The New Deal Research Paper
This investigation, analyzing the New Deal and the major legislation that encompassed it and what effect it had on the economy of the Great Depression, will answer the question: To what extent was the New Deal successful in relieving the economic hardships caused by the Great Depression?
1. Identification and evaluation of sources The primary sources which will be evaluated are two books, a book and major source for some U.S. history classrooms and a recently published history book analyzing the era of the Great Depression. Both are written by well-versed professors in the fields of history and political science.
The New Deal by Paul K. Conkin:
The New Deal was written by Paul K. Conkin, a distinguished professor emeritus of history at Vanderbilt …show more content…
“In 1933, a favorite explanation of the depression, at least among New Dealers, was underconsumption” (Conkin 39). This led to greater government spending but to no avail. “By 1940 [government outlays] had more than doubled to $9.4 billion” (Powell 48) and unemployment was at 17%. No doubt the New Deal was working to an extent as it lowered unemployment from 24% to 17% but this unemployment rate was still exceptionally high especially when compared to the 3% unemployment recorded prior to the Stock Market Crash of October 1929. This implies that, though alphabet agencies were employing people, “none of [them were] truly radical in scope” (Morgan). Even the Works Progress Administration, one of the largest agencies created from the New Deal, “could only employ around a third of those who needed work” (Conkin 59). Additionally, many, if not most, alphabet agencies failed. Take for example the National Industrial Recovery Act (NRA), the first law of the New Deal, passed in 1933. The NRA was a huge step in establishing new bounds for the government’s control in the commercial market, however, in retrospect it is deemed almost unanimously a failure. It is best summarized by Charles Roos, an economist and one of the research directors of the NRA, who said that “inadequate personnel, insufficient statistics, and clumsy economic interventions had limited [the New Deal’s] effectiveness. [And that] ‘despite laudable efforts … the NRA must, as a whole, be regarded as a sincere but ineffective effort to alleviate [the] depression’” (Katznelson 243). The extent of alphabet agencies that Roosevelt attempted to create and the lack of resources available to him inevitably led to a deficiency in the capability of those agencies and ultimately their
1. Identification and evaluation of sources The primary sources which will be evaluated are two books, a book and major source for some U.S. history classrooms and a recently published history book analyzing the era of the Great Depression. Both are written by well-versed professors in the fields of history and political science.
The New Deal by Paul K. Conkin:
The New Deal was written by Paul K. Conkin, a distinguished professor emeritus of history at Vanderbilt …show more content…
“In 1933, a favorite explanation of the depression, at least among New Dealers, was underconsumption” (Conkin 39). This led to greater government spending but to no avail. “By 1940 [government outlays] had more than doubled to $9.4 billion” (Powell 48) and unemployment was at 17%. No doubt the New Deal was working to an extent as it lowered unemployment from 24% to 17% but this unemployment rate was still exceptionally high especially when compared to the 3% unemployment recorded prior to the Stock Market Crash of October 1929. This implies that, though alphabet agencies were employing people, “none of [them were] truly radical in scope” (Morgan). Even the Works Progress Administration, one of the largest agencies created from the New Deal, “could only employ around a third of those who needed work” (Conkin 59). Additionally, many, if not most, alphabet agencies failed. Take for example the National Industrial Recovery Act (NRA), the first law of the New Deal, passed in 1933. The NRA was a huge step in establishing new bounds for the government’s control in the commercial market, however, in retrospect it is deemed almost unanimously a failure. It is best summarized by Charles Roos, an economist and one of the research directors of the NRA, who said that “inadequate personnel, insufficient statistics, and clumsy economic interventions had limited [the New Deal’s] effectiveness. [And that] ‘despite laudable efforts … the NRA must, as a whole, be regarded as a sincere but ineffective effort to alleviate [the] depression’” (Katznelson 243). The extent of alphabet agencies that Roosevelt attempted to create and the lack of resources available to him inevitably led to a deficiency in the capability of those agencies and ultimately their