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Was The New Deal A Good Deal

Decent Essays
Open Document

Dayeon Kang
Mr. Incontrera
History PD 3
16 February 2017
Was the New Deal a Good Deal? The Great Depression in the United States began on October 29, 1929. This day is known as “Black Tuesday,” when the stock market in America crashed which led the country into its most severe economic downturn. Many banks failed, the nation’s money supply diminished, and companies went bankrupt and began to fire their workers. The Great Depression is one of the worst time in the history of the United States because hour wages dropped about fifty percent. It began by the complete collapse of the stock market when about thirteen million shares of stock were sold. Over the next few years, the government instituted a series of experimental projects and programs, …show more content…

The New Deal was the set of Federal Programs that were made by President Roosevelt, and it was a good deal because it created many programs that helped people. It resolved most of the hardships that the Americans faced. In response to the Great Depression, a program called, “Public Works Administration,” was created. An image of workers building a dam on the Mississippi River showed of the Public Works Administration which was taken on November 16, 1934, and the photographer is unknown. It was “created in response to the Great Depression and lasted from 1933 to 1943. It led to a numerous construction projects throughout the country, culminating in hundreds of new dams, bridges, hospitals, and schools” (“U.S. Engineers. Mississippi River Lock #18”). This program created construction projects and built improved highways, water system and government facilities. This is one of the positive effects because it constructed many new projects that helped people, providing employment, stabilizing purchasing power and improving public welfare. There were many other programs including the Civilian Conservation Corps, the …show more content…

According to an interview for the Federal Writers’ Project conducted by Robert Guarino in 1938, President Roosevelt “is a damned good man” (Fusco). Charles Fusco was an Italian-born worker of munitions. He did not mean President Roosevelt was an actual good man. According to his interview, he was not happy about President Roosevelt because “[President Roosevelt] take all these young fellows and you can’t talk to them like in the old days to sing them over. My son works [on WPA and NYA] and gets 44 cents an hour. They [people] tell you nowadays that a person lives longer—well they used to before this depression… you worry our god damn head off on how to meet both ends…” (Fusco). Even though Charles Fusco thought some of the laws were very good for people; however he believed that things have changed a lot. Nevertheless, after the New Deal was created, Americans were able to earn money and get jobs which improved their lives. President Roosevelt made the New Deal which was very successful and

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