Life did get better for many Americans in the
1930’s. How far was Roosevelt himself
responsible or was it due to other factors?
Explain your answer.
In 1933, when FDR became president, America was in the biggest crisis
since the civil war. Banks were closing and there were 14million people
unemployed. FDRs New Deals created 7million jobs and $16billion was
spent on rebuilding the economy. By 1940 the economy had recovered
and WWII had begun. In this essay I will be exploring whether FDRs
efforts were the major contributor to recovery, or if WWII boosted the
American economy enough to bring it out of depression.
FDRs inaugural speech in 1932 was filled with new hope for the future,
which inspired many of the American people. FDR said that the only thing
that the only thing they had to fear was ‘fear itself.’ FDRs plans for the new
deal were also revealed during his speech and he compared them to
‘priming the pump’ an analogy that many Americans would find it easy to
understand. The aims of the New Deal were: Relief; to help the
unemployed, Recovery; to rebuild the economy and Reform; to create a
fairer society.
The first New Deal was emergency and temporary. It was made quickly to
try and stop the crisis. FDR set up what were know as ‘alphabet agencies’
these including organisations like the WPA, AAA, CCC, TVA, BA. These acts
worked well and created emergency relief for the worst hit and much
needed jobs. They were quick to act on the problems and produced the
intended results fast. The rate of unemployment dropped rapidly and it
looked like, for the first time in many years, American people could begin
to hope for a better and happier future. Looking at these points raised it
can be said that FDR was responsible for all the good that came out of his
years as president.
The first New deal did not come without his critics. Some thought that the
measures that FDR took were too little and that the economy needed
more help to get back on its feet, these were people like Huey Long, Fr.
Coughlin and Dr. Francis Townsend. Fr. Coughlin was also known as the
‘radio priest’ and set up the National Union for Social Justice. Huey Long
set up the Share our Wealth scheme, in which, any fortune of over five
million would be confiscated and shared among the American people; this
would supposedly help restart the economy. Francis Townsend was
famous for starting the ‘Townsend Plan’, to appose the New deal. The
Townsend Plan called for a guaranteed monthly pension of $200, though
all of it would have had to of been spent after that month. Alongside
these critics, there were the people who said FDR did too much. These
mostly were; Republicans, Businessmen and Anti-socialists. Republicans
wanted to return to Americas ‘Rugged Individualism and argued that the
New Deal made people to dependant. Some American businessmen did
not want the government interfering in their affairs and objected to trade
unions, and anti-socialists believed that FDR was leading America into
socialism.
FDRs second New Deal was to answer the critics. This time round, FDR had
had time to think more deeply into what he was doing as it was not as
rushed or as emergency as the other. The second New Deal was more
radical and did more to change quality of life. FDR also brought in the
Wagner act and the social security act, to protect the rights of workers.
FDR may also have designed his new deal for maximum popularity so that
he would be far more likely to win in the 1936 elections against some of
his main rivals. FDR did win the election, and went on to be president for
four terms.
In 1937, FDR believed that the economy had fully recovered, so he
reduced the amount of money put into the New Deal. America then went
into rapid recession, conditions in some places got to as bad as they had
been in the early 1930’s and unemployment rose again to 10million. This
is one of the main criticisms of FDR and the New Deal.
Though FDR did a lot to help the American economy and improve the
lives of the American people, there is still another factor that could have
been mainly responsible for ending the depression. WWII broke out in
1939, and helped boost American Industry so much so that many believe
that it is why the lives of Americans improved so when FDR was
president. Without the Second World War, American economy may not
have recovered after the recession in 1937.
In conclusion, FDR and the New Deals he imposed helped millions of
people and changed millions of lives, though WWII is more likely to be the
reason that America improved so dramatically. It created demand for
different products, created jobs for soldiers and for factory workers and
boosted industry. What FDR did to help America helped in many different
ways but without the Second World War, it may have taken many more
years of suffering on the part of the American people for the depression to
well and truly be over.