Introduction
The New Deal – is the policy held by the president Franklin D. Roosevelt during the period of great depression with the goal of providing relief, recovery, and reform (3 Rs) to the people and financial system of the United States during the Great Depression. The Depression itself was a dramatic, global financial slump beginning in some states as early as 1928. The start of the Great Depression in the United States is connected with the stock market crash on October 29, 1929, known as Black Tuesday. The depression had overwhelming effects in both the developed countries and those which exported unprocessed materials. International trade declined harshly, as did personal revenues, tax revenues, prices and incomes.
The evaluation of the Three Rs
The Tree Rs of the program were claimed to overcome the consequences of the great depression. These are the Relief, the Recovery and the Reform:
- Relief was the instant effort to help the one-third of the population most influenced by the depression. Roosevelt increased Hoover’s Federal Emergency Relief Administration work relief program and created additional bodies, such as the Civilian Conservation Corps, Public Works Administration, and (starting in 1935) the Works Progress Administration to it. In 1935, the social security and unemployment insurance programs were also elaborated. Separate programs were created for relief in rural territories, such as the Resettlement Administration and Farm Security Administration.
- Recovery was the attempt in many programs to restore typical financial health. By most financial pointers this was achieved by 1937 except for unemployment, which stayed high until the beginning of World War II. For these grounds, U.S. participation in the war was pushed by Roosevelt as he knew it would offer a much necessary economic boost to the United States.
- Reform was grounded on the idea that the Great Depression was caused by market volatility and that government involvement was vital to balance the interests of farmers, business and labor. It included the National Recovery Administration, which in 1935 ended regulation of Wall Street, the Agricultural Adjustment Act farm programs (1933 and 1938), insurance of bank deposits, and the Wagner Act stimulating labor unions (1935) by authorizing by law that all workers engaged in the sphere of commerce join a union and/or pay dues if the majority of employees agreed to form one
The Evaluation of the Performance
The Great depression was not a sudden occasion. It has been forecasted, as the economic decline in the world started as early as in the middle of the 1920s. Thus, the realization of the plans elaborated by the administration of the president Roosevelt took into account the financial factors, and the reform touched the banks primarily. Thus, by reforming the banking activity, Roosevelt managed to ground the restoring of the economic health. The actions undertaken happened to b successful, as the economy overcame the decline period, and started rising. Then, the farmers became capable to take the credits for the restoring of their private activity.
The measures taken for the decrease of the unemployment achieved their main goal, as lots of unemployed were engaged in the restoring and building of the roads. The others were involved in the social works. After the economy had been restored, the amount of the workplaces increased, and former unemployed could hire for the works, inspite of the fact, that the unemployment level stayed rather high up to the beginning of the World War Two.
Either the undertaken measures were successful or not, only time can answer this question. As it can be seen, the economy had been restored, the wave of suicides decreased and then stopped completely (the suicides on the grounds of bankruptcy and other financial issues).
The historical significance of the great depression, it is necessary to emphasize, that it really can be considered as the watershed of the American history, as it revealed all the demerits of the previous financial and in some measure political approaches of t state economies, and the solution of the problem helped to elaborate the new schemes.
As for the issues of benefits, it is should be said, that nobody could benefit in the Great depression, as it touched all the possible spheres of economy and not only. Those who tried to benefit ended their lives with the bullet in the temple, as to get the benefits from the allover crisis is futile undertaking. The American nation benefited the most from the New Deal, as it really achieved its main aim and overcome the consequences of the Great Depression.