Great Depression and The New Deal Research Paper

Great Depression and The New Deal - Research Paper Example Later in 1935 the Social Security Act came into power, aiming to provide the disabled, old-age or surviving citizens with social insurance. The New Deal, though rather slowly, appeared to be working. As Robert Murphy writes, â€Å"Although still abysmal, the unemployment numbers finally began receding almost the moment Roosevelt took office. Other indicators of economic health, such as Gross National Product, also reversed their staggering decline.† (Murphy 12). It seemed, availability of public funds freed many people from starvation and despair. In one of the accounts of the Senate Committee on Manufacturers (1932), the Committee’s member exemplifies horrors of the Great Depression through recalling a woman who â€Å"borrowed 50 cents from a friend and bought stale bread for 3 and a half cents per loaf, and that is all they had for eleven days except for one or two meals†. His other examples include people picking up food that accidentally fell from the goods t rain, people starving for two days and finally feeding themselves with dandelions (Senate Committee on Manufacturers). The photo taken during the time of Great Depression illustrates how undernourished and emaciated people were in their efforts to earn at least a dollar or two (See Picture 1). But as soon as 1938 a new disaster struck. As there appeared to be a 3 per cent collapse within the economic output, the unemployment rate also soared to the yearly figure of 19 per cent. This came to be known as â€Å"depression within the Depression† (Murphy 13). Roosevelt’s New Deal turned out to be incapable of producing the expected full recovery. This view has been supported by professors Cole and Ohanian, the...The booming prosperity of the American economy in the 1920s suddenly collapsed due to unexpected stock market crash in 1929. For the decade that followed, the country found itself stuck in an unprecedented economic depression.Statistically, the unemployment rate in the United States soared as high as to 25 per cent (to compare: in 1929 it was just 3.2 per cent). Industrial figures were no better. For example, overall production within industries declined by a half with international trade decreasing by 30 per cent. Roosevelt that took the office in 1933, just at the peak of Great Depression, proposed the Americans â€Å"The New Deal†. It was a policy that aimed at ending Depression through extensive government intrusion. It suggested new legislation that increased the role of government in the life of the American society. The New Deal, though rather slowly, appeared to be working. As Robert Murphy writes, â€Å"Although still abysmal, the unemployment numbers finally began receding almost the moment Roosevelt took office. Other indicators of economic health, such as Gross National Product, also reversed their staggering decline.† . Interestingly, despite the fact that many modern historians are inclined to depict Roosevelt as a saver, and his New Deal policy as a successful recovery act, his close colleague and advisor Henry Morgenthau was known to think the opposite.