Source F is shown to be a joke against Roosevelt and the new deal, which was by an American company saying that the president is not doing much work and they are getting fed up of doing all the work. This leaflet was circulated around 1936, and its aim was to get the president to do more work and also get the American public to also get back into working and overall help the economy and the percentage of unemployed people in the United States. This source is shown to be by an American company that doesn’t think Roosevelt is doing a good enough job and thinks there should be less people out of work. This is proven as this source is a joke that will get the American public on their side and make them agree that Roosevelt is not doing a good enough job.
In conclusion I feel that source E is the most useful to a historian studying the impact of the new deal because it shows that the United states was in massive crisis after the wall street crash and when Roosevelt came to power in 1933 that all changed, it shows unemployment dropped a lot due to Roosevelt and the new deal. I also know from my own knowledge that when unemployment is low, more goods are sold, which leads to profits being higher which helps the economy as eventually the whole United states.
- “Roosevelt was bold. He told people what he was going to do. And he did it. But he was not bold enough.”
Do you agree or disagree with this interpretation?
‘Bold’ is when someone is daring and shows courage, and also not afraid of a challenge or slipping up doing that challenge.
I agree with this interpretation because as it says in Source C, Roosevelt gave help to those who the depression had hit hardest, the source names them the “forgotten man” and “the man nobody knew much about.” It also explains that the rich has been hit hard as well but at least they had something left, the Poor had hardly anything to begin with and nothing now. It also says that he is going to give them “better cards to play with” which means that he is going to help them out and give them a better chance at living a good life. It also explains his goals are that all the forces of the community should be directed to making life better for the ordinary people. An example of this is the alphabetical agencies.
The picture in source D shows Roosevelt visiting the Civilian Conservation corps (CCC) in Virginia. The people in the picture look very happy and President Roosevelt has a beaming smile aswell, This shows that the people of the USA are happy with the job Roosevelt is doing, and also getting them and other people back into work. It also shows that people are enjoying their job and enjoying working. I know from my studies that More people in work and earning money means that they will buy more goods which will help the economy as more money is being circulated.
Source A shows that Roosevelt was bold as he wanted to help ordinary people and express their needs, which is always a difficult task for any President in any country, especially one the size of the United states. But President Roosevelt took on this challenge as was much appreciated by the public for it. As shown by the amount of mail that the white house was sent every day. This is also connected with Source B as the President is sent a letter from an ordinary person who is talking about his/her appreciation to him. This is just one of the thousands of mail the president got every day and also backs up that the American public was very appreciative of what Roosevelt for doing for them and their country.
Source E shows that the effect Roosevelt was having was very great as the amount of people unemployed dropped down a lot, and this carried on for a few years after that aswell, this backs up the view that Roosevelt was out to help the ordinary people and those who was unemployed. Source F is related to this as it is a statistic although it is a joke which is trying to get the public to back them up and believe them. Source E also shows that Roosevelt was there to help the American Public and help them get back into work and improve their life’s, Also it shows that he wanted to help the economy by getting people back into work.
A different view of the new deal is in Source G, this is against the new deal as it is saying that it takes away earnings from people and gives it to people who have not rightly earned it, and they believe will have never earned it. It makes a point at saying “It is begging the unfit to be more unfit” Which I feel is a good point because it is trying to say it is making the bad people in the United States even worse. This source is saying that Roosevelt was not bold enough because he was helping out a few people in the United states by giving them Jobs and money, Although to get this money he was taking to away from people who earned it before. This will have caused the American public to dislike Roosevelt and the new deal as it wasn’t really helping them it was helping the poorer people in the United States.
A view of prosperity in the USA was in Source H, as it shows the USA to be the world’s highest standard of living on a poster financed by big companies. This was trying to get people to buy more of their products and live ‘the American way’ which was thought to be the worlds highest standard of living. I also know from my own knowledge that to get more people to buy goods and appliances, more people had to be working so they had more money to spend. This caused a circle in the economy as it caused more profits, which ultimately came back to the person so they could spend again.
In source I the speech made by President Roosevelt was about the hopes of the American people, He talks about a healthy, strong democracy and equal opportunity for youth. This shows that Roosevelt was caring and liked to express the views of the American people. This shows that he was daring as he did a speech to say this and was not afraid to express his views and the things he wanted to do. Also he followed this speech up by doing the things he said he was going to do.
In Source J, I researched several websites and found www.memory.loc.gov
This particular website showed me that Roosevelt’s New deal came into effect quickly after he was nominated in 1933. The first days in office as president saw him pass banking reform laws, Relief programs, Work relief programs, and agricultural programs. An example of these programs was the Civilian Conservation Corps or just CCC. Many Agencies came to be known by their acronyms just like the CCC. This showed that Roosevelt was daring as he knew their was something seriously wrong with the United States, and he needed to address that straight away, And the downside to acting on something straight away was that he wouldn’t know how the Public would react back at it. Fortunately for Roosevelt In 1939 The new deal had run its course and many people in America was running a better life due to the new deal and what Roosevelt did for them.
In conclusion I agree with the Interpretation because Roosevelt was bold as he used different techniques to tackle problems in the United States that many Americans would have been used to and therefore he didn’t know how they were going to react back to it, He was also bold because he address problems by listening to the public and getting their views although, he may have not addressed problems that affected the rich, or big companies as shown in the joke on Source F, as the big companies say they are doing all of the work, this was why he was not bold enough.