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The Pros And Cons Of The First New Deal

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The First New Deal was a program consisting of many new laws and programs with the goal of saving the country and its people from the Great Depression. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt spearheaded the First New Deal. His goals were to reduce unemployment, to help poor farmers, and to revive American industry. The First New Deal worked towards achieving these goals, by establishing laws and programs which regulated industry and provided work relief programs. While these programs generated some improvement, they were met with backlash across the political spectrum, and some of the laws met resistance in the Supreme Court. The Second New Deal was implemented in 1935 to combat these setbacks. It was absolutely necessary for President Roosevelt to institute the Second New Deal because the First New Deal did nothing to combat the “Dust …show more content…

While the programs of the First New Deal were left-wing and progressive, some liberals decided that it had not gone far enough to help the common people. When the National Industrial Recovery Act was declared unconstitutional in 1935, employers once again began treating their workers unfairly. Worker strikes were broken up violently, and they could not achieve their rights without government assistance. This problem was combatted with the Wagner Act, which gave workers the right to unionize and negotiate for better wages and working conditions. Additionally, liberals such as physician Francis Townsend and Senator Huey P. Long called for government pensions for the elderly in order to open jobs for the unemployed and simulate the economy. This demand was met by the Social Security Act, which granted the pensions to the elderly, dependent mothers, and the blind. These new acts were a part of the Second New Deal, and were necessary to meet President Roosevelt’s goals of reducing unemployment and reviving American Industry, as well as increasing his chances of

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