The New Deal Dbq Analysis

The Great Depression was a time period in the United States from the late 1920s to early 1940s, marked by severe unemployment rates nationwide. It had many origins, most notably of which was the Stock Market Crash of October 29th, 1929, also known as “Black Tuesday.” The administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed the crippling unemployment and poverty rates of the Depression by establishing federal work programs to provide much-needed jobs to millions of Americans. Overall, however, this response was only marginally effective, because there was still rampant unemployment and discrimination throughout the duration of these programs. Through the establishment of these programs, the role of the federal government changed from a capitalist

The New Deal was his primary response to the outbreak of the Great Depression. It included an outpouring of new federally-funded work relief programs, commonly referred to by historians as “Alphabet Soup” for their three-letter abbreviations. As illustrated in Document A, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was one of these programs. The TVA hired workers to provide cheap electricity to surrounding areas of Tennessee, as well as to flood-proof the waters of the Tennessee Valley. This community-oriented program aided residents of the Tennessee River Valley area in gaining access to electricity, which was life-changing in terms of food storage, washing clothes, cooking, and more.. However, this program was not as successful as the Works Progress Administration, which had hired 8.5 million people by the time it was disbanded. As such, its effect on granting workers jobs was limited. Additionally, though the TVA gave many people electricity for the first time, it did cause flooding in the Alabama towns of Waterloo and Riverton—causing forceful relocation for many citizens. However, the intention of the government to provide citizens with electricity, dams and overall economic growth in the Tennessee River Valley Area showed how socialist the government’s role became during the New Deal: Instead of the business-oriented, loan-providing Reconstruction Finance Corporation that Herbert Hoover backed,

The CCC hired approximately 3 million young men and paid for their food, shelter, clothing, and salary to work on environmental causes. Participants of the program planted a combined number of more than 3 billion trees for the purposes of reforestation, and helped improve national parks. The CCC was considered one of the greatest successes of the New Deal by historians, as it hired so many young men, including African Americans. However, it did not hire women, who were also looking for work at the time. Furthermore, segregation was on full display within many CCC camps, which led to African Americans being unable to attain positions of authority, or even hired in the first place, as recounted by Georgia selections director John de la Perriere. Therefore, racial discrimination within the CCC caused it to be less successful than it could have been, as more workers could have been hired without the racist practices that occurred in the program. The intention of the government with the CCC, though, was to improve the environmental landscape, which is something that everyone could benefit from: something Herbert Hoover only addressed with the Taylor Grazing Act, which was not meant to mainly benefit humans. As such, the government’s role became much more socialist during the New Deal than it had been in the past, as it