Why did Roosevelt introduce the New Deal?

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Abbas Tejani

Why did Roosevelt introduce the New Deal?

In 1929, America suffered the Wall Street crash and the effect of this on the American economy and the American people was tremendous. At this time of major economic depression, which was a consequence of the Wall Street Crash, the president was Herbert Hoover. Hoover was a republican, and he had a very strict policy that the government should not intervene with the American economy. This policy did not achieve anything, and soon, the American people were fed up of the way that Hoover ran the country. This led to there being many protests in Washington DC against the leadership of Hoover. Therefore, it was almost certain that Hoover would not be elected for another term in the next elections. The man that replaced him in the White House was a democrat, and his name was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. His policy was to find as much money as possible to help the American people in their time of need.

The Wall Street crash led to a massive economic depression, which meant that there was mega unemployment. The unemployment statistics went from 1.5 million people (1929) to 12 million people (1932). Many people could not afford to live in their houses and they could not afford the basic necessities, which was all due to them not having a job. The Mid-West used to be a farming region. This was one of the worst hit areas. No one could afford basic necessities so no one bought any crops. This meant that the farmers could not sell it and the crops just decomposed. This also meant that farmers did not earn any money. While all of this was happening, Hoover decided that he did not want to interfere with business and therefore, left things as they were. The longer nothing was done the worse the situation became. It soon came to a stage where the Americans got tired with the government and started protesting. There were bonus marches and Iowa farmers’ marches. In Iowa, farmers decided to go on strike in order to create a food shortage, so that the price of food shot up. To assist them, they attacked trucks that were heading out to markets and they tried to get together and stop officials evicting each other from houses. The bonus marchers were war veterans who wanted to receive the money that the government promised them at an earlier stage. To do this, they marched in Washington DC, but Hoover got them expelled by force – he used the army against them. This showed that it was essential for something extreme to happen.

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Hoovers incompetence to handle this delicate economic situation caused great concern amongst American people. Hoover tried to make sure that he did not spend too much money and he introduced the protective tariffs. These ensured that foreign products had to pay a tax. The Smoot Harley Tariff was introduced and people had to pay money on foreign good.  This made the situation for America worse. This made the global status for America very bad as foreign countries stopped importing American goods. Hoovers other policy was a Laissez Faire policy, which meant that he believed that the government should not interfere ...

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