preview

New Deal Dbq

Decent Essays

Imagine being unemployed and so poor that you call a shantytown your community and a shack your home. This was the economic situation for one-quarter of the civilian labor force in 1933 (Dimand, 2000, para. 4), and so, in the same year, Franklin Delano Roosevelt became president during the worst economic recession in history of America (ABC-CLIO, 2000, para.2). Accordingly, FDR introduced a series of programs to help the American public called the New Deal. These programs were often called “alphabet soup agencies” due to the acronyms for various programs made to provide relief, recovery and reform, such as decreasing the amount of unemployed by creating jobs, giving secure wages and making housing more affordable. The New Deal was a success because of the numerous Federal programs Roosevelt created to accomplish its goal of helping the people. …show more content…

According to Aubrey Williams, the Assistant Works Progress Administrator and executive Director of the National Youth Administration, in March of 1933, unemployment was at an all time high in the US. She says, “the estimates had dropped to 12,000,000, and today most reliable sources place the number of jobless at 10,000,000” (Williams, 1935, para.13). This supports the argument that the New Deal was a success because the numbers show a great decrease in unemployment after FDR took office. This reduction in the amount of unemployed is progress for the United States because it means more people are getting off of government welfare and found a job with a secure

Get Access