Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Redistribute The Welfare In The 1930's

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In the 1930's, when citizens in the U.S. were in most urgent need for a change, they elected Franklin Delano Roosevelt because of his promises in his first inaugural address of "action". Roosevelt observed the ever-increasing class divide as one of the sources of the Great Depression and set out to redistribute the welfare. The redistribution would only happen with increased government control and the wealthy letting go of their 'liberty' as they claimed. Roosevelt strove to please all, but his focus was to avail those in need, as can be discerned from his primary programs, though his central aid was focused on white laborers. This lack of provision for minorities can be tied back to his need to please all, but his slow action fostered inequality …show more content…

Roosevelt's motives towards a distributed welfare were reflected in his National Recovery Administration (NRA) plans to develop better conditions for those in need, but to please all, he gave codes to business leaders which forwarded opportunity and liberty. Business owners complained of a lack of individualism, and labor workers complained that the codes were fostering “monopolistic practices.” While Roosevelt’s goal was to redistribute wealth and promote fair competition between businesses and classes, business owners manipulated codes to "first serve the interests of corporate profits." creating a larger gap between economic inequality and segregation. In the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) program, segregation was visible and practiced while also providing for those in need. A black worker, Luther C. Wandall, explained his urgent need for money and how he desperately went into the CCC. He paints the scene of him being segregated from white workers and being placed in tents that were "old, patched, without floors or electric lights." These small details in the programs show the reinforcement of segregation, but while the segregation hindered equal opportunity Wandall expressed his gratefulness for the program, concluding, “for a man who has no work, I can heartily recommend it” An organizer of the National Urban League, Lester B. Granger, described a case where a “$20,000,000 colored hospital being erected in the middle of their own neighborhood, built with municipal and federal funds” were not providing jobs for the people of color in need but to white workers. Roosevelt’s lack of aid to racially excluding company owners were evident in Jose Flores’s description of ‘Okies’, migrant agricultural workers from Oklahoma that were forced to leave due to the

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