Nathan Staub

APUS

Mrs. McElroy

3/20/11

The Great Depression

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s proposal for the new deal aimed to impact areas of life during

the Great Depression the economy, social issues. It was very clear that Roosevelt was an

idealistic thinker with his addition of many new organizations; and believed that three things

were necessary to rise out of the depression reform, recovery, and relief. In doing this he had to

move away from the big business and big banking system and focus on the masses of

unemployment.

Economically Roosevelt’s New Deal rejects the idea of a pure laissez faire form of

government. He regulates banking through the federal banking system and not privately owned

banks. A has the government supervise the stock market to make sure corrupt white collar

crimes were not taking place. He aims to lessen the gap between the rich and the poor and

gives the poor short term relief through organizations like the FERA, which was started by

Herbert Hoover as an unemployed insurance. The Social Security Act provides a monthly

pension to the elderly over the age of 65 (Document E). This gives retired workers the

assurance that they will have federal support, and has the currently working citizens support

them. The new deal also aimed to regulating electrical power in rural towns through
organizations like TVA there was an opening of jobs to build a hydro electric power plant and

jobs to keep the plant running. With organizations like the TVA and the FERA the percentage of

unemployed urban workers greatly decreased from 1929- 1940s’ (Document J). Farming

industries still suffered because of their overproduction and really don’t start to rise again until

World War II. Roosevelt’s answer to the farming industry crisis was to burn everything and start

over. To make sure the companies wouldn’t over produce again he established the NIRA.

Socially the New deal focused on a need for a stronger reliance on the federal

government. With the expansion of government into everyday life, people began to think that it

was a movement towards socialism and communism (Document B). The NIRA “Blue Eagle” was

thought to be a communist organization. This organization gave companies set prices for goods

and set prices for the workers’ wages. This led to Schechter v. United States, in this court case a

local poultry corporation thought it was unjust to set prices for wages that had no direct

relation to interstate commerce (Document F). The NIRA was later dropped because it could

not gain support for its communistic ideas.

With the government constantly creating new organizations jobs for the jobless like the

CCC and the PWA, the federal government had control of the country. The PWA was an

organization that built public projects like highways, sewers, and airports. All of the

organizations that Roosevelt proposed in his New Deal were to show growth in the nation’s

community, in (Document C) Roosevelt shows the steps towards growth and prosperity in the

nation. The tree’s fruit represent the organizations in the New Deal and represent nourishment

for the unemployed. Roosevelt’s goal wasn’t to only give power to the Federal government it
was used to gain the respect for minorities. Roosevelt had established support systems for

unemployed men such as flop houses and bread lines, but there was a lack for support for

women (Document A). Roosevelt’s administration showed acceptance of labor unions not as a

radical idea, but a right of employees to form self-organizations and collective bargains

(Document G). Through these labor unions the government banned child labor, and gave

workers better working hours. The federal government gained support from the masses

because it was obvious that a strong federal government was needed to rise out of the

depression.

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration had a huge challenge of escaping the vicious

claws of the Great Depression. The rise of the federal government’s power was what the

country needed at the time. Roosevelt’s New Deal blossomed new organizations that gave jobs

to the unemployed and helped the elderly and the minorities.