Answer Happy

A HALFWAY REVOLUTION The New Deal's political momentum petered out in 1939 just as a new world war was erupting in Europe and Asia. What, then, was its impact? In hindsight, it had more energy than coherence. Many New Deal programs failed or were poorly conceived and implemented. But several programs changed life for the better: Social Security, federal regulation of stock markets and banks, minimum wage levels for workers, federally insured bank accounts, and government-sanctioned labor unions. The greatest triumph of the New Deal, however, was its demonstration that American democracy could cope with the collapse of capitalism. A self-proclaimed “preacher President,” Franklin Roosevelt raised the nation's spirits and its income through his relentless optimism and unprecedented activism. As a CCC worker recalled late in life, Roosevelt “restored a sense of confidence and morale and hope—hope being the greatest of all.” New Deal programs provided stability for tens of millions of people. “We aren't on relief anymore,” one woman noted with pride. “My husband is working for the government." The greatest failure of the New Deal was its inability to restore prosperity and end record levels of unemployment. In 1939, an estimated 10 million Americans-nearly 17 percent of the workforce—remained jobless. Only the Second World War would finally produce full employment.
Roosevelt was an idealist without illusions. Energetic pragmatism was his greatest strength, and weakness. He admitted that he often acted out of conflicting convictions. “I am a juggler,” he explained. “I never let my right hand know what my left hand does.” He sharply increased the regulatory powers of the federal government and laid the foundation for what would become an expanding system of social welfare programs. The result was, paradoxically, both revolutionary and conservative. New Deal initiatives left a legacy of unprecedented innovations: a joint federal-state system of unemployment insurance; a compulsory, federally administered retirement system; financial support for families with dependent children; maternal and child-care programs; and several public health programs. The New Deal also improved working conditions and raised wage levels for millions. Roosevelt had sought to preserve the basic capitalist economic structure while providing protection to the most vulnerable. In this sense, the New Deal represented a “halfway revolution” that permanently altered the nation's social and political landscape. “During the ten years between 1929 and 1939,” marveled an appreciative social worker in 1940, “more progress was made in public welfare and relief than in the three hundred years after this country was first settled.” In a time of peril, Roosevelt created for Americans a more secure future.