What is the legacy of

the New Deal: Did it

go too far or not far
enough?

This land is your land, this land is my land

From California, to the New York Island
From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me

Woody
Guthrie
This
Land Is
Your
Land

As I was walking a
ribbon of highway,
I saw above me an
endless skyway,
I saw below me a
golden valley,
This land was made for
you and me

I've roamed and rambled

and I've followed my
footsteps
To the sparkling sands of
her diamond deserts
And all around me a voice
was sounding
This land was made for you
and me

The sun comes shining as I was strolling; The wheat fields

waving, and the dust clouds rolling; The fog was lifting a
voice come chanting; This land was made for you and me

As I went walking I saw a

sign there
And on the sign it said "No
Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't
say nothing.
That side was made for you
and me.
In the shadow of the steeple I
saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my
people;
As they stood there hungry, I
stood there asking
Is this land made for you and
me?

Criticism of the New Deal

FROM THE RIGHT
New Deal threatens private
enterprise, which is protected in
the constitution

Federal Government is too

strong danger of totalitarian
takeover

FDR is a radical putting America

on the road to communism

Let the free market function!

New Deal is fiscally

irresponsible (we cant afford it)

FROM THE LEFT

Did not go far enough to reform

system and failed to decrease
suffering enough

bandaid of capitalism ie. rich

are still rich, poor still poor

Too many people fell through the

cracks ie. non-union labor,
blacks, women; helped mostly
landowners of South, not
sharecroppers

Legacy of New Deal:

1. Expansion of federal power, esp. executive branch
2. New Philosophy about the role of government
- Govt is responsible for economic recovery
turned US into a mixed economy
Deficit spending (Keynesian
economics) becomes more widely accepted
- Govt responsible for social welfare
Social Security, Public works

Legacy of New Deal:

3. Strengthened organized labor (for a time)
- Wagner Act legitimized collective bargaining
- est. NLRB
- est. minimum wages and max hours; forbid child
labor
- Pro-labor attitude led to tremendous growth in union
membership
Congress of Industrial Organization (CIO) created,
which would later merge with the AFL, creating the
AFL-CIO

Legacy of New Deal:

4. New Deal Coalition formed, realigning politics in the
US from the 1930s-1960s
- New voting bloc included:
Unions and blue collar workers
Farmers
Immigrants
African-Americans (who left Lincolns Republican
party