To prevent future jobs in industry from degrading to the previous standard before the depression, laws were created by an agency called the National Recovery Administration (NRA), which would improve working conditions, work hours and fair wages. They also outlawed child labour. This scheme and the Public Works Administration was set up to stimulate the economy by helping the industry to recover and deal with the unemployment. The scheme created work for millions of people.
Roosevelt also introduced the Tennessee Valley Authority as part of the New Deal. It worked over the entire Tennessee area, helping farmers to restore land and control the lakes and soil erosion by building dozens of dams.
The measures introduced had an immediate effect as it restored confidence in the government. However, Roosevelt was facing criticism from people saying that he was doing either too little or too much. To combat this problem, Roosevelt introduced the Second New Deal.
From the Second New Deal, the Wagner Act was passed in which all employers were to allow trade unions for better pay and conditions. This act made it illegal to sack workers for being in a union.
The Social Security Act was also passed. The Social Security Act was in charge of giving out unemployment benefit. It also handled pensions, which were in a bad way after the Wall Street Crash. Support was given to single mothers, as they were seriously in need.
The Workers Progress Administration brought together all organisations whose aim was to create jobs. It created jobs for office workers and unemployed actors and artists. This was one of Roosevelt’s aims to tackle unemployment.
- Explain why Roosevelt introduced the New Deal
Roosevelt introduced the New Deal for many reasons. One of them was because he wanted America’s economy, from the depression, to rise after the Wall Street Crash disaster.
The New Deal was designed to get America back on its feet economically and to raise the general morale of the American people. Roosevelt needed to take immediate action. He needed to be seen doing something as the American people were relying on him.
Unemployment was increasing to high level at 14 million in 1933. Roosevelt and the government had to do something to tackle the problem and the New Deal seemed to be the perfect opportunity.
At first the American industry seemed to be prosperous, in the 1920s and so the factories started producing more goods. Other countries had put tariffs on American goods so they could not be sold abroad and the only way to make a profit was to sell them expensive. Shares were being held at a low price as the factories did not sell as many goods. When the demand for goods began to fall, workers' wages were cut and some workers became unemployed, which meant that they could no longer afford to buy the new consumer goods. The factories then had to be shut down. This caused many problems. Banks soon went bankrupt and had to close down too as many people loaned out huge sum which, in the end, could not afford to pay back. The banks had lent too much money out and people found it difficult to repay them. Over 2000 banks were forced to close.
Roosevelt introduced the New Deal because he wanted to help the unemployed. He also wanted to get American industry and agriculture back on their feet after the depression. He also wanted to provide relief for the sick, old and unemployed. He wanted to protect America’s savings and property.
Roosevelt felt that he had to regain the American people’s confidence in the banks and invest in the stock market once again, to build America’s economy again.
Roosevelt introduced the New Deal to help the farmers. There was a serious problem of over-production and this meant that prices would remain low, leaving farmers to make an indecent living. The Agricultural Adjustment Act gave government the power to destroy surplus produce and give farmers compensation for lost production.
Another reason why the New Deal was introduced was because industry was in trouble. Roosevelt set up the National Recovery Administration to outlaw child labour and encourage trade unions to be set up.
However, the main reason the New Deal was set up was because Roosevelt wanted the economy to become strong again and quickly so another disaster like the Depression would not occur again. The New Deal gave people their confidence back to invest in the stock market, in their banks and in the government. It brought a sense of morale.
- ‘The New Deal was not a complete success.’ Explain how far you agree with this statement.
To a certain extent, the New Deal was a failure. This is because even tough the New Deal introduced the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Public Works Administration to tackle the problem of unemployment, there was still 6 million unemployed people in 1941, which was still rising. The New Deal undermined morale and produced dispirited unemployed.
The New Deal came in with a lot of criticism from Republicans and many businessmen. It also fell foul of the Supreme Court which was dominated by Republicans. Huey Long criticised the New Deal for not doing enough.
Some people did not benefit from the job creation schemes of the New Deal. Black people were one of many groups that benefited less than white. In the New Deal, isolation in education, transport and public places was still continued, racism and discrimination against blacks still remained. Roosevelt failed to pass any laws against the discrimination of the black people but he feared the Democrat senators in the southern states would not support him. This is one of the reasons the New Deal failed.
The cost of the New Deal was a failure because millions of dollars were spent on wages for the WPA, loans to banks, money to farmers and money to buy blankets and builds soup kitchens for the poor. The New Deal cost too much for America to run successfully.
Another reason why the New Deal failed was because many strikes against companies were formed; these were often broken up by violence. This caused problems for Roosevelt, as it was him who passed the law saying workers in the trade had the right to strike and not get sacked.
However, the New Deal did have some successes. Unemployment did fall from a huge scale. The alphabet agencies did bring needed work and supported millions of Americans.
The American people thought that the New Deal was a success as Roosevelt was re-elected again in 1936.
The New Deal gave the American public faith in the new government. The old government run by Herbert Hoover did nothing to help the American people recover from the depression so when Roosevelt came along with these ideas, the public were very welcoming towards them. The successes the government had in employment also gave the public more faith and trust with whatever the laws the government introduced.
Roosevelt still had America's support behind him. Roosevelt gave back America's hope, self-esteem and self-confidence, and moral: he learned the most important factor of his success was to gain the trust of the American people. He became popular with his 'fireside chats'.
Overall, the New Deal was not a failure, but it was not a success either. The economy did however recover and most American’s morale and confidence had been restored. Roosevelt had used some good tactics and used his best intentions as it got him re-elected.
