How did the American people react to the New Deal in 1933?

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How did the American people react to the New Deal in 1933?

After the Wall Street crash of 1929, America went into a state of depression and poverty, something that they were not prepared for. When Roosevelt took over as president he wanted to bring America out of depression and work towards economic recovery.

He wanted to do this by introducing a New Deal, new legislations and policies that would restore hope in the American people and reassure them that the government would take responsibility for the welfare of its citizens.

In this essay I will try and display a true picture of what the American peoples reactions were to this New Deal and why they reacted in the way they did.

In his first one hundred days as president, Roosevelt set about restoring people’s faiths in banks by, because most were closing either because it didn’t have enough money to support itself or not enough people were depositing money into the banks.

Roosevelt decided to close banks across 38 states, and within ten days passed an act that enabled the government to support these banks with government money and aids and close those that were weak. By the end of this ordeal, customers had deposited more cash than they withdrew and gradually other banks opened and failures ceased.

This showed that the American peoples trust had been restored especially with banks and with Roosevelt. Although this provided immediate relief and recovery for the American people, the New Deal had more long-term plans.

Roosevelt set up ‘alphabet agencies’ to tackle the unemployment problem that was dragging America into recession. The biggest agency being the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) brought in codes to tackle minimum wages, maximum hours and better working conditions. However, results were mixed. Large company firms dominated the industry and would sometimes not allow for such codes to be passed in their company. If not, they were seen as not helping America come out of the brink of Depression and not being patriotic, so most were forced to agree with these acts. But as a good result child labour stopped and there was much enthusiasm due to such codes being issued in companies and the fact that instead of using a ticket to ration for their meal, the American people could now buy food with real money. Public work agencies such as the CWA (Civil Works Administration) were also designed to put people back into work and paid wages for people building roads, schools and recreational sites. Some people criticised the programmes of public works, accusing them of wasting money and not creating ‘real’ jobs. Maybe this was because the process was slow and many people wanted to end the poverty that they were living in fast, but this was not the case.

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Most people welcomed the fact that they were working at last which in turn gave them confidence of a brighter future.  

The social security act of 1935 introduced state pensions, unemployment benefits and disability pay. The government was at least providing a minimum standard of welfare across America, which came as a huge relief to many employers and employees.

Agriculture was another main economic target if America were to get back on its feet.

The Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) told farmers to cut back on production of flour, wheat and meat, so as to raise farm prices, which would ...

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