The previous president, Hoover, believed in a very different method, which involved, letting the trouble sort itself out without government intrusion. This system is known as Laissez-faire government, and it did not work for Hoover at that time. Roosevelt's method however, did appear to succeed.
Roosevelt had another tactic which he called 'Fireside Chats'. This was an original presidential idea that allowed Roosevelt to speak to the people of America via the radio. This was a brilliant breakthrough because millions of people could listen to him throughout America in the comfort of their own homes. Roosevelt was able to offer reassurance, explain his policies in a simple way and even tell the people about his own personal issues. This boosted people's confidence because it showed them that the President actually cared and wanted to help them through the crisis. Most Americans put their trust in Roosevelt and believed strongly in his ideas, which was not the case when Hoover was president.
Roosevelt also set up various different actions to help the American people in need. For example, he set up the 'Emergency Banking Act', which stopped banks from gambling their customer’s money on stocks and shares on Wall Street. This helped to make people feel as though their money was safe in banks. Therefore people began to take out loans and store their money in bank accounts.
Another one of Roosevelt's measures was 'The Federal Emergency Relief Administration' which provided $500 million to help the poor in certain States of America. This money paid for Nursery Schools, soup kitchens and small-scale employment schemes.
Roosevelt's personal favourite though, was the 'Social Security Act’, which provided pensions for workers over the age of 65 paid for by special taxes. This plan also made sure that people, who could not attend work due to an illness or disability, received sick pay.
Roosevelt's policies did help to improve America's condition after the 'Wall Street Crash' but by 1937 unemployment began to rise once again. Therefore the 'New Deal' was not a total success. Luckily for Roosevelt this situation didn't last for too long because the war with Germany was coming closer. There soon came a demand for soldiers, and for factory workers to make weapons, ships, fighter planes, tanks and ammunition for the army.
Without the war Roosevelt may have found himself spending vast sums of money in an attempt to reduce unemployment again. So I think America joining the war came at a good time for Roosevelt.
In conclusion, Roosevelt did make life better for many Americans with the 'New Deal'. He managed to help unemployment and restore people's confidence in the economy and the government during his time as president. But, other factors such as 'The Second World War' certainly helped to make this happen. Also, many of the policies that were successful came at a cost. For example, when Government spending increased, raising taxes funded this. So, the wealthier citizens were expected to pay more tax to enable poorer citizens to get a job. This made Roosevelt unpopular with many rich people because they lost more money in taxes when he was President. Another criticism was the fact that many of the jobs created were not in fact real, permanent jobs and people were being paid for leaf raking and tree felling. Although farmers had received help from the government, farm incomes remained low and the problems had not been resolved.