The New Deal

1578 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Fdr response to great depression

Do you know what it’s like to live in a cardboard home, starve, and raise a family in poverty? Unfortunately, most Americans in the 1930s went through this on a day-to-day basis. In 1929 the stock market crashed. Many people lost their life savings; they invested everything they owned in a failing stock market. The country was falling, everyone needed strong leadership and help from the government.

Devastation and desperation started on Thursday, October 24, 1929. There was a strong sense of panic in the air at the Stock Exchange. The stocks were dropping, alarmingly fast; the worried American tried desperately to keep their savings. Markets began to steady again on Friday and Saturday only to sweep back down the following Monday. By Tuesday the twenty-ninth all doubt was erased, many Americans lost everything they had on Black Tuesday (Andrist and Stillman 190). President Herbert Hoover made a decision and refused to provide emergency relief. Hoover believed that it was “strictly a state and local responsibility.” Most local organizations were far too small to handle this big of a situation (Andrist and Stillman 193). America needed a change, a change that would come at the next election time.

Immediately following Herbert Hoover in the presidency line, Mr. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) became America’s 32nd president. This democrat, inaugurated on March 4, 1933, won the 1932 election against Hoover by a landslide. The new president made a promise to his citizens, “I pledge you, I pledge myself, a new deal for the American people.” He reassured Americans that he would change their lives. He promised to get people back to work and back in their homes (“New Deal Timeline 1).

For the hundreds of thousands of unemployed work...

... middle of paper ...

... still be living in a time very similar to the Great Depression. However, the New Deal did help to solve America’s problems, it did not end the depression, unemployment, or poverty; it did provide a sense of security to American citizens, and insure hope in their country (“New Deal” 3).

Works Cited

Andrist, Ralph K., and Edmund O. Stillman. The American Heritage History of the 1920s & 1930s. New York: American Heritage/Bonanza, 1987. Print.

"Franklin D. Roosevelt - American Heritage Center, Inc." FDR Heritage. Web.

McElvaine, Robert S. The Depression and New Deal: A History in Documents. New York: Oxford UP, 2000. Print.

"New Deal." The Reader's Companion to U.S. Women's History. Ed. Wilma Mankiller, Gwendolyn Mink, Marysa Navarro, Barbara Smith, and Gloria Steinem. n.p. Web. 6 Mar. 2012.

"New Deal Timeline." Xroads.virginia.edu. Web. 9 Mar. 2012.

Show More
Related

  • FDR Election DBQ Essay

    524 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1932, people decided that America needed a change. For the first time in twelve years, they elected a democratic president, President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Immediately he began to work on fixing the American economy. He closed all banks and began a series of laws called the New Laws. L...

    Read More

  • Franklin D. Roosevelt and his Presidency

    1935 Words  | 4 Pages

    "I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people," said Franklin Roosevelt. With that he was elected President in November 1932, to the first of four terms. By March there were 13,000,000 unemployed, and almost every bank was closed. In his first "hundred days," he proposed, and Congress enacted, a sweeping program to bring recovery to business and agriculture, relief to the unemployed and to those in danger of losing farms and homes, and reform, especially through the establishment of the Tennessee Valley Authority.

    Read More

  • Roosevelt Vs Hoover Essay

    741 Words  | 2 Pages

    After nearly a decade of optimism and prosperity, the United States took a turn for the worse on October 29, 1929, the day the stock market crashed, better known as Black Tuesday and the official beginning of the Great Depression. The downfall of the economy during the presidency of Herbert Hoover led to much comparison when his successor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, took office. Although both presidents had their share of negative feedback, it is evident that Hoover’s inaction towards the crisis and Roosevelt’s later eccentric methods to simulate the economy would place FDR in the positive limelight of fixing the nation in one of its worst times. Herbert Hoover was sworn into office when the economic status of the country stood at its highest and the nation was accustomed to a prosperous way of living. When the stock market plummeted and took its toll on the citizens from coast to coast, it was out of his control.

    Read More

  • Presidents of the 1930s

    738 Words  | 2 Pages

    "America's Great Depression and Roosevelt's New Deal."DPLA. Digital Public Library of America. Web. 20 Nov 2013. .

    Read More

  • Was the New Deal a Good Deal for America?

    609 Words  | 2 Pages

    In his presidential acceptance speech in 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed to the citizens of the United States, “I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people.” The New Deal, beginning in 1933, was a series of federal programs designed to provide relief, recovery, and reform to the fragile nation. The U.S. had been both economically and psychologically buffeted by the Great Depression. Many citizens looked up to FDR and his New Deal for help. However, there is much skepticism and controversy on whether these work projects significantly abated the dangerously high employment rates and pulled the U.S. out of the Great Depression. The New Deal was a bad deal for America because it only provided opportunities for a few and required too much government spending.

    Read More

  • The Causes of Canada's Great Depression of 1929-1939

    1680 Words  | 4 Pages

    Kindleberger, Charles P. The World in Depression, 1929-1939. Vol. 4. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986.

    Read More

  • Down And Out In The Great Depression

    1337 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the 1920’s, America was a prosperous nation going through the “Big Boom” and loving every second of it. However, this fortune didn’t last long, because with the 1930’s came a period of serious economic recession, a period called the Great Depression. By 1933, a quarter of the nation’s workers (about 40 million) were without jobs. The weekly income rate dropped from $24.76 per week in 1929 to $16.65 per week in 1933 (McElvaine, 8). After President Hoover failed to rectify the recession situation, Franklin D. Roosevelt began his term with the hopeful New Deal. In two installments, Roosevelt hoped to relieve short term suffering with the first, and redistribution of money amongst the poor with the second. Throughout these years of the depression, many Americans spoke their minds through pen and paper. Many criticized Hoover’s policies of the early Depression and praised the Roosevelts’ efforts. Each opinion about the causes and solutions of the Great Depression are based upon economic, racial and social standing in America.

    Read More

  • The New Deal Dbq

    766 Words  | 2 Pages

    The New Deal was a set of acts that effectively gave Americans a new sense of hope after the Great Depression. The New Deal advocated for women’s rights, worked towards ending discrimination in the workplace, offered various jobs to African Americans, and employed millions through new relief programs. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) made it his duty to ensure that something was being done. This helped restore the public's confidence and showed that relief was possible. The New Deal helped serve America’s interests, specifically helping women, African Americans, and the unemployed and proved to them that something was being done to help them.

    Read More

  • The Great Depression and the New Deal

    986 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...onger had any savings left to live off of. The New Deal program enhanced the lives of Americans during the Great Depression and changed the role of the federal government. Most historians agree that the New Deal was what helped alleviate many of the problems during the Great Depression and has been said to have ended the Great Depression.

    Read More

  • The New Deal

    1629 Words  | 4 Pages

    The New Deal period has generally - but not unanimously - been seen as a turning point in American politics, with the states relinquishing much of their autonomy, the President acquiring new authority and importance, and the role of government in citizens' lives increasing. The extent to which this was planned by the architect of the New Deal, Franklin D. Roosevelt, has been greatly contested, however. Yet, while it is instructive to note the limitations of Roosevelt's leadership, there is not much sense in the claims that the New Deal was haphazard, a jumble of expedient and populist schemes, or as W. Williams has put it, "undirected". FDR had a clear overarching vision of what he wanted to do to America, and was prepared to drive through the structural changes required to achieve this vision.

    Read More

  • How Did President Hoover's Failure To Respond To The Great Depression

    1804 Words  | 4 Pages

    On the 29th of October 1929 the United States (U.S.) stock market fell to a new low. By November of that year, about thirty billion dollars in the market value of stocks had been lost. Half the value of the stocks listed in the New York Times index was lost in ten weeks. The stock market crash resulted in an undermining of confidence investment and spending of businesses. This resulted in a drastic decline in consumer spending. As a consequence, there had to be a cut in production resulting in massive layoffs. Banks began to fail because depositors withdrew their savings. Unemployment insurance did not exist and public assistance was grossly inadequate. As a result, there was wide spread suffering. President Herbert C. Hoover apparently did not appreciate the gravity of the situation when he said in his 1931 State of the Union address “our people are providing against distress from unemployment in true American fashion by magnificent responses to public appeal and by action of the local governments.”

    Read More

  • The New Deal Reforms

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    The New Deal reforms transformed the government in the long run but failed to accomplish immediate recovery from the Great Depression, it was not until World War 2 that the economy recuperated completely. The reforms were a landmark in US history, for the first time the government interfered, for the prosperity of the people. Works Cited Foner. I am a fad. Give Me a Liberty.

    Read More

  • Fireside Chat Essay

    1133 Words  | 3 Pages

    To further fulfill his promise in helping America, Roosevelt made use of the radio to deliver updates to all Americans. He delivered his first Fireside Chat on March 12, 1933 in which he informed America about the banking reforms that were passed to improve a sense of security when investing. The Fireside Chats brought new information to those as far as California who may not be up to date on the latest news at Washington D.C. These Fireside Chats were much appreciated by the American People and got the public involved in politics and the government.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Great Depression Of The 1920s And 1930's

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    With a loud, resounding crash the roar of the 1920’s resulted in a period of desperation, hardship, and survival in the 1930’s. It began with the plummeting of the Stock Market in the Fall of 1929. Americans who had experienced great wealth and prosperity lost most of their life savings as a result of this economic collapse. This ripple spiralled out of control for the American people. Many lost their

    Read More

  • Describe The New Deal Programs

    755 Words  | 2 Pages

    Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929, the stock market crashed leading 15 million Americans unemployed and failed nearly half the country’s banks, which triggered the worst and catastrophic economic depression in the record of the industrialized world: Great Depression, which lasted from 1929 to 1939. During the Great Depression, United States 32nd president, Franklin D. Roosevelt aimed to restore prosperity to America by instituting a series of plans and programs called “New Deal.” Historians called Roosevelt’s programs the “3Rs” of dealing with the depression: Relief, Recovery, and Reform— “relief” for the jobless and poor, “recovery” of the economy, and “reform” of the nation’s financial system.

    Read More

More about The New Deal

Open Document