How successful was the New Deal?

The Democratic politician Franklin D Roosevelt won the presidential election, and subsequently was sworn in on the 4 March 1933. Unemployment was at roughly 13 million compared to 2.5 in 1929, and the droughts of 31 meant that approximately 2 million ex-farmers, now hobos, were wandering across the country. Promising a New Deal to the people of America, Roosevelt planned to restore America to its former prowess. With such a large number of the population unemployed, one of the major aims of the New Deal was to drastically reduce the number on dole. Passing the Public Work Administration, Civil Works Administration, and the Civil Conservation Corps all helped to achieve this target, with the latter two contributing a total of 6.5 million jobs. Re-elected in 1940, a Boston newspaper report in November suggested a major factor in his victory was that his hugely successful strives to help the unemployed had resulted in hundreds [given] pay rises under the wage-hour law... Hundreds of seasonal workers... helped out in the slack months... [And] 600 old people [receiving] old age pensions, securing him a considerable number of votes. To try and deal better with poverty and relief efforts in the future, the New Deal began to implicate new welfare provisions. The Social Security Act (1935) gave 28 million workers insurance against sickness, and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration began to supply state governments with money to help the poor. Although opposition thought the government was now intervening far too much in everyday life, the acts did move America away from the laissez-faire attitude of Hoover, and the former Republican government. In an attempt to restore the countrys crippled economy, Roosevelt made the pace of the ticker tape [depend] ... on Washington, not company board rooms or stockbrokers officers. The New Deal restored faith in the stock market and banks, and passed plenty of Acts through Congress to help the people. Guarding against attempts to fix the prices of stocks and shares with the Securities and Exchange Commission (1934), along with regulating the use of loans to play the stock market helped Roosevelt come closer to his target of economic restoration. However, there were still faults to the New Deal along with Americas economy. In August 1937 unemployment rose by 2.5 million as Roosevelt slashed spending in an attempt to reduce the countrys $4 billion debt, against the recommendations of John Keynes. Many had received jobs through his work in industry and welfare, but anything near full employment was still far a distant dream for many. In reality it was the outbreak of war across Europe in 1940 that allowed Americas production levels to climb to their original levels. Supplying the allies with armaments and equipment majorly boosted the countrys export levels and allowed the wilting New Deal to end. Oliver Deans