The New Deal

                America was booming in the 20’s, until the stock market crashed, where then everyone was affected by one of the worst time periods in American History, the Great Depression.  The Great Depression caused much stress for everyone.  For example, janitor George had been saving 1,000 dollars in the bank for 40 years.  The bank later crashed and he never got his money.  He was so depressed that he committed suicide. In order to take America out of its hard times, Roosevelt created the “New Deal.”  With this deal, it was supposed to help all Americans survive the Great Depression.  The New Deal had many positives.  For example, it helped employ nearly 8.5 million people.  It also helped build 78,000 bridges, 116,000 buildings, and 651,000 miles of public road.  The Triborough Bridge was built in 1939.  It connected the Bronx, Manhattan, and Queens.  This helped improve transportation.   While the New Deal had many goods, there were problems, as it didn’t help everyone.   The aid that the New Deal gave didn’t benefit blacks.  Due to the racism in the 1930’s, federal programs were often ran by racists, who denied blacks aid.  Also, the AAA gave white landowners cash for not growing crops, but didn’t give money to blacks, who were often the ones doing the farming.  Women also were left out.  The Economy Act prohibited the federal government from hiring members of the same family.  This hurt women, as their husbands often got first priority for the job. 

Even with the bad, ultimately, the legacy of the New Deal was that it saved the country.  America was in an awful depression in the 1930’s.  While some groups of people didn’t get the benefits that whites got, still, the New Deal was able to take America out of the depression.  The government had to intervene to save the government, and they did just that.  For example, the Emergency Banking Acts saved the banks, so tragedies like janitor George wouldn’t happen again.  Even with the racism and sexism, the New Deal will be remembered as a well-executed plan that saved the government.