- Source E is clearly against Roosevelt. It portrays him as a fool who is wasting the taxpayer’s money. The taxpayer himself is depicted as a tiny weak man who has to shoulder the weight of Roosevelt’s New Deal. He pump itself is old and broken with many leaks to show that a lot of money is being wasted. The cartoon says that $16 billion has already been spent, and Roosevelt is “hoping” to make it work with more money.
Source F is supporting Roosevelt. It shows him getting rid of all the worthless policies that Hoover promised like “Chicken in every pot,” and “Rugged individualism.” Roosevelt is shown with his sleaves rolled up, signifying that he was willing to work hard, while Hoover is uninterested and has turned his back on the problems of America.
Source G is not in support of Roosevelt. He is shown as a doctor who is trying to cure the sick Uncle Sam (America) with lots of “new deal remedies” like the alphabet agencies. Uncle Sam however is still ill, showing that all the different ‘medicines’ are not working. Congress is depicted as a weak nurse who is bowing to Roosevelt’s demands and letting him ‘dictate’ the running of the country. Roosevelt is saying in the cartoon that he “may have to change remedies” if results were not obtained, meaning he is fully prepared to try more things and spend more money.
- Source H is letter to Roosevelt from one of his supporters. It is saying that Roosevelt has saved him and his family. Roosevelt allowed the bank to loan the man more money, thus making his standard of living adequate and not poor. The letter has been used as a piece of propaganda because the man praises Roosevelt heavily. He states that “he has never heard of a president like you (Roosevelt),” and ends the letter by saying “God Bless You.”
Source I is an excerpt from a popular song of 1936. It is does not overly praise Roosevelt like source H, but is complimentary. It states that now Roosevelt is in office, things are going to pick up, and everything will be all right.
Overall I would say that source I is a more reliable source in relation to the public opinion of Roosevelt. Source H is obviously a biased piece of evidence. It is just one letter that has been selected especially for the purpose of propaganda, and to praise and compliment Roosevelt a lot. It gives the views of ONE FAMILY, and not the general public. Source I is a POPULAR song. This means that it conveys the views of the general public much better than a one off letter. It is not overly praising, but does compliment Roosevelt, suggesting that the public opinion is one of good faith and confidence in Roosevelt.
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These two people have totally different opinions about the new deal. One sees it as waste of money that has killed the initiative of the American man, while the other sees it as a blessing. The reason that these two people disagree about the New Deal is because of their different opinions of life, and their different backgrounds. Fuller is a rich, self-made businessman. He is not unlike Hoover in the fact that he made his money through hard work, and most probably believes in individualism. He believes that Roosevelt is a traitor to his class, and says that “welfare kills a mans initiative,” and that the depression is caused by people losing their confidence. There are also some very practical reasons why he does not like the New Deal. The soup lines, welfare and alphabet agencies come from his tax money, meaning he is losing out. He would also dislike trade unions as they would no doubt increase the wages he has to pay his workers, and make him impose better working conditions. It is for these reasons that this source disagrees with the other.
In complete contrast, Perkins sees the New Deal as a Godsend. She believes that everyone should have a chance to be better off, including the very poor. She is not poor herself, but feels for the poor, and also insists that the New Deal gives a better lease of life to even ordinary people. Unlike Fuller (Taxes, Trade Unions) she does not have any particular reason for disliking the New Deal. Being the Secretary of Labour she knows the horrors of poverty better than most people, and there fore is better placed to act.
7. It is hard to come to a firm conclusion about which interpretation is best supported by the sources in the New Deal. This is because almost all of the sources are biased in some way, and so slightly unreliable. The first statement is very heavily praising of Roosevelt and the New Deal, saying that it has given hope back to the American man. It is supported by several of the sources. Source B supports it heavily. It states that it has given “excitement and hope” to those struck by the depression which is in direct corroboration of the statement. It says the New Deal has meant the “Physical Rebuilding” of the country, and that pensions and the banning of child labour are great achievements of the New Deal. My knowledge of the period backs this up, with the facts like Roosevelt helped unemployment a lot, and also was supported much more than he was disliked. Source F also corroborates the first statement. Roosevelt is shown getting rid of all the worthless policies that Hoover promised like “Chicken in every pot,” and “Rugged individualism.” Roosevelt is shown with his sleeves rolled up, signifying that he was willing to work hard, while Hoover is uninterested and has turned his back on the problems of America, thus again giving a positive image of him. Source H is also heavily praising of Roosevelt. It is however, propaganda, a letter picked out specially to convey a very positive image of the New Deal. Finally, Source I is, in my view, the most reliable of the four. It is a POPULAR song. This means that it conveys the views of the general public much better than the others. It is not overly praising, but does compliment Roosevelt, suggesting that the public opinion is one of good faith and confidence in Roosevelt. Overall these sources convey a very good image of the New Deal and thus agree with the statement. I know that public opinion of Roosevelt WAS high, (and he was re-elected three times!) meaning that these sources will have several elements of truth in them.
As for the other statement, it greatly ‘knocks’ the New Deal. It states that it has wasted a lot of money, and made people lazy and dependent on the government. It is supported by many of the sources in the booklet. For example, Source C is one of the main criticisers of the New Deal. It states that “one in every four people depends on government employment.” It claims that Inflation has doubled and reduced the poorer paid to poverty. This is ironic as these are the things that the New Deal is particularly trying to put right. Unlike many of the ‘Pro New Deal’ sources, it also claims that all the power is NOT in the hands of the people, and that Roosevelt is pushing for a dictatorial government. Finally it states that the national debt is $250 billion compared with the $9 billion before the New Deal. This brings us right on to my next source, Source E. It is a cartoon portraying Roosevelt as a fool who is wasting the taxpayer’s money. The taxpayer himself is depicted as a tiny weak man who has to shoulder the weight of Roosevelt’s New Deal. The pump itself is old and broken with many leaks to show that a lot of money is being wasted. The cartoon says that $16 billion has already been spent, and Roosevelt is “hoping” to make it work with more money. My knowledge of the period corroborates parts of this cartoon as I know that the WERE cracks in the New Deal, for example the ‘boondoggles.’ Source G again gives the impression that the New Deal was a waste of money. He is shown as a doctor who is trying to cure the sick Uncle Sam (America) with lots of “new deal remedies” like the alphabet agencies. Uncle Sam however is still ill, showing that all the different ‘medicines’ are not working. Congress is depicted as a weak nurse who is bowing to Roosevelt’s demands and letting him ‘dictate’ the running of the country. Roosevelt is saying in the cartoon that he “may have to change remedies” if results were not obtained, meaning he is fully prepared to try more things and spend more money. We know congress did seem weak at the time, as it was bowing to all of Roosevelt’s demands, so again this source is corroborated and agrees with the statement in question. Finally source J simply sates that “The New Deal hurt us.” The author believes that Roosevelt is a traitor to his class, and says that “welfare kills a mans initiative,” (Exactly the message given in the Question) and that the depression is caused by people losing their confidence. There are also some very practical reasons why he does not like the New Deal. The soup lines, welfare and alphabet agencies come from his tax money, meaning he is losing out. He would also dislike trade unions as they would no doubt increase the wages he has to pay his workers, and make him impose better working conditions.
In all, it is very hard to say which statement the sources on their own favour and agree with. However, if you take into account the knowledge of the period, I think that the general agreement was to the first statement, and the New Deal did help people and gave them confidence. Please note though, that it was not actually Roosevelt that cured the depression as the statement says, but the War.
8.
On looking at all the sources it is plain to see that it is very difficult to draw firm conclusions as to the public opinion about the New Deal and Roosevelt from looking at the sources alone, as they contradict each other so much. The main reason for this is because almost all the sources are biased in some way. This is because the authors of the sources naturally heavily disagree on the matter of the New Deal. For example Source B states that the New Deal has meant ‘the restoration of self-confidence” to the American people. Is says that Roosevelt has been responsible for the “physical rebuilding of the country,” meaning that he has reduced unemployment and strengthened the economy of America. These statements are true to an extent, as unemployment did drop slightly, and Roosevelt’s alphabet agencies helped rebuild parts of the country and build key structures such as schools and bridges. However my knowledge of the period tells me that it was not actually Roosevelt that cured unemployment, but the War. This source also states that Roosevelt had left “all the power in the hands of the people,” but historical records of the time, along with many of the contradicting sources on the sheet state that Roosevelt was in fact pushing the country towards dictatorship.
Source H also sways very much towards the New Deal. It is a letter from one of Roosevelt’s supporters who is very pleased with the way Roosevelt has handled a crisis of his, where the bank was about to reposes his house. He emphatically praises Roosevelt, stating that he has “never know a president like you (Roosevelt).” He seems to be a God fearing man as he says that he and his family pray for Roosevelt every night, and ends the letter by emphatically saying “God bless you.” However this letter clearly ‘has to be taken with a pinch of salt’. It is propaganda and has obviously been picked out especially for the purpose of portraying Roosevelt as ‘caring about the little man. This is a perfect of the message I gave at the start of the question about biased sources.
However not all the sources are in favour of Roosevelt. Source C especially condemns Roosevelt’s actions. It states “one in every four people depends on employment from the government.” As this is a fact, it is most probably true, and my knowledge of the period backs this up as there were a great many jobs given the people by Roosevelt that many people thought were pointless. Such jobs were called boondoggles, and were considered a waste of the taxpayer’s money. The source also states another true fact, that “the national debt is $250 billion,” compared with $9 billion before Roosevelt. However these two facts are really the only things in the source that can truly be trusted, and most of the remaining source can be seen to be biased in some way. It says that inflation has reduced the lower paid to poverty, and the taxes were rising. It also makes the point about the cities being filled with jobless workers. However this is not entirely true, as it is known that though it was the War which really cured unemployment in America, Roosevelt did quite a good job in finding work for many people, even if it was only the useless ‘boondoggles.’
Another source that is not in favour of Roosevelt is source E. It portrays him as a fool who is wasting the nation’s tax money on a broken (lost) cause. The tax payer is depicted as a small weak man who is having to shoulder the weight of Roosevelt’s New Deal.
