Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Economic And Social Reform

Although the Great Depression had torn apart the prosperity of the United States, hope soon enough resurfaced in the form of presidential candidate Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s promises of a “new deal”. However, Roosevelt’s attempts at economic and social reform met mixed results - although his efforts to mend the extreme personal debt of farms and banks (as well as the general population) did succeed (at least in part), his attempts to remedy the unemployment crisis and the growing national debt were failures, and in the case of national debt, he may have even made the problem worse. The origin of these failures is likely the methods Roosevelt used themselves - one effort to fix the economy surrounding farmers was even deemed unconstitutional,

According to one concerned citizen, the government’s spending added six billion to the United States’ national debt. In his attempts to address other issues, Roosevelt spent more money on things like public works programs, which did help the people tremendously, but forced the government to give up money without getting any in return (as building projects and the like cannot be exchanged the same way money can). However, regardless the growth of national debt, it’s necessary to acknowledge that by doing the things he did that worsened the problem, Roosevelt showed some previously non-existent governmental power - foreshadowing the massive expansion of that power throughout the entirety of his rule as

His efforts in this aspect made the government a more responsive tool of democracy - the government was truly listening to and aiding the people with their financial struggles (Doc F), such as social security being put in place to guarantee retirees would have enough money to live by, even if they didn’t save any money themselves. However, that isn’t to say Roosevelt’s actions here weren’t without flaws - for one example, when he attempted to pass the Agricultural Adjustment Act (which would push farmers to sell their crops at lower costs, and have the government pay them what would’ve been lost in doing so), the majority of the judges asked to pass it replied that “The authority of the federal government may not be pushed to such an extreme” (Doc D). Despite some of the acts/programs’ potential issues, it can confidently be said that Roosevelt did help the general public out of their personal