Many believed that Roosevelt successfully “Primed the Pump”. This basically meant that he had done his part in priming the economy so that when people get back to work their money isn’t simply wasted so that unreliable banks can pay off their debt.
In 1936 Roosevelt was re-elected by a huge majority. He won 26 million votes which to this day has never been achieved by an American president.
The New Deal was however not a complete success. The New Deal had many high-profile oppositions who felt that the New Deal was not doing enough to help the poor and that many Americans were still living in poverty especially the Black Americans in poor farming areas. Huey Long, the Governor of Louisiana, opposed the new deal he claimed that it was “too complicated” and wasn’t doing enough even though he had supported the deal at first. He did set up his own little organisations to help the poor but Roosevelt still regarded him as one of the most dangerous men in America and he was assassinated in 1935. Others also criticised Roosevelt for not doing enough. Dr Francis Townsend campaigned to receive two hundred dollar a month pensions for people over sixty. A catholic priest set up a radio programme to directly attack Roosevelt, he set up a whole union which had many members. However by the 1940’s the priest’s movement had faded away.
Some Americans had quite the opposite view and felt that Roosevelt was doing too much. People said that Roosevelt was behaving like a dictator; some felt that the deal was way too complicated and had too many codes and regulations. Big businesses especially did not like the way that the government was supporting trade unions or calls for higher wages and felt that it was unfair that the rich had to pay higher tax because they had worked harder for their money. These criticisms upset Roosevelt but it was the way in which they did it that upset him the most. They said that he was disabled because of a STD rather than because he had had Polio. Employers also put messages into their workers pay packets saying that the new deal would never happen. Roosevelt strongly disliked these people and so did the American people. Despite Roosevelt’s unpopularity with the rich in the 1936 election he won a 27 million vote victory the highest margin of victory ever achieved which was mainly due to his popularity with the lower class citizens.
However even after he 1936 election Roosevelt’s problems were still not over. The most powerful opposition of the New Deal was the Supreme Court which was dominated by republicans who opposed the New Deal. Roosevelt felt that the court was biased and threatened to appoint six new judges who were more sympathetic to the New Deal. He misjudged the opinions of the American people who were alarmed by Roosevelt’s attempts to “attack the American system of government”. Roosevelt was forced to back down. His actions were not completely pointless though because the court was shaken by Roosevelt’s actions and were more lenient in the future.
The events of 1937 took there toll on Roosevelt and he was more cautious in the future. In 1937 Roosevelt did what all conservatives wanted: he cut the New Deal budget. Many people who had been employed by the New Deal lost their jobs and unemployment began to creep back up again. The recession damaged Roosevelt badly and he lost a lot of his voters. However he did continue to win elections by huge margins. The problem was that the American Nation was now more divided over the New Deal.
To summarise my essay and help me come to a conclusion I am going to look at these six things and see how they were affected by the New Deal: Peoples attitudes, Industrial workers, Unemployment and the Economy, Black Americans, Women, Native Americans.
The New Deal restored Faith in the American Government. The programme was something so huge and it had never been done before and set the standards for future policies for the government to help people. It raised awareness of how blacks were mistreated in the workplace and many employers made sure that they employed black people and treated them fairly. The New Deal did divide the USA and Roosevelt was accused of being a Communist.
The New Deal did a lot for industrial workers and worked alongside unions to negotiate better working conditions. Some unions were able to combine a fight against huge businesses. However despite all of the union’s efforts big businesses still dominated and hired thugs to dispose of their opposition. Many strikes lead to brutal violence.
As far as the economy was concerned the deal was a huge success. The new deal created millions of jobs and unemployment took a huge drop. The deal completely revamped the American bank system and allowed people to safely store their money without fear that they may loose it all. The levels of production made a clear increase and businesses were not failing like they were. However confidence did remain low especially after Roosevelt cut the budget and unemployment began to increases again and it was only really the war which truly ended America’s problems.
Black Americans did gain from the New Deal. Around 200,000 Blacks received jobs from the CCC and other New Deal agencies. But I feel that this was the biggest failure of the New Deal. Although many agencies helped the Blacks many discriminated against them and gave them no work, better conditions or wages. Roosevelt passed no laws against the mistreatment of the blacks because he was scared that democrat senators on the southern states would not support him. I strongly believe that even today in America blacks are badly treated especially by the Government.
The new deal saw some women achieve prominent positions; Roosevelt’s wife became an important campaigner on social issues and Frances Perkins was a key figure in the making of the Second New Deal. However most of the New Deals programmes were aimed at men and only 800 women were involved in the CCC and people like Frances Perkins were viciously attacked by the press. Frances was accused of being a soviet spy and tended to get ignored at social gatherings.
And Finally the Native Americans whom although still remained an excluded section of society were given money so that they could preserve their culture and traditions.
So did the deal achieve what it set out to do? The answer for me is “yes”. The four main objectives of the Deal were:
- To get people back to work which it did although it had its ups and downs unemployment never again got as bad as it was in 1933.
- To protect America’s savings and property; Roosevelt made America’s banks a safe place to invest your money again.
- To provide relief for the sick and poor; Agencies were set up to help the sick and poor but some people still did not benefit although on the whole the New Deal was a big help.
- Getting Americas industry back on its feet; the New Deal made huge increases in production. Production never stooped as low again as it did in 1932.
With a country as big as America it is impossible to keep everyone happy however I think that on the whole the New Deal did what it was designed for in that it completed its four main objectives and without it I am certain America would not of become what it is today.
