The weaknesses began to show in 1929, when for the first time in four years, industrial output fell. This is what caused people to lose faith in the stock market.
Another reason for Roosevelt to introduce the new deal was because of the human cost of the economic depression. Farmers were hit worst by it, most of the farmers were unable to pay of their mortgages, and so banks came to seize their homes. Many farmers were forced to give up their work, and their homes, and had no option but to go and live on the road, trying to get work where ever, and whenever they could. Also, for some farmers that did survive, they farmed to much on their land, and the lack of water meant that the soil because infertile and useless.
Roosevelt had to do something, to get the faith and support of the people of America, as Hoover had just watched the impression, saying that nothing could be done.
- The New Deal was setup, with several agencies aimed at helping different social groups.
To help the farmers, there was the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, Farming Security Administration, and the Resettlement Administration.
The AAA, looked at the long term problems for farming, they taught farmers ways in which they could preserve fertility in their soil, and setup quotas to push the value of farmers goods gradually upwards. In extreme cases they would even help farmers with their mortgages.
The RA helped small whom the AAA hadn’t helped. They moved over 500,000 famillies to better land.
The FSA, took over from the RA in 1937, they gave loans to farmers for land, and setup camps for migrant farmers, where they could have descent living conditions.
There were four agencies, which dealt with the unemployed. The Civilian Conservation Corps, The Works Progress Administration, The Public Works Administration, and the Social Security Act.
The WPA brought together all the organizations trying to create jobs. It tried to create jobs for the unemployed actors, artists and photographers. The government would pay artists to make posters promoting them.
The CCC was aimed at young men. They were able to sign on to it for a period of six months, and renew if they were still unable to find work. About 2.5 million people were helped through this scheme.
The PWA was setup to build schools, roads, bridges etc. in the short term this created millions of jobs.
The SSA gave state pensions to the elderly, and to widows. It setup an unemployment insurance scheme, workers would give a small amount of money, which then could be used to help anyone who became unemployed.
Agencies setup to help industry, and companies were, the National Recovery Administration, and the Wagner Act.
The NRA factory workers, and got rid of child labor. It made fair wages and setup production levels that were not too high. This scheme was voluntary, but over two million workers joined it.
The WA forced workers to become of a trade union for better wages and working conditions. It was made illegal to sack a worker for being part of a trade union.
Companies setup to help banks were, The Emergency Banking Act, and the Securities Exchange Commission.
These checked banks, and let 5000 trustworthy banks reopen. They gave some banks a bit of money, to get back on their feet. Also, they encouraged people to put their money back into banks, a it was safer than under their beds.
- ‘The New Deal was not a complete success’
Though the main aims of The New Deal were to help the poor get back on their feet. Some people thought that The New Deal was still not doing enough to help. The people that were hit worst by the depression, black Americans and farmers were still very poor, despite the aid of The New Deal. A man called Huey Long, who at first like the Idea of The New Deal, but then quoted thathe thought it didn’t do enough and that it was too complicated. He put forward a scheme call, ‘share our wealth.’ He taxed huge corporations and businesses and used the money to build roads and schools, to help the poor. He had many enemies and many friends, Roosevelt described him as one of the two most dangerous men in America, until he was assassinated in 1935
Also, other people disliked The New Deal, because they thought that it was doing too much to help the poor. This was mainly the opinion of the big businesses and the Republicans. They also thought that it was very complicated. They believed that they worked hard to get a good salary, therefor they thought it unfair that poorer people should get paid to do unnecessary and unskilled jobs.
Also, because of the pressure on President Roosevelt in 1937 he cut The New Deal budget, for most Americans, it wasn’t a good move, it put America back into recession, and made six million people unemployed.
However, The New Deal did have many upsides to it when it was first introduced. Firstly, the failure with the banks was resolved, Roosevelt got people to have confidence in having their money in banks, again. Also, the New Deal created millions of jobs, practically solving unemployment for several years.
In the process of creating jobs, many useful resources, such as roads and schools were built. As by making people build these things it was creating jobs for people to do, and get paid for.
The black Americans had been hit very hard by the depression, but, The New Deal CCC helped the black Americans gain benefits and other Agencies helped them improve the quality of life by improving housing conditions from slums to proper houses.
I think that on the whole, The New Deal was actually a good idea, and a short-term success. This is as, at the time, America was in such a state, that something had to be done. This meant that at the time Roosevelt solved so many problems that Hoover was just unable to deal with. This means that though The New Deal may not have stayed a success, it started a success as was much better than not doing anything and leaving America in a huge depression. Also, at the time there was probably no better thing that anybody else could have come up with.
