spent on the programmes of the New Deal were
balanced by savings secured by reducing veterans’
allowances, curtailing unemployment reliefs and
discharging government employees. What one
hand gave, the other took away, and federal deficits
increased only gently in 1933 and 1934. The fed-
eral government had played a larger role and
Roosevelt was genuinely responsive to the needs of
the poor; but in the end practical achievements,
when seen against the vastness of the problem,
proved insufficient to ‘cure’ unemployment.
The New Deal policies ran into trouble in
- While the congressional elections of 1934
had strengthened the reformers, the Supreme
Court took a conservative view of constitutional
rights. In May 1935 the Court invalidated the
NIRA as an unconstitutional delegation of power
and regulation of business. Roosevelt’s adminis-
tration was already moving towards changes in
the New Deal and so did not attempt to re-
enact any parts of the NIRA. The attempt to
cooperate with business had not led to the
expected beneficial results. The New Deal legisla-
tion of 1935 to 1936 sought to reform business
practices and to destroy concentrations of busi-
ness power. Another important decision was
to create many more jobs – ‘work relief’ – by
setting up the Works Progress Administration
under Harry Hopkins and providing it with
large funds; $1.47 billion on average in a full
year (1936–40). Besides public works, Hopkins
created projects for out-of-work artists and
writers. The latter collected information and
wrote guide books. Many suddenly discovered a
new vocation for writing. Nearly 1.5 million pro-
jects were set up which, at different periods of
time, employed a total of more than 8.5 million
people during its years of operation. Even so,
all these programmes absorbed only one-third of
the unemployed.
One of the most significant reforms of the
New Deal era was the introduction – belated in
comparison to other Western nations – of basic
welfare policies such as old-age pensions. The
passage of the Social Security Act in August
1935, inspired by the efforts of Frances Perkins,
provided – besides federal old-age pensions –
unemployment insurance and help to the less
privileged. Many of the poorest sections of
American society were still excluded, but the Act
marked a beginning on which later expansion
could be built. The growth of labour unions and
recognition of their rights by the National Labor
Relations Act (Wagner Act) further limited busi-
ness power. All in all, the New Deal had redis-
tributed power in the community and greatly
increased that of the federal government.
In November 1936 Roosevelt was re-elected
to a second term by a bigger victory than in 1932,
gaining 61 per cent of the popular vote. He rep-
resented the non-revolutionary change the major-
ity of voters wished to see. His biggest personal
political setback occurred soon after the election,
when he attempted to change the composition of
the Supreme Court, which threatened his New
Deal legislation. He requested Congress to legis-
late that the Supreme Court could be enlarged by
the president appointing an additional supple-
mentary justice for every existing justice over the
age of seventy who did not wish to retire. But
Congress refused to tamper with the Court in this
way. Nevertheless, Roosevelt’s complaints of the
Court’s unresponsiveness to social needs seems to
have produced a change of attitude; the Court
ceased to be the conservative obstacle to New
Deal legislation after 1936. In any case, gradually
Roosevelt’s nominees came to predominate as the
older judges retired.
That the New Deal was not even larger in
scope was not so much due to the attacks of its
opponents as to the policies of the administration
itself. Roosevelt never could abandon his belief in
a ‘sound money’ policy. He favoured keeping
spending within well-controlled limits. A reces-
sion in 1937 was followed by a slow recovery but,
even in 1940, 15 per cent of the workforce
remained jobless. Yet, America in 1940 was very
different from when Roosevelt first entered the
White House. He had sought reform and change,
but not a revolution of the capitalist system. His
bold approach, his faith in democracy and his
desire to help the ordinary people, the disadvan-
taged and the poor, not only brought hope where
there had been despair but also significantly
changed American society and attitudes.
1
THE DEPRESSION, 1929–39 167
