The New Deal
kayla cook
BACKGROUND INFO The Great Depression |
The Great Depression occurred when the stock market crashed on Black Tuesday (October 29, 1929). Entire fortunes were gone in hours, and it soon became the deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in the history of the Western industrialized world. It lasted for almost 12 years, yet its impact has endured to even today. It led to consumer spending and investment drops, steep declines in the industrial output, and extremely high levels of unemployment. In 1933, 13 to 15 million Americans were unemployed, and half the country's banks had failed (History Channel, pg. 1). The Great Depression had a profound impact on those who experienced it. Even decades after it had ended, men and women in the 1950s felt insecure about their personal finances. They had experienced the devastating feeling of having everything, and then losing it all. Desperate unemployed businessmen would turn to selling apples on the street for a nickel to avoid having to accept charity. Soup kitchens and breadlines became an everyday sight across the country. The Great Depression not only destroyed the American economic system, it destroyed the heart, soul, and dignity that all Americans had previously cherished.
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BACKGROUND INFO The New Deal |
The Great Depression was a trying time for many, and the US President, Herbert Hoover, had only received blame and criticism (hence the "Hoovervilles" references) throughout the crisis. In the election of 1933, the Americans had voted for a new president, but some were still skeptical of the position; could an executive leader be trusted with leading the nation out of such a state? President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was determined to make America believe in him, and so he immediately implemented a program based on action-a program known as "The New Deal."
The New Deal FDR promised had three goals, which he labeled the "three Rs": relief, recovery, and reform. From the banking holiday, to the Public Works and Recovery Associations, to the organized labor gains, the New Deal Program created multiple agencies that combated economic depression, enacted a number of social insurance measures, and used government spending to stimulate the economy. The New Deal opposed the traditional American political philosophy of laissez-faire in the 1920s, and embraced the concept of a government regulated economy. |