The New Deal
Samantha Archer
POLS 1101: American Government
January 22, 2017
Dr. Andrea M. Peterson The New Deal
In October of 1929 the stock market crashes, marking the beginning of the Great Depression. By 1930 unemployment grows from almost 4 million in January to 7 million in December. During this time President Herbert Hoover appoints the President’s Emergency Committee for Employment to stimulate state and local relief but no funding for relief was provided by the committee. In July of 1932, in the midst of the greatest economic crisis in U.S. history, Franklin D. Roosevelt accepted the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, promising “a new deal for the American people.” That promise became a series of relief,
…show more content…
During the depression, approximately 50% of senior citizens lived in poverty. Like many Americans appalled at the sight of fellow citizens living their final years in poverty after a lifetime of hard work, FDR believed that a nation as prosperous and advanced as the U.S. should not allow retired citizens to suffer poverty. It protects citizens from poverty during retirement, and provides temporary relief for involuntary unemployed Americans and families seeking new jobs- a program known as Unemployment Insurance. The funds for Social Security are collected from every paycheck-worker and employers split the tax contributions that the government collects. After age 62, citizens receive a monthly pension check back from the government.
Another reform program that was started was the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority). Of all of the reform programs proposed by the Roosevelt administration, the TVA was by far the most ambitious. Created in 1933 for the purpose of developing the Tennessee River watershed, this comprehensive federal agency revitalized the region by building 16 dams to control flooding generate hydraulic power, and increase agricultural production. This agency also provided jobs, low-cost housing, reforestation, and many other conservation-related services to the region.
Recovery was planned to help the economy bounce back from depression. For example, The National Industrial Recovery Act. The 1933 National Industrial Recovery
After the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Hoover administration, something had to be done regarding the relief and recovery of the Great Depression. This was one of the more important objectives of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s first term as president. Although Herbert Hoover made somewhat of an attempt trying to reconcile the country, but he was unable to live up to his rhetoric, “prosperity is right around the corner.” Hoover failed to comprehend the extent of the damage of the stock market crash from a global perspective and simply did too much too fast. When Franklin Roosevelt came into presidency in 1933, he set out his first hundred-day plan. Within the first term, FDR created a series of relief and recovery acts to start the
The New Deal era is often cited as the time when the federal government began to assume its modern form. It was a time of unprecedented government intervention and in many ways changed the way Americans viewed government. After the Stock Market Crash of 1929, it was clear that the government was going to take immediate action. Anthony Badger’s The New Deal: The Depression Years, 1933-1940 is an outstanding summary of some of the most difficult, yet important, years in American history.
The New Deal had a major change of the government and had to change it completely. Before the New Deal, the government didn't provide for the people or had control over the economy. After the New deal, the federal government had played a major role in the economy and providing for the people. The New Deal had caused the federal government to take care of us. They had provided people with Medicare and Social Security.
Franklin Roosevelt had also battled private companies when he established the Tennessee Valley Authority which had determined how fair the rates being charged by private companies for electricity were. The New Deal legislation had led to an increased union membership and the winning of better wages and rights for the labor force.
The end of the first world war brought about a recession and then nearly a decade of prosperity in the United States. However, on October 29th, 1929, during Herbert Hoover’s presidency, the stock market crashed due to a multitude of problems within the country. At this point, thousands of people that had prospered before the crash, were homeless, jobless, and in a state of penury. In the 1932 election, Franklin Delano Roosevelt ran against the former president, Republican Herbert Hoover, and defeated him in a landslide, receiving the electoral vote in all but six states (Appleby, 651). As Roosevelt was taking office, the unemployment rates were skyrocketing, and more and more people were
In his inaugural address, President Franklin D. Roosevelt set the tone for the upcoming half century when he confidently said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. In response to the economic collapse of the Great Depression, a bold and highly experimental fleet of government bureaus and agencies known as Roosevelt’s Alphabet Soup were created to service the programs of the New Deal and to provide recovery to the American people. The New Deal was one of the most ambitious programs in American history, with implications and government programs that can still be seen to this day. Through its enactment of social reform and conservation programs, the New Deal mounted radical policies that gave the federal government unprecedented power in the nation’s economy and society, however, the New Deal did not bring America out of the Great Depression and could be considered conservative in the context of the era, ultimately saving capitalism from collapsing in America.
The TVA passed on May 18, 1933, played an important role during the Great Depression. This program played a vital role in relieving some of the economic hardships that farmers in Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia were experiencing. The TVA taught farmers of this area better farming techniques, such as replanting trees, rotating crops, and soil conservation. Dams were built to help with flooding and to provide hydroelectric power. The development of the TVA also created many jobs opportunities for the unemployed. (“Tennessee Valley Authority”
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
There were “Hooverville’s” or shanty’s that were sometimes not more than cardboard or if they were lucky, a tent. There was little work with farms and factories producing next to nothing. Elderly people did not have savings. As workforce was mostly men, there was no pension or support for senior citizens. President Franklin Roosevelt looked bank in history and to the English Poor houses. He put forth the idea of federal aid for children and dependent (the elderly or physically disabled) people. A national welfare system was in place by 1935. This was the first time in the history of the United States that the federal government used tax money to take care of the citizens that could not work. Americans had always taken care of themselves and took pride in their independent nature. Times were hard but people had to feed their children. 1933, many states had programs for mothers and children. In 1937 The Supreme Court ruled that federal assistance to citizens (via Social Security) was constitutional by the 10th Amendment to the Constitution. This ruling and one on the Social Security Act was historic. The Judges were split on social reform and Roosevelt was afraid that Social Security would be compromised. President Roosevelt called upon congress allowing the President to add judges to all federal courts if the judges were over 70 years of age. If passed the President could appoint six new Supreme justices that would support his Social Security Act. Although that law was never passed it did sway the Court and the President won the battle. Another court ruling was on a California case. This case was whether a state (California) could reduce benefits for first time enrollment. This ruling the court ruled that California could reduce benefits. This ruling affected may newcomers to California. California paid a higher benefit than other states and that
The United States encountered many ordeals during the Great Depression (1929-1939). Poverty, unemployment and despair clouded the “American Dream” and intensified the urgency for solutions to address and control the nationwide damage. President Franklin Roosevelt proposed the New Deal to detoxify the nation of its suffering. It can be argued that the New Deal was ineffective due to the inability to end the Great Depression with its short-term solutions and created more problems, however; it was successful in regards to providing direct relief for the needy, economic recovery and some structural reform for the majority of the general public in the severity of the Great Depression.
On October 24, 1929, a day historically known as “Black Thursday”, the United States stock market crashed due to investors in the market starting to “sell off their shares, which resulted in a decline in stock prices.” (Dau-Schmidt, pg 60) This economic downturn in the market gave birth to financial ambivalence in the country, increasing unemployment, as well as other consequences on the landscape of international economics. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt took over as president in the year of 1933, “The country was in its depth of the Great Depression.” (Neal, 2010) Roosevelt’s New Deal consisted of implementing relief programs such as the Work Progress Administration and the Civil Works Administration, which aimed at revitalizing
“I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people,” President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said after winning his party’s nomination in 1932 ("A New Deal for Americans"). The 1930s was a time of great economic depression; in response the New Deal was FDR’s plan for America’s recovery. By 1933, when FDR took office, one in four Americans was unemployed. Furthermore, there was widespread hunger, malnutrition, overcrowding, and poor health. The New Deal was made to combat these tragic conditions and it did so through the means of welfare and government intervention. Indeed, the New Deal was a radical change to the way America had
It was the year of 1934. America was fighting to come out from the worst economic crisis that the world would ever witness. It was also the year of high crime rate, low Gross Domestic Product and the lowest unemployment rate America had experienced. The Depression had paralyzed American labor forces, but there was a hope still alive in every American including J.D. Rockefeller when he said, “These are days when many are discouraged. In the 93 years of my life, depressions have come and gone. Prosperity has always returned and will again” (Rockefeller). At that time, the next president named Franklin D. Roosevelt, famous as FDR, brought Americans back to work through his confident efforts and new series of programs called ‘the New Deal’.
The America in the 1930s was drastically different from the luxurious 1920s. The stock market had crashed to an all time low, unemployment was the highest the country had ever seen, and all American citizens were affected by it in some way or another. Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal was effective in addressing the issues of The Great Depression in the sense that it provided immediate relief to US citizens by lowering unemployment, increasing trust in the banks, getting Americans out of debt, and preventing future economic crisis from taking place through reform. Despite these efforts The New Deal failed to end the depression. In order for America to get out of this economic
Once President Franklin Roosevelt was elected during the Great Depression, his first 100 days enacted what he called the New Deal. This “deal” was a series of reforms that were meant to increase available jobs, better the working conditions, and put money back into the economy. Jobs offered during this time, as well as the relief, recovery, and reform efforts gave a kick start to the American economy, helping to pull us out of the Great Depression. Some examples of these efforts can be seen in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the National Recovery Administration (NRA), and the Social Security Act (SSA).