The New Deal: Success or Failure?

Question 1

What were the main successes of the New Deal?

Answer 1

1. Created millions of jobs which stabilized the US economy and banking system (e.g. WPA, AAA, CCC)
2. Restored confidence and faith in the government.
3. Lots of valuable work was carried out by the alphabet agencies in building schools, roads and hospitals

Question 2

What were some of the failures of the New Deal?

Answer 2

1. Unemployment remained high - only WW2 brought and end to this.
2. Undermined local government with lots of federal laws - some accused FDR of being Communist and undermining American values.
3. Most programmes aimed to only help male manual workers. (e.g. WPA)
4. Didn’t solve underlying economic problems that caused the crash in the first place - US took longer ot recover than other countries.