The New Deal

The new deal was a great revolution in the use of governmental power to address economic and social issues. Upon entering office FDR, was granted expanded powers. He had powers equal to that of a time of war. With these expanded powers FDR would get the new deal out to the people and fast, in his new deal.

In his first 100 days in office FDR, got 16 bills passed in Congress, due to the use of expanded power. These being the most bills ever passed in such a short amount of time in American history, were the first new deal. In the first new deal, FDR focused on the three r’s as I like to call them. Reform, recovery, and relief in one way or another everything he did was around these. His first way of working in the new deal was fixing the banks. He declared a bank holiday, then only allowed stable banks to reopen. Once he did this he went on his first fireside chat to tell the people what he has doing and had done, and what he wanted the citizens of America to do. With this the banks were stabilized. He had reformed the bank system, recovered it, and relieved the nation some. Next more relief, in the form of getting people jobs and getting work done for the nation at the same time. With his government aid programs, FDR got the unemployed out of the streets where they were collecting junk and peddling it for a means of living, and back to having pride, working and living a life off the streets. He did this with such new programs as the Tennessee Valley Authority, which got thousands of unemployed people back to work. Their job was to build dams in the state that would supply energy to the people, end to flooding, and irrigation control to the farmers. Another program that was put in, was the Works Progress Administration. Once again large amounts of unemployed people, were employed once more. In fixing over 21,000 school houses, building 3,000 school houses, and building two hundred and eighty thousand miles of roads and streets. So he restore the pride and dignity to those who had been unemployed due to the current conditions, and started to rebuild the nation with his new programs.

Then came the second new deal, the second half of his great work in helping out the nation. In his second new deal, he came up with totally new way of relief, a Social Security plan. With the Social Security Act, he would help out the elderly who could not work, the unemployed, and crippled children. Now not everyone thought this was the answer we needed. Louisiana Senator Huey Long had a much different method of doing what FDR was doing in his second new deal. He had his share our wealth idea. This idea was to take all wealth from the fat cats like J.P. Morgan Junior and spend it around to the people not making any money, or so little money that it was not making ends meet. So everyone who makes 300 times the average income would have their money taken away from them and given to the poor. Now this would have caused a lot of problems, the rich would fight back in the courts. FDR clearly come up with the lest political mess solution, and the best so far even to this day, because we still have his Social Security Act to this day. So the effects of the second new deal can still been seen.

FDR, did so well in his new deal that he was loved by the people. He was so successful and loved for the work that he had done for so many people. He had the loyalty of the people, and the love of the people. It is normally for people to like the president but this was a whole new level of like. Never before had a president been so liked, by the whole nation. My great grandmother has had a picture of FDR in her house hanging up her whole life. This picture is still hanging up, and my great grandmother still thinks he was the greatest president ever. That is how much people loved him, and how much he had done for the people.

The revolution that took place in the government was the new deal. With the expansion of federal power. New settings for the president, that during time of economic and or social difficulties, could expand their political power to help the nation out more. Such as FDR did, with the TVA, WPA, and the Social Security Act. All these programs and help that was done by FDR, and the government had never been done before. It had always previous been thought that it was the peoples responsibilities to help each other out during hard times. Well that changed when FDR came to office, in the FDR revolution.