New Deal Thesis

The New Deal can be considered as a new chapter in the lives of many Americans who have been affected as a result of the Great Depression. It is no surprise that the people once again relied on the government to assist them in their lowest of times. However, if we take a look into the past, we can conclude that the government is not much of a resource when it comes to progressing in order to become a better society. In this essay I will include all of the reasons as to what hardship the New Deal faced along with what solutions were offered in return. One of the concerns that occurred during the Great Depression leading up to the New Deal had to be the working conditions. In the “Letter to Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins” many issues were …show more content…
This would be in consideration of the National Labor Relations Act, also known as the Wagner Act. Before this Act was passed, employers were free to almost any form of cruelty and even discharge those who were in unions. Spying was among one of the acts that took place in the workforce. “ They have sent among us swarms of stool pigeons,who have spied upon us in the mills, in our meetings and even in our homes” (SWOC pg 164) The purpose of The National Relations Act was to prevent these crucial acts against the employees in the workplace. Those that wanted to be in unions had the right to organize and the employers were to respect that decision. This has always been a problem in the workplace, especially with big industries such as steel, mining, and railroad industries, where there would be unfair actions from the employers to the employees and on top of that would be the long hours and the low wages. For the government to finally side with them and be pro-union was one of the solutions to help for the better of employees in the New Deal. In the future these members of the union hope to accomplish the dream that others in the past did not conquer as they state, “ We shall make the real dreams of the pioneers who pictured America as a land where all might live in comfort and happiness.” ( SWOC p166). They are also proud of the fact that they can be in unions to serve this very purpose, “ In support of this …show more content…
This conflict was in regards to the huge unemployment rate and the disagreement that women should not take place in the workforce. Women were always believed to stay at home and do all the house chores and take care of the children while doing the typical cooking and cleaning. It was believed that if the man of the household made a living wage that the woman should have no reason to work. Norman cousins, a journalist in the age of the New Deal, believed that women only worked for the sole purpose of family income and not for the motive of having a career. This is unfair to women, women have just as much rights to have a job as men do. Cousins’ reasoning behind why women should be eliminated from the workforce were mainly reasons of stereotypical gender roles. That the people would have a higher preference of seeing a woman nurse, a woman maid and a woman receptionist rather than seeing a male teacher, male salesclerk and male phone operators. He also argues that the typical role of the housewife is losing itself with all these new changes of the new age. now that women have more freedom they wish to make better of themselves from all these years that they have been repressed from rights such as voting and employment. Men were never repressed and the fact that they argued over unemployment and blamed it on the women was ludicrous. The New Deal brought about this