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The New Deal and the Great Depression

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The great depression was a worldwide economic depression that started in 1929 in most countries. The depression was finally ended in 1941 with the start of world war one. The most commonly held view is that the New Deal enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt was the cause for economic recovery. Some economist would argue that it only accelerated the recovery. However there is a select group of people that believe the New Deal polices actual hindered the United States economic success and prolonged the great depression. On one hand Gary Dean Best would argue that the New Deal absolutely did indeed hinder the recovery of the country from the Great Depression. On the other, Roger Biles would say that the New Deal did not prolong the Great Depression. Gary Dean Best bases his argument on the fact that the nation did not recover from the great depression until world war two. “My principal problem with Roosevelt and the New Deal was not over his specific reforms or his social programs, but with the failure of the United States to recover from the depression during the eight peacetime years that he and his polices governed the nation.” (Best 123). He cites the labor force as being 14 percent unemployed and considers this time a tragic failure for America. Best says that historians have thought for a long time that Roosevelt needed to spend more money to recover from the depression and this does not happen until the Second World War. Best examined people from this era to see if anyone was suggesting this idea of spending more and those people were considered to be greedy and self-interested in their own business investments leaving their opinions behind. He then examines statistics from that era. The death rate from “accidental falls” was “In fact, according to Historical Statistics, the death rate by "accidental falls" was higher in the period 1934-1938 than at any other time between 1910 and 1970” (best 126). There are als

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