Was the New Deal a Failure? (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE History): Revision Note

Summary

For some people, the New Deal was a huge success. They believe that it rescued America from the catastrophe of the Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression, created a welfare state and restored the American people’s faith in both the banking system and their government.

Others believe that the New Deal failed to find work for millions of unemployed people and expanded the role of the government so that it interfered in the lives of the American people and the economy. This interference, they believed, undermined individual freedoms and prevented businesses from making money.

The success, or failure, of the New Deal is a debate that continues to divide historians.

Success of the New Deal

• Some aspects of the New Deal are widely accepted as being a success

Which groups benefitted from the New Deal?

• The New Deal had benefits for specific groups within US society, including:

  • The unemployed and the poor

  • Male workers

  • Women

  • Farmers

  • Black Americans

The unemployed and the poor

• The US government gave millions of dollars to support those facing poverty, homelessness and hunger

• The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) created work and improved the standard of living in poorer parts of the US

• After 1935, many vulnerable people in society benefitted from the Social Security Act

Male workers

• The Alphabet agencies created millions of new jobs for workers

• The National Recovery Administration (NRA) improved workers’ pay and hours

• The National Labor Relations Act encouraged trade unions

  • It attempted to stop employers from treating their workers unfairly

Women

• The Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the Second New Deal employed women 

• Roosevelt appointed Frances Perkins as the Secretary of Labor

  • She was the first woman in history to have a cabinet job in the US government

Farmers

• Large-scale farmers received support 

• The Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) reduced the number of farmers losing their land and improved profits

• The TVA improved productivity in the Tennessee Valley, which helped the area recover from the Dust Bowl

Black Americans

• The New Deal gave jobs to Black Americans

• After 1935, Black Americans received relief cheques from the government

• Before the Depression, many Black Americans supported the Republican Party

  • It was the political party of Abraham Lincoln that abolished slavery

• After the New Deal, more Black Americans supported the Democrats

Failures of the New Deal

How were people failed by the New Deal?

The unemployed and the poor

• By 1939, 9.5m US citizens remained unemployed

• Some people became reliant on government support

Male workers

• The New Deal benefitted skilled workers more than unskilled workers

  • People became annoyed at boondoggle jobs

• Some employers did not respect the New Deal and blocked workers from joining trade unions

Women

• Agencies such as the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) only helped young men

• The WPA mainly gave women unskilled jobs

• The NRA purposefully set wages lower for women than for men

Farmers

• Smaller farmers did not receive much benefit from the New Deal

• The AAA encouraged farmers to produce less:

  • This forced many sharecroppers to leave farming and head for industrial cities to find work

• Despite the TVA bringing electricity, farmers continued to have a low standard of living

Black Americans

• Many Black Americans continued to work in low-paying jobs

• The NRA paid Black workers less than white workers

• The CCC had segregated camps for Black workers

• Support for an anti-lynching bill increased when 63 Black people were lynched in the South:

  • Roosevelt refused to pass this bill

  • He needed the support of southern Democrats who supported White supremacy

• A third of all Black Americans became reliant on the government’s relief payments