The Challenges to Roosevelt

Roosevelt started to make his new deal on March, 1933. Whenever Roosevelt was making his new deal the Supreme Court ruled that many of Roosevelt's New Deal Programs were unconstitutional. But also many people supported Roosevelt's New Deal because it would help the people who had been affected by the Great Depression. One person who supported Roosevelt was a priest named Charles Coughlin. He was preaching on the radio and and reached 40 million listeners and he really supported Roosevelt but as he began to learn about his New Deal he started to blame the the nation's economic problems on Roosevelt. Many other people also thought that Roosevelt should be doing more for to help the American people. Another important person that didn't support Roosevelt was Huey Long, and he was a governor. He increased states spending on roads, schools, and health care to improve the state. Long was even going to run for president but he got assassinated. So somehow Roosevelt was going to have to find someway to make everyone happy with his new deal.

More New Deal Programs

In 1935, Roosevelt put forth several key plans that had profound effects on American society. Theses dramatic measures helped silence critics and in 1936 he was reelected. The most dramatic change was a law called the Social Security Act (SSA). It provided money to retired workers and unemployed payments to workers who lost their jobs and could not find new ones. Before that, people who lost jobs or grew too old to work had to depend on their families to live. Over time, the Social Security Act transformed people's lives, helping them deal with the hardships of illness and old age.