There were also other politicians against Roosevelt and had ideas of there own to solve Americas problems.
Senator Huey Long from the state of Louisiana was the best know opponent of the new deal. In speeches he always criticised Roosevelt for not doing enough for the poor people of America. He put forward an alternative to the new deal called the “Shear our Wealth” he promised that if the people voted him president that he would confiscate any fortune that was over 3 million dollars and the money would be given to every American family as a sum of $4000 to $5000 to buy a home a car and a radio. He also said that there would be food for the poor and free education for all Americans. Unfortunately he used his power to get rid of opposition to rig elections and bribe police but he didn’t get away with it for long. He however was shoot by a man whose life he had ruined and the one shoot went into his stomach and killed him.
The next ambitious politician was Father Charles Coughlin a roman priest. Coughlin claimed that Roosevelt was “anti God” and was going against him in election. To improve his chances he joined up with someone else who was against the new deal and Roosevelt Frances Townsend a retired doctor from California. Townsend wanted the federal government to give people over the age of sixty $200 a month the money for this would come from a 2 per cent sales tax. The two of them together had millions of supporters and their chances of winning the election looked very good indeed but then Roosevelt was re-elected for president it was said that the ordinary people in America was still thankful to Roosevelt for bringing America out of the depression so they voted for him yet again.
Many business men during Roosevelt’s time as president was not happy with the way he interfered with businesses and gave support to workers. The type of businesses that opposed Roosevelt was organisations such as American Liberty League. The American Liberty League was formed by a group of conservative businessmen that include Al Smith and John Davis these two men were both previous Democratic presidential candidates but many rich people actually despised Roosevelt although he was a rich man himself he chose to help the poor.
The new deal was going to very well with American farmers. Prices were being raised and loans were being provided so farmers could afford equipment. In the mid 1930s large farms were doing well whereas small farms, labourers and sharecroppers saw little benefit. There was a lot of poverty in rural America and in the south. In 1934 and 1935 a massive drought hit prairie states this was a tragedy for farmers and most of them made their way west for work in California. They all suffered immense hardship and were treated with suspicion.
The new deal didn’t benefit the black people of America as well as the farmers. The black people lived in areas of great poverty, which Roosevelt had seemed to forgotten. When Roosevelt was setting up projects to give people work he didn’t do any for the black people or in the areas where the majority of them lived. Black people would have to queue up for hours to get so little food and live in very poor accommodation, which would give them bad health. Roosevelt was very dependent on the support of democrats in the south who were determined to make sure that no concessions should be made to improve the black Americans status.
In conclusion the rich were not the only oppositions to Roosevelt there were many others who opposed him the Black people of America the small time farmers, rich businessmen and the Supreme Court but even though these were against him he still was re-elected that shows how strong he was to go against all of these people and still win.