How Did President Roosevelt's New Deal Effective?

The years of the depression were a few of the worst years in American history. Multiple people attempted to revive the economy, but ended up worsening the conditions.When FDR took office in 1933, many people were hopeful for what his presidency was going to bring, but opinions varied. Some believed that Roosevelt failed to extend his reforms of the new deal far enough to impact the society, but others believed he did just enough to make a difference without taking advantage of the power given to him through the federal government. Although it is controversial whether President Roosevelt’s New Deal was effective, most of his reforms benefited the American people and the economy. Over the course of Roosevelt’s presidency, he experienced many
hardships that he was able to confidently improve by the end of his terms. One issue that was challenging from the start was the unemployment factor.
When the Great Depression first started, the unemployment rate was at an astonishing 25%, about 15 million people. It then fluctuated during that time down to 8.3 million people, back up to 10.5 million, and leveled out to be about 8 million in the end ("Was the New Deal a Success," 2015). People not in favor of FDR’s new deal strongly argued that Roosevelt failed to destroy unemployment; therefore, his new deal was unsuccessful. Although it did not destroy unemployment completely, he ultimately decreased the number of people out of work because he applied many new jobs for Americans. One of FDR’s main goals was to create more opportunities for work. Through a system called the Civilian conservation corporation, FDR was able to get thousands of young men to participate, “in a variety of conservation projects such as planting trees to combat soil erosion and maintain national forests; eliminating stream pollution; creating fish, game and bird sanctuaries; and conserving coal, petroleum, shale, gas, sodium and helium deposits" (Hardman, n.d.). He created more jobs through the Tennessee Valley authority. This program not only benefitted the people, but it also helped the environment. Under this program, people were put to work building power
plants and flood control dams in multiple states ("FDR and the New Deal Chapter 3 D," n.d.). These two laws, along with many others created by FDR, are what allowed an impact in the working class statistics. While a few floods occurred due to the dams and some tax dollars were spent on these projects, which outraged opposers of the new deal, laws like the TVA and CCC had mostly positive effects on the nation’s needs and were necessary to undergo reconstruction after the damaging consequences of the Great Depression. Most people, even non supporters, felt that Roosevelt had the right idea in his reforms, but people were concerned about the growing taxes due to all of these projects. Another highly debated issue that arose from Roosevelt’s presidency were taxes. Roosevelt created many beneficial programs that payed very little attention to the amount of tax that was being paid behind the scenes. A very significant act passed through the new deal was the social security act. This act, “created a social insurance program designed to pay retired workers age 65 or older a continuing income after retirement. Social Security created a system of insurance for the aged, unemployed and disabled based on employer and employee contributions” (Hardman, n.d.). In other words, people who were already suspicious of FDR’s actions, or people that would not qualify for these guidelines, were upset that they were going to get money taken out of there already minute paycheck. Others in favor of the new deal looked right past this aspect and believed that this act was progress toward a better life. They believed that the system was going to keep improving, and the SSA would eventually be relevant to them, and they would get back whatever they lost out of taxes. Another problem business providers feared was the, “Social security excise taxes on payrolls made it more expensive for employers to hire people” (Powell, 2003). This concept put the fear into citizens that they would never find a job. But on the other hand, others understood that yes, these taxes would make it more difficult, but most people were just trying to find a simple job to survive, so they would just look for the government given jobs that were provided through the new deal which would, in the long run, benefit the nation’s economy. People held a variety of opinions about how taxes were being used in Roosevelt’s new deal, but they were mostly perceived as affirmative to the success of our nation.
Overall, the new deal did not end the depression, but it provided change that ultimately revived the economy and inspired hope in the American people. Some would disagree and conclude that important aspects like unemployment and taxes were not improved enough or were even harmful, but the changes aimed at these hazards did make a mostly positive impact on the nation and continued to progress throughout history. Many of the changes that took place during President Roosevelt’s terms still exist today maintaining a stable government and a united country.