The New Deal

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The New Deal, established by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, was a series of programs put into affect to fix the Great Depression that the United States was currently in. Beginning with the crash of the stock market on October 29, 1929, America was plunged into its most severe economic downturn yet. Roosevelt developed this plan to save the country. At this time the people of America were in a huge economic unrest. Most in America were homeless or unemployed. Roosevelt created his programs to help these exact people from poverty. He assured the people of America that his programs would help the crumbling economy, mass unemployment, and low wages. This chain of programs raised both nationalism and national character throughout America for a few years. The author of this excerpt had a very negative view of FDR’s work and critiqued every program within the New Deal. Roosevelt’s programs have many long-term consequences, some of which are still in effect today. Most of the programs still in action were modified in the 1960’s, these are the present day welfare programs that most people are accustomed to. While the New Deal was not entirely successful, Franklin D. Roosevelt did the best he could with the time and circumstances given.
At a time when at least 35% of the country was unemployed, Roosevelt personalized his programs so that all Americans felt included. This included referring to “ a farmer or a taxi driver…. his speeches emphasized the small people” (Conkin). These types of people had previously been excluded from the government. Because of this 60% of the people in America supported the New Deal. All of this caused national character to become more positive. Since all the people were in high spirits, thinkin...

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...ese programs had not taken place when they did, thousands of citizens could have perished due to lack of housing and lack of food.The author of this article/packet was not impressed by FDR’s efforts and thought he could have done much more to help the country since he had so much power. Many of Roosevelt's programs are still in play today, just with some modifications. The New Deal raised both nationalism and made national character more positive towards the government and the President momentarily until it started to fail and did not work as fast as the public had hoped. Overall, the New Deal programs helped the United States by aiding some people who, without government help, would have starved to death. Even though it could have been more successful, the programs did help a great deal of people and helped to push the country out of the Great Depression.

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