Explain why Roosevelt introduced the New Deal

GCSE History Coursework 07/12/04

There were three main reasons why Roosevelt introduced the New Deal. The first was economic and social problems in the USA, as a result of the Wall Street Crash. The second reason was because of Hoover, the president before Roosevelt; had been a weak president, and could not solve problems, and often made problems worse. The third was that Roosevelt strongly believed he could help America recover, like he himself has done when he caught polio.

One of the reasons why he introduced the New Deal was because of the problems in the USA. The Wall Street Crash in 1929 affected the USA both socially and economically. This sparked off the Great Depression. Factories were being closed, production fell, and people lost their jobs. Because of this trading of goods stopped, so the Depression affected other countries as well. Socially it was affecting people’s lives, and people were often seen in Bread Lines to get basic food rations. Homeless people began to build Shanty Towns, which became known as ‘Hoovervilles’. Unemployment was now at its highest in 4 years. In 1929, only 1.6 million people were unemployed, but by 1932 over 12 million people were unemployed. When Hoover tried to solve things it made no difference, or in some cases made it worse. In 1930 he put taxes on good imported to America, so that instead of buying foreign goods, which would now be dearer, people would buy America’s own goods. However this did not work; because other countries then put taxes on products coming from America. The ex-WWI soldiers were promised a $500 bonus, and in 1932, 25 000 people marched into Washington DC, and demanded their bonus payments, even though they weren’t payable until 1945. These marchers became known as Bonus Marchers, and all of these problems needed to be solved by Roosevelt.

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Another reason why he introduced the New Deal was because of Hoover. Hoover was a weak president, and couldn’t deal with America’s problems. He tried to solve this problem with protective tariffs (putting taxes on imported goods), but this was unsuccessful and made problems worse. He also tried introducing a ‘Welfare State’, but not many people agreed with this, because a welfare state runs off workers’ taxes, and employment was so low that not enough tax was being paid, meaning there would be no money for Hoover’s Welfare State. Hoover also tried to promote the employer’s ‘give-a-job’ scheme. This was where employers were encouraged to give jobs to unemployed people, instead of the government funding new jobs. This scheme failed as well. He also tried the ‘trickle-down effect’, where Hoover would ‘boost’ one industry with money and jobs to higher production. He hoped by doing this other companies would follow on and create higher production, however this scheme failed. Hoover had a lot of ideas, and did want to help America, but proved too weak to. Republican ideas were wholly inadequate but no different from those of Britain’s National Government at the time. By the time of the 1932 Presidential Election, America was in a terrible state. Each of Hoover’s policies failed, and this is why Roosevelt won the election in 1932.

The final reason why Roosevelt introduced the New Deal was that above all things Roosevelt believed in himself and the New Deal, and truly wanted to help America. He also had the skills and qualities needed to introduce the new deal. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born in 1882 at Hyde Park, New York. Roosevelt entered politics, like his cousin, President Theodore Roosevelt. In 1910, he became governor of New York State. He then became full governor of New York, and tried some of his ideas out on New York. In 1929, when he was 31, Roosevelt was struck with Poliomyelitis (Polio), and lost the use of his legs. He showed bravery by trying to re-gain the use of his legs, mainly through swimming. In 1932, he won the presidential election, and could now get to work on the road to recovery with the New Deal. In his first hundred days, he proposed to get businesses booming, and lower employment levels. As a part of the New Deal, he wanted to support and fund unemployed people, and wanted to put funding into health and education. However the Republican Party disagreed with this and wanted people to look after themselves. Roosevelt also introduced old age pensions, and unemployment benefits. He also had a strong mandate in the Houses of Congress, which made it easy for Roosevelt to pass laws, because he had more people supporting him, rather than opposing him. This was good for Roosevelt because he had a lot of ideas which would need to be passed through the houses first. Roosevelt was a very pragmatic (sensible) president, and wanted only the best people to be his advisors. He wouldn’t just choose friends for the job, but would pick the person he thought would be best.

I think that the main reasons why Roosevelt introduced the New Deal were to solve America’s problems as a result of the Wall Street Crash, and Hoover’s mistakes. But lastly, and in my opinion, most importantly, he introduced the New Deal because he strongly believed the New Deal would solve most of America’s problems.

Elliot Farrell