Though life did not get better for some Americans for many Americans it did. This was because they were finally being employed again even if it was for a small amount of money. These people had been living in hardship for up to 5 years, any break from the poverty was welcome.
During his election campaign Roosevelt outlined his ‘New Deal.’ This was a symbol of hope for the poverty stricken Americans and once he was in power Roosevelt started to implement it’s sections. The first part was the ‘First 100 days.’ This instilled confidence in people and they trusted Roosevelt. He told people to keep their money in the banks that were still open and they did. This stopped a complete financial collapse of the American economy and stooped hyperinflation happening as had happened in Germany in the early 1920’s. Roosevelt also did not raise taxes, this helped the struggling people and instead he spent government surplus. This eased the problem and should have been done by Hoover when the problem began. These were also the first positive action to helping the Americans after Hoover had left office.
Roosevelt set up the Brain’s Trust to find the major problems and come up with ways to solve them. This trust was very effective and came up with solutions to many of America’s problems. Roosevelt then set up his agencies. The first one he established was the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). This had funds obtained through congress to relieve human suffering, It had $500 million. He then established the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). This was a favorite project of Roosevelt and remained popular throughout the New Deal. At its peak it employed 500,000 men in tasks such as reforestation and flood control work. Though this was effective there was still 15 million unemployed. Roosevelt’s main loan agency had already been set up and was called the Reconstruction Finance Cooperation (RFC), Roosevelt expanded its powers so it could make loans to small enterprises as well as large. At this time Roosevelt did not see public spending as a primary role of the relief agencies the amount of money they poured into the economy over several years did stimulate the economic recovery. In 1933 Roosevelt set up the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA), its objectives were to increase the proportion on the nations income going to farmers. Farmers were given subsidies in return for their willingness to reduce production. These subsidies were paid from a processing tax on commodities. Congress enacted this legislation because the majority of farm organization leaders favored it. In 1936 the Supreme Court invalidated the Processing tax so the AAA had to be switched to a program of soil conservation. Though the AAA helped it was not until 1941 that farm income reached what it had been in 1929. In 1933 Roosevelt recommended to congress the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), this was a two pronged program. The first was the Public Works Administration (PWA). This had $3,300,000,000 to spend on public works. If this money had just ben poured into the economy then it would have brought about recovery faster, but Roosevelt wanted to make sure it was spent soundly on self-liquidating public works. Because the careful planning of the PWA took time it was not until late in the New Deal that it took affect. The other part of the NIRA was the National Recovery Administration (NRA). This agency was set up to administer codes of fair practice within certain industries. With representatives of each industry it negotiated minimum wages, maximum hours and fair trade practices were established. The NRA aided many highly competitive industries such as textiles, and also abolished child labor. In 1937 workers were allowed to join trade unions. But the result of this was factories recruited ‘goon squads’ to beat up any one who went on strike.
One problem with the agencies was that they sometimes conflicted and arguments ensued between them. One was between the CWA and the PWA. The CWA gave work instead of dole money. It built 150,000 toilets even though they were not needed. Harry Hopkins ran the CWA. The leader of the PWA, Harold Ickes thought that this was a waste of money. His PWA only provided work where it was needed, such as building new sewer systems. When the agencies argued their production fell and this meant that they were not helping people as much as they could have been. This shows that Roosevelt did not have that much control over them.
Roosevelt found an old law called the ‘Trading with the enemy act.’ This allowed president to spend money on what ever he deemed necessary. This allowed him to plow money into the economy from the government surplus without having to go through the length process in congress. Some of his actions were deemed illegal later on by the Supreme Court, which lead to the second new deal. One of the major agencies destroyed by the Supreme Court was the NRA.
I have looked at the things Roosevelt did to aid the economy and I think that he did a lot to help the American to recover form the depression. I think he should get credit for the successes as if it had all gone wrong he would have taken all the blame. I will now look at the factors that helped the depression end, which were out of Roosevelt's control.
The recovery of America form the depression was not down to Roosevelt but the leaders in charge of the agencies that dealt with the actual problems of helping people. These people such as Henry Hopkins were responsible for the recovery because they had spent the money in the right places and on the right things. Even if they did not always agree they got heir jobs done and managed to reemploy lots of Americans.
Another factor, which helped America out of Depression, was the rise of Hitler in Germany and his re-armament programs. Although this kept secret at first when open conscription was introduced America had to start re-arming as well to keep up. This meant more public spending in armament factories which instantly employed more people. Also people were conscripted into the army which meant that they were no longer homeless and they had a stable income. America was also able to implement Lend-Lease programs, which though instigated by Roosevelt could have been done by any president so his involvement was not a major factor in it. In this program boats were given to Churchill at a reduced price and America got Air force bases in the UK.
Another factor for America’s recovery was that it was a cyclic depression. This means that it was naturally occurring. As you can see in fig. 2 the economies of capitalist countries go through phases of Booms and Busts. Booms are when the prices of thing are low and wages are high. This means people spend more. When a bust happens, which was what the Wall Street Crash was prices are high and wages are low, so people don’t spend. Normally the Booms and Busts don’t reach the extremes of the Wall Street Crash because the government controls them. This is what Roosevelt did once he was in power. As fig. 2 shows the busts always naturally recover and this is what would have happened even if Roosevelt hadn’t instigated his policies and Acts. Though Roosevelt did help as fig. 2 shows when a Boom happens the government raises taxes to create a surplus, but when a bust happens the government should spend this money. This is what Roosevelt did though as I have already said it was the Agency directors that actuality distributed and spent the money.
From looking at the factors that were out of Roosevelt's control it seems that the depression would have solved it’s self anyway and circumstances would have helped any president not only Roosevelt.
After looking at both views of whether or not Roosevelt helped or not I have decided that Roosevelt probably did contribute greatly to the end of the depression. Even though the depression was cyclic he still speeded up the process and so brought about the end of the depression. Life did get better for most Americans though not all, but Roosevelt did try to help all Americans and was quite successful.
