3)
Source D shows a photograph taken in 1937 of black people queuing for government relief. It is important to notice that the people in the photo are not queuing for charity but purposefully set up government aid. All the people queuing are black Americans, showing how the depression has greatly affected Black Americans, and that they now have to rely on government aid. This is completely juxtaposed with the billboard behind, which shows a seemingly wealthy white family, driving their car, next to the slogan ‘There’s no way like the American Way’ and under the title of the billboard, ‘World’s Highest Standard Of Living’. This photograph was purposely taken in order to show the juxtaposition between the black Americans which were in poverty and the rich white family, showing the clear racism within America. The New Deal catered firstly for white people, blacks were put second as if Roosevelt was seen to be supporting black Americans too much, he would risk loosing his support in many of the southern, more racist states. Using this I think the photographer purposefully took this photo too show two meanings. The first being that America most likely had the highest GDP in the world. And the second being that no country has such a clear divide between whites, shown in the billboard, and blacks, in the government aid queue.
4)
Source E is largely against Roosevelt but not completely. Source E shows Roosevelt priming the ‘New Deal pump’ to get the American economy going again, however this pump has too many leaks and problems for it to work effectively, signifying how the New Deal had too many faults and problems for it to work effectively. The Source shows the authors opinion on how Roosevelt had used $16 billion, and according to the source, how he has wasted the money in an on going attempt to restart the economy. The source tells of how Roosevelt kept pumping money into this attempt but it still is not working and the money is being wasted, and the source of this money is being weakened. This is shown as the source of the money is the tax payer, who is shown as a week and feeble man. In the cartoon Roosevelt does not sound confident at all, ‘I hope this will make it work’. Also one of the leaks is covering up his physical incapability’s. However, as I said at the start, it is not completely against Roosevelt. In the cartoon Roosevelt, and the tax payer are sweating profusely, showing how they are putting in a lot of effort and their commitment is their, but there are no results of this hard physical exertion as of yet.
Source F is very much in favour of Roosevelt but does not have much relevance to the New Deal. This is because in the cartoon, Roosevelt, is shown chucking out Hoovers mess. Hoovers mess being his economic and social policies and statements. Roosevelt is presented as a strong physical man, who is optimistic and enthusiastic as his sleeves are rolled up and he is getting stuck in straight away. The cartoon also shows ex-president Hoover walking off to catch either a bus or train.
Source G is again largely against Roosevelt but not entirely. The source shows Roosevelt’s alphabet agencies represented as medicines or remedies. Roosevelt himself is shown to be some sort of witch doctor, using trial and error with his different remedies. Roosevelt is also holding a cowboy’s hat, showing he is doing a job he is not trained enough to do and is a fake. Uncle Sam personifies the American people and society, and is shown to be twiddling his thumbs showing he is not dying, but just bored. Also congress is depicted as a nurse, which shows congresses as weak and not masculine and mocking congress as they didn’t stop him making policies and gaining more and more power. Roosevelt admits the remedies are not working, and Uncle Sam has tried all of the remedies as the source is written in the 1935-36. However Roosevelt is shown to be in control, and shows no signs of giving up, he is also depicted as able in the cartoon. Roosevelt acknowledges it will take a gradual long-term approach. The source is not totally against Roosevelt but it mocks him by showing the New Deal has not worked up to this point.
5)
Source H is a letter from ‘old folks’ writing about how one of Roosevelt’s policies helped them. The letter is highly flattering and congratulatory letter designed to thank Roosevelt for the creation of the Home Owners Loan Cooperation. The letter tells of how the man sent from this organisation saved the house, managed to get back the furniture, and went down to the bank with them, and the bank agreed to let their loan go on for a while longer. This letter is easily plausible and it is no doubt authentic, as 48 out of 50 states voted democrat. However this letter does not necessarily reflect the feelings of the general public as the letter itself is used as propaganda showing its uniqueness. So source H is limited in showing the publics opinion on the New Deal.
Source I is an excerpt from a popular song from 1936. The key word being ‘popular’ showing how the lyrics must have resonated amongst American people. The song lyrics say ‘No more breadlines we’re glad to say’, however in 1936, millions of Americans were still un-employed, and there were still a lot of government aid needed by the people of America. This is shown as Source D was written one year after this song, and Source D clearly shows a ‘bread line’. Also this song could have been popular for the tune, not the lyrics, so in my opinion, it is also limited in showing public opinion of the New Deal, but, is more revealing than source H, as it was popular amongst all Americans, not just Roosevelt’s supporters.
6)
Source J is very against Roosevelt’s New Deal. S.B. Fuller writes how it ‘hurt us’ and how Roosevelt ‘thinks it is right to give’ because ‘everything was given to him’. The use of ‘us’ is a massive generalisation. The author of this source is clearly a ‘full blown’ capitalist as throughout the source he tells of how he believes no one should receive help but instead fight through it themselves in the hope that they might just come out stronger, and how the New Deal in particular made men too reliant on the government and took away their initiative. He also uses the example of a dog not hunting if food is given to it. This does not apply to domestic dogs however, and surely every member of a society is domesticated. The author of this source shows how he does not believe the New Deal is doing good for America, but how he believes that Hoovers, rugged individualism approach would be better for America.
Source K is at the opposite end of the spectrum than that of Source J, and of its author, S.B. Fuller. The source tells of how FDR wanted to change the ‘separate spheres’ idea, and it is very much in favour of the New Deal, as it tells how ‘the idea was that all the forces of the community should be directed to making life better for ordinary people’. However Sources J and K are both guilty of typicality, and say what you expect them to say. Source K is written by Frances Perkins who was Roosevelt’s secretary of labour, so she is typically going to defend Roosevelt and the New Deal. Also it was written just after Roosevelt’s death so it is going to present FDR’s ideas in the best possible light. However unlike Fuller she does acknowledge the desperate, people who needed help immediately.
These two Sources disagree about the New Deal because they both had differed views about the results of it because of the positions they were in. Being a business man, S.B. Fuller is not going to be happy with the New Deal, as it made too many workers rights, and was the richest African American in America at one point. Where as Roosevelt’s secretary of labour is of course going to be in favour of the New Deal.
7)
In Question seven, two completely different perspectives on the success of the New Deal are shown.
Interpretation one writes of how the New Deal ‘helped many Americans and by doing this it gave them self-respect’ and how the New Deal ‘gave them confidence to lift the United States out of depression’. Interpretation two writes of how the New Deal ‘wasted a lot of money’ and how ‘it made people dependent on the government’ and it was not the New Deal that solved America’s economic problems, but the Second World War that did that. The sources vary as to which interpretation they support.
To start with, Source A. Source A was from before the New Deal, so it lacks relevance; it just states Roosevelt’s intentions. However it does give us an insight as to how committed Roosevelt is going to be to the New Deal, and based on Source A, he will be highly committed to it. Therefore Source A vaguely supports interpretation one, because it shows that he will be committed to the New Deal, making the New deal more likely to succeed.
Source B is completely in favour of the New Deal so is therefore going to support interpretation one, not two. Source B is in favour of the New Deal because it writes about its achievements, and it contains no negative comments or views on the New Deal. However even though it heavily supports the New Deal it doesn’t strongly support the statement that the New Deal gave confidence to the people or that it gave them self respect.
Source C is the complete opposite of source B, because it writes about how the New Deal just caused massive debt for America, and how Roosevelt was becoming a dictator and finally how Roosevelt’s reputation was sinking and relied on the war to pull America out of the depression. Therefore Source C supports interpretation two, as it agrees with interpretation two in the way that both believe that it was not the New Deal responsible for solving America’s economic problems but the Second World War. They also both refer to how Roosevelt was becoming too powerful and showing signs of becoming a dictator. Therefore Source C strongly supports interpretation two.
Source D varies in which interpretation it supports. It supports interpretation two in that it shows how people have become dependent on government relief but only because they are desperate. However even though it shows people relying on the government it does support the New Deal in the aspect that the New Deal if offering support aid, and relief to the people that need it most. Source D mostly supports interpretation two but can be used to show that the New Deal was helping Americans that were desperate, but that is not what is written in interpretation one.
Source E quite strongly supports one of the views in interpretation two, that the New Deal wasted money, as in Source E it clearly shows that $16 billion has been wasted. Source E shows how the New Deal is not working as it should but it doesn’t show the effects of the New Deal in the late thirties so is partially useful.
Source F is pre-New Deal so therefore has little relevance to whether or not it supports or disagrees with either statement. However it does show that because of Roosevelt’s promise of a ‘New Deal’ for the American people that he was elected so very slightly supports interpretation one.
Source G supports the second interpretation more than the first. This is because Source G shows how many methods or remedies FDR has tried in order to solve the depression, but Uncle Sam, representing American society is still not fit and healthy. Using these methods Roosevelt is using the tax payer’s money, without the desired effects which could be interpreted as wasting the money which supports interpretation two. However this source is from the mid 30’s so is only partially useful as it cannot assess the New Deal as a whole.
Source H supports interpretation one, because it’s a letter thanking Roosevelt for the creation of one of his organisations. However this source can be viewed as the people becoming reliant on the government which supports interpretation two. In my opinion this Source supports interpretation one more than two as without this organisation many people would have been left homeless and the key point of interpretation one is that the New Deal ‘helped many Americans’ which is shown in Source H.
Source I lacks relevance in that it does not really prove much. The only thing that can be used from this source is to show that Roosevelt’s success in the election, showing how the American people believed in the New Deal so is on the side of interpretation two, and vaguely supports it.
Source J is strongly against the New Deal as it is from a rugged, successful and individual businessman. So source J strongly supports interpretation two as they both hold the view that the New Deal made people too dependent on the government. Source J does fail to consider the people that did benefit from the New Deal. None the less, Source J strongly supports interpretation two.
The final Source, being Source K, supports interpretation one as she writes about the idea of the New Deal, being that ‘all the forces of the community should be directed to making life better for ordinary people’. However, the source was written by Frances Perkins, Roosevelt’s secretary of labour, so she is going to be very unlikely to be against the New Deal. Also everything stated by her is very plausible. Source J therefore supports interpretation two as it agrees that the New Deal helped many Americans.
In conclusion, I think that neither interpretation ‘i’ or ‘ii’ is entirely correct. Both make valid points which can be justified but neither interpretation considers the other. The New Deal did have its successes, one being how the GNP of America increased from $56 billion in 1933 to $91 billion on the eve of World War 2. However like most things, it did have its failures, such as the New Deal doing very little for the poor and Black Americans remained disadvantaged. Nevertheless in my opinion I believe the New Deal was in fact a success. However I would say the Sources are more in favour of the New Deal being a failure as more support interpretation two than one.
8)
The New Deal was always going to have positives and negatives and was never going to suit the needs and wants of everyone in society. The New Deal was always going to strike controversy and disagreement because it was such a major event in American Society. The New Deal was never going to work 100 percent.
The main figures who opposed to the New Deal, were, Roosevelt’s most powerful opposition the Supreme Court, Huey Long, Frances Townsend and Father Coughlin. The Supreme Courts job is to hold up the American constitution and make sure no laws passed by Congress are unconstitutional. Roosevelt was seen to violate this with two of his acts, the Nation Industrial Recovery Act and Agricultural Adjustment Act which both found to be unconstitutional showing how Roosevelt’s methods were very much controversial. Huey Long was a professional politician who blamed Roosevelt for not doing enough for those in need and being too cautious and if it was for his assassination in 1935 might well have stood against him in the 1937 election.
There are sources that show this disagreement over the New Deal. Sources B and C show the exact disagreement that was going to occur with such a pivotal event. Source B writes about the achievements of the New Deal, whilst Source C writes the complete opposite, that the New Deal caused massive National debt, and congress gave too much power to Roosevelt, and how Roosevelt was only saved by the outbreak of World War 2.
Source D also demonstrates the disagreement caused by the New Deal, as it shows the view of Roosevelt not doing enough for blacks in American society, whilst the rich white family behind in the billboard are living the ‘American Dream’.
Also the cartoon sources show the controversy as each of them show good and bad points to the New Deal, how Roosevelt put a lot of effort in, but there were too many leaks, and how he tried a lot of remedies, but none seemed to have the desired affect and solve America’s economic problems 100 percent.
In conclusion the ‘New Deal’ was seen as one of the most pivotal events of America’s modern history, and with such a big event, controversy is always going to follow. This is why in my opinion there was so much disagreement over the New Deal. Nobody could have helped everyone in the depression and help them in the most effective way, without effecting others, which was key to the ‘share our wealth’ scheme.