The New Deal Winds Down: The Legacy of FDR's Programs
Copyright © 2005-6, Henry J. Sage
The setbacks that Franklin Roosevelt underwent during his second term tended to water down his plans to continue expanding the New Deal. Responding to the “Roosevelt recession” of 1937, FDR persuaded Congress to authorize spending of an additional $33 billion, mostly for the WPA and PWA. With that infusion of dollars the economy began to recover once again, but Roosevelt never applied the massive spending that would have been necessary to completely put the economy back on its feet. It was only the huge government spending brought about by World War II that finally brought the American economy back to the robust condition it had enjoyed in 1929. A few additional acts were passed during Roosevelt's second term, but nothing to compare with the huge outpouring of legislation between 1933 and 1936.
In the midterm elections of 1938, the Democrats lost a large number of seats in both the House and Senate, and Roosevelt abandoned any further plans for new reform measures. But despite the fact that the New Deal did not fulfill the hopes of Roosevelt and the American people that the government could wipe out the effects of the Depression, the Franklin Roosevelt's administration, especially his first term, forever changed the relationship between the government and the people, and between the president and Congress. The Tennessee Valley Authority remains a model of a successful government-sponsored massive utility program. The Social Security Act has provided a safety net for millions of Americans, and even as its future seems uncertain in the early part of the 21st century, it has become an expectation of the American people that the government will assist them in their old age. Other reforms in the area of labor, public works and finance have also continued into recent decades. When the stock market experienced a huge drop in 1987, the damage to the American economy the the American psyche overall was negligible, mostly because of safeguards which had been put in place since the disaster of 1929.
Whether or not one agrees with the utility of the New Deal programs conceived by Franklin Roosevelt and the members of his administration, it is undeniable that Franklin Roosevelt was one of the most powerful presidents in American history, and that he probably had as much impact on the United States government as any president since George Washington. By 1940, as has been said elsewhere, the world was a very different place, and President Roosevelt now entered the second challenge of his presidency. As storm clouds arose over Europe and Asia, Roosevelt had another series of battles to fight. First he had to confront the isolationists who believed in the principle of “America first,” and who rejected the notion that the United States ought to become involved in the world conflict. Second, when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, and when Germany declared war on the United States a few days later, Roosevelt faced the challenge of mobilizing the nation to fight the axis powers.