New Deal Dbq

Franklin D. Roosevelt changed the definition of the role of the government in people’s daily lives. President Roosevelt increased the president’s power and the white house became the center of government. Prior to Roosevelt’s New Deal, the interference in the financial and personal lives of people was very limited and the federal government bureaucracy was not as developed. For example, former president Herbert Hoover attempted to assist with the great depression by making a public works project and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), which loaned money to banks and business. The project, however, failed terribly due to the limitations of the role of federal government and bureaucracy in society. In contrast to Hoover, Roosevelt took matters into his own hands by proposing bills and programs for the congress to consider, instead of simply waiting for the congress to do something. Roosevelt believed that not only could the government interfere with helping the

people financially and personally, but that they should. Roosevelt’s concern for the people restored confidence and optimism to the people.
While Roosevelt’s plans were improving matters and helping people in need, some critics were afraid that the president was gaining an excessive role in society and unprecedented power.

Conservatives were the ones most concerned with this phenomenon because they desired freedom and did not favor such interference of the government. Their fears were not ill-founded, the great depression led to the rise of a trend of excessive government control in other regions of the world. For example, the desperation of the people due to the depression in Germany led to the rise of Adolf Hitler who developed a dictatorial regime. The United States itself would have seen similar control by the government if Huey Long would have made it to presidency. Huey Long promised many things to the people, but in return he expected too much power and control. He was assassinated in 1935 for his dictatorial aspirations. Despite all of these worries, many people continued to support Roosevelt considering how much he helped

them.
While most groups of people favored the New Deal, some groups of people were affected negatively by a lot of its policies on top of the depression. Women saw the most improvement after the depression with the presidency of Roosevelt. The first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, represented President Roosevelt and made a lot of improvements in regards to women’s rights. Mrs. Roosevelt herself was very involved politically; hence, was able to encourage other women to have a greater role in their government. She also defended racial equality and was especially concerned with the segregation laws in Alabama. To promote racial equality, she urged President Roosevelt to form the black cabinet, which consisted of African-American advisers, but Roosevelt never really listened to much of their advice. For example, Roosevelt once refused to support a law that outlawed lynching of African-Americas because that would have interrupted with the expanding of his policies to the south. Another policy of giving federal payments to farmers to produce fewer crops unintentionally hurt African-Americans because it led to white land owners evicting unneeded black sharecroppers from their farms.