally cured the depression. Millions of men and women joined the armed forces, and even larger numbers went to work in well-paying defence jobs.

The economic crisis that showed all the contradictions of capitalism led to an increase of a deep political crisis in the USA in late 1920?s. October 29, 1929 is known in the American history as the Black Tuesday. It was the date, when the American stock market collapsed. In such economically difficult situation, in November 1932, a regular presidential election took place. The Democrat Franklin Roosevelt, who spoke with the program the New Deal, came to presidency. It was a series of social liberal programs applied in the United States in 1933-1938 in response to the Great Depression. The New Deal was focused on three main principles: relief, recovery, and reform.[footnoteRef:1] They promised to bring the country to prosperity and economically stable future. However, the Conservatives criticized the New Deal during the whole period of the reforms. It was expressed by Herbert Hoover in Anti-New Deal Campaign Speech in 1936 and Minnie Hardin in 1937 in a Letter to Eleanor Roosevelt. [1: (notes)]

The new production caused an increase in the need of workers, thus causing the unemployment rate to decrease. One way the New Deal was able to give jobs to the jobless was via the Civilian Conservation Corps. This program gave jobs to civilians between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five; they were planting trees, building dams, and stopping the erosion of the soil. By August of 1933, 300,000 men were at work. Roosevelt also aided the farmers through the Agricultural Adjustment Act. This act helped farmers meet their mortgages, which went hand in hand with the Home Owners' Loan Corporation. Through these acts the government used millions of dollars to try to relieve farmers' economic crises. But by doing this, Roosevelt caused an increase in the national debt.

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.

Franklin D. Roosevelt became the thirty-second president of the U.S. in 1933. He was one of the most skillful political leaders and it showed as he led the people out of the Great Depression. The U.S. was in a state of depression when Roosevelt took office, but through his New Deal program, the federal government became much more involved socially and economically in peoples' lives in contrast to its traditionally passive role. The government's responsibilities in peoples' lives changed and individuals' responsibilities changed too. The role of the government in peoples' lives expanded greatly during the New Deal era.