What impact did the Great Depression and the New Deal have on Americans view of the role of government? What were the various debates surrounding the role and responsibility of the federal government during the Great Depression? Who supported the New Deal and who opposed it, and why?
Answers must incorporate evidence from the Supplementary Readings assigned in the corresponding Module. These supplementary readings are primary sources from the time period that is being studied for that Module.
9.1 Lecture Overview
The Great Depression had an enormous impact on the lives of Americans. It had rocked the foundation of the nations economy, leaving millions unemployed, and hundreds of thousands homeless and dependent on breadlines for assistance across the nation. Without any help to rely on from friends and families, local organizations, or state governments that were ill equipped to handle the economic catastrophe, the public turned to the federal government for assistance. This would dramatically reshape the size and role of the federal government in the twentieth century.
Overall, the New Deal had a broad influence on the quality of life in the United States in the 1930s. Government programs reached into areas never before touched by governmentin both economic and social affairs. However, while many of these improvements were long overdue, they still failed to make a significant dent in the historic inequalities that many Americans had faced. But it was a dent nonetheless and for some, the New Deal provided a new opportunity that they had never before had as well.
9.2 Franklin D. Roosevelt
During the election of 1932, Franklin D Roosevelt pledged to make a new deal for the American people. After his landslide victory later that year, he surrounded himself with prominent intellectuals and advisors to help him establish a series of programs and agencies to respond to the economic crises that was threatening the nation.
When FDR took the oath of Office on March 4, 1933, the nations economy was on the brink of collapse. Nearly thirteen million people were out of work, or twenty-five percent. Between 1929 and 1933, 5,000 banks had failed in 38 statesabout one-third of the nations totalas frenzied depositors rushed to withdraw their savings after the stock market crashed and bank funds invested in the stock market lost their value. By March 1933, banking had been suspended in a majority of states and people were unable to access money.
FDR took to the radio to reassure the public. In his first fireside chat he famously declared: the only thing we have to fear is fear itselfnameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror. In his second fireside chat he defined liberty as greater security for the average man as opposed to the older definition that prevailed in the past of it being a contract that had served in the interests of the privileged few. He then called on congress to issue him the kind of broad executive power reserved for presidents during wartime. For the next 3 months congress responded to a series of presidential initiatives designed to provide economic relief. FDR, seizing on the momentum from his election, sent 15 major requests to Congress and obtained 15 pieces of legislation. Never before in American history had a president exercised such power or so rapidly expanded the role of the federal government in peoples lives.
9.3 The First New Deal
The New Deal agencies that were created during Roosevelts First Hundred Days were primarily designed to be temporary and meet the specific economic problems of the depression. The Focus was on immediate relief and recovery. However, none were completely successful as the depression would continue for most the decade. But the nation turned a psychological corner in 1933 with the election of FDR and his policies aimed at the problems, enabling the people to look to the future with hope for the first time since 1929.
The Banking Crises
Within the first ten days of taking office FDR managed to save the nations banks. FDR declared a bank holiday, temporarily halting all bank operations and convening congress into a special session to address the issue. On March 9, Congress passed the Emergency Banking Act that provided funds to shore up threatened institutions. The Glass-Steagall Act was also passed that year that barred commercial banks from speculating on Wall Street and established the FDIC, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which was a government system that insured the accounts of individual depositors in order to stop the run on banks by preventing the need to withdraw funds from unstable banks. These measures transformed the American financial system. They rescued the failing financial system and increased the governments power over it. Not a single bank failed in 1936.
there is more information for this module in our book chapter 26
here is the link:
https://openstax.org/books/us-history/pages/26-introduction
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