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New Deal 2 Essay, Research Paper

The Great Depression was an unfortunate period of economic hard times that citizens of the United States struggled through. This Depression was cast on the U.S. from 1929 through 1941. Significant factors for the Depression were overproduction, over borrowing, and the uneven distribution of wealth. People did almost anything to survive these atrocities; such as widespread hunger, resulting in a great deal of emotional suffering. During Franklin Delano Roosevelt s presidency he attempted to replenish our nation from the setbacks of this Depression. His main solution to thrusting the nation out of the Great Depression was his New Deal. There were different opinions surrounding the effectiveness of this New Deal. According to history professor Roger Biles, the New Deal was an effective answer to the Great Depression. However, Gary Dean Best, also a history professor feels it was not the correct solution for the Great Depression. When supplied with the facts and opinions it is easy to base an opinion about the New Deal, as to whether or not it was significant.

Biles view was that Roosevelt was capable of defeating this depression. He had room for success, because certain pieces the New Deal were not entirely new. These pieces included increasing farmer s income, centralized economic planning, social insurance and labor reform. The plan to increase farmer s income originated from Woodrow Wilson s farm credit acts, and then Herbert Hoover s Agricultural Marketing Act pushed it along even further. Centralized economic planning, embodied in the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), came directly from Wilson s War Industries Board. Roosevelt chose a veteran of the board, Hugh Johnson, to head the National Recovery Administration (NRA). Social Insurance also existed within certain states before the Federal Government became involved. Likewise, labor reform found its way through the work of state legislatures. Congress and the public saw little reason not to support the New Deal, partially due to its start in successful programs attempted earlier under different conditions.

Biles states that even though some of the New Deal was formed from past plans, there were significant new plans implemented. These new programs for the New Deal came from Roosevelt and his supportive Brain Trust, which consisted of a number of advisors from prominent universities and lawyers. Those who were working, and the circumstances and conditions in which they worked under changed during the Depression. In 1935, Roosevelt took major steps in aiding the worker, by establishing the Wagner Act, giving workers the right to join unions and bargain collectively. In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act was established, setting minimum wages and maximum hours for employees. These strides by Roosevelt could only improve the working condition of the U.S. He desperately tried to limit monopolies and their influence on businesses, in hopes of improving the life of working Americans. Within ten years sweatshops were eliminated, child labor was highly restricted and enforceable standards for working hours, wages and working conditions were established.

According to Biles, important recovery plans included the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA). The CCC offered outdoor work to unemployed single men ages 18 to 25. They were paid 30 dollars per month and 22 dollars went back to their families. This group of over three million men built reservoirs, stopping erosion, planted trees, and fought forest fires.

FERA gave 500 million dollars to replenish city funds. They primarily provided a dole, direct gifts of, money, food, and clothing. There were many other acts, which Roosevelt introduced that helped Americans a great deal. It is Biles belief that the important thing about the CCC and FERA is that America now had a big government. They took control; instead of just letting the people work out there own problems, as had been the custom for some time.

The outlook of Robert Biles was that even though the economic policies of the New Deal were not as successful as had been anticipated, they did implant numerous stabilizers, preventing future depressions of this nature. Certain reform plans, which were established within the Alphabet Agency, were the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The FDIC increased government supervision of banks, drastically lowering the amount of bank failures. It protected people’s money by insuring their ban deposits up to $2,500 at first and then to $5,000. The SEC s main purpose was to supervise regulate the stock market, with J. P. Kennedy at the head of the organization. These two plans, along with the Bank Holiday, restored the confidence in the people to put their money back into banks, and to invest.

Best s issues with the New Deal did not revolve around its specific reforms and social programs. He was upset because the U.S. failed to recover from the depression while the policies were active under Roosevelt. He felt that it was tragic for the unemployed, and millions of others depending on government aid. On top of this, it displayed the U.S. as an unstable country at a very bad time, with WWII surfacing. Best believes that the president did not provide the depression with deserved amount of attention. It is also felt that Roosevelt s reluctance to embrace in Keynesian spending contributed to the failure of recovery. While other recovered countries represented a variety of economic systems, including state ownership and free enterprise. They succeeded because of the motivation provided for industrial enterprise, rather than relying on deficit spending. Best holds the view that if Roosevelt followed the other countries leads the U.S. would have been out of the Depression sooner.

A belief formed by Best

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