Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Moving Forward No Matter What

These sources indicate the importance of action in New Deal programs.  The piece about the Dust Bowl shows us the sense of desperation in those that have not moved forward.  The Oklahoma and pandhandle of Texas suffered so much from environmental destruction that many people found it necessary to leave the region entirely. 

The New Deal programs demonstrate that not only is it important for people to get back to work, but also to utilize natural resources in a more efficient and productive manner.  FDR stresses that rebuilding the country also means improving it for the future and ensuring that it would continue to grow. In addition to the Hoover dam, the Chrystler building, the Empire State Building, Rockefeller center and Mount Rushmore (to name a few) were all completed in the midst of the Great Depression.  Clearly these were all very expensive projects, and they all epitomize America today.  The old adage, "you have to spend money to make money" resonates with me as I imagine the country in crisis continuing to build rather than recoil in fear.

What, in your mind, did these New Deal programs accomplish?  What impact did they have on how the United States imagined itself?

12 comments:

  1. In my mind, I think that these New Deal programs did accomplish a lot. It accomplished the creation of the Hoover Dam, which created a lot of job opportunities for people over a long period of time to accomplish a huge task. The impact that they had on how the United States imagined itself was that the US could accomplish anything even if they think it is impossible with a lot of people to help them work through it. Not only did the US now have an idea have a good foundation for the present but people could look forward and be inspired to lay a good foundation for the future.

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  2. I think that The New Deal was a solution for the depression, the poverty and everything that the US were suffering. First of all as Meghan said, in creating the Hoover Dam, it gave a lot of jobs which were very necessary at that time since people were sicking for them above all for engineers, architects and these kind of jobs. But also I think it had many other projects such as reconstructing infrastructures such as roads etc.
    This gave so much hope to everyone in the country and finally the US proved that they could work as a country to show that they could be as great as they had been in the past.

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  3. Well I believe the New Deal programs did a lot for America during this time. It gave a lot of unemployed people jobs. So the unemployment rate went down a lot. Also The programs helped improved many things like schools. It brought the economy back to where it was before the crash and it was improved. This made other countries start to fear America. Because they were now a force to be reckoned with.

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  4. The New Deal Programs were in fact successful. The increases stress on infrastructure provided a new opportunity for jobs and secured the future physical state of the country. The country was able to show their strength giving others more hope in their fellow citizens and thus the country. This hope brought america back from their slump and on the right track back to world power.

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  5. The New Deal Programs were a success. They created jobs, the construction of the Hoover Dam created a plethora of desperately needed jobs. The fact that such huge projects like the Empire State Building and Rockefeller Plaza continued manufacture during the great depression shows persistence and 'pushing through', although Mount Rushmore was developing, the project was eventually ended due to lack of funding. Which is why it is still to this day incomplete.

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  6. The New Deal programs did a lot for the country. It really helped them during rough times. They created a lot of jobs which helped the economy greatly. This decreased the unemployment rate a lot. The Hoover dam was a creation that really helped with creating jobs. Without the Hoover dam I don't think that the US would have gotten back on its feet and made it out of the depression like they did. It gave a lot of hope to everyone and kept their futures bright. Without these New Deal Programs it would have been very difficult for the US to get out of the depression and decrease the amount of citizens that were unemployed.

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  7. I think the New Deal programs did its good. FDR, in the program accomplished a lot of very expensive projects. Certainly he took a lot of risks to spend that much money during the time of the deepest depression. However, "spending money can make more money", not only it opened up a lot of new jobs but also built a number of amazon architects. The New Deal not only focused on bring the economy back but also cared about the future, and kept the economy healthy for a very long time.

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  8. i think the new deal programs only accomplished good. It helped the US alot with coming out of the depression. I agree with Lupeng that it was a risky move but overall it helped open up a ton of jobs and improve the economy tremendously. With this new plan it also gave the people hope for a better future and that they would finally be able to get out of this depression and the country would be back on its feet.

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  9. I think that these New Deal programs were defiantly what the United States needed to get out of the depression. By implementing the construction of the dam and the protection of natural resources, Roosevelt not only made people aware that the environment was important in order to be able to live their daily lives but also helped improve the circumstances created by man. For example, as the reading stated the dust bowl was created because of improper care of the land which resulted in access dirt. he truly knew the importance of man and nature working together. Not to mention that by doing this he created jobs, and gave Americans something to be proud of, in a time like the depression it is what they needed to get out of the slumps and work towards a new era.

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  10. It allowed for people to grab the american dream in a time of despair and keep it alive. it gave people a sense of power and security for the future knowing that they could prosper from the new deal benefits. money is a needed commodity due to fact that bargaining usually isn't parallel to actual value. people know this and rely on money so heavily that with a little bit of money, security and a goal nothing is unreachable. this s what the new deal provided.

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  11. The New Deal program, even though it was criticized by some people, was a right plan for america to get out of great depression. Unlike Hoover, who limited government spending thereby increasing the deflation, Roosevelt knew that in order to make money, money had to be spent. Therefore, he had built Hoover Damn, Empire State building and etc. Plus, FDR knew that what the economy needs is confience. Therefore, he gave speeches regarding his new deal plan through radio which encouraged confience within the population. In addition, he had enacted many acts ,such as Glass-Steagall Banking Reform Act, that had improved the conditions and created organizations such as AAA, in order to control deflation of the farm good prices and FERA, in order to create jobs and grant funds to states/locals.

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  12. Bringing this back to yesterday's question, the New Deal programs accomplished not only physical success, but also ideological success. The Tennessee Valley Dam and the Hoover Dam were both huge projects that took upon enormous amounts of money in a struggling economy, but they produced countless, much needed jobs and brought our country into the technological future. These dams also created an astronomical amount of hydroelectric power and drinking water for their corresponding regions. They brought stability back into a tumultuous country. No longer was there a threat of droughts or flooding; farmers had two less things to worry about. These projects, and the various iconic skyscrapers built at the same time, also brought confidence to the American people. When they saw the government and big businesses growing and spending money they began to have more faith in the economy. And the sheer magnitude of these projects must have strengthened the American people's opinion of their own power and potential; they created national pride.

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