How successfully did Roosevelt Solve the Problems of the US in the 1930s?

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Kate Rintoul

How successfully did Roosevelt Solve the Problems of the US in the 1930s?

Since its discovery in the Renaissance period America had always been seen as a land of dreams, it was prosperous and its inhabitants were happy, however in 1929 a catastrophic chain of events left it in depression, people starved and the country lost its status as a great super power. The depression was caused by a number of factors, the main trigger came in the October of 1929, when the Wall Street stock market crashed, millions of dollars were lost and suddenly many faced poverty, however looking back, with the benefit of hindsight it is possible to see that the crash was inevitable.

In the years leading to the crash, there had been great prosperity, during the “boom” of the 1920s, the then republican government of America had taken a laissez-faire attitude towards business and had not intervened, hoping that the companies knew what they were doing. The little cant taken by the republicans when it came to the economy seemed acceptable but when economic collapse began their schemes ended up crippling companies more. In the early 20s tariffs had been introduced on foreign goods, in the hope that American companies would be able to prosper, this meant that when America was desperate to trade to make money, the goods were not bought, because other countries had copied the idea. Because the government did not take an active role in industry, it was important for companies to look after themselves, to make this easier trusts were created, these were huge corporations that dominated industry, people thought that the trusts would act responsibly and would be able to handle any situation, however when the crash hit, it meant that if one of the ‘captains of industry’ went down the whole sector was taken down as well, the democrats had argued against trusts for years prior to the crash.

In 1933, after a miserable three years without hope, Americans decided that change was needed and the ambitious Franklin D Roosevelt was elected as president. His speeches had caught the attention of the public as he promised to provide a way out of the depression and to solve he problems facing America. Roosevelt promised to take action and overcome fear to help the USA out of the social and economical tangle it found itself in. Roosevelt made over 70 speeches in the months running up to the election, in them he had promised Americans a ‘New Deal’, this aimed to solve unemployment, provide aid and support for the sick, elderly and unemployed, rebuild American industry and agriculture and to restore the economy, this included restoring faith in investors and savers. Even though his plans were highly ambitious, Americans were desperate for change and in the March of 1933, Roosevelt came to power. Now in power Roosevelt was expected to deliver on his promises and help solve America’s problems. Opinions in America as to his aims differed greatly, and now nearly seventy years later people are still divided when it comes to the action taken. Did Roosevelt actually deliver and solve all the problems of 1930s America or did he simply rely on propaganda and ‘fluff’ to give the illusion of change, when really he hadn’t addressed the major problems of America?

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When Roosevelt took over, he was faced with a colossal task; he had inherited a country riddled with both economical and social problems. The wall street crash had crippled companies, production fell and millions were left on much lower wages or unemployed. Other effects of the crash were the banking crisis and the disappearance of consumer confidence; people were not using banks and were not investing in companies so progress was impossible. Agriculture, which had been facing difficulties during the roaring 20s, was also affected, farmers couldn’t pay their mortgages and production fell by 40%. The effects of the ...

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