Vishal Patel
Mrs. Scully
A.P. U.S. History
31 March 2011
DBQ: Responses of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Administration to the Problems of the Great
Depression
On October 29, 1929 an economic catastrophe occurred: the American stock market
crashed. This stock market crash was the most enormous and devastating stock market crash of
the twentieth century. This economic disaster foreshadowed the emergence of the Great
Depression which lasted twelve years. The Great Depression was an economic depression that
first originated in the United States but quickly spread to almost every country. During the Great
Depression more than a quarter of the people in the United States were unemployed, personal
incomes and tax revenues dropped, and international trade plunged. Once Franklin Roosevelt
was reelected to be the president of the United States, he was faced with the hardest challenge of
his life: saving the United States from the Great Depression. Roosevelt created the New Deals in
order to revitalize and invigorate the economy but however it was not totally effective. His plan
was to relief, recover, and reform the economy through a series of acts and the creation of new
programs.
Franklin Roosevelt wanted to take immediate action in order to stop the United States’
economy from getting any worse than it already is. Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the
Emergency Bank Act, Federal Emergency Relief Act, and the Bank Holiday in order to stop the
economy from deteriorating. He also created the Civil Works Administration and the Civilian
Conservation Corps in order to create jobs for men mostly. The Civil Works Administration
created temporary jobs for men to repair roads and bridges. The Civil Conservation Corps
created temporary jobs to unmarried single adults to fill sand bags and to help any disaster type
situation. “Yet there must be as many women out of jobs in cities and suffering extreme poverty
as there are me (Doc A).” This quote from Document A shows that most of the new acts that
created new job opportunities were passed mostly for men and women were still unemployed.
Even though people were given job opportunities, they were only temporary government jobs
which did not cause growth in the economy.
In Franklin D. Roosevelt’s recovery phase of his three part plan, he set up temporary
programs to restart the flow of consumer goods. Roosevelt passed the Agricultural Adjustment
Act, National Industry Recovery Act, Work Progress Administration, Tennessee Valley
Authority, and the Home Owners Loan Corporation. The Agricultural Adjustment Act taxed
food processors and gave the money directly to farmers as a payment for not growing food.
Farmers during the Great Depression were suffering from low commodity prices. Franklin D.
Roosevelt tried to raise the depressed commodity prices by paying farmers to reduce the size of
their crops and herd. The nonfarmers were affected more than the farmers during the Great
Depression. Around 1933 almost forty percent of Americans were unemployed (Doc J). The
national debt increased because the government spent tons of federal money for human relief and
public-work projects (Doc D). Franklin D. Roosevelt and his administration thought that by
passing these programs they would start making people spend money but instead it just increased
the national debt.
In Franklin D. Roosevelt’s reform phase of his three part plan, he created permanent
programs to avoid another severe depression and to insure citizens against any type of economic
disaster. The Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation,
Social Security Administration, National Labor Relations Act, National Labor Relation Board,
and Soil Conservation Act were created in order to keep the United States from having another
depression. The National Labor Relation Board enforced labor law and made sure that that fair
business practices where upheld. Lots of businesses during the Great Depression were promoting
labor troubles by not giving proper benefits to the employees (Doc B). John Lewis believed that
it was the employers fault for the creation of labor unions because the employers would not give
the employees proper benefits, working conditions, working hours, and working wages (Doc G).
This part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s three part plan was the most successful because he was able
to create a few programs that were able to run for a long period of time. For example the Social
Security Act is still running till this day. The Social Security Act gave older citizens that met the
requirements a certain amount of cash every month in order to be able to survive. This act helped
the economy because these older citizens would have enough money to spend it on some
material items.
The New Deals changed the role of the federal government drastically. Not only did the
New Deals expand the government but it also enlarged its power over the citizens. Before the
New Deals were passed, the federal government was not involved that much in business or the
banks. However, after the Great Depression occurred and after the New Deals were passed the
federal government was actively involved with the businesses and banks so that another
depression would not occur (Doc C). The federal government now was extended into new social
and economical affairs that have had everlasting impressions on the people of the United States.
The federal government now was more involved with the lives of people and they created
political alliances made up of labor unions with people from every type of race. One of the major
things that changed in the role of the federal government was the attitude of the federal
government. After and during the Great Depression, the federal government felt as though it was
their right and job to help the needy people of the United States out. The government passed lots
of programs to help the unemployed people of the United States out because they felt as though
it was their obligation to help them out.
Franklin D. Roosevelt passed the New Deals in order to try to get the United States out
of the Great Depression. Even though the New Deals were not totally effective, they got the job
done in a short amount of time that they had. Not all of the programs succeeded because some of
them increased the national debt of the United States. Some of these programs would have ran
more efficiently for a longer period of time if World War II had not erupted. The role of the
federal government changed because they became more actively involved in their community
and the economy. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s plan to get the United States out of the Great
Depression was to relieve, recover, and reform the economy and lives of the United States.