New Deal Responses

New Deal Responses

Responding to Classmate 1

Hello,

Thank you for sharing your post. The New Deal was supposed to reverse the effects of the Great Depression and hopefully benefit all persons, including Blacks and other minorities. Roosevelt succeeded to some extent in restoring the nation to a better self by implementing different Acts, including the two you mentioned: the Social Security Act and the Work Progress Administration. Americans were able to participate in the building of a new and better nation through government jobs. Also, like you have pointed out, Eleanor Roosevelt played a significant role in ensuring that the civil society’s voice was heard even as discrimination was rife despite the changes. So while the New Deal did not fully accomplish the purpose it was set to, it propelled the nation to greater heights (Library of Congress, n.d).

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References

Library of Congress (n.d) The New Deal was a Failure. http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/timeline/depwwii/newdeal/failure.html

Responding to Classmate 2

Hello,

Thank you for sharing your post. I agree that the New Deal went a long way in bringing the nation to where we are today. Unfortunately, some argue that the New Deal protected the Trust more than it did the people of America. Today the rich are richer while the poor are poorer. Over the last two centuries, the trusts have controlled all industries while working to obliterate small businesses. The NRA, for example, failed to encourage private investment or expansion. The trusts owned and still own nearly all the money in the US. Racism is still rife, with minorities working less-paying jobs.

Additionally, Social Security planned to plow a large amount of money into pensions and was slated to make payments in 1942. However, it had already started taking money from circulation through withholding tax. Some parts of the New Deal worked, while others failed (Daniel, 2016).

Other Related Post: Accounting Processes

References

Daniel, P (2016). Why did the New Deal Fail? https://medium.com/jvnto/why-did-the-new-deal-fail-66f020c7470f

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The New Deal 

Follow-Up Post Instructions

Compare your selections and analysis of selections with those of your peers. If they chose different events, examine how yours are similar and different. If they chose the same events, build on their posts by providing additional information about the events that you have not already noted in your post.

Classmate 1’s Post

Hello everyone,

The Great Depression began under President Hoover in 1929 with the stock market crash, sinking many Americans into poverty, unable to pay for their homes or other necessities such as food and clothing (Corbett et al., 2014). As highlighted in the Transforming America video, Roosevelt’s New Deal created a much-needed alliance between the Democratic Americans of the South and many immigrant Americans to increase their political involvement, coming together for a common purpose of emerging from the Depression (Dyer, 2005). He felt that the federal government had the responsibility and ability to end the Depression, and therefore passed reform and regulation laws, worker protection programs, Social Security Act, and relief programs, among others, and set the criterion of the role of the federal government to remain involved in the economic and social well-being of the country in the future (Library of Congress, n.d.).

Roosevelt’s New Deal was intended to address the negative impact of the Great Depression on American Society, part of it being the Work Projects Administration, or Work Progress Administration, which organized work projects for people of all skill levels, from no skills to highly skilled, to help set people up with gainful employment following the Great Depression (Library of Congress, 2010). Much of this work included the construction of public buildings, roads, bridges, etc. This contributed a lot to our essential infrastructure while it provided paid work to people who desperately needed it, helping to pull Americans out of poverty.

The Social Security Act, created by President Roosevelt in the second New Deal, provided a social safety net, which is still in use today, to protect the most susceptible people in the country’s population, including older people, people with disabilities, those out of a job, and children (Corbett et al., 2014). Interestingly, though, Frances Perkins, who was Roosevelt’s secretary of labour, was the one who advocated fiercely for social security because of the country’s fragile financial situation. So she hosted the committee inside her own home, keeping them there until the legislative proposal was completed so that it could be presented to Roosevelt to keep him from folding under pressure from conservatives who did not favour New Deal Programs (Pusey, 2017).

Minorities suffered disproportionately during the Depression. Initially, minorities were not well represented by the New Deal, but it, fortunately, evolved to include provisions for them (Braik, 2018). Women’s status in society was promoted when Roosevelt nominated them for public offices, thereby allowing women to participate in social reforms included in the New Deal, and they gained access to social and work programs. However, women still endured poor work conditions and lower pay (Braik, 2018). African-Americans, at first, did not see much positive effect because they also were left out of consideration. Still, in 1934, Eleanor Roosevelt lobbied for the NAACP and civil rights groups to see more inclusion of New Deal Programs that would help African-Americans, leading to more jobs, relief efforts, and even cabinet appointments of black members by the President (Braik, 2018). Unfortunately, racism and violence by white supremacy groups continued despite black progress.

This week’s lesson states that although Roosevelt’s New Deal helped to lessen the financial despair of many Americans at the time by providing work and social programs, it ultimately did not end the Depression (Chamberlain University, n.d.). It did bring on significant social and financial improvements that would save the country from total ruin.

References

Braik, F. (2018). New deal for minorities during the great depression. Journal of Political Science and International Relations, 1(1), 20-24. Retrieved from http://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jpsir.20180101.13.pdf

Chamberlain University. (n.d.). Week 6 Lesson: From the Great Depression to World War II. Retrieved from https://chamberlain.instructure.com/courses/66507/pages/week-6-lesson-from-the-great-depression-to-world-war-ii?module_item_id=8714590

Corbett, P. S., Volker, J., Lund, J. M., Phannestiel, T., Waskiewicz, S., & Vickery, P. (2014). U.S. history. Houston, TX: OpenStax. Retrieved from https://openstax.org/books/us-history/pages/1-introduction

Dyer, J. (Director), & Dyer, J. (Producer). (2005). A new deal: Part 5 [Video]. Dallas County Community College District. Academic Video Online.

Library of Congress. (2010, July 30). New Deal programs: Selected Library of Congress resources: Introduction. https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/newdeal/intro.html

Library of Congress. (n.d.). President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1933-1945. http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/timeline/depwwii/newdeal/

Pusey, A. (2017). Aug. 14, 1935: The woman behind America’s social safety net. ABA Journal, 1. Retrieved from https://chamberlainuniversity.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=124413936&site=eds-live&scope=site

Classmate 2’s Post

Professor and Class,

Works Progress Administration (WPA) – The WPA program assisted people with obtaining work by giving them assignments (Library of Congress, 2015). In an interview with Eugenia Martin, an African American during the New Deal era, she discusses her experience with the WPA. Martin talks about her lack of employment opportunities as an African American during this time. She got a job with the WPA and gained some great experience working three different jobs with the WPA (Library of Congress, n.d.). She could pay for her house and stay afloat because of the WPA (Library of Congress, n.d.). The WPA also supported the arts and was an umbrella program for the following programs – art, music, theatre, and writing (Library of Congress, 2015). These programs provided even more jobs to artists.

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) – The FLSA was another critical piece of the new deal. This act created basic standards for work. Employees often had to deal with abusive work conditions such as long hours, low wages, unsafe work environments, and child labour (The Living New Deal, n.d.). The FLSA helped improve work conditions. It required a minimum wage; back then, it started at 25 cents (The Living New Deal, n.d.). It established a work week of 44 hours (The Living New Deal, n.d.). It required extra overtime pay (The Living New Deal, n.d.). Lastly, it prohibited child labour (The Living New Deal, n.d.). Within the act, a division called the wage and hour division was created. This division was responsible for enforcing the policies within the act and investigating should an employer violate the act (The Living New Deal, n.d.). Should an employer violate the act, they would be responsible for paying back the wages, or they could be fined and must agree to follow the act’s policies in the future (The Living New Deal, n.d.).

The New Deal helped start to put an end to the Great Depression and restore the economy in many ways. It focused on the “three R’s” relief (for the unemployed), recovery (of the economy), and reform (of capitalism) (Khan Academy, 2020). All of the acts and programs Roosevelt created were aimed at helping these “three R” categories. The WPA helped people find jobs. The FLSA helped workers have better work conditions. The Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA) provided federal grants to states that needed critical help for employees’ salaries, soup kitchens and other direct aid to the poor programs (Khan Academy, 2020). The National Recovery Act (NRA) allowed employees to form unions and set fair prices and wages (Khan Academy, 2020). The Social Security Act made it so employees had to contribute to the social security trust fund through payroll (Khan Academy, 2020). Once retired (over 65), these employees could receive monthly payments from this fund. Long-term disabled could also receive payments (Khan Academy, 2020). I think Roosevelt was mainly successful with the New Deal, starting the end of the great depression and improving the economy. The great depression was not entirely resolved after Roosevelt’s new deal, but it did help, and many acts are still in use today. It wouldn’t be until the tremendous military expenses of World War II we would finally fully recover from the great depression (Khan Academy, 2020).

References

Library of Congress. (n.d.) Great Depression and World War II, 1929-1945. Library of Congress. Retrieved from https://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/timeline/depwwii/newdeal/martin.html (Links to an external site.)

Library of Congress. (2015) New Deal Programs: Selected Library of Congress Resources. Library of Congress. Retrieved from https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/newdeal/ (Links to an external site.)

The Living New Deal. (n.d.) Fair Labor Standards Act (1938). The Living New Deal. Retrieved from https://livingnewdeal.org/glossary/fair-labor-standards-act-1938/ (Links to an external site.)

Khan Academy. (2020). The New Deal. Khan Academy. Retrieved from https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/rise-to-world-power/great-depression/a/the-new-deal (Links to an external site.)