In 1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt won the election by nearly 7million votes, one of the biggest democratic victories ever recorded in the US. He mainly won this election due to his promises of a New Deal for the American citizens. The New Deal was a series of domestic programs enacted in the United States between 1933 and 1936. But how successful was the New Deal in solving America’s economic depression?
One of the main problems was that Americans had little confidence in the banks (due to the Wall Street crash) because of this a lot of Americans were withdrawing or preparing to withdraw all their savings in the bank. Roosevelt realized that if all Americans withdrew their money it would lead to the collapse of the banking system so passed an Emergency Banking Act in 1933. This meant that the Government declared a ‘bank holiday’ and closed all banks; the banks were only allowed to reopen when they were declared financially sound.
As a consequence America’s confidence was restored in the banking system so Americans kept their money in the bank, which led to the banking system functioning perfectly well. Because Roosevelt had solved this problem only a very tiny number of banks collapsed during his time as president. By setting up Alphabet Agencies (US federal government agencies set up as a part of the New Deal) Roosevelt began to target unemployment and poverty.
The Term Paper on American Banking United State
The American Banking System 1800-1810 INTRODUCTION Looking back to the outset of the 19 th century, it is impossible to say that any real banking system had really been developed in the US. This is to say that, though there were roughly 120 private commercial banks that had been chartered by new state governments, the so-called system was scarcely organized. It was ad how in nature and directly ...
Agencies such as the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) and the PWA (Public Works Administration) were created to help the unemployment levels. The CC was set up to give men aged 18-25 6 months of work, they had to send most of the pay home to their parents and wives. The PWA was made to create more permanent jobs, unemployed workers were paid to build schools, roads and hospitals and other public works projects; this not only created immediate jobs in the construction industry but would later create job vacancies in the new schools and hospitals.
When Roosevelt tackled unemployment and poverty he also helped the economic depression improve: as people had more money due to new jobs they could put more money in the bank and spend more on luxuries like the cinema and holidays. The New Deal helped unemployment go from 14 million in 1933 to 8 million in1937 but in 1938 Roosevelt cut down his programmes; by doing his he caused the unemployment levels to rise once again.
The New Deal was never fully successful in solving unemployment in the 1930s; unemployment was only completely solved in 1941 where the USA entered the Second World War. When Roosevelt set up all of the Alphabet Agencies like the FERA, PWA, AAA, CCC, TVA and NIRA he had to spend a lot of money, which obviously means the taxes would have to rise to fund these government run projects. This would mean that the American taxpayers would have less money to spend due to the heavy tax etc. A few Americans, especially Republicans, disapproved of the help the Government was giving out freely.
They thought that the Government should focus on the principles of ‘laissez faire’ and ‘rugged individualism’; they said that the New Deal crushed these qualities that had once made America great and too many people were becoming dependant on the state. They thought people should not be given free handouts by agencies like FERA (an Alphabet Agency that gave the poor food, clothing, etc. ) Overall the New Deal dealt with many problems such as unemployment, poverty and financial crisis.
It could be said that Roosevelt’s New Deal helped restore confidence to American companies and citizens. The New Deal identified problems, such as the lack of people keeping money in banks, and tried to address them. Roosevelt’s public work schemes also helped to improve the levels of unemployment. Although the actual amount of success of the New Deal is not clear, Roosevelt’s policies had at least held together the economy of the USA and provided relief to the victims of the Depression. Realistically, the economy of the USA only fully recovered with the outbreak of World War II.
The Essay on Great Society Deal Roosevelt Garraty
President Franklin D. Roosevelt's program of relief, recovery, and reform that aimed at solving the economic problems created by the Depression of the 1930's, was referred to as the New Deal. The Great Society was the name given to the domestic program of the U. S. president Lyndon B. Johnson. Both programs had similar yet opposing points. Something had to be done about the banking system ...
