Many new deal projects also proved to be very successful. The alphabet agencies provided work for millions with unemployment falling from a peak of 24.9 million in 1933 to 14.3 million four years later. The WPA in particular greatly improved the infrastructure of the USA by providing roads, schools and power stations, as well as helping over 8 million out of unemployment. And the TVA was another very successful project. It helped a great amount of people out of unemployment as well as providing the area with cheap electricity and preventing flooding and soil erosion.
Industrial workers also benefited from the new deal. The NRA and second new deal greatly strengthened the position of labour unions and made corporations negotiate with them. Millions of people in mass production industries joined trades unions for the first time. And, the social security act provided the USA with a semi-welfare state which included pensions for the elderly and widows and state help for the sick and disabled.
The new deal also helped promote equality towards all Americans. Around 200,000 black Americans gained benefits from the CCC and other new deal agencies. Many benefited from slum clearance programmes and housing projects. Women also benefited from the new deal and some achieved prominent positions, for example, Eleanor Roosevelt became an important campaigner for social reform and Frances Perkins was the first woman to be appointed to a cabinet post as secretary of labour.
However, there were also numerous failures of the new deal. It divided the USA and gave the federal government and presidency too much power. It also ignored the position of the state governments and tried to change the membership and role of the Supreme Court, and his supporters were even accused of being communist.
It also only provided short-term solutions and did not solve the underlying economic problems. Furthermore, the US economy took longer to recover than that of most European countries. When, in 1937, Roosevelt reduced the New Deal budget, the country went back into depression. This shows that the new deal was only working while Roosevelt was pumping billions of dollars into it.
Also, the alphabet agencies only provided short-term jobs. Once these ended, people were back on the dole. Even at its best in 1937, there were still over 14 million out of work and the number reached 19 million in the following year. Also, many of these agencies experienced problems and were declared unconstitutional. For example, the AAA instructed farmers to kill many of their crops and animals, and the public opposed this, mostly due to the mass slaughtering of pigs. It was later declared unconstitutional. It was the Second World War that truly brought an end to unemployment.
Unions were still treated with great suspicion by employers. Indeed, many strikes were broken up with brutal violence in the 1930s. Large corporations employed ‘heavies’ to deal with union leaders. Also, some argued that social welfare measures put too much pressure on tax payers and destroyed self-esteem and the idea of ‘rugged individualism’. It encouraged people to ‘sponge’ off the state.
And, although FDR claimed America was one big family, he did little to stick to that statement. Few black people gained benefits from the new deal and many new deal agencies discriminated against them. They either got no work, received worse treatment or lower wages. Roosevelt did little to end segregation and discrimination in the Deep South. For example, he failed to pass laws against lynching of black Americans in case he alienated democratic senators from the southern states. During nearly 15 years as president, Roosevelt only passed one law for black people. Also, the new deal offered little to women. Some of the National Industry Recovery Act codes of 1933 actually required women to be paid less than men. Only 8,000 women were employed by the CCC out of 2.75 million involved in the scheme. Some state governments tried to avoid social security payments to women by introducing special qualifications.
To conclude, the new deal was reasonably successful in that it significantly reduced bank and business failures and also helped to reduce unemployment. However, it only provided short term solutions and did little to help industrial workers, black people and women. And when Roosevelt reduced the new deal budget, the country went back into depression. It was World War 2 that truly brought America out of depression.
