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New Deal DBQ

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Americans during the Hoover administration of 1929 to 1933 faced severe hunger, unemployment, and an extremely bleak outlook for the future following the Great Crash of October 1929. Nearly all industries were failing, and the unemployment rate had skyrocketed from 4.2% in 1928 to 23.6% in 1932. However, also in 1932, the sentiments of the American people began to change following Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s landslide victory in the presidential election, and the First 100 Days of the Roosevelt administration, during which FDR’s New Deal policies were implemented in an attempt to address the reform, recovery, and relief the country so desperately needed. These policies changed the role of the government from Hoover’s passive “rugged individualism” …show more content…
Roosevelt was the passing of the Wagner Act, which established the National Labor Relations Board. Praise for this such as the statement made by John L. Lewis seen in Document G celebrates FDR’s response to the “widespread labor unrest” facing most of the country at the time, such as changing the role of government entirely to imply that the government’s duty extended beyond providing economic security for citizens, but inserting itself into social justice. While critics of the New Deal such as the American Liberty League claim that this was overstepping the bounds of traditional American government, it caused many Americans to feel more secure in their jobs and allowed for regulations to ensure fair pay and hours for …show more content…
A sharp contrast to the policies of Herbert Hoover, which involved forcing those in less privileged situations to fend for themselves rather than rely on government intervention and handouts, this “rugged individualism” as it was known mirrored the ideals of the Robber Barons of the late nineteenth century, such as Andrew Carnegie, who stressed the importance of self-reliance and hard work. In Document D, William Lloyd Garrison, Jr. criticizes FDR’s use of Keynesian Economics, claiming that it “retarded the recovery of industrial activity” and it grew the national debt to an overwhelmingly large level. Specifically in the case of the NRA, or National Recovery Administration, even the courts believed Roosevelt’s policies to be overly involved and the root of complicated codes/regulations. As seen in the statement made by Charles Evans Hughes in Document F, which was reflective of the supreme court ruling regarding the legality of the NRA, the government’s power was over-extended and the policies were not practical. Thus, in the face of court rejection, FDR’s somewhat successful policies could not stand for an extended period of time, proving them to be an incomplete and temporary solution to the issues

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