The Legacy of The New Deal

          The New Deal was revolutionary for its time for its progressive measures and for pushing the bounds of what government could do. Its effects are not isolated to the 1930's and subsequent decades but rather the legislation passed during the worst economic turmoil of our nation's history presented ground breaking ideas that still resonate today and will continue to for generations to come.
          Legislatively wise, there are many laws passed as part of the New Deal that still exist today or have adaptations still in use. We still have welfare today and benefit programs that help those unemployed, retired, and disabled. Social Security still exists today with the idea of preventatively helping people for the future.
        Since many of the problems that caused the stock market crash in 1929 were similar to the problems we had in 2008, we have a version of the Glass-Steagall Act today to make sure that banks don't do high risk investments with depositor money. Also, companies today still have to give basic information about earnings and losses that was introduced as part of the New Deal.
          The New Deal not only was groundbreaking in terms of the sheer amount of legislation being passed, but it changed the attitude of Americans. They saw that their wishes as voters could be heard and turn into real change for their everyday lives. The idea also that government could manage banking and business was at the time controversial, but the free market today relies on a lot of the ideas first presented in the New Deal. Even though FDR might was a self declared middle ground man, the democratic party's image as promoting the rights of racial and religious minorities, unions, and the poor has continued to today. Many of the projects of the new deal with infrastructure building and conservation can still be seen today with state parks, limited deforestation, highways, and public structures. How would we be different today if not for the Great Depression? It might have been a horrible time of suffering and economic turmoil, but did the extreme nature of the situation push politics where it wouldn't have gone otherwise?



Corinne McCabe