to the states ensured that funds were used as the federal government wished. From now on, people would no longer look to the state capitol for solutions to their problems, but to Capitol Hill; or more precisely, to the White House. Indeed, the very notion that people could look to any government, federal or state, to solve their problems was novel. The 1930s provided a framework for the scope of governmental action that remains intact today. The Federal government began to wield its muscle in the economy; in the banking and finance industries; in farming prices; in the relations between management and workers; in the support of the vulnerable and needy. The Social Security Act and the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 were representative of a momentous shift in the attitude of government: the state as protector of the weak. A. Badger has calculated that 35% of the population received direct assistance from the New Deal. As would be expected, this redefinition aroused great opposition. The New Deal period saw the rebirth of issues politics, with the ideological divide between the Democratic and Republican parties wider than in a long time. Roosevelt had mentioned in 1932 that he would transform the Democratic party into the progressive party. Despite his failure in 1938 to purge the party of conservatives, increasingly its appeal was class-based - insofar as America can be said to have classes. The poor, the newly arrived, the Catholics and the Jews became overwhelmingly Democrat. The situation of Blacks in society did not improve a great deal in the period, but they were looked on with more sympathy by the Democratic party, and they too have tended to vote Democrat ever since the 30s. So the New Deal period did change the course of American politics and government in several significant ways. And furthermore, as has been shown throughout, the role that FDR played in bringing about these changes cannot be ignored. It was thanks to his...
