- Explain why there was opposition to the new deal.
The new deal bought a lot of disputes from different groups of people. Many had very strong views so conflict between different groups grew.
Roosevelt believed that by increasing taxes he could get many Americans back to work and get the American industry and agriculture working again. But this didn’t benefit everyone and many people opposed the New Deal.
Rich Americans didn’t agree with paying high taxes as their money was going towards helping the poor and they wouldn’t get anything back. This meant that in the future they would eventually lose lots of money and wouldn’t benefit from anything as Roosevelt wasn’t willing to help. Their concerns caused Republicans to think and they started to object to high taxes paid by Americans. This also led them to believe that the business values of America were being undermined to help the poor. Other state governments also objected to Roosevelt’s New Deal and they expressed their anxiety in how federal governments were interfering in their affairs and the way Americana lived and worked.
Roosevelt wasn’t helping business in any way so this increased anger within the businesses as he wasn’t supporting trade unions.
After the Supreme Court had declared the NIRA illegal because after going against the constitution Roosevelt was worried that his new deal rules wouldn’t be passed. He was so worried he asked if the congress could appoint new court judges so he could get his measures through. This automatically made everyone angry and even some of his supporters began to oppose his deal and he lost a lot of support.
A lot of major groups opposed the new deal but individuals also did too. Father Coughlin was known as the ‘radio priest.’ He formed the national union for social justice and thought that the New Deal wasn’t providing social justice for citizens in America as people that were shattered by the effects of the depression weren’t given a fair chance of living.
Dr Francis Townsend also opposed the New Deal because he was part of the union party, which opposed Roosevelt in the 1936 election. He introduced many plans to help people including a scheme in which all those over 60 would receive a monthly pension in return that they would retire from work and spend their pensions each month. These plans gained him fame and support over Roosevelt and encouraged people to oppose him.
A professional politician Huey Long for a short while posed a great threat to Roosevelt. He used many tricks to boost his personal power; he also improved public services in the State and became very popular. Huey Long was preparing himself to be a rival president up for election against Roosevelt but then he was assassinated in 1935.
After everyone who had opposed had shred their views, Roosevelt had concluded that the only people who supported him were the voters. Despite all this though, he still became president so obviously the support he had was enough to make him part of the government of America.
3.) Was the new deal a success or a failure?
Explain your answer.
The new deal was a success and a failure in many ways; this is because different groups were influenced by different rules. Some groups approved of them and other groups didn’t. However, this didn’t change the fact that the new deal revolutionised people’s lives.
There were many black Americans in America at the time of the new deal and these black Americans were ignored and exploited when the rules were introduced. The farmers were paid not to produce crops on their land. Most of the black citizens worked on this land so this left millions of them unemployed. Also house clearance schemes made many blacks homeless. So the farmers thought the new deal was a success and the black citizens thought that the new deal was a failure. This however was only based on how the new deal benefited themselves and not America as a whole.
The amount of blacks unemployed contributes to why the new deal failed. Unemployment rates still remained high throughout the 1930’s and continued to increase after the 1st and 2nd new deals were introduced. This meant that the new deal wasn’t working as the main aim of the new deal was to get people back to work. Instead of this happening many people were still unemployed and the new deal wasn’t improving people’s lives like it was supposed to.
Restoring people’s faith in investing was a very important part of the new deal as the government needed people to invest in the American stock market so that many businesses could get back to work again. The new deal didn’t help encourage people to put their faith in the stock market as in 1937 Americans were only investing 75% of what they had in 1929. This meant that it was still becoming harder for American industry and economy to get working again.
The AAA (Agricultural Adjustment Administration society) stopped the overproduction of crops so they could control prices of the food in America. However the AAA didn’t think about how this would affect the poor whites in America. The increased prices meant that poor white people couldn’t afford food to keep themselves alive, on the other hand once again the farmers benefited as they got more money for crops.
The new deal did bring failures in many ways and for different people but it also was a success for some Americans. The farmers benefited excellently from the new deal but it also was a success in many other ways.
The new deal was a success because it stopped the depression from getting any worse. This was because the new deal stopped the depression from going into an unrecoverable situation. The problems that had arisen from the depression could be solved from the new deal. For example the depression bought lots of unemployment and the new deal was supposed to solve the ever increasing unemployment rates.
Americans began to think that they would have better social security than other countries because they could finally see how the new deal would improve their lives and desperation. To help Americans the new deal supplied America with a strong foundation for schools, dams, roads and a basis for future prosperity. The confidence started to return in the American citizens.
The TVA (Tennessee Valley Authorities) created new relationships between the local and central government because they helped so many people and communities that the people and governments began to appreciate the TVA much more. This would help in the future as if the government needed any help concerning building they would know the most reliable people to turn to. The main objective of the TVA was to build dams and bridges so more jobs could be created and if there ever was a drought again the farmers could get access to water to continue farming. The TVA was a major success of the new deal as they created safe areas for people to live and continue their lives.
Apart from the AAA and the TVA many other American ‘alphabet agencies’ tried to improve peoples lives. The other groups were CCC - The Civilian Conservation Corps gave work to 4,000, 000 young Americans in the countryside; clearing forests, replanting trees, mending fences etc. This group of people provided immediate help and comfort to the people involved in the Wall Street Crash and were valued very highly by the people of America. The PWA - The Public Works Administration began to build public buildings all over the country, schools, hospitals etc. The PDA was involved in similar ways to the TVA as they were trying to rebuild schools and hospitals for the American society could try and get back to normal. NRA - The National Recovery Administration persuaded employers to allow trade unions to represent workers and to give those higher wages and better conditions this was in the hope that many workers could be able to support themselves in any future times of unemployment and money loss.
All of the ‘alphabet agencies’ were a success of the new deal as they succeed in helping people recover their jobs and lives and set America up for the future.
In effect the new deal saved ‘American Democracy’ as it restored people’s faith in the government. After president Hoover Americans thought they couldn’t trust the government as they were doing nothing to help or improve their lives, however Roosevelt changed people’s opinions and they started to trust and respect American democracy a lot more.
The new deal did bring many success and failures but I think that the new deal was a failure because the new deal didn’t solve unemployment problems, help get food for poor people or help black Americans. The only people that really did think the prohibition was a success were the farmers. I think the new deal was a failure because at the time the new deal only increased unemployment rates and didn’t immediately give the Americans the help they needed. The new deal was only a success in the long run after years of people working hard and I think the only reason the new deal was passed was because America needed a change and they took every chance that they were given even if it didn’t turn out all right. The new deal bought starvation to more people than before and many were continuing to lose sight of the end of terrible times. The new deal changed peoples lives for good and bad but I think it didn’t contribute to the way America began to start their economy and businesses again.
