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  • Essay / Impact of the New Deal on Society - 1623

    People today continue to debate whether the New Deal was radical or conservative using many programs and outcomes as support. The government imposed radical new programs that influenced American society with changes in political and social reforms. Conservatives at the time felt threatened by government interference, believing the changes were leading them toward a socialist style of government. Today, historians view the New Deal as more conservative, the complete opposite of what conservatives at the time thought. With programs that challenged economic, social, and political norms, the New Deal imposed both radical and conservative ideals on American society, leading Franklin D. Roosevelt to leave his lasting imprint and legacy on all presidents and generations to come. Franklin Roosevelt imposed numerous programs aimed at stimulating the economy, both helping and hindering American citizens through banking and financial reform accompanied by government regulation. After declaring the "bank holiday," Roosevelt created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to restore citizens' confidence and ability to trust banks to hold their money. By also separating commercial banks from investment banks, the government was trying to maintain uniformity in money flows. This idea is radical in form due to restrictions imposed by the new government, and conservatives could argue that this movement shows signs of socialism. Many people saw the implications of the demise of free enterprise; Herbert Hoover specifically mentioned in his campaign speech against the New Deal that he proposed "altering the tax laws so as not to defeat free men and free enterprise." The threat to free enterprise challenged the American economy because, middle of paper, with new ideas, presidents after him felt they had much to do. Franklin D. Roosevelt “cast a shadow over his successors” with his New Deal program. Conservatives were constantly worried about the loss of their capitalist economy, but perhaps the greatest achievement of Roosevelt's New Deal was that it never allowed America to completely abandon democracy or turn to socialism or communism. Many New Deal programs solved economic problems but did not completely solve social problems related to equality and discrimination. The New Deal programs took radical steps while moving toward government regulation and intervention, which led conservatives to fear the concentration of power, but the measures and transformations made by Roosevelt during his tenure preserved conservatives' need for capitalism and democracy in government, defining the New Deal as both radical and conservative..