CHAPTER 26
The New Deal
CHAPTER SUMMARY
In 1933, the Great Depression was, as it turned out, at its worst point. Equally troubling, the
American people’s confidence in the nation’s public institutions, business leaders, and even in
themselves had plummeted with the collapsing economy. As he began his presidency, Franklin
Roosevelt faced the challenge of taking corrective actions that would give an immediate bounce to
both the economy and the national spirit. He understood the urgency of the times demanded bold
actions that would reassure laborers and capitalists, liberals and conservatives alike. As he told
people not to be fearful, he closed all banks. He called for a balanced budget and reductions in
government salaries while he began to experiment with a variety of untried and costly federal
programs. He used his gift of speech and the radio to communicate both confidence and
compassion to the American people.
During the first two years of his presidency, that sense of compassion was translated into a
new state of affairs between the federal government and the economy. This change was forged in
the short-term provision of temporary work relief for the unemployed and their families and the
long-term recovery and reform of America’s industry and financial institutions. Not all of the
scores of New Deal programs that were implemented worked or were even considered
constitutional by the Supreme Court, and the grip of the Depression proved tenacious. As a
consequence, Roosevelt faced mounting demands to pursue more aggressive reform. The result
was a Second New Deal, launched in 1935. The programs in this version of reform were less
conciliatory to big business and more favorable to the needs of labor than had been the case in
1933. Included in this package were the National Labor Relations Act and the Social Security Act.
The potent combination of this legislation and the charm of Roosevelt swept the president to a
historic reelection in 1936. What emerged was a political coalition of liberals, white southerners,
northern blacks and ethnics, and large numbers of farmers and laborers in the Midwest and the East
that would dominate the Democratic Party for decades to come.
But in 1937, Roosevelt made critical mistakes. He blundered in a misguided proposal to
expand the Supreme Court. That same year his decision to slash federal relief spending
contributed to a severe recession within the Depression. A year later he erred again when he
tried—and failed—to purge conservative Democrats in primary elections. These failures,
combined with mounting conservative opposition in the country at large, led to the end of new
New Deal programs. Still, the impact of the New Deal was enormous. Roosevelt had held the
country together as he propped up capitalism and democratic government. As for the Great
Depression, the New Deal proved to be a holding action until America’s entry into World War II
wiped away all limits on spending and joblessness. But in its legacy, Roosevelt’s New Deal
established a new relationship in which the federal government assumed the responsibility to
provide basic economic protections for its people. The people, in turn, accepted this new
relationship and would demand that it be nurtured and developed in the decades to come.
OBJECTIVES
A thorough study of Chapter 26 should enable the student to understand:
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1. The series of emergency measures that were enacted during the first 100 days of the New
Deal in order to restore confidence in the economy
2. The New Deal programs for raising farm prices and promoting industrial recovery
3. The first federal efforts at regional planning
4. New Deal programs for reforming the banking system and the stock market
5. The evolution of the federal relief programs
6. The differences between the First and Second New Deals
7. The reasons for the enactment of the Social Security Act and the immediate impact of the
legislation
8. The political pressures from both the Left and the Right on President Roosevelt and his
reaction to those pressures
9. The changes in labor legislation and in organized labor during the New Deal
10. The Roosevelt rationale for the Court-packing scheme and the political fallout from it
11. The reasons for the “Roosevelt recession” and his response to that recession
12. The impact of the New Deal on minorities and women
13. The lasting political and economic significance of the New Deal
MAIN THEMES
1. How Franklin Roosevelt pushed through programs of economic recovery and Depression
relief, despite his essentially traditional economic views
2. The nature of popular protests against early New Deal reforms and the nature of Roosevelt’s
Second New Deal programs made in response to the complaints
3. The significance of Roosevelt’s massive reelection in 1936, the political errors he made after
this victory, the persistence of the Great Depression, and the effects of all of this on the later
New Deal
4. That the New Deal created a new role for the federal government in its relationship between
labor, business, and the general public
POINTS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Why was Franklin Roosevelt better able than Herbert Hoover to win the public’s confidence?
What made Roosevelt’s personality an important part of his presidency? Analyze the
strengths and weaknesses of Roosevelt as a politician. How would you define a successful
president? Does Roosevelt fit your definition? Why or why not?
2. Why did President Roosevelt portray himself as a pragmatist, rather than an ideologue? Was
he in fact a pragmatist? Which of his First New Deal programs worked? Which did not and
why?
3. Which of Roosevelt’s early New Deal programs are indicative of his willingness to
experiment? Which reveal his attachment to conventional ideas?
4. What forces caused Roosevelt to launch his Second New Deal in 1935? Did this represent a
significant departure from earlier New Deal programs or was it a logical continuation of those
programs? What was different about these programs and early New Deal programs?
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5. As the New Deal attempted to save the capitalist economic system, why did businessmen
become some of the harshest critics of the New Deal? Why were conservatives so opposed to
Roosevelt personally?
6. Compare the impact of the New Deal on blacks, Hispanics, and Indians with its impact on the
typical white American, whether working class or middle class. Was the New Deal
progressive or conservative when it came to each of these groups?
7. Why did the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) come into being? What impact did it have
on the private utilities industry? What were the benefits of the TVA? What were its
limitations? Why do you suppose the New Deal did not produce more such programs?
8. Why did the New Deal fail to end the Great Depression? Could it have ended it and, if so,
how? Where did the New Deal succeed?
9. What specific programs and ideas have provided the most lasting legacy of the New Deal?
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Mimi Abramowitz, Regulating the Lives of Women (1988)
Anthony J. Badger, The New Deal: The Depression Years, 1933-1940 (1989)
Irving Berstein, The Turbulent Years (1970)
Alan Brinkley, Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and the Great Depression (1982)
_____, The End of Reform: New Deal Liberalism in Recession and War (1995)
Blanche D. Coll, Safety Net: Welfare and Social Security, 1929-1979 (1995)
Blanche Wiesen Cook, Eleanor Roosevelt, 1884-1933 (1992)
_____, Eleanor Roosevelt, Vol. 2: The Defining Years, 1933-1938 (1999)
Kenneth Davis, FDR: The New Deal Years, 1933-1937 (1986)
Frank Freidel, Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Rendezvous with Destiny (1990)
David Hamilton, From New Day to New Deal: American Farm Policy from Hoover to Roosevelt, 19281933 (1991)
Laurence C. Kelly, The Assault on Assimilation: John Collier and the Origins of Indian Policy
Reform (1983)
David Kennedy, Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945
(1999)
William E. Leuchtenburg, Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal (1963)
_____, The FDR Years: On Roosevelt and His Legacy (1995)
Richard Lowitt, The New Deal and the West (1984)
Thomas K. McCraw, TVA and the Power Fight (1970)
Harvard Sitkoff, A New Deal for Blacks (1978)
Geoffrey Ward, A First-Class Temperament: The Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt (1989)
G. Edward White, The Constitution and the New Deal (2000)
Robert H. Zieger, American Workers, American Unions, 1920-1985 (1986)
For Internet resources, practice questions, references to additional books and films, and more, see
this book’s Online Learning Center at www.mhhe.com/unfinishednation5.
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