13 Comments
Arjana Begzati
4/2/2014 03:34:24 am
Just like to any administration, Theodore Roosevelt faced opposition, especially for his approaches in economic policies. The New Deal policy was established to help the economy recover and to reduce unemployment. In order to finance the New Deal, Roosevelt increased the taxes for the rich. Obviously the wealthy and the Supreme Court opposed the new policy. Six from the eight programs in the New Deal were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court saw for example the National Recovery Administration (NRA) and the the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) as unconstitutional and illegal. The Supreme Court also argued that the changes the New Deal brought should come from decisions at state and not federal level. This opinion they supported with the argument that acts like that go against the Constitution, since Roosevelt was imposing the federal power of the government on the state governments. The Court said that the state government should be allowed to make decisions on economic needs independent of the federal government. With the New Deal, Roosevelt was also criticized for not doing enough for the poor. Other opponents accused Roosevelt for not being religious in his acts and good for the retired people. Roosevelt responded by drafting a bill called "Judiciary Reorganization a Bill of 1937" to support the parts of the New Deal. This bill covered many aspects, one of which could help Roosevelt bring more support to his policies in the Court.
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AJ Brandt
4/14/2014 03:26:35 am
Great organization, I agree with the points you made.
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Rachel Frantz
4/13/2014 07:24:57 am
The New Deal was opposed to by numerous groups and individuals. Roosevelt’s goal was to create relief for those suffering from unemployment while also reforming the finances of the government to help prevent a depression from happening again. To do this Roosevelt raised taxes on the wealthy and created programs such as the CCC to help with unemployment. The Supreme Court was one of many to oppose Roosevelt’s thinking. The Supreme Court found many of the alphabet laws to be unjust. They believed them to be unconstitutional because the federal government was stepping in on states’ rights. Huey Long was one of the most notable opponents to the New Deal. Long didn’t think Roosevelt did enough for the poor. Long had a plan known as “Share the Wealth” where he discussed the idea of cheaper food for the poor and free education for all. Charles Coughlin, a priest, also voiced his opinion against the New Deal. Coughlin felt as if Roosevelt didn’t do enough for the economy including Roosevelt not doing away with the “money powers.” Roosevelt responded to his critics with the Second New Deal. Under this Roosevelt began organizing social security and the WPA. The first New Deal was aimed at immediate relief while the second was oriented more towards long term relief.
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Megan Chintala
4/13/2014 10:38:57 am
There were many sources of opposition to the New Deal and President Roosevelt. Such as American Liberty League, Dr. Francis Townsend, Father Charles Coughlin, and Senator Huey P. Long. All of to which had different reasoning's of being opposed to President Roosevelt and his objectives. Dr. Francis Townsend gathered over million people to rise against Roosevelt. Townsend was really pushing for the elderly people. The Townsend Plan was to give Americans over the age of 60 monthly government pensions of $200. That is if they were retired. This plan had grabbed the attention of many older men and women. This was pretty much the beginning of Social Security. Father Charles Coughlin had a progressive voice. He was first a supporter of Roosevelt but soon became a critic. He became a critic because he was very upset with what Roosevelt did with the "money powers." Huey Long was almost exactly like Coughlin. He was a supporter at first but then he started to disagree with some of Roosevelt's actions and decisions. Which then made him a critic. He started a program called "Share-Our-Wealth Plan." This was basically saying that the government could end the Depression by using the tax system. He wanted every family to have a minimum of $5000 and an annual wage of $2500. After all this happened in the first New Deal, Roosevelt launched a "Second New Deal." This was to represent a shift in the emphasis of the New Deal. Roosevelt was now willing to do anything he would like with the "Second New Deal" in action.
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Maddy Vogel
4/13/2014 11:51:06 am
Franklin Delano Roosevelt came into office with a plan to relieve the stress and panic of the United States. This plan, referred to as the New Deal, was like any other plan for reform in that it had a vast opposition. A group of wealthy right-wing opponents formed the American Liberty League. This organization’s only purpose was to spread its dislike of the New Deal. However, the American Liberty League failed to gain support outside of its own founders. On the radical left, the Communist and Socialist parties were critical of the implementation of the New Deal’s policies. They too did not manage to rally widespread support. Surprisingly, three specific men were the most harmful influences in the success of the New Deal. The first was Dr. Francis E. Townsend. He was merely an old physician from California. Yet, he managed to accumulate a following of nearly 5 million. His vast following was due to his proposal of the Townsend Plan. This plan would increase retirement pensions for the elderly as long as they did indeed retire and spent their retirement money each month. This way job opportunities and economic stimulation were produced. Father Charles Coughlin was a Catholic priest whose sermons were broadcasted over the radio. He had ideas for banking reform and monetary changes. He established the National Union for Social Justice. Senator Huey P. Long of Louisiana had a history of terminating his political opponents, and when he developed the Share-Our-Wealth Plan and eventually the Share-Our-Wealth Society, he was considered a great threat to the New Deal and President Roosevelt. FDR smartly recognized these threats and launched a “Second New Deal” to try and gain back public support and continue to subdue the economic crises of the era.
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Kirsten Comstock
4/13/2014 01:20:48 pm
There were many people that opposed the New Deal and President Roosevelt. The New Deal was a plan for reform and Roosevelt wanted to have relief for those that were dealing with unemployment and have reform for finances of the government to help prevent another depression from happening. Roosevelt started this by raising taxes on the wealthier people and creating things to help with unemployment. The American Liberty League, Senator Huey P. Long, and the Supreme Court all were major things that opposed this. The Supreme Court was a major player in the opposing side of this. They found some of the laws unjust and believed they were unconstitutional. Huey Long agreed with what Roosevelt was doing, but then he changed and started to disagree with Roosevelt's decisions. Roosevelt then started a new program. It was called "Share Our Wealth Plan" and he said that the government could end and prevent the depression by using a tax system. After the first New Deal he started the Second New Deal. This was to have a shift from the New Deal and do whatever he wanted in the Second Deal. He was trying to get back the public support and prosper with his plans to help and stop the economic crisis that was happening.
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Timmi Keisel
4/14/2014 01:25:23 am
When Franklin Delano Roosevelt came into office, he had plans to lift the United States out of the great crisis of the Great Depression. To approach this monstrous task, FDR created what was known as “The New Deal.” Although Roosevelt was very popular with the majority of Americans, the New Deal did have its critics. A group of wealthy men who opposed FDR created the American Liberty League. On the other hand, many other groups like the Communist Party and Socialist Party were open about their critical thoughts of the New Deal; however, none of these groups were able to capture the support of the general public. Other than several different parties, there were three men who were able to make an impact in criticizing the president’s plan. The first was Dr. Francis Townsend. He and five million followers, many of which were older, believed President Roosevelt should be more generous with the elderly, receiving $200 pensions. The other was Father Charles Coughlin. At first, the Catholic priest from Michigan was a supporter of FDR but grew more and more critical of the president. Along with sermon being broadcasted over the radio, shared his opinions and suggestions over the radio. Coughlin was sold on the idea of nationalization of banks. The most popular of the three men was Senator Huey P. Long. Like Coughlin, Long was originally an FDR supporter. The senator had a dramatic plan to distribute the wealth and gave a speech “Every Man a King” to win an unexpected high number of supporters. His plan was to tax the extremely wealthy and hand that money to the poor to balance the wealth in America. He created a group called Share-Our-Wealth Society, which consisted of a large number of Americans.
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Zane Boerner
4/14/2014 01:59:28 am
Great Answer! You organized your thoughts well and explained your answer thoroughly.
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Zane Boerner
4/14/2014 01:39:09 am
Some of the major opponents of the New Deal came from the American Liberty League, the Communist Party, the Socialist Party, Dr. Frances Townsend, Father Charles Coughlin, and Senator Huey P. Long. The American Liberty League was formed by some of the wealthiest opponents of Roosevelt's. They felt that Roosevelt's New Deal was dictatorial; however, the League was never able to expand much farther than the Northern Industrialist who had founded the League. The radical and semi-radical left parties such as the Communist and Socialist parties also failed to gain very much support. Dr. Frances Townsend proposed the Townsend Plan. In this plan the government would pay elderly retired people 200 dollars every month assuming they spent the money every month. He believed that this would open up jobs for the young and unemployed as well as put more money back into circulation. Townsend had a lot more supporters than the last two groups with over five million supporters who were mainly older men and women. Father Charles Coughlin felt that Roosevelt was not harsh enough with the "money powers". In 1935 he established his own political organization that was called the National Union for Social Justice. Huey Long advocated a wealth redistribution program called the Share Our Wealth Plan. He believed that taxes on the wealthy alone would not end the Depression. The Share Our Wealth Society gained a lot of support. With all of the support behind these organizations advisers were warning Roosevelt that he would have to do something dramatic to counter them. In 1935 he launched the Second New Deal to gain back support.
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Luke Stewart
4/14/2014 03:10:06 am
The two major sources of opposition were Dr. Fancis Townsend, who wanted to give the retired elderly $200 a month, and Father Charles Coughlin and Huey Long, who gained political power quickly. Roosevelt changed his plan and attitude towards big business and proposed the Holding Company Act that was designed to break up utility holding companies.
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Keeya Marquez
4/14/2014 03:17:58 am
Franklin D. Roosevelt came into office with many ideas to help the struggling nation to get back onto it's feet with many new programs, and thus his administration was named "The New Deal". Of course, with the country still struggling, there were critics of the New Deal. One of the first group of critics was the American Liberty League, started by a group of very wealthy Northern Industrialists. However, they failed to gain popularity in the public. Other radical organizations, like the Communist Party, etc. also tried to create opposistion to the New Deal but failed. Other people began to bring up new political progams against the New Deal that earned more public support. Dr. Francis Townsend started the Townsend Program, which would require the government to pay the elderly monthly pensions. This program gained a significant amount of support from the elderly populations. Father Charls Couhglin started the National Union for Social Justice to address the monetary issues he felt Roosevelt did not deal with enough. The final opposisiton, and perhaps the most popular, was the Share-Our-Wealth Program from Huey P. Long. This plan would put more taxations on the wealthy and distribute it among the rest of the country. With so much opposistion and the economy not changing for the better, Roosevelt started the "Second New Deal" to get the public back on board.
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Anthony Brandt
4/14/2014 03:18:35 am
The American Liberty League lead the most effective attacks on the New Deal, ALL was specifically created to appose the dictatorial policies of the New Deal. The Communist and Socialist parties attempted to do so but with little success. Dissident political movements on the other hand caused greater damage. Dr. Robert Townsend lead a movement of more than five million members on an elderly pension plan. Father Charles Coughlin gained many followers for his weekly broadcast of sermons over the radio. He proposed monetary reforms. Roosevelt responded by creating a Second New Deal and created the Holding company Act to break up utility holding companies.
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Sabrina Lousberg
4/14/2014 03:19:20 am
Many people opposed President Roosevelt and the New Deal. The New Deal was a plan for reform. President Roosevelt wanted a reform for finances of the government to help prevent another depression; he also wanted to help people dealing with unemployment. He created many opportunities to help with unemployment and raised taxes on the wealthier people. The American Liberty League, Senator Huey P. Long, and the Supreme Court were some of Roosevelt’s major oppositions. Huey Long agreed with Roosevelt’s decisions in the beginning but eventually changed his mind. The Supreme Court found some of the laws unjust and believed they were unconstitutional. Roosevelt started the “Share Our Wealth Plan” which stated that the government could end and prevent the depression by using a tax system. He also started the Second New Deal. He did these to try to gain back public support and advance his plans to help and stop the economic crisis occurring.
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