In this paper we will be examining various interconnected reasons for the Great Depression.1. How did the Wall Street Crash contribute to the Great Depression? Read More »
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GCSE Int Coursework: A – The Great Depression
On the 24th October 1929 and then again on the 29th October 1929, share prices on the New York Stock Exchange collapsed. To many people this came as a shock and very few people expected it.
For seven years share prices had risen steadily and more people had invested money as a result. Many people had come to see the Stock Market as a safe and easy way of making money. However, in October1929, their hopes and dreams were dashed.
The Wall Street Crash culminated in a downward spiral towards the Great Depression.
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In this assignment you will be required to investigate the many reasons for the causes of the Great Depression.
• America’s policy of isolationism
• Over production by American industries
• Speculation on the Stock Exchange
• Unequal distribution of wealth
• Over confidence in the economy
• Panic selling of shares
• The Agricultural Depression
• The Wall Street Crash
1. Choose any one reason from the list above and explain how it contributed to the Great Depression. (7)
2. Choose one long term and one short term reason (other than that already given in Question 1) and explain how they both contributed in different ways to the Great Depression. (8)
3. From the remaining reasons not already chosen, were any of these more important than the others in causing the Great Depression? Explain your answer with reference to any four reasons. (10)
4) Study sources G and H
Which is more useful as evidence about public opinion towards the New Deal?
Use the sources to explain your answer.
Source G is a letter published in 1936 by Roosevelt’s supporters as part of his election campaign. The letter is written by an old married couple who are praising Roosevelt for his personal help with regards to their house loan and the loss of their furniture. They claim that Roosevelt personally sent a representative to them to help them with their problems they had with the bank.
Source H is an extract from a popular song in 1936. The song portrays a clear message of support for Roosevelt by claiming that he is their saviour and almost suggesting that he can perform miracles therefore giving him god like status “no more standing blowing; snowing rain”. Both messages display clear support for Roosevelt, although there is the thought that Source G possess more biased due to the fact that it was written as part of Roosevelt’s election campaign.
Conclusively I believe that Source H is much more useful evidence to finding out the public opinion towards the New Deal as it consists of a wider range of people. The song was very popular which shows that a majority of people must have agreed with the message of the song for it to be popular. The main reason for Source G not being useful evidence is because it is only about two people who have been aided by Roosevelt. The source does not tell us about the many other people that might have not been helped by Roosevelt or his New Deal. The source also conveys a message of utter heroism as if Roosevelt is some sort of hero who can do anything which adds to the difficulty to believe such a source as it can be perceived to be fake.
3) Study sources D, E and F
With reference to these cartoons, explain the differing views for or against Roosevelt.
Sources D and F show similar views towards Roosevelt. Firstly we see that source D the cartoon published in 1930’s shows a man representing Roosevelt pouring lots of water carried by a man labelled the taxpayer into a pump with many cracks and leaks. There is a worn out looking man who is labelled “The Taxpayer”. This shows us that from the cartoonist’s point of view the American public could not deal with the constant waste of their money. The source portrays a very negative image of Roosevelt as it shows him pouring billions of dollars into a pump which represents America, which shows that Roosevelt is wasting billions of American taxpayer’s money into a system that is not working.
Similarly source F a cartoon published in the mid 1930’s represents Roosevelt as a failing president. In source F we see a very old frail looking man sitting down next to a table with many different bottles of medicine on it. There is a doctor standing in front of him with a bag of new medicines. It is evident to see that the old man represents America and the doctor represents Roosevelt. The medicines are shown to be the ideas of Roosevelt that he tried to use to cure America for example a bottling brandishing the symbol “NRA”. The source quite clearly states that although Roosevelt has tried many different ideas none of them has worked. Therefore Roosevelt is seen to be a failing president who is running out of time, so the source shows Roosevelt to be a negative character and it is quite clearly against him.
In contrast to these, source E a cartoon published in 1933 a year after Roosevelt came to power shows a highly positive image of Roosevelt. We see a rather large muscular, joyful looking man carrying a large dustbin with the ideas of previous president Hoover. The man who represents Roosevelt is shown to be dedicated and a symbol of hope for the American people.
Conclusively the reason for differing views in the sources towards Roosevelt is because of the time period at which they were written. Source E was written at the beginning of Roosevelt’s reign and just after the end of Hoovers so it is clear to see that Roosevelt will be shown to be a positive image among the American people because of the pain and suffering they had to endure throughout the time of Hoover. The differing views of the other two compared to this are because they were written a few years into the Roosevelt reign. Therefore after all the build-up and hope of a fresh face in charge the people would have come back down to earth and become more and more desperate for the issues the country was in to be resolved.
How successful was the New Deal?
A compilation of useful articles on your coursework. Tyler Cowen is a professor of economics at George Mason University plus two book reviews (from 1964 and 1992. Can you spot which is which?)
The New Deal Didn’t Always Work, Either (NY Times)
By TYLER COWEN
Published: November 21, 2008
MANY people are looking back to the Great Depression and the New Deal for answers to our problems. But while we can learn important lessons from this period, they’re not always the ones taught in school. The traditional story is that President Franklin D. Roosevelt rescued capitalism by resorting to extensive government intervention; the truth is that Roosevelt changed course from year to year, trying a mix of policies, some good and some bad.
If I were preparing a “New Deal crib sheet,” I would start with the following lessons: Read More »
Let’s hear it AGAINST Roosevelt
December 16, 2008
Critics of the New Deal
Conservative opponents said Roosevelt had spent too much government money.
The wealthy businessmen behind the American Liberty League argued that by increasing taxation and encouraging the development of the trade union movement, Roosevelt had betrayed his own class (Roosevelt was from a very wealthy family).
Many ordinary people began writing letters saying things like this one from a man in California – “you are multi-millionaires, what do you care for the masses of the people?”.
Huey Long – the Governor of Louisiana, known as The Kingfish, launched the Share our Wealth campaign in which personal fortunes of more than $3 million would be redistributed to ordinary citizens.
Father Charles Coughlin – a Canadian priest – broadcast popular sermons on the CBS network, promising to nationalise the banks.
Dr Francis Townsend planned to boost the economy by raising pensions for the over 60s – in return, they would spend $200 a month to increase demand for consumer goods.
Let’s hear it for Roosevelt!
Example of a Pro-Roosevelt (interventionist) New Deal Essay Read More »
6) Use all of the sources and your knowledge of the period:
Study the following interpretations of the New Deal.
*The New Deal helped many Americans and by doing this it gave them self-respect and confidence. It helped to ‘lift’ America out of the Depression. *The New Deal wasted a lot of money. It made people dependent on the government and in turn made the government too powerful. It did not solve America’s economic problems – the Second Would War did that.
Which of these two interpretations is best supported by the evidence in these sources and your knowledge of the period?
Explain why there is so much disagreement about the New Deal
Both of these interpretations have equal support from the sources. As half suggest that the first interpretation was right in saying that the New Deal restored self- confidence to the American public and helped to lift them out of depression. The publics view was split towards the New Deal and Roosevelt. Roosevelt was attacked by some for his economic policies as many believed it to have prolonged what many believed would be a much shorter depression. There was also a belief that Hoovers ‘laissez-faire’ polices would have ended the suffering much sooner than Roosevelt’s interventionism when it came to the economy and all its problems. The New Deal demonstrated two views of government, one in which people believed Roosevelt should follow in the footsteps of Hoover and take up a Laissez faire attitude towards the economy by allowing the economy to recover its balance. In contrast to this some people praised Roosevelt’s interventionism towards the economy and believed it to be the way forward. We see this attitude portrayed in the sources supporting the first interpretation of the New Deal. As shown in source B the judgment of an American historian writing in 1945, “first comes the restoration of self-confidence. Those who lived through the spring of 1933 will remember the change from depression and discouragement to excitement and hope, in the political field there was the strengthening of the government and the expansion of the government activities to help people”. The quote shows that the American public where very excited about the arrival of Roosevelt and truly believed in his ideas.
2. Study source B and C
How and why do these judgements on the New Deal differ?
Source B and C show very contrasting views on Roosevelt’s success with regards to the New Deal. Both views emanate from “American historians” writing in the year 1945. Therefore, both would be in a position to see the situation at first hand. The difference in views, therefore, is pointed.
Firstly source B states that Roosevelt’s New Deal was a resounding success, which led to the restoration of self-confidence, physical rebuilding of the country and the introduction of ideas and laws by Roosevelt to try and combat unemployment.
On the other hand source C’s ideas of Roosevelt’s New Deal are negative. As the American historian writing in 1945 states that Roosevelt had more than doubled the debt of the country since his time in charge. Also the historian claims that Roosevelt has made the American people much more dependent on the government. The source also states that even though Congress had put billions of dollars into Roosevelt’s hands the only result of this for the American people will be a dictatorial government. There is also the suggestion that Roosevelt jumped on the idea of leading his country to war because he realised he could put every man and woman into work.
It could be argued that to some extent both views are accurate, whilst still divergent. Source B describes the positive emotions at the beginning of Roosevelt’s regime and the positive steps that Roosevelt took to alleviate environmental and unemployment issues.
Source C describes the high cost of those steps in terms of a hugely spiralling national debt and the empowering of a government to the point where it could be described as “dictatorial” (“And Roosevelt is calling for more power!”)
The term “dictatorial” is where the two sources come into conflict. Source B appears to be answering the charge that Roosevelt could be described as a dictator, whilst Source C is making that charge.;
I believe the reason for these two judgements of the New Deal differing is because of biased on both parts. It simply depends upon a pre-conceived view of the American government: should it be “laissez faire” such as Hoover, or interventionist, such as Roosevelt (or previously, Wilson)? The two sources appear to indicate those two pre-conceived views.
Why is there such disagreement about the New Deal?
There is much disagreement about the New Deal because the issue crystallized two incompatible views of government. In this respect, Roosevelt was attacked for his economic policies, especially the shift from individualism to collectivism that he represented with the dramatic expansion of the welfare state and regulation of the economy.
Roosevelt was criticized by libertarians for his extensive economic interventionism. These critics often accuse his policies of prolonging what they believe would otherwise have been a much shorter depression. Their argument is that government planning of the economy was both unnecessary and counterproductive, and that the laissez-faire policies of Hoover would have ended the suffering much sooner. Austrian school economist Thomas DiLorenzo, says “FDR’s New Deal made the Great Depression longer and deeper. It is a myth that Franklin D. Roosevelt ‘got us out of the Depression’ and ‘saved capitalism from itself,’ as generations of Americans have been taught by the state’s education establishment.”[1]. Historian Jim Powell, in FDR’s Folly, points out that the median joblessness rate throughout the New Deal was 17.2 percent and never went below 14 percent.[2] He says the Depression was worsened and prolonged “by doubling taxes, making it more expensive for employers to hire people, making it harder for entrepreneurs to raise capital, demonizing employers, destroying food…breaking up the strongest banks, forcing up the cost of living, channeling welfare away from the poorest people and enacting labor laws that hit poor African Americans especially hard.”. However as Alvin Hansen pointed out at the time, few businesses were attempting to expand. The poor voted at the 80-90% level for Roosevelt according to public opinion polls. [Cantril and Strunk] A study by Harold L. Cole and Lee E. Ohanian concludes that the “New Deal labor and industrial policies did not lift the economy out of the Depression as President Roosevelt and his economic planners had hoped,”[3] but that the “New Deal policies are an important contributing factor to the persistence of the Great Depression.” They say that the “abandonment of these policies coincided with the strong economic recovery of the 1940s.
[1]DiLorenzo, Thomas. The New Deal Debunked, The Free Market, Volume 24, Number 11, November 2004
[2] Powell, Jim. FDR’s Folly: How Franklin Roosevelt and His New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression, Random House, 2004.
[3] Cole, Harold L and Ohanian, Lee E. New Deal Policies and the Persistence of the Great Depression: A General Equilibrium Analysis, 2004.
Danny Roche 