The first major school of thought to address the New Deal were the Progressives. To the Progressives they viewed America’s past in terms of conflict between liberalism and conservatism, so they believed that the advances made by Roosevelt were a mile stone in the struggle against monopolies and the privileged. They saw it as an advancement towards greater political, economic, and social equality. The next major thinkers on the subject were the conservative writers who accused Roosevelt of undermining individual fr

eedom, and that he was forcing a bloated centralized government on the people that prohibited the self-correcting processes that would have taken place. The New Left historians viewed the New Deal in a more critical light than before. They viewed the New Deal as a temporary solution but did not solve the problems of separation that it claimed to such as poverty and racism. They viewed it in a less positive way than historians before them. Recent historians have viewed the era in a more objective manner, setting aside the favortism for social reform or corporate hegemony, and looking at the limits and achievements of the New Deal.

The revolution brought about through the New Deal also gave an example to the rest of the world that economic stability did not have to come through radical regimes such as the Nazis or the work of Mussolini or Lenin. America had changed from its beginnings of an agricultural society to a modern industrial society. Problems arose because of big business and classes were separated into the low wage workers and the more elite businessmen. According to Leutchenburg Roosevelt’s Administration primarily reached out to the poor, but it did not ignore the needs of the upper class or take their money away in a Robin Hood fashion. He played the New Deal to help primarily the poor, but essentially it was used as a balancing force between the two classes. He did, however, invade the power possessed by the corporate America to step in on behalf of the low wage workers. Leucthenburg said this is where the Revolution occurred. Against the will of many he put through the New Deal because he knew society had to undergo a revolution if it were to survive the depression. Never before had the government stepped in and taken control of the economy to the degree of forming a more centralized state that regulated business and gave out money for the benefit of the everyone.

Although the elite did succeed at first in keeping their power by implementing the New Deal, expectations were made by the common people that the government should provide help for them after they saw the effects of some of Roosevelt’s early acts in the New Deal. The masses wanted an expansion of the system to cover much more than it did. The people began to consider

Some topics in this essay:
Roosevelt’s Deal, Roosevelt Deal, Progressives Progressives, Depression Deal, Robin Hood, William Leuchtenburg, Leucthenburg Revolution, Lenin America, Roosevelt’s Administration, , social movements, deal programs, low wage workers, corporate elitists, role government, appease masses, centralized government, historians viewed, social reform, help society, viewed deal, franklin roosevelt deal,