Economic Recovery

Question 1

Intro

Answer 1

Some historians argue that FDR successfully used the New Deal to provide the American people with Economic Recovery

Question 2

Benchmark

Answer 2

Before FDR implemented his new legislation, the Wall Street Crash had caused $30 billion to be lost within only 2 days and the collapse of over 10,000 banks.

Question 3

Knowledge 1

Answer 3

One piece of legislation brought in by FDR was the Emergency Banking Act, 1933 which closed all banks for 4 days in order to support them to continue running and develop a smooth recovery from the Wall Street Crash.

Question 4

Analysis 1

Answer 4

This legislation was proved to be successful as after these 4 days, solvent banks were able to reopen and others were much more secure. On top of that, $1 billion had been returned to banks by April which helped banks stay in a secure spot and ended the banking crisis.

Question 5

Knowledge 2

Answer 5

Moreover, the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA), May 1933 aimed to keep prices steady and limit production of staple items. It paid farmers subsidies to push certain prices up.

Question 6

Analysis 2

Answer 6

This legislation had a successful impact as it had increased to total farm income from $4.5 billion in 1932 to $6.9 billion by 1935, which was an increase of over $2 billion. The success was also proved by its popularity as 95% of farmers had signed up.

Question 7

Counter Analysis

Answer 7

However, an argument to say it was not totally successful would be that it wasted produce as 6 million piglets were slaughtered which was contentious at the time as many Americans were starving. It has also been argued that the AAA only had benefits for wealthy farmers at the cost of those who had less money.

Question 8

Evaluation

Answer 8

To evaluate, FDR clearly dealt with economic recovery quite well and ended the banking crises. This was proved in the Glass-Steagull Act in which commercial banks relying on small-scale despositors were not allowed to be involved in investment banking. Although FDR had used Hoover’s policies and was critisised for it, he ended the banking crises and the economy was on a smooth recovery path. Overall, this issue may not have been addressed quite as successfully as the Social Relief, but far better than the Federal Reform and still managed to save many Americans.