Create a new account

It's simple, and free.

Perceptions of Government Role in the 1930's

Perceptions of Government Role in the 1930's

In the 1930Æs, the Great Depression descended upon the American people, and their perceptions of the role of the government changed accordingly. Understandably, the key issue in politics at the time was economics, and people began looking to the government to remedy the problems in the economy. Traditionally, the government had left relief to the private sector, but after the depression, protective legislation and relief organizations abounded: The Social Security Act to ensure income for the elderly, the Wagner Act of 1935 to give workers the right to unionize, and the founding of the Congress of Industrial Organizations to improve conditions for blue-collar workers were just a few (Sutton). ôBy the beginning of the next decade the United States had gone from a laissez-faire economy that regulated its own conduct to a large-scale federal oversight of the economyö (Sutton). This created a government that was seen as a gigantic relief-provider. The shift is evident in the difference between government spending then and now; in 1929, only 3% of the economy was attributable to government spending. In the 1930Æs, government spending averaged about 10%, but by 1955, it exceeded 17.5%. Today, government spending is more than 21.5% (Fox).

As the governmentÆs role began to be perceived more and more as a provider of benefits and relief, the governmentÆs power increased as well, in terms of its ability to control the economy. No one wanted a repeat of the Great Depression, so the government began monitoring the economy and exerting controls on it to keep it from slipping out of line again. Government control was not necessarily seen by many as a bad thing, because there was a growing sentiment that with the depression, capitalism had failed (Roberts & Stratton). As a result, individual responsibility for financial solvency was essentially passed to the government, which was expe...

Page 1 of 2 Next >

More on Perceptions of Government Role in the 1930's...

Loading...
APA     MLA     Chicago
Perceptions of Government Role in the 1930's. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 08:39, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1712347.html