The New deal in history

1. The New Deal in Conclusion The New deal in history

2. Great legacies? TVA

3. Social Security

4. Role of Roosevelt • Had little to do with the programs details. • “Skimpy” knowledge of economics • “Roosevelt’s first class temperament is compensated by his second class intellect” • Pioneer of communicating with people • Great president despite his awful administrative shortcomings (giving jobs to multiple depts etc…)

5. FDR • “Roosevelt was not really very much at home with ideas, but he forbade inaction when there was something to be done” • Rex Tugwell Brains Trust

6. Failure? • Given the context of the overall goal end the depression…it failed. • There are differing interpretations on this (see text) • Roosevelt Recession of 1937 (next slide) • Mixed strategy, balance budget—deficit spending. Sometimes acted against one another.

7. Beginning in the fall of 1937, industrial production fell by 33 percent • national income dropped by 12 percent • industrial stock prices plummeted by 50 percent • Nearly 4 million people lost their jobs, and the total number of unemployed increased to 11.5 million • The “Roosevelt recession” occurred largely because the President, along with some of his advisers were determined to balance the federal budget and had, as a result, reduced government spending. • In 1936, the government contributed $4.1 billion to consumer purchasing power, versus less than $1 billion in 1937.

8. ? • Even a member of FDR’s administration, the committed New Dealer Alvin Hansen, admitted in 1940 that “I really do not know what the basic principle of the New Deal is.”

9. Packing the Courts • Adds to the failure…damages Roosevelt’s legacy.

10. Recovery attempts? 1938 • FDR asked Congress for a $5 billion relief program, which passed in the spring and summer of 1938. • Despite this infusion of federal money into the economy, the nation still suffered from under-consumption and lay mired in depression. • In 1939, over 19 percent of the nation’s work force remained unemployed. Stock prices had yet to recover from the crash of the late 1920s.

11. Conclusions • Liberals? Federal Government should accept responsibility for the national welfare. • Conservatives? Likely strongly disagree as this creates soaring spending and infringes on individual rights • Regardless—almost all are struck by its boldness of action.