The Great Depression: The New Deal And Social Security

After the great depression hit America’s economy in 1929, there was no type of safe guard to help persons during this economic recession. Many Americans lost all their savings, jobs and homes because they were no longer able to afford it. Companies were not able to afford as many works as they had as there was a drastic decrease in consumer spending. To try to combat the depression the government implemented the social security act on August 14, 1935. This act signed by president Franklin Delano Roosevelt was created to battle hardships being faced by Americans such as poverty. This essay shall examine the programs that took place in the first new deal and Social Security tell us about the set of policies and programs called the New Deal, how

minority workers such as blacks and Hispanics did not benefit from the programs because most of them were in the exceptions category, how different groups of Americans viewed Roosevelt’s policies, and the alternatives that Americans proposed. Many Americans saw the new deal as a great federal programs but others believed it was flawed and bias.
After the Republican Party was elected, Americans lost all faith in them after the great depression therefore wanted them out of office.

According history.com “The Great Depression (1929-39) was the deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in the history of the Western industrialized world.” So to combat any future depressions the first new deal was created. An advertisement which appeared in the literary digest magazine stated, “They want jobs. They’re eager to work. But there aren’t enough jobs to go ‘round.” This showed that even though the great depression caused a vast increase in unemployment there were still persons who had jobs, created jobs and campaigned for Americans to help those who didn’t. Franklin Roosevelt created many programs to include a four day bank holiday . This was created to stop Americans for taking out money from the banks and giving the banks a chance to get themselves together. Some other programs included in the new deal were the glass Steagall act which stopped commercial banks from investing in businesses. With the glass Steagall act came the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) which gave banks insurance for members’ savings and checking deposits in the case of the bank falls into a depression or another depression happens. The agricultural adjustment act was also a program implemented by the new deal. This was used to keep famers farming as the government would buy the excess surplus of goods from the farmers and burn it yet paying the farmers the full price for their goods. This program was later criticized and stopped. Other programs included, the home owners’ loan act, Works Progress Administration (WPA) which provided jobs to persons such as actors and artist. Yet, with all these programs implemented the depression continued. This gave rise to the second new deal. One of the safe guards that was created and still exist today was the social security act. This was created to offer pensions to retired works and

disabled children but only to those who paid into it. In President Franklin D. Roosevelt speech on August 14, 1935 he stated “We can never insure one hundred percent of the population against one hundred percent of the hazards and vicissitudes of life, but we have tried to … give some measure of protection … against the loss of a job and against poverty-ridden old age.”

Before the social security act was passed, many persons put forward their ideas of what they thought it should be. An excerpt from senator Huey Long’s “Share the Wealth” speech stating how he thought the social security act should be drafted. “Old-age pensions of $30 per month to persons over 60 years of age who do not earn as much as $1,000 per year … to remove from the field of labor in times of unemployment those who have contributed their share to the public service.” This would ensure that the younger generation of persons were able to get jobs and the older generation leave knowing they would be compensated for leaving the work force. But, Francis E. Townsend, an unemployed doctor had a different idea on how he thought the program should be run. An extract from his pamphlet stated “all citizens of the United States over the age of 60 years may retire on a pension of $200 per month… the conditions they engage in no further labor, business or profession for gain past life is free from habitual criminality, take oath to, and actually do spend, within the confines of the United States, the entire amount of their pension within thirty days after receiving same.” This was a good draft but flawed. If these persons are only able to spend the money in the United States, they would not be able to travel. The only means to which they got money would be from the pension and one of the requirements is that you cannot have any job while receiving the pension. But, his idea offered more money than what was offered in senator Long’s draft.
When the final social security act was created everyone couldn’t benefit according to a poster created by the Social Security Board “agriculture, domestic service, and government work” were the exceptions to the Act. This meant that majority of minority works such as African Americans and Hispanics would be excluded as they occupied many of these positions. This was a major flaw in the social security act of 1935.One organization that spoke against the exclusion of these workers from the SSA was the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).They stated that 490,000 black Americans would not benefit from the SSA . An excerpt from the Statement of Charles H. Houston, representing the NAACP, to the House “I do not need to argue to the committee that Negroes have suffered from unemployment more than any other class of the community.” This was very true because during the time of the great depression many black individuals were forced to work as shear croppers, farmers and domestic workers as these were the only jobs available. An excerpt from a Los Angeles Times editorial believed that the SSA would not have been able to afford sufficient funds for all the things they wanted. This is because more persons would be receiving than persons paying it forward, so increased taxes. From an excerpt of letter written to the president stated “the only thing we want from the president . . . is for him to balance the budget and reduce taxes”. Many Americans were upset at the fact taxes were increased because of SSA. Many wrote letters directed to the president, according to the white house “on average 5000 letters daily.” They believed that the wealthy was benefitting more than the common man and the letters they wrote reflected just that. Excerpt from a letter sent to Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt “Money … steadily flowing into Wall Street… by the Federal Gov’t… which has access to all these treasuries that Old Age Pensions should be paid. . . . There is as much wealth…In the hands of a comparatively few.”
In closing the SSA was a great plan implemented by President Roosevelt as a part of the new deal to combat the great depression but was flawed. Minority workers were not able to benefit from it, as any Americans disagreed with it as they thought “the wealthy” was gaining more than the “Common man.”