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The New Deal picked people up when the Great Depression sent them down. It restored faith in the American people. The New Deal helped bring businesses and unemployment from out of the cellar. It got the economy back on its feet after it looked like nothing could help.
All this was possible because of one man. Why did they put so much faith into one person? Even though the New Deal was a great success, why did they expect this one person to save them? You can't put your future into the hands of one person. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the man who saw this challenge and overcame it with great success.
Even thought his great plan had there ups and downs, to many of the American people he wasn't just another President, he was a hero. The Great Depression was a rough time for all the American people. It sent many banks, farms, and business to close. This caused people to loose there jobs and others to reduce their salary. This was a dark time for the people and they started loosing faith. The people put their hopes on Herbert Hoover who told the people that the Great Depression was coming to an end.
The fact of the matter was the it was only in its prime. Hoover promised the American people many things that he knew that could raise hope in people, but he never took action. When Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected in 1933, how did the people know that Roosevelt wasn't just another President that would not take any action. Roosevelt became the President and right away had to face a very serious problem.
His election got him involved right when the economy hit rock bottom. Roosevelt knew he had to at least put a smile on the American people's face. He started by selecting a tune called "Happy Days Are Here Again." The people believed this to be a promise that they were getting a President to rely on. How did the people know that this wasn't just some guy making campaign promises? They say it was the unusual way that he related to people.
Roosevelt reached the people through great speeches. His speeches forged communities together to let them know that they were not alone. In return for giving the people hope, they gave the President there trust. Now that Roosevelt had the American peoples trust, he started his New Deal coalition. The people joined his coalition because he reached out to each and everyone of them.
He promised "action, and action now." That's what the people wanted and that's what the people got. Roosevelt passed many acts to help strengthen his New Deal. However, he received his first failure when he passed the National Industrial Recovery Act (NRA). It was supposed to provide something for everybody in the working business, but employers didn't like the fact that they were going to have to give raises and bargain with unions. By 1935 the NRA was destroyed by a court case which later declined many of the New Deal programs. Even though many of the programs were not very successful Roosevelt's New Deal for labor was his biggest success.
The reason why businesses where having a great deal of problems is because many companies went against the National Industrial Recovery Act (NRA) of 1933. The NRA stated that any company asking for help from the NRA would have to let their workers form unions. This would create the National Labor Relations Board that helped enforce the right of the workers. The automotive and steel workers were demanding higher wages and benefits at the time. Since this happened in the midst of the Great Depression, many of these workers had no choice but to go on strike because companies could not afford to meet with the workers demands. The automotive strikers had the greatest success and they had Roosevelt and the New Deal to thank.
In 1937, the workers decided to start these sit - down strikes. They would go to work just to sit down and observe their work place. Roosevelt and his New Deal coalition heard of this and instead of helping the companies by sending in police to break up the strike, they did nothing. This forced the automotive companies to come to an agreement and let the workers form unions. In the 1930 's, the growth of the labor unions almost tripled.
In 1940 steel, automotive, rubber, farm, and electrical company workers formed unions and this strengthened Roosevelt's New Deal coalition. The Second World War also made labor unions stronger by making them believe that they could cooperate with corporate America. Even though this is were Roosevelt and his New Deal coalition had there biggest success, it wasn't their only success. The New Deal had a positive effect on creating welfare programs to help many unemployed workers. During the Depression, President Hoover didn't want anything to do with the unemployed. He refused to let the federal government pay for relief programs.
When Roosevelt created the New Deal along came the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). This was created to help get the unemployed back on their feet. Roosevelt became a hero to the unemployed workers of America when he gave the FERA $ 500 million. Even though Roosevelt was making progress many challenged him. In 1935 Franklin D. Roosevelt came up with a plan to raise taxes on the wealthy, have new controls in large corporations, promote industrial unions, and create a powerful work relief program.
Many of Roosevelt's followers called this the Second New Deal. His idea for a work relief program became even stronger when Congress for $ 5 billion to help expand it. Most of the money went to organizing the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The WPA employed about eight million Americans and they continued to average between 1. 5 and 3. 3 million people per month. The WPA workers mainly did construction work. They built roads, parks, airports, schools, hospitals, bridges, and police and fire stations.
Many entertainers, like actors and musicians, were working for the WPA at that time. Before Roosevelt could help many aged workers had to keep working because they could not afford to retire. Also poor single - parent families were not getting much help from the federal government. In 1935 the Social Security Act not only created a retirement system, it also aided to families with dependent children.
Even with all the success that Roosevelt had on welfare many people still criticized him. They said that he only provided a minimum for those on welfare. So even though some people were not happy with some of Roosevelt's decisions, he still had to figure out a way to help make the economy better. During the Great Depression, many of the federal workers were white males. Roosevelt's New Deal changed that and it reached out to Jews, African Americans, Mexican Americans, and to their families. The WPA appointed many Jews and Catholics as local administrators.
Through this they made sure that the people living in urban areas were part of the work relief program. Because Roosevelt help accomplish this some people made anti-Semitic smears. They called Roosevelt "Rosenfeld" and he was the leader of the "Jew Deal." These remarks where made to him also because he was close with some of his Jewish advisers. The Jewish people found a friend in Roosevelt when he created the War Refugee Board.
The was created to help rescue Jews fleeing from the Holocaust near the end of World War II. Even though the Jewish communities believed that Roosevelt took little action, they still supported his New Deal. Roosevelt not only helped Jewish people but he had a great effect on African Americans and Mexican Americans. The National Assocation for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Urban League, and the National Negro Congress protested because blacks were being denied work relief benefits. The WPA helped the African Americans by trying to end discrimination in the work relief programs. In the late 1930 's the WPA achieved at having over 1 million blacks working for them.
In favor for this the African Americans left the Republican Parties and voted for Roosevelt. By 1945 many of the African American's working at federal jobs just about tripled the amount working in 1933. For the Mexicans leaving there country and entering America with a plan to good jobs, it was hard. During the Depression President Hoover deported Mexicans so that he could make more room for American citizens in the work place. In the early 1930 's, Mexican immigrants were being deported by the thousands. After World War II, however, the United States urged many federal and local businesses to hire Mexican workers.
Native American population was at a low and many of them were landless. The New Deal didn't have a real great effect on Indians. Even with little success for the Native Americans it was a huge failure when many of them were sent to World War II and more than half never returned. With the Depression out of the way the New Deal cleaned up its mess. Even though Roosevelt's New Deal coalition wasn't a complete success it helped the American people believe once again that there was a place in society for them.
Roosevelt helped businesses by creating labor unions, he helped the unemployed by creating the WPA and work relief programs, and he helped minorities find a place in the work force by giving them what they needed to make a success in the labor companies. Roosevelt did as much as he could to make this economy great again after having to suffer the Great Depression. To some people Roosevelt was a leader, a creator, and a patriot, but to many he was a hero. Bibliography:
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Research essay sample on Industrial Recovery Act Franklin D Roosevelt
