The setting up of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), as part of the New Deal, brought employment to deprived areas and improved the conditions that people were living in. Other projects in the New Deal gave America important facilities such as roads, power stations and schools. The civilian conservation corps and some other New Deal agencies helped around 200,000 African Americans with projects such as the New Deal slum clearance and new housing. Many influential women gained important positions through the New Deal. Eleanor Roosevelt campaigned about social issues; an African American woman, Mary Macleod Bethune, led the National Youth Administration and the Secretary of Labour, Frances Perkins, became influential in making the Second Deal work by removing corrupt officials from the Labour Department. The New Deal also benefited many Native Americans, they were able to buy and improve land with money given by the Indian Reorganisation Act 1934 they were also helped to maintain and practice their traditions laws and culture by the Indian Reservation Act 1934.
Dr Francis Townsend also thought the New Deal was not doing enough so he campaigned for the people over 60 to get $200 a month pension as long as they spent the full amount in that month so that it would boost the economy. Father Coughlin, a Catholic Priest, used his radio show to raise opposition against Roosevelt, he wanted the not so well of people to be paid a fair wage and he then set up the National Union for Social Justice
Others felt that the New Deal was doing too much and therefore not a complete success. They were from sections of the business community and republicans. They believed that the New Deal had too many codes and regulations which made it too complicated. Another thing they complained about was that the New Deal was helping trade unions and supporting calls for higher wages, the reason they did not like this was because they believed the market should sort out its own issues. They also felt that many of the new schemes that were developed provided unfair competition for private companies and the high taxes that were introduced did not encourage people to work hard, but it gave money to people for doing nothing or pointless jobs.
Some people would agree with this statement because they believe that the New Deal did many good things but it also did bad things. To start with it helped restore most of the Americans faith in the country but this divided the country because other people felt that Roosevelt was a communist and was undermining the American values. Ickes and Hopkins were also accused of being anti-businessmen for helping the unions. It was also said that the New Deal was undermining the local government. It was also the same with the way in which the Government helped the industrial workers, unemployment and the economy, African Americans, women and Native Americans because with all the positives there were also negatives. For industrial workers it was the way in which the Government helped the unions and made the Committee for Industry (CIO) which was large enough to be able to bargain with the big companies, however the big companies still had massive amounts of power because they employed thugs or controlled the local police. The strikes that the union did set up were broken up with violence by the companies. For the unemployment the Government made millions of jobs, stabilised the American Banking system, and improved areas in need for example the Tennessee valley which also brought many jobs and it also provided valuable resources such as roads, schools and power stations but with all these positives there were negatives. For example, the economic problems which America had were never really sorted out, when Roosevelt ended the New Deal budget in 1937, the country went back into recession and the USA’s entry into the war was the main factor that brought an end to the unemployment. The African Americans were helped by the New Deal. The Civilian Conservation Corps and other new deal agencies helped 200,000 African Americans. The New Deal slum and clearance and houses projects also helped the African Americans. However a lot of the New Deal agencies discriminated against African Americans by not giving them any work or by treating them unfairly and paying them lower wages. Roosevelt also let down the African Americans by failing to pass laws to stop them being lynched. He was worried that he would lose the support of Southern Democrat senators if he passed this law. Although the New Deal gave many important women prominent positions this did not help the working class women as many of the New Deal programmes were designed to help the male manual workers. The local government also brought in special qualifications and requirements for women to able to receive social security payments. The New Deal brought in two acts to help the Native Americans however they were still poor and were never excepted by society.
In conclusion I agree with the statement ‘The New Deal was not a complete success’. The reason I agree with the statement is because not all aspects of the New Deal proved to be successful, I feel that Roosevelt wanted to try and please everyone, and therefore for every positive act he made there was often a negative one to follow this. For example Roosevelt tried to show support for the African Americans by providing slum clearance and housing projects, however he did not want to lose the support of Southern Democrat senators so he did not pass laws against the lynching of African Americans.
