great ability and personal qualities that he was able to take advantage of circumstances and transfer power to himself and to his administration, in order to apply his remedy to the Great Depression. His remedy was not a resounding success - by 1939 unemployment stood at 10 million, and America regained prosperity only as a result of the new economic climate prompted by the Second World War. Nonetheless, it was a concerted attempt at change for the better, not just economically but also socially and politically. Critics have regarded the social and political change as largely accidental. It is argued that, upon discovering that the recession was deeper and more stubborn than anticipated, Roosevelt embarked on ever bolder rescue plans that involved such ground-breaking measures as Social Security, of which he did not foresee the full implications for society or for government; and the resistance of other political forces - notably the Supreme Court - despite his popular mandate, led him to favour changes to constitutional conventions and in the balance of power which he had not originally planned for and which had a far greater impact than he anticipated. But Roosevelts commitment to greater social justice and a bigger role for government cannot be dismissed as merely a by-product of his attempts to solve his economic frustrations. Certainly there was a shift towards more radical action as the 30s progressed, with the growing realisation that Americas malaise extended deeper than had been thought at first. Nonetheless from the start the New Deal was meant to be exactly that: a new deal for citizens, with all the connotations of increased social fairness and structural reorganisation that the phrase carries. FDR was not an economist (indeed Keynes was shocked when he met him at his lack of economic sophistication); he saw his duty as far more than just restoring prosperity. One reason why the New Deal has been accused of lacking a clear ...
