Reforms in the U.S.

For example, the gains won by the women's liberation movement were the result primarily of pressure from organized groups of women and their male supporters in and out of the government.

The same is true of the civil rights movement. Without the pressure put on the government by the organized civil rights activists of the movement, the Presidential efforts, major Congressional legislation and court decisions on behalf of such rights would certainly not have taken place when they did.

The programs of the New Deal, on the other hand, were the result of profound social and economic necessity. Certainly there were groups which were demanding reform from the government, but even without such group pressure, the federal government would have had to institutionalize massive reforms in order to meet the peoples' basic needs as a result of the Depression.

One facet of this issue is clear---a specific era of reform which y

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programmatic consistency. The first New Deal . . . concentrated on relief and recovery, while [the second New Deal] was more involved with social reform. The generally conservative nature of reform created by the federal government is to be expected, considering the scope of such reform. After all, it is the government of all the people. On the other hand, a smaller and more focused special interest group seeks more radical reform for its own members, without consideration for the impact such reform might have on members outside the group. The New Deal, in any case, was able to implement both short-term and long-term reforms with little difficulty (especially in its first years) because the nation wanted and expected such reform. No interest group will likely ever bring about anything resembling the reforms of the New Deal. The executive branch of the government was greatly strengthened, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and social security brought some measure of financial stability to institutions and individuals, "and rural electrification, the WPA, and the CCC changed the lives of millions." The New Deal also institutionalized "federal responsibility for the health of the economy, and dramatically increased govern
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Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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