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Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in his article “FDR was overrated” notes that “…government spending revived economic activity under Roosevelt has had extremely damaging consequences for the rest of the 20th century.”(Evans-Pritchard, 24) William J. Barber also complains that FDR’s New Deal gave American a “big government legacy”. Do these words really tell the truth about what happened in 1930’s? Is it fair to FDR’s great attempt to help the nation recover from the Great Depression? To answer these questions we should have some basic background knowledge of FDR himself. Franklin D. Roosevelt was born in Hyde Park, New York on January 30, 1882. In the year 1903, he finished his law study at Columbia University and practiced law with a prominent New York City law firm. He entered politics in 1910 and was elected to the New York State Senate as a Democrat from his traditionally Republican home district. In 1905, he had married a distant cousin, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, who was the niece of President Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt was reelected to the State Senate in 1912. In 1928 Roosevelt was elected governor. Following his reelection as governor in 1930, Roosevelt began to campaign for the presidency. His activist approach and personal charm helped to defeat Hoover in November 1932 by seven million votes. Roosevelt easily defeated Alfred M. Landon in 1936 and went on to defeat by lesser margins, Wendell Willkie in 1940 and Thomas E. Dewey in 1944. He thus became the only American president to serve more than two terms. During a vacation at Warm Springs, Georgia, on April 12, 1945 FDR suffered a massive stroke and died two and one-half hours later without regaining consciousness. He was 63 years old. FDR was buried in the Rose Garden of his estate at Hyde Park, New York. “A New Deal” is what FDR promised voters in the fall of 1932, three years after the crash of stock prices of Wall Street had signaled the onset of the Great Depression. It included several laws Congress began enacting just days after FDR took office in the first week of March 1933. It was America's national response to the Great Depression. It also “dramatically reshaped politics, presidential power, and the role of the federal government in the economy of the United States of America”(Edsforth 1), which was considered to be the most controversial part of the New Deal. Most of the criticism of the New Deal relates to the first 100 days. In fact, some critics even argued that the New Deal is a plan without careful consideration, a program that put the U.S. into a big risky experiment. It is true that FDR could not predict the whole idea of the New Deal. He only clarified the basic principles and the political ideas of it in his speech in San Francisco in September 23, 1932. FDR noted that the capitalism of America has gotten into the stage of monopoly, the “great time” of free market and expansion has gone. The exhaustion of economy asked for the interfering of government as a market regulator. “We have to accept these limits, not for hampering the individualism, but for protecting it”(FDR library). FDR also indicated that the function of government had to be changed to fit the new requirements of society. After the fourth and the worst winter of the Great Depression, FDR began his presidency with the famous words “Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”(FDR inaugural address). The first hundred days of New Deal started with a strong medicine of bank system—a four-day bank holiday. The following measure of Great Depression was: 1. The measure for current money and national finance. The Congress passed the Emergency Banking Relief Act. In April 4, 1933, he proclaimed to prohibit personal gold storage, and gold bonds; the export of gold also was prohibited to stop the gold standard. Thus, dollar began to depreciate rapidly. The depreciated dollar raised the price and stimulated export. It was a very risky but successful action. 2. The measure to release the agriculture crisis. In May 12, FDR signed one of the most controversial laws to establish Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA). It was set up to provide immediate relief to nation’s farmers and raised the price of agriculture products. Farmers received benefit payment in return for reducing acreage or cutting production. It seems out of norm even inhuman to reduce the agriculture production when there were hundreds of thousands starving people in the cities. But the government meant to replace the blind free plant with a planed plant, which has the market requirement in mind. It greatly improved the farmers’ economic statue, and raised the price quickly. It is the first time government interfere the agriculture directly by subsidy, heavy taxes and contracts. It also seriously changed the traditional free market system. Some people believe it save the America’s capitalism agriculture, others complain that it gave government too much power. 3. The industrial recovery plan. Although coming out under different pressure and compromises, the National Industrial Recovery Act (1933) tried to solve the problems of blind competition between enterprises, extremely poverty workers, and the sharp contradiction in the relations between labor and capital by government interference. It asked each industry to be self-governed by a code hammered out by representatives of business, labor, and the consuming public. The famous Section 7a of the NIRA allowed the workers to bargain collectively with employers, through representative of their own choosing. Then FDR established Public Works Administration and authorized $3.3 billion for the construction of roads, public buildings, and other projects. Most of enterprises also joined in the blue eagle movement and accept the regulation of work time and wages. Although the NIRA provided 2 million people jobs and helped stopping the inflation in less than one year, it still failed to meet FDR’s expectation. The NIRA codes were written by the largest firms in any given industry; labor and consumers got short shrift. Because of the Anti-trust Act was contemporarily stopped, the big enterprises seized the opportunity to stifle competition, reduce production, and raised the prices. The small business owner first standed out to criticize. The liberals worried about the raise of planed economy. Workers were angry about the ignoring of Section 7a of NIRA. Consumers complained about the raising prices. Some one even affirmed that NIRA actually delayed the Industrial Recovery. Finally in May 1935, the NIRA was adjudicated unconstitutional. 4. Federal relief by employing workers, appropriating funds, and public construction. In March, FDR organized the Civilian Conservation Corps to provide jobs to young men between 18-25. In May 12, FDR signed to establish the Federal Emergency Relief Administration with $500 million funds. Half the money went as direct relief to the states; the balance was distributed on the basis of $1 of federal aid for every $3 of state and local funds. The public construction focused on the Tennessee Valley Authority, which is considered to be the most unique and controversial projects of the New Deal era. It created a massive federal hydroelectric project to 7 southern states for agriculture and flood control. In October 22, 1933, FDR gave out his fourth fireside chat, in which he reviewed the great success of the new government since March. But he “genuinely believed in the desirability of balanced budgets”(Barber, 18), and had too much expectation on the “self-regulation” of personal businesses. Because of these weaknesses, FDR received criticize from both left and right. That’s why he had to make a left turn in the second hundred days of the New Deal. From the analysis above, it is easy to find out the focal point of the criticism. The “big government” complaints, or government’s huge spending for reviving economic activity, all comes from the controversial idea of government interference. Some people believe such interference is the symbol of planned economy and even might have led America to the Communism. But when the free market wave went too far from its standard line, government interference was the only way to regulate the national economy back to norm. The government interference began at the time of Grangers, who asked for maximum shipping rates. It was fully emphasized by FDR in his New Deal to save the U.S. from the Great Depression. By 1936 most Americans recognized the New Deal as a tremendously important turning point in their nation’s history. The public held very strong opinions about FDR and his New Deal. Many millions of Americans loved FDR and vehemently defended the New Deal. Other Americans, far less numerous but usually better heeled, hated the President and his reforms idea. Although FDR and his New Deal received different criticizes of being autocratic, and led America to a wrong way, he carried out a new spirit. It is said that the central point of the New Deal, instead of treated as a political policy, was a spirit-based movement to encourage action in an unclear situation, and to build confidence in not being afraid to make mistakes. The economists wrote that New Deal had been a striking success. Mr. Roosevelt may have given the wrong answers to many of his problems. But he is the first president of modern America who has asked the right questions. Bibliography: Work Cited Barber, William J., “FDR's big government legacy” Regional Review, Summer97, Vol. 7 Issue 3, p18 Center for New Deal Studies—Roosevelt University http://www.roosevelt.edu/newdeal/ Edsforth, Ronald The New Deal—America’s Response to the Great Depression The Blackwell Publishers. Malden, Massachusetts. 2000 Evans-Pritchard, Ambrose. “FDR was overrated” Alberta Report / Newsmagazine, 5/29/95, Vol. 22 Issue 24, p23 “FDR and the New Deal” Economist, 12/31/99, Vol. 353 Issue 8151, Millennium issue p49 Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/ New Deal Network http://Newdeal.feri.org/ Word Count: 1597
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