The New Deal 1932-1940 - Essay Example

The New Deal 1932-1940 New Deal was the economic programs introduced and implemented by United s of America in the period, 1933-1936, in order to overcome the backlash suffered on economic front due to the Great Depression (Edsforth, 1). The historical importance of this set of legislations and welfare programs has been that, it represented a departure from the existing political and economic policies of the USA. In effect, the New Deal was about increased federal control over the national economy, greater powers for trade unions, and a wider network of social welfare measures (Edsforth). It was President Franklin Roosevelt after accepting the president ship in 1932, first used the term, ‘New Deal’, in its contextual sense, and promised new welfare measures for the people of the United States (Edsforth, 1). It was the extreme poverty that afflicted certain sections of the society, in the backdrop of the economic recession that became the immediate provocation for a vision about a new deal. This essay is to suggest that though it was the New Deal that removed the stark social disparities that existed in the US society and paved way for the emergence of the US as a nation of equal opportunities, it cannot be called a totally fair deal when it comes to the long term welfare of social minorities and deprived groups. Background New Deal envisaged to deal with the socio-economic threats faced by American society as during that period, the unemployment rate in US was 25%, production output was drastically decreasing, deflation was at its worse, and all major industrial sectors were under the peril of economic depression Edsforth, 22-23; 153). Relief, recovery and reform were the “3Rs” of New Deal (Edsforth, 54). The concept underlying the motto, ‘relief’, was to bring relief to the poor and unemployed sections of the society (Edsforth, 52). The concept of ‘recovery’ was associated with a emergency attempt to retrieve the economic well-being of the country (Edsforth, 149). Reform, being the third slogan of New Deal, represented the reforms that had to be incorporated into the financial system of the country so that in future, an economic breakdown similar to the Great Depression can be averted (Edsforth, 2). The New Deal, in its two stages of implementation, included many people-friendly legislations including the Works Progress Administration Relief Program, which gave relief to migrant laborers who were mostly Mexicans and Black people (Edsforth, 220, 231). The Social Security Act of this era was also an all-encompassing legislation, which provided relief to American women, Indians, and racial minorities (Edsforth, 213) . Fair Labor Standards Act (1938) was another new law that ensured minimum wages for all categories of workers and also laid down the maximum working hours (Edsforth, 277). The limits of change When the Great Depression came, Americans were unwarily celebrating the “New Era Prosperity” (Edsforth, 20). Edsforth has described this scenario by calling it “the new American dreamscape of universal mass consumption” (Edsforth, 21). But soon the stock markets crashed, construction and automobile sectors which were having a boom declined suddenly, and these changes “indicated that the practical limits of those able to buy into the new American Dream were fast being approached” (Edsforth, 21). The wealth distribution was greatly tilted towards a small group of rich people and “nearly 80 of all families had no savings whatsoever in 1929” (Edsforth, 22). It was in this context that New Deal became an empathetic pat on the shoulder for the deprived groups. The New Deal and American Women The most important New Deal program that could be considered, pro-woman, was the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which was introduced in 1935 (Edsforth, 288). It opened up new job opportunities for single women, widows, and women who had physically handicapped husband or whose husbands had even temporarily abandoned them. Most of these women were given jobs in sewing, cloth production, and school lunch program, and for art and cultural activities sponsored by the government. As a result, the number of workingwomen increased from 10.5 million in 1930 to 13 million in 1940 (Feldmeth et. al., 282). Similarly, the Social Security program was of great help to widows. Despite all these welfare measures, women in the US have still been under the glass ceiling of male domination. The Indian New Deal The Indian New Deal came into being when in 1934, “tribal ownership of land” was restored and a system of “tribal self-government” was created through Indian Reorganization Act (Edsforth, 286). Another measure that was included in this act to benefit the Indians was the provision to give “loans to tribes for economic development” (Feldmeth et. al., 282). John Collier, who was the Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, also convinced the American Congress to establish an Indian Emergency Conservation Program (Feldmeth et. al., 282). Along with these specific welfare measures, Indians also became beneficiaries of the general welfare programs like WPA and NYA (Feldmeth et. al., 282). Though these steps had positive aspects, the marginalization of Indians as a peripheral group of the society remains still unchanged. The New Deal and Mexican Americans Mexican Americans were one group that benefited the least from the New Deal (Feldmeth et. al., 283). The general enthusiasm to form trade unions and labor unions prompted this group also to attempt trade unionism in agricultural farms but they were rounded up and sent home by the farm owners (Feldmeth et. al., 283). The decade, 1930-40 saw almost all of the Mexican farm laborers being returned to Mexico and white laborers replacing them (Feldmeth et. al., 283). In this decade, it was also observed, Mexican population in US declined by 40 percent (Feldmeth et. al., 283). And a sad reality has been that even the New Dealers pretended not to be aware of these excesses showered upon the Mexican Americans (Feldmeth et. al., 283). New Deal for Blacks During the era of New Deal, the black were about 10% of the total population. The pathetic condition of the black people was evident from the fact that 20% of the total black population was listed as poor. Edsforth has quoted the novelist Richard Wright on the poverty situation among black people in that period saying, “all the black families he visited on Mississippi plantations in the 1920s lived in ‘shacks, sleeping on shuck mattresses, eating salt pork and black-eyed peas for breakfast, dinner, and supper” (qtd. in Edsforth, 23). The visionaries behind the New Deal made it a point that black people were beneficiaries to at least 10% of the welfare assistance payments made as part of the Deal. The WPA, NYA, and CCC relief programs were designed in such a way that 10% of their budgets went to the welfare of the blacks. All-black units of work were established and the workers here were paid the same pay and given the same facilities as the members of all-white units. Roosevelt had given jobs to a huge number of black people in his administrative office also, which came to be collectively known as the Black Cabinet (Feldmeth et al., 282). But these measures were also criticized for being peripheral. These measures were found, not to be sufficient to deal with the discrimination and segregation faced by the blacks in America (Biles, 103). Another criticism against the New Deal, from the viewpoint of black people, was that they were excluded from the purview of the new Social Security Act. In Southern US, discrimination against the blacks was part of social life (Biles, 103-106). Anyway, as a result of the welfare measures, the black people began to be flowing into Democratic Party from the Republican Party (Biles, 121). Though the New deal receded into history as liberalization gripped American polity, the political agreement that emerged between the blacks and the Democratic Party still survives (Biles, 121). And the New Deal was lauded as the first step towards the political freedom of the black people and “for later assaults on Southern racial inequality… (and) … first step on the road to change” (Biles, 103). “Last hired , first fired" “Last hired , first fired" was the oneliner used to describe the black wage earner in America during the time of New Deal (Biles, 103). The National Industrial Recovery Act, which was legislation under New Deal, asserted the right to form trade unions and thus imparted a new vigor to trade union movement in America (Feldmeth et. al., 283). As a result, during 1933 alone, “1.5 million new members joined unions” (Feldmeth et. al., 283). This new movement assimilated the black people also into its fold and this move was the beginning of the entry of black people into the trade union mainstream and also the political mainstream. Conclusion From the above discourse, it becomes clear that New Deal had its own historical and social significance. But all the same, it is seen that New Deal fell short of its proclaimed objectives. Most of the legislations were half-hearted and the implementation was also so. This might have caused by the existing social prejudices in the mainstream American society. As it were the mainstream politicians who drafted the new steps of the New Deal they failed to understand the issues of the target groups deeply. In this way, though the New Deal became an opportunity for equality and progress for the minority and discriminated groups in the society, it failed to bring about the uplifting of these deprived sections. Instead it remained a welfare policy which once withdrawn would send the beneficiaries into the same vicious circle of poverty and deprivation. Thus New Deal failed to empower these groups in a real sense. And the question that remains to be answered is why the politicians of US could not take the New Deal ahead to build a more equal society despite the huge economic resources that the country attained during the era of liberalization. It is in the context of this question that this research topic attains significance. By learning what failed New Deal half the way, solutions can be found for the increasing social disparities in American society. The comparatively uniform affluence that is now visible in American society, across race, gender and nationality, is a positive consequence of the New deal era and its relief, recovery and reform measures. But the inherent prejudices of American society based on class, race, gender and nationality has not changed much. Lack of empowerment leads to lack of bargaining power and lack of political power. In this manner, it can be said that New Deal brought in relief and reform but not recovery. And it can be hoped that the lessons of New Deal, well-learned, could lead American society to a rethinking on the issues of equality in their true sense. Works Cited Biles, Roger, South and the New Deal, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 2006. Print. Edsforth, Ronald, The New Deal: Americas Response to the Great Depression, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 2000. Print. Feldmeth et. al., The AP United States History, New Jersey: Research and Education Associated, 2006. Print. Read More