Tag: New Deal

03/16/11

New Deals – Farm

During the Great Depression farmers and farms were having a very difficult time. Many farmers were having trouble making money because of the Great Depression consumers didn’t have enough money to buy food. Many farmers lost their farms and went bankrupt for over producing food and being unable to sell it.

The cartoon is trying to portray how bad farms were doing in the Great Depression and how F.D.R was going to use the New Deal help farmers. The way the New Deal help farmers is by setting up the Agricultural Agreement Act (AAA) The AAA told farmers to produce fewer products and sell it for a higher price in order to get money and bring the farms back to what they once were.

03/16/11

New Deal:Gone With the Wind… Or Not!

Getty Images: Picture shows FDR shifting his focus from the economy to the World War

The Cartoon illustrates FDR shifting his attention from the economical conditions at home to obtaining victory in the World War. I think the artist was trying to portray this shift in focus by illustrating  FDR in a car labeled “Win the War” which moves much faster than the horse the men are on labeled “New Deal”. The New Deal was sought out after The Great Depression to ease the effects of the economic downfall. There were many programs put into way in order to provide relief, recovery and reform. However, during the time the artist is portraying is when World War II came about.

World War II came about in December 1941. During this time efforts to get supplies as soon as possible regardless of price or quality were underway. The idea of the New Deal suddenly hit rock bottom. It was no longer needed because people suddenly needed workers in factories to develop the supplies needed in war. The gap between classes suddenly decreased due to the high employment rates. Overtime that was provided in this time of need was very helpful to many families who suffered before.

03/15/11

This will help … hopefully

The image is from the Library of Congress. (LIC)

The Great Depression was a trying time for all americans nation wide. With failing banks, droughts, unemployment and severe poverty everywhere, more and more americans sought help from the government. President FDR recognized this outcry and introduced the New Deal, a possible solution to the great depression. Although government spending would increase the nation’s deficit, FDR felt it was necessary in order to get the economy running again. By introducing new programs such as the PWA, NRA, TVA, AAA, CCC and SSA, FDR was able to implement more money to produce more jobs, consumer spending, and reforms to the current financial systems.

The cartoon above was produced in 1933 as a respond to FDR’s New Deal. In the cartoon FDR exclaims ” UNCLE I’M SURELY EXPECTING SOMETHING!”. This statement seems to signify a possible change in the economy after a number of welfare programs (stockings) have been created to help americans. Although the programs seem to relieve some desperation during the great depression, it seems like FDR is unsure what the final result will be. However, FDR expects to see a significant change that will eventually pull the nation out of depression and hopefully prevent a future one.

03/15/11

FDR and the New Deal

From the cartoon, we can see a man was surrounded by a bunch of dancing kids. The man in the middle was President Franklin D. Roosevelt; on the backs of the kids’ shirts were printed WPA, PWA AND AAA, which stand for Works Progress Administration, Public Works Administration (which constructed roads, dams, and public buildings), and Agricultural Adjustment Act (which provided funding to farmers to curtail their production). These were all the programs set up under FDR’s New Deal. There were some other kids facing us, which from the artist’s points should represent the other programs adopted by FDR, such as Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which served to insure deposits in banks, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which provided for navigation, flood control, electricity generation and economic development in the Tennessee River Valley and the National Industrial Recovery Act (NRA), which provided for codes of fair competition to regulate industry, and for the first time in American history guaranteed the rights of labor to bargain collectively, etc. These programs were responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call the “3 Rs”: relief, recovery, and reform. That is, relief for the unemployed and poor; recovery of the economy to normal levels; and reform of the financial system to prevent a repeat depression.

03/15/11

New Deal- The Trojan Horse

Throughout the history of United States, reforms and new policies have always encountered as invasion of rights by certain skeptics. Due to the political culture of America, politicians are very reserved about letting the federal government to become more powerful. This has remain true even during the Great Depression. Although the entire nation was desperate for solutions to their economics disparity, many citizens were still conscious of their political rights and freedom despite of their poverty.

The political cartoon above has demonstrated this idea perfectly. When Franklin Roosevelt proposed his New Deal as the solution to the Great Depression to the Congress, certain politicians have viewed the reform as an invasion to the Congress. The cartoonist believed that the New Deal was making an attempt to obtain more power than it should by taking advantage of the economic disaster. The cartoon is referring to the policies that expands the power of the federal government, such as the establishment of Civilian Conservation Corps (CVC) and Public-Works Projects (PWA). Those two policies have hired many civilians for the constructions of parks, roads, bridges, and other public buildings, and critics complained that these policies are gaining control of the citizens by creating employment opportunities. Certain critics also considered such policies as a step toward socialism and communism. They believed that such economic policies are Trojan horses that would transform our capitalistic nation to socialistic/communistic country.

03/15/11

Deal Me In

I am not sure when this cartoon was published, but it looks pretty old. It was published in the Pittsburgh Press. This cartoon took a play on the word ‘Deal.’ In this cartoon we see a poker hand of 4 Aces and a King. In poker that is 4 of a kind, a great hand. I think the author is praising the New Deal. He is saying that it is really great, just like the poker hand. The title says “It IS a New Deal,” probably referring to a “new hand” after the Great Depression. This hand is a winner, showing how the author praises the New Deal.

As we see the hand comprises of Protection of Gold, Bank Holiday, Budget Message, Inaugural Address, and Bank Legislation. In Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Address he mentioned how he was going to dethrone all the bad bankers, and how he was going to help fix the mess we were in. In 1933 Roosevelt closed all the banks for 3 days. He did this in order to allow certified reviewers to check them. He wanted to make sure banks were running smoothly, and also wanted all his laws to pass. He also did not want everybody rushing to take out their money, and so he closed the banks. He also go rid of the gold standard, a change that still exists today. There were many more components to the New Deal, but this author focuses on the first few. He is in favor of the New Deal, but not all of America was aboard the same ship.