The New Deal Pros And Cons

President Franklin D. Roosevelt 's New Deal program, a plan to reverse the issues created during the Great Depression, was met with a number of intense criticisms and opposition. Two particular critics of the New Deal program included Roosevelt 's predecessor and political opponent, President Herbert Hoover, who was blamed for the Great Depression, and Minnie Hardin, a taxpaying farmer disillusioned with what the New Deal had created. Roosevelt 's New Deal, according to The American Promise Vol. 2, published by Bedford St. Martin 's, was a plan to, "provide relief to the destitute..., foster the economic recovery of farms and businesses [creating jobs] and reducing the need for relief; and to reform the government and economy [that would] reduce …show more content…
Hoover felt that Roosevelt 's would only delay the recovery of America after the Great Depression, especially under leaders "who know no longer believe in a system based upon liberty." The New Deal in his eyes were not found upon what the conservatives saw in their ideals of American liberty. He compares the New Deal to the situation in Europe where their "philosophy is founded on the coercion and compulsory organization of men", those of whom are "imprisoned and dying" (Hoover). Hoover believed Roosevelt 's ideas were in contrast to America 's well known idea of liberty by stating that they 're no different from the ones that were forced upon Europeans, who he claimed were arrested and …show more content…
President Roosevelt 's New Deal program did have many benefits to the underprivileged who could not afford a sustainable living, however it did create resentment and tension from conservative middle-classed Americans when witnessing people abuse tax dollars. In her letter, Hardin gives out a bitter tone describing how she and others like her have to work hard all day in the fields, with "several women faint[ing] at work" while the "human parasites" (welfare receivers) did not have to work and received homes and "beggars ' allowances" all at the expense of the taxpayer (Hardin). While very spiteful in her letter, Hardin does have legitimacy in her complaints. Hardin described cases of people abusing the welfare system and felt it was not fair for those who worked hard all day and paid their taxes only to see their taxes fund the lives of people she deemed as lazy deadbeats who refused to work out of selfish greed. It was theft in her perspective. She mentioned that "No one should have the right to vote theirself a living at the expense of the taxpayers", suggesting that these people should not be able to vote (Hardin). The lack of voting would ensure that the "pampered poverty rats" would not take control of the country as they were growing in