Which of these two sources is the more useful to a historian studying the success of the New Deal?
History Coursework
. Source A was written by someone who worked closely with Roosevelt.
Source B is a set of United States government statistics.
Which of these two sources is the more useful to a historian studying the success of the New Deal?
Source A is an extract from the memoirs of David Coyle, a friend and adviser of Roosevelt.
He was part of a group of young graduate students that formed the 'think-tank' that Roosevelt used for advice on the New Deal. It describes how Roosevelt's personality was his key to success; he was unafraid to try different tactics to defeat the depression and also how he was "willing to experiment" in national development and it was this courage to try anything to help others that persuaded people to vote for him.
Source B is a set of official statistics on unemployment and Federal Government spending in the United States. It is a primary source and shows government expenditure and the number of unemployed in the years from 1930 to 1940, and how spending increased marginally up until 1933 when Hoover was beaten in the election and Roosevelt gained office. This rise is due to Hoover's realisation that the depression would not sort itself out as he had hoped and so he began to invest money in a 'too-little, too-late' attempt at rebuilding the broken economy.
After Roosevelt's inauguration and final instatement in 1934, the outlay rose dramatically - from $4.6 billion to $6.7 billion. This corresponds with the start of the New Deal that Roosevelt began on the same year. The spending reached a peak in 1936 when a total of $8.2 billion was spent on regenerating the economy and the number of unemployed had fallen by 2.3 million people in just two years.
It fell again the following year, bringing the number of unemployed down to 7.7 million in 1937; thus the spending is cut the subsequent year as Roosevelt was advised not to take government funds
'into the red' for a further year considering the reduced number of unemployed. This proved to be a significant mistake as the figures for the year after the spending cut jumped by 2.7 million up to 10.4 million people unemployed. Roosevelt realised that continued spending was necessary and supplied even more money than 1936 to help bring the figures back down.
Source A is an extract from a book that was available publicly. The author (David Coyle) was a friend of Roosevelt's, therefore the picture that is portrayed is more likely to be positive rather than biased, which suggests a more intentional or extreme partiality. In this way, the author merely shows Roosevelt's action with 'rose-tinted glasses' owing to the large number of years having passed before the book being written.
As David Coyle's job was as an advisor to Roosevelt, he is justifying his actions to a certain degree, but admits that Roosevelt did not succeed 100% of the time and the advice given by the team he was part of was not always perfect.
Source B is a set of statistics collected and recorded by the government in order to gauge the severity of unemployment and the amount of government money spent annually. They are accurate in the sense that they show (to the nearest tenth of a million) the number of registered unemployed in the ...
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As David Coyle's job was as an advisor to Roosevelt, he is justifying his actions to a certain degree, but admits that Roosevelt did not succeed 100% of the time and the advice given by the team he was part of was not always perfect.
Source B is a set of statistics collected and recorded by the government in order to gauge the severity of unemployment and the amount of government money spent annually. They are accurate in the sense that they show (to the nearest tenth of a million) the number of registered unemployed in the country, although they are almost certainly underestimated due to unregistered 'hobo's' and other groups of people such as women who just returned to their homes.
I think that source B is the most useful to a historian as it is more factual evidence than source A, and demonstrates the exact impact of the New Deal on the numbers of unemployed in America at that time. Source A is a personal point of view and uses no factual evidence to back up the statement, and describes only Roosevelt's attitude to the crisis rather than the effect of his strategies.
. Sources C and D are comments giving different views of the success of the New Deal in the United States.
Why do you think they differ?
Source C is a letter to Roosevelt from an elderly couple who were about to be evicted due their inability to pay their mortgage. It is a thank-you letter, and describes how "the man you [Roosevelt] sent" helped them extend their mortgage payment period and retrieve their belongings, which had to be sold in order to stave off eviction. It was written in the same year that the New Deal was introduced and is a follow-on from another letter written by the same couple asking for help.
Source D is a section of a newspaper interview with David Kennedy, a New York banker. It is a retrospective look at Roosevelt and the New Deal, and describes how he became disillusioned with the scheme after seeing the relatively small gains in comparison to the large amounts of money being spent.
Source C is full of praise for Roosevelt whereas source D is decidedly frank about the failing of Roosevelt to accomplish what he tried hard to achieve. They differ so greatly because of the different backgrounds and circumstances in which they were written.
Source C is a thank-you note, which, by definition shows gratitude towards the recipient. Its usefulness is restricted to the fact that the only people involved were the couple out of millions of others in the same predicament. Source D is a reflective comment written over 30 years later.
Part of the New Deal involved helping those people who still owned houses and land to keep them. This was done by the setting up of special offices that received letters from people asking for help with payments such as mortgages and other financial matters. They were offered low-interest loans directly from the government treasury in order for them to have more time to pay off debts. People such as the couple in the first source benefited greatly from this, as they would not have been able to earn enough money to cover payments that were arranged before the depression. By helping the poorest people, Roosevelt hoped to stop the depression at its roots - allowing the many millions of people who would normally have been the base of the economy to pay taxes and buy products again; thereby kick-starting the economy back into life.
Source D on the other hand, is written from the developed perspective of someone who was suffering little from the depression, and saw only that the money being used was being squandered away with little or no effects. The sources differ as they are written from completely different points of view - the poor stood to benefit the most and therefore supported the New Deal, whereas the wealthy did not benefit and felt that nothing was being done to help them.
3. Source E gives the views of only one person.
Does this mean that it is unreliable as evidence about the extent to which the New Deal succeeded?
Source E is a quote from Lewis Andreas, a Chicago doctor, who was interviewed about his thoughts on the New Deal in 1970. It explains how Roosevelt did not have a lot to offer the American people, although he helped the economy from stagnating completely by doing what little he could in the few terms he was in power. It goes on to say that Roosevelt only held off a complete breakdown of the financial system rather than repairing it and that it was only the war later that decade that really solved America's problems.
Although it is only one person's view, it is quite informed and accurate as Roosevelt's measures were only temporary and were inadequate if employed in a long term scenario. In this way, it is relatively useful in studying the New Deal.
4. Source F is a cartoon that is biased against the New Deal.
Does this mean that it is of little or no use to a historian studying the New Deal?
Source F is a newspaper cartoon published in 1936 - the high point of New Deal spending. It depicts Roosevelt 'priming' a "New Deal pump" with taxpayers money. There are leaks in every step of the process - from the large buckets and containers the suffering taxpayer is having to give to Roosevelt - to the pump itself; that is gushing water from every joint.
The 'pump priming' strategy that was used was based on an old fashioned water pump where, if nothing flows out, water is poured in the top to create the suction needed to make it work properly.
In the cartoon, Roosevelt is furiously pouring water into the top stating "I hope THIS will make her work", yet he still manages to only get a small trickle of water from the tap. A river runs round the edge that has on it the words "16 billions spent" and the taxpayer is carrying yet more dollar laden water on his back headed "7 thousand millions more".
It is totally biased and demonstrates the opposition argument to Roosevelt's tactics. 80% of newspapers were republican owned, and since Roosevelt was a democrat, were naturally hostile to him. As republican ideals are similar to that of the Conservative Party in Britain, they show how the wealthier and more affluent members of the public disliked the approach used to tackle the crisis of the depression. They felt that their hard-earned money was being wasted on a futile scheme.
Source F IS useful to a historian studying the New Deal as it illustrates one side of the argument - against the New Deal.
5. Source G is a historian's comment about the New Deal and it presents a different interpretation from that of the cartoon.
Why do these interpretations differ?
Source G is a paragraph from "World Powers in the Twentieth Century" by Harriet Ward. The author is a British historian and the book was published in 1978 - over 40 years later than the cartoon.
It describes how the main effect of the New Deal was to restore confidence to American people. Roosevelt's bold plans and policies made people believe that economic recovery was just around the corner. As well as this, it explains how even the forthright approach adopted Roosevelt was not enough - according to Keynesian rules that governments implemented later.
The interpretations differ as source G is unlikely to be biased due to the fact that there is no underlying reason why the truth should not be told. Source F on the other hand, is written to undermine Roosevelt, and attract support for republican ideals. Source G is secondary and therefore reflective - and possibly more accurate due to the wide variety of historical information at the authors disposal. Although in hindsight, the extended amount of time elapsed after writing began may have let certain facts become distorted. Source F is a primary source and was written at the time of the depression. This may have led to some emotional, as well as political motives for the cartoon - the artist may have been appalled at the sight of Hoovervilles and bread queues stretching for hundreds of meters. Source G suffers from neither of these as the author is removed from them.
6. At the time, and since the 1930's, there has been a great debate about the success of the New Deal.
How useful are sources A to G in helping you assess the success of the New Deal?
The New Deal helped America stay afloat long enough to survive until the war - which is what really saved the economy (source E). Roosevelt's main strengths were his willingness to experiment and his courage (source A and G). It was these attributes that kept the American people fighting, the economy as stable as possible, and Roosevelt in office.
Roosevelt's New Deal paved the way for other 'modern' reforms such as social security (source G) and was untested in the sense that no other President had had to battle such a large crisis (source A and B). It was his affinity with the public that won him the votes that kept him in office. His enthusiasm to help others was inspiring and at the same time surprising since his opposition was usually intense (source C and D).
Roosevelt did not receive support from all areas of society, and near the end of his Presidency, his temporary plans were beginning to fail and show signs of weakness (source D and E).
In a sense, Roosevelt could have gone further with his New Deal, yet as many other events prove, just throwing money at a problem will not fix it (source G).
Sources A to G are all useful for assessing the success of the New Deal. They cover many different perspectives on the same subject yet have very different content. This alone makes them valuable in the assessment of the New Deal. Individually, each source is useful, yet on the whole they produce a rounded picture of the New Deal. This ability to analyse and evaluate many different pieces of historical evidence and draw conclusions from them is critical in learning from the past.
In the same way, the both the individual and the general aspects of each source are beneficial in analysing the New Deal.
I believe that as a plan, the New Deal was successful. Roosevelt accomplished his goals - lowering unemployment, and recovery of the economy.
It was not as good as it could have been, although many other outcomes could have been much worse.