Throughout the 1920s, the United States expanded rapidly and the nation’s economy saw a massive increase. The stock market underwent a rapid expansion, reaching its peak in August of 1929. By 1929 overproduction and unemployment had risen which made stock prices higher than usual, this led to the crash of the stock market and the increased progression into the Great Depression.The Great Depression was the worst economic crisis in modern time, starting from the late 1929 to 1939 it was the longest and most severe depression ever experienced by industrialized United States. Because of this, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration created the New Deal. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal" aimed at promoting economic recovery and putting …show more content…
Beginning in 1933 Roosevelt took on a series of radio addresses coined “Fireside Chats''. Fireside chats have become a source of hope and security for all Americans. The chats were influential in developing the American worldview from one of despair to one of hope during a time of multiple crises. Document 1 conveys Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Fireside Chat on the Banking Crisis, 1933. This law also gave authority to develop a program of rehabilitation of our banking facilities. I want to tell our citizens in every part of the Nation that the national Congress -- Republicans and Democrats alike -- showed by this action a devotion to public welfare and a realization of the emergency and the necessity for speed that it is difficult to match in our history.” (Document 1). This document highlights the challenging role of Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration in responding to the issues of the Great Depression and how it changed the role of the federal government. Firesidechats reinforced the importance of broadcasting media and how communication with the American public increased the support of The New Deal. The legislation mentioned in the document confirmed Roosevelt’s expanded power to address the banking crisis during the Great Depression. The U.S. government took quick …show more content…
Critics perceived Roosevelt’s New Deal as the pathway to socialism, which leads to communism, which America was greatly against. According to “Letter to Senator Robert Wagner, March 7, 1934.” it states, “it seems very apparent to me that the Administration at Washington is accelerating it’s [sic] pace towards socialism and communism.Everyone is sympathetic to the cause of creating more jobs and better wages for labor; but, a program continually promoting labor troubles, higher wages, shorter hours, and less profits for business, would seem to me to be leading us fast to a condition where the Government must more and more expand it’s relief activities, and will lead in the end to disaster for all” The author of this document is opposed to the policies of FDR during the Great Depression because they believe FDR’s administration is pushing the country towards Communism and Socialist ideas. The author views The New Deal as a threat to democracy and a dangerous expansion of power. In document 2 the author states “seems to me to be leading us fast to a condition where the Government must expand it’s relief activities, and will lead in the end to disaster for all”. This evidence conveys a fear felt by the author that the government's intervention in the economy would lead to an increase of its relief activities and this would result in disaster for everyone. In