Anthony Lam

4/23/17
History 1700

The New Deal

How did the new deal impact the united states and why it was so great? In

the beginning of 1933 the United States needed immediate relief, recovery from

economic collapse, and reform to avoid future depressions, so then relief,

recovery and reform became Franklin D Roosevelt`s mission when he took the

role as the 32nd president of the united states. The New Deal has already been

discussed in the earlier years but had no effects to the country. Then there were

two things that Franklin D Roosevelt did that benefited the economy; The first

new deal, The second new deal.

The term "New Deal" was coined during Franklin Roosevelts 1932

Democratic presidential nomination acceptance speech, when he first said, "I

pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people." Roosevelt

came into office after Hoovers term of presidency. It was during a time of the

great depression which began in October 29, 1929, a day known forever after as

Black Tuesday, which was the effect of the stock market crashing, jeopardizing

the economy and everyone in it. Roosevelt summarized the New Deal as a "use

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of the authority of government as an organized form of self-help for all classes

and groups and sections of our country." President FDR first new deal to

reforming the country dealt with the nations issue on multiple accounts such as

unemployment, agriculture, and putting trust back into the banks. They first

issued the Emergency banking act which shut down all the banks across the

nation and through a liquidy they got rid of all the banks that were failing and

re-opened the banks that were stable and could last. They got rid of the gold

currency at the time so that americans would value the dollars more. Still people

did not trust the banks but the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Company)

helped ensure people trust into the bank. The FDIC insured people with a large

sum of money back if they ever lost their money in the bank, and immediately the

banks gained a lot of money back this way, the bank could invest in shares but

the new deal prohibits banks from investing in shares so that i would be stable

and non-risky because the securities act held the CEOs of the banks

accountable for the money they have. To put the unemployed back into society

and have them work was a huge issue at the time, their were a few things that

FDR did to create the jobs, he added in the Civil Works Administration (CWA)

and the Civil Conservation Corps (CCC) which were under the Federal

Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) which gave the government money to

build projects such as bridges, roads, and public facilities. Under the FERA more

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Americans could get their jobs back into constructing and building up the fallen

United States. Agriculture was to be relooked upon, FDR created the Agricultural

Adjustment Administration (AAA) and the government actually helped form a

union which was known as the Southern Tenant Farmer Union. The AAA would

raise the price of crops and have farmers farm less so that the government can

control the food prices.

The second new deal came after the first new deal, it was one big new

deal but many historians separate both due to the fact that both were greatly

different in characteristics but still benefited the country. The New Deal was

criticized because it didnt give jobs to many people, most of the country was still

jobless, thus comes in place the second new deal. To overcome the critics, the

Roosevelt added in a list of policies: as of april 27, 2017 sparknotes listed on its

website that Roosevelt aimed approximately half the Second New Deal programs

and policies at long-term reform1 it includes the WPA, Works Progress

administration, which mainly helped give jobs to housewives and people who

were under 16, and the federal one project which let musicians and artists be

paid for their arts. Although the arts had never been high on FDR's list of

1
SparkNotes Editors. SparkNote on The Great Depression (19201940). SparkNotes
LLC. 2005. http://www.sparknotes.com/history/american/depression/ (accessed April
27, 2017).
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priorities, he felt funding them would provide a double benefit.2 it would give

artists and musicians a reason to work and the government can buy those arts of

works and display them in public as structures and such so that when people go

outside in public they may spend money outside. Since the seniors had not yet

been secured in the economy, FDR came up with the Social Securities Act which

ensured general welfare to the elderly.

The New Deal was controlled mainly by the government and FDR has

been criticized for being a Socialist and it brought in fear of communism to the

united states but nevertheless the new deal was necessary for the United States

during the great depression, it gave millions of jobs back to the people and

pushed the country forward and out of the depression. The people wanted the

government to do something to fix the economy so under the FDR

administration, many changes were made whether it be good or bad as a

socialistic economy. The new deal overall helped the united states and with that,

the new deal couldnt have been any better for the country for the Only Thing

We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself FDR

2
Black, Allida M. Casting Her Own Shadow: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Shaping of Postwar Liberalism.
New York: Columbia University Press, 1996, 33-36.
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