FDR made a huge difference in the country’s economy by making the New Deal, designed to get America out of the Depression. FDR’s plan using the three R’s – Relief, Recovery and Reform was really helpful to the economy but some people seemed to strongly disagree on his methods.
To begin with, FDR’s New Deal seemed to only help employees, and this maddened not only the employers, but also the companies themselves. “Nearly every public statement form Washington is against stimulation of business which would end in the end create employment” (Document B). This is trying to say that with FDR’s plan to not produce unnecessary product in order to not spend money that could be saved makes companies need less employees, and that creates more unemployment overall. Furthermore, the New Deal “began to find expression in diverse forms which were often contradictory. Some assisted and some retarded the recovery of industrial activity.” (Document D). People were confused as in what was what FDR was really trying to achieve with contradictory organizations like The National Recovery Administration- which controlled the industry codes in a really unfair way – and the Public Works Administration – a plan to spend (maybe waste?) 6 billion dollars from the American Government in building unneeded bridges, roads etc just so some people could get jobs. Some people also believed that having the employees’ wages increase “[has] no direct relation to interstate commerce.” (Document F) This meant that it was a little confusing to understand how increasing wages could help interstate commerce since they didn’t seem to be related in such a way. The question starting to form in peoples minds was: How was making industries spend more money in the employees’ wages going to help the country’s economy in any way? Some also believed that things like the Wagner Act would end up making employees work and produce less using their rights as an excuse. “It is refusal of employers to grant such a reasonable conditions … that leads to widespread labor unrest.” (Document G) Even though this admits that those rights is something that the employees need to have, it also says that them not having those rights is better because it stops us from becoming a lazy country and helps us be more effective. By giving too many rights to the employees the country could end up failing at producing goods, something that could take us to a bad economy again.
One of FDR’s plans – Social Security Act, to be more specific – was a huge improvement for the country. On the other hand, this act was not able to help everyone: “Only a few exceptions, such as agriculture, domestic service, and government work” (Document E) Why wasn’t this eligible for everyone? Wouldn’t it be if FDR were trying to help? This not only maddened the group of people who weren’t eligible, but it also confused the rest as in why those groups weren’t. Furthermore it was obvious that the depression had affected the farmers more than most, having to close thousands of farms around the country. Almost 13 million nonfarm workers were unemployed in 1933, 12 million more than 4 years prior, when the number was at 1 million five hundred and fifty thousand. (Document J) So why wasn’t social security eligible for everyone? This made FDR’s plan look suspicious and make people think that maybe he was not trying to help the country overall.
When Hoover was the president of the United States he seemed to ignore the rights Negroes have gained at the end of the civil war. “Shameful policy begun by Hoover of forbidding Negroes to live in Boulder City … the administration forbade Negroes to live in Norries, another government-built town at Norris Dam.” (Document I) This made people dislike him even more that before since he was not only leaving the country’s economy to crash, but also insulting the constitution by not following it in terms of Negro rights. When FDR took over he made sure that “Negroes are a part of the country and must be considered in any program for the country as a whole.” This proved to people that FDR did not only care about himself, as some believed, but he really cared about the common welfare of our society. It supported his statement that “It is evolution, not revolution” (Document C) The Negroes involvement also made a huge difference because it brought a lot a groups of people into the democratic party and made it stronger.
Finally, FDR’s New Deal had its ups and downs, but it is obvious that an entire country agreeing with your decisions is almost impossible to get. There is always going to be disagreement in the government’s decisions from the pubic. But overall, FDR was only trying to help the economy’s welfare by making all these plans and put some hope in everyone’s mind.