Herbert Hoover was the President of the United States in the beginning of the Great Depression. His policy was wrong from the very beginning. He thought that this crisis is not very serious, and America would overcome it easily. It was his main mistake. It was silly to underestimate this problem. That is why people didn’t elect him as the President for the second time. The person that got people’s sympathy was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He felt that the country needed serious changes to overcome. Herbert Hoover didn’t share Roosevelt’s viewing of the situation in the country, so he became a rough opposition to Roosevelt. In his turn Roosevelt promised the New Deal to his country that would help to rebuild American business that was in deep knockout after the beginning of the Depression.
Three problems were main causes of the Great Depression.
The first problem was that farmers grew more crops than could sell them. They sold crops for less money than they spent to plant it. So many farmers didn’t earn enough to pay for their farms.
The second problem was that factories were making too many products. Americans had no money to buy all the products that were being made in the USA. Factory owners sold their products for less and less money. Many factories were forced to close. Thousands of workers lost their jobs. Unemployment had reached its apogee.
The third problem was that workers were not earning enough money. Prices for everything became lower and lower. Soon almost everyone was losing lots of money.
All these problems caused different consequences: hunger, poverty, unemployment and closing of many factories and companies.
2. Roosevelt and his “NEW DEAL”.
Just before Roosevelt entered office on March 4, 1933, a bank panic swept the country. Thousands of banks failed, people lost their money. They rushed to the banks to get their money out. It became difficult because everyone wanted to do it and completely no one had time to do it. Banks crashed before people had to get their money. Thousands of unsound banks crashed. Millions of dollars disappeared. People were very dissatisfied. Their dissatisfaction influenced the government policy. Roosevelt made a really wise step. He understood that it was difficult even for sound banks to meet the demands. He decided to close all banks for a special bank holiday. When it was time for them to open, he allowed opening only sound banks. This crisis was very difficult and hard but Roosevelt found the way to overcome the problem. Some banks loaned money from government or bank which had better situation and most of them reopened for business. This action and a series of “fireside chats” gave the people new confidence. The first months of Roosevelt’s administration were very busy. During a period of about one hundred days Congress passed many new laws to provide relief and to promote recovery.
1. Gold ceased to circulate as money, and paper dollars were issued. People could repay debts more easily with the new paper money.
2. The Securities Act of 1933 provided for government supervision of the issuance of new stock. An act passed in 1934 created the Securities and Exchange Commission, which regulates the sale of the stock.
3. A new farm program was created by the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA). The AAA raised prices for farm produce to pre – World War I levels. In return for price supports farmers had to agree to reduce production.
4. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) began constructing dams on the Tennessee River electrical power. The TVA sponsored many programs for improving life in a large area of the South.
5. The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) set up the National Recovery Administration (NRA) to aid industry and labor. The program tried to help get higher prices for industry and higher wages for labor. The American people were encouraged to buy from stores that displayed the Blue Edge, a sign which indicated participation in NRA programs. The Public Works Administration (PWA), created by the same act as the NRA, provided jobs by financing the construction of roads and other public works.
6. The Civilian Conversion Corps (CCC) provided government jobs for unemployed youths. Much of their work was devoted to planting trees, protecting, and building parks.
7. The federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) provided direct aid to the unemployed.
In 1935 the New Deal was concentrated more on reform than on recovery. Roosevelt wanted to deal with the causes of the Great Depression. He wanted American wealth to be distributed more equally. This required the passage of several new laws. The Revenue Act of 1935| provided a national pension system, unemployment insurance, and benefits to the wives and families of deceased workers. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) gave labor unions the opportunity to win better wages.
In July 1935 Congress passed Labor Relations Act. Known as the Wagner Act – after senator Robert E. Wagner, who introduced it – it strengthened the power of the labor unions.
The Wagner Act helped workers by outlawing unfair practices. Employers could no longer refuse no bargain with union representatives or prevent workers from joining unions. The act set up National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) which gave labor unions the opportunity to win better wages.
Probably the hardest battle of the New Deal was fought over the Social Security Act. Many people opposed such a plan because of its costs to businesses.
Roosevelt wanted everyone to be included, however. Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor and the first woman ever appointed to a President’s cabinet knew that many people were against such a sweeping bill. In 1935 she drew up the first Social Security Act. The plan was a form of insurance. Employers and workers would pay taxes to create funds to cover unemployment benefits, old-age pensions, programs for children or insured workers who died. The bill covered only about half the work force. Farm and domestic workers were left out. Despite these limits, however, it gave millions of workers a sense of security.
The New Deal succeeded in putting many people back to work It gave recovery to the farmers and to businesses. But recovery was slow and painful.
3. Government’s efforts to reduce immigration to the USA.
Efforts to limit immigration had begun early in the decade. In 1921 Congress passed an act limiting the number of immigrants from eastern and southern Europe – the Europeans most anxious to come to the United States.
In 1924 and 1929 Congress imposed even more restrictions on immigrants. Thus, the nation’s history of nearly unlimited European immigration came to an end. Meanwhile, most Asian immigration was still banned.
Anti-immigration laws, however, did not apply to people from Americas. Nearly 500.000 people immigrated from Mexico in the 1920s, and 950.000 from Canada. Most Mexicans migrated to the Southwest, where their labors played a vital role in the growth of farmlands, railroads, and mines.
As the anti-immigrant mood gripped the nation, an old organization took on new life. Leaders of the Ku Klux Klan, which had terrorized black southerners during Reconstruction, saw a chance to expand the Klan’s strength beyond its base in South.
In 1920 the Klan hired two sales agents to help achieve its goal. In a public campaign boosting “100 percent pure Americanism,” they directed hatred against anyone who was not white or Protestant. White – hooded Klansmen and their wives now terrorized Catholics, Jews, Asians, and immigrants as well as African Americans.
By 1925 the Klan had as many as 5 million members. They helped elect five United States senators and four state governors – in northern as well as southern states.
However, the Klan’s increasing violence began to weaken its appeal. When a Klan leader was convicted of murder in 1925, membership began to drop. By 1930 the Klan had only 50.000 members.
4. Opposition to the New Deal.
There were some people that were unsatisfied with the politics of the new
government. Some of them thought that government was not doing enough. Senator Huey P. Long of Louisiana proposed a Share Our wealth plan which would redistribute the country’s wealth. Dr. Francis Townsend of California wanted the government to give everyone over sixty years of age a pension of two hundred dollars per month. Both men had many supporters. Such demands had a great deal of influence of the establishment of the Social Security system.
Criticism of the New Deal also came from those who felt that government was doing too much. The United States Supreme Court decided that some of the new laws, including the AAA and the NIRA, were unconstitutional. Roosevelt thought otherwise. He tried to increase the number of justices on the Supreme Court. He asked Congress to pass a law allowing him to do this. He hoped to appoint enough new justices to the Court to swing its decisions in favor of the New Deal. Roosevelt’s plan failed. But because of vacancies which Roosevelt filled, and changing opinions among the justices, the Court soon came to accept the new programs.
There were many objections to the New Deal. Many business operators resented government interference. Some of them disliked Roosevelt so much that they would not speak his name, referring him profanely as “that man” in the White House. The huge emergency programs which made work for people to do were criticized for being wasteful. The Works Progress Administration (WPA), which spent $11 billion in some four years giving people work, was called by its critics the “we piddle around” agency.
5. The role of the New Deal in coping with the Depression.
As a whole, the New Deal was only partly successful. By 1938, problems still remained high. Unemployment remained high. As the number of jobs declined, women, blacks, and other minorities were most often the last hired and the and the first fired. They found themselves excluded from jobs by employers, unions, and even by government policies. Only the increased demand for goods and workers caused by the World War II brought full recovery. But the New Deal did accomplish something. It held the American people together. Dictators arose in many countries. However, the United States dealt with the depression without giving up its ideals of government. The New Deal did, however, bring a new era if not a revolution in American life. Since the 1930s government has had the responsibility of providing a sound, healthy economy. The government is called upon to reduce unemployment compensation to those who cannot find work, give aid to the elderly, support the price of farm produce, help individuals obtain better housing, and promote quality education. The role of the government changed under the New Deal from noninvolvement to total involvement. The New Deal pointed the nation in the direction it is following today.
Conclusions
While investigating this theme, I have come to the following conclusions:
1. Life had greatly changed in America after the Civil War of 1861- 1865. By the
end of the XIX-th century, the American economy was blooming and prosperity was spreading. The centre of social life moved from farms to cities. Big factories were constructed, big business rose. America was becoming a more powerful industrial power. The reform movement was taking place in all spheres of the USA, and the people who were involved in these reforms were called the Progressives. Progressivism was founded upon the belief that all social problems could be solved through science and enlightened government actions. The role of the government changed: it became more interested in the life of each individual, and working people began to get support from their government. The political system, foreign, social and immigration policies changed in the country.
