The New Deal

6 Pages 1622 Words

“The New Deal Was Not”

The New Deal, as passed by Franklin Roosevelt, marked a change in the American government from being based on, as Richard Hofstadter puts it, “the philosophy of Hobbes and the religion of Calvin” (5); in fact, the New Deal shows America’s first understanding of economics. By extending national regulation over new areas of the economy, the New Deal successfully engaged in a broad series of experiments designed to relieve the distress and unemployment caused by the Great Depression; however, no matter how great this “New” Deal sounds, it was not new at all. In reality, the true New Deal was the second New Deal, which was simply rewritten according to mandates of the Supreme Court after it rejected thirteen out of the fifteen proposed points. This Second New Deal was the true “New” Deal because it, not its earlier counterpart, that sought to regulate the economy in new ways. Moreover, this Deal turned out to be the successful one.
Roosevelt’s success was rooted in his amiable personality; he had a way about him that assured Americans that, by following him, life would turn out good. When he was first elected President, Roosevelt assured the American people, in his inaugural address, that he would take drastic action against the economic emergency he had on his hands. During his presidency, Roosevelt was able to maintain the confidence of Americans through his “fireside chats,” during which he explained the plans he had to Americans over the radio. In these “chats,” and in all of his briefings to America, Roosevelt had an air of urgency around him. He once said, “This nation asks for action, and action now…. We must act, and act quickly”(New Deal 1). Roosevelt instituted signs of relief from the very beginning of his ascendance. Because of such great panic about bank failures, Roosevelt declared a “bank holiday,” which closed all American banks for four days unti...