New Deal Dbq

The "Great Depression" was a severe, world-wide economic disintegration symbolized by the great stock market crash, especially in the United States. By the time FDR became president on March 4, 1933, the banking system had collapsed, nearly 25% of the labor force was unemployed, and prices had fallen dramatically. Reduced output in production resulted in lower incomes in wages, rents, and profits throughout the economy. With the country sinking deeper into Depression, the American public looked for active assistance from the government and grew increasingly dissatisfied with the lack of federal intervention, per the request of President Hoover during his time in office. During his speech, accepting the Democratic Party nomination in 1932, Franklin

and Mrs. Roosevelt, said, “My father hasn’t worked for 5 months. He went plenty of times to relief, he filed out an application. They won’t give us anything. I don’t know why” (Letter 210). Many who were hard-pressed for work went without food and medical care for long extended periods of time. Herbert Hoover, the previous president, had stubbornly refused to help the unemployed and homeless, since he assumed that individual self-reliance and charitable organizations would be sufficient. The Roosevelt administration, however, knew that the numbers of people in need far exceeded the capacity for charity to cover it. To compensate, Roosevelt’s team provided over 4 million federal jobs through new worker programs such as “The Federal Emergency Relief Administration” and “the Civil Works Administration (CWA)” and organized a variety of similarly useful projects. However, by 1934, after the program’s budget became too costly, Roosevelt ordered the CWA’s dissolvement and 4 million workers, whose jobs were cut, were left unemployed once again. Shi 1148-1150. Later programs, like the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) would continue to provide relief after the CWA and the initial plan to unemployment issues would

J.T. spoke, saying that “we were hit very hard by the drought and every penny we can save goes for feed to put in crops” (Letters 209). Crops withered, income plummeted, and millions of prairie land lost soil. After the New Deal had been put into effect, farmers would finally find reprieve through the Agricultural Adjustment Act and would begin the process to heal from their economic injuries (Shi 1152). Although these acts and programs helped relieve many, they still didn’t come without their issues. At the time, Minnie A. Hardin, a hard-working woman, was somewhat of a critic of the New Deal. She expressed her views in a letter to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, saying “You people who have plenty of this world’s goods and whose money comes easy, have no idea of the heart-breaking toil and self-denial which is the lot of the working people who are trying to make an honest living” (Letters 211). Hardin developed a certain bitterness towards those who lived on government relief. Following the Agricultural Act, many from the working class and homeless would struggle to eat properly thanks to the scarcity of food. After production had dropped, families had to ration out their food to keep themselves from