Why did the New Deal encounter opposition?
Not Enough
The left
Dr Francis Townsend
Huey Long
He supported the New Deal
He used his power to help the poor and African Americans
Public enterprises contracted the same amount of African Americans and White people
Built roads, schools, hospitals
He taxed by corporations and businessmen
By 1934 he was critisised for not doing enough
He created a programe called "Share our wealth"
All personal fortunes would be reduced to $3 million maximum
Maximum income would be $1 million per year
He used illegal ways of getting to power
1932 Senator for Luisiana
1928 Governor of Lousiana
Some high profile figures thought it wasn't enough
Father Charles Coughlin
For poor people, African Americans and poor Farming Areas
Opposition from the supreme court
The court was mainly formed by republicans who were in opposition of the New Deal
This was a problem for Roosevelt as they could overturn laws if they mean to.
So he requested the congress to appoint six more Supreme Court judges who sympathized with the New Deal
Some people saw this as an attack of Roosevelt to the american system of government
Due to this he had to back down
Although in 1937 most of the second New Deal main mesures were approved.
Furthermore, they could turn a blind eye to a law if this was beneficial to them
(obviously not in a "legal" way)
Too much
By
Press and newspaper owners
The Rich
Conservatives and bussiness men
Roosevelt was upsey by the criticism and the tactics used against him by big business and the Republicans
Employers said to their workers that the New Deal would never happened
They said that he was disabled due to a STD
Despite the critcism, he was able to win the elections by a lot
It was criticized for
High taxes discourage people from working hard and it gave money for doing nothing or doing useless jobs
Roosevelt was behaving as a dictator
The New Deal schmes were like the economies plans that were done in the USSR and unsuitable for the democratic, free-market USA
Schemes such as the TVA created unfair competion for private company
Supporting trade unions calls for higher wages
It was too complicated, it has many codes and regulations