New Deal Impact On Society

Describe the impact of the New Deal on American government and society. In doing so, be sure to discuss the primary goal and basic overall characteristic of specific New Deal programs.

FDR’s New Deal changed the face of American government. Never before and no one since has implemented so many government programs and agencies. FDR’s New Deal helped the US get out of the Great Depression. The new deal expanded the federal government’s power like never before and was designed to help Americans who were suffering. FDRs new deal can be broken down into two categories: The first New Deal and the Second New Deal When FDR took office, he and his advisors did not have an exact plan or initial philosophy drawn up, but rather, they made it up as
they went along. They were willing to do anything and everything to help bring the country out of the great depression, especially through the work of capitalism. To get his plan rolling, the first thing FDR needed to do was to restore confidence in the American people and get them on his side. He did so he went on the radio many times out of the year and told them what he was working on and what he had done that week which became known as “fireside chats.” The first thing FDR did in the first new deal was restore faith in financial institutions, and more so in capitalism. One thing FDR tries to do is have the public confident in banking system so that people would invest and could later have a healthy stock market. Immediately, he declared a bank holiday, and all banks had to close for a number of days. While the banks were closed, he sent in teams of financial investigators to determine which banks were viable and which were deemed unreliable. If deemed unviable, it could not reopen until it fixed its problems. Next, FDR created the SEC. The SEC was created to regulate the stock market, so the faulty trading that caused the crash could not occur again. The SEC also required companies who traded stock to make their financial books made public, and was ultimately designed to get people to invest in stock market again. Later, FDR created the FDIC. The FDIC was a government agency that was to ensure bank deposits as long as the bank met certain criteria. These 3 are careful steps of the gov’t working within the established system and basically put gov’t regulation in place to make sure the economy worked correctly. The second entity in the first new deal was an attempt to end the economic downturn.
To do this, FDR needed to create jobs and help the economic markets. First, FDR created the NRA. The NRA set up a voluntary committee consisting of workers, business owners, and gov’t officials for every industry in the country. These committees would discuss production limits (which FDR believed overproduction was the cause of the GD), minimum prices, and wages. This did not work well because it was voluntary and businesses would usually break their part of the agreement. Next, FDR created AAA. This set up a government agency to pay farmers to produce less. FDR believed crop prices fell due to overproduction and that the AAA would solve this in two ways: 1, farmers would produce less therefore increasing crop prices and 2: by giving farmers much needed cash in return for not producing. Lastly, FDR created the TVA. This government agency created jobs by going into valleys to build hydroelectric dams that not only stop flooding, but create electricity. The AAA and TVA are considered very bold moves by the president because it allowed gov’t to interfere with private industry, and can even be argued as
socialism. The last thing FDR wanted to do with the first new deal was provide direct relief to individuals.
First, FDR gave states federal grants to buy food for those who needed it. Second, he created the CCC. This government agency gave men whose parents were unemployed jobs in the federal park/forest system. This program paid men around 30$ a month, of which 25$ would go to their parents, but it also clothed and fed them. This agency created jobs by having these men plant trees, build roads, trails, and bridges. Even though we did not need these things, the government was basically saying they would be the employer of last resort if the private sector was not supplying jobs. Third, FDR created FHA. This government agency was created to ensure home loans, so banks would again give out to potential home buyers. This was important because it put an influx of capital into the system. The characteristic of these three agencies was that the gov’t is beginning to say that everyone should have basic standards of living and that if they are not there, the gov’t will be able to provide them, and even goes much further later
on. After the first new deal, FDR received criticism from both from the left and the right political spectrums. Those on the right would say that the New Deal was “gov’t expansion gone crazy” and a radical departure from the past. They would also argue that it was dangerous gov’t intervention putting US on path of socialism. The Supreme Court, which was very conservative at the time, saw this as a dangerous expansion of federal government power and struck down the AAA and NRA as unconstitutional. FDR got most criticism from right from a popular radio speaker named Charles Coughlin who believed the GD/New deal was part of a Jewish conspiracy. On the left side of the spectrum, one would say that the New Deal did very little and not enough. FDR was criticized by the left primarily by Huey Long. He claimed wealthy Americans controlled all wealth and the only way to fix that was to give it back to common people. It was by far the most radical offer, and although Long was murdered, FDR believed left critique could still resonate and created the second new deal. Because of these criticisms, FDR unrolls the second new deal to answer those on the left. The second new deal had all the same goals as the first, but was much more radical. First, he created the REA. This government agency loaned to local communities that did not have electricity so that they could create their own power companies and run electricity to those who didn’t have it because private companies were only willing to supply to heavily populated areas. Here, the government is saying they will help provide a basis of living. Next, FDR created the WPA. This program was designed to put people to work since the private sector was not providing any jobs. It created construction jobs, employed painters to decorate buildings, hired actors and writers to put on play, etc. Third, FDR created the largest program of the new deal--social security. It was divided into 3 categories: retirement (which took a portion of your paycheck and saved it), unemployment (which gave you a check for the first 6 months unemployed), and money for single mothers. The characteristic of SS was that it insured basic standards of living. Lastly, FDR created the NLRB, which forever changed the gov’ts relationship with unions. It made unions legal and made it illegal to fire someone for being in a union. The new deal was the largest expansion of government in history and had three basic characteristics: new role of organized labor, government ensuring basic standards, and government intervention in the economy. However, it did not end the Great depression. Despite this, it made the great depression tolerable, restored middle class belief in capitalism, put in place a “safety system” for capitalism that essentially made capitalism work better (sec, nrwb), and we continue to live with many of these programs today.