Le New Deal comme «faux libéralisme»: le point de vue d'Herbert Hoover (document en anglais)
Compte Rendu : Le New Deal comme «faux libéralisme»: le point de vue d'Herbert Hoover (document en anglais). Recherche parmi 297 000+ dissertationsPar Mertzm • 21 Décembre 2012 • 353 Mots (2 Pages) • 1 189 Vues
-Introduction-
The New Deal as “False Liberalism” : the View of Herbert Hoover
The New Deal was the 1932 election program of Franklin D. Roosevelt thanks to which he
became the 32nd President of the United States. Shortly after he took office in March 1933, he
launched several programs in order to make the country recover from the impact of the 1929 crisis.
These programs introduced more control of the federal government over the economy and therefore
rose criticism especially among Republicans who saw the New Deal as a threat to independence and
liberty. Among them a crop control policy : the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) enacted in May
1933 which offered farmers subsidies in exchange of limitation of the production of specific crops.
Among Roosevelt's critics was former President Herbert Hoover who published a book in
1934 entitled The Challenge to Liberty in which he gave his opinion on the New Deal.
H. Hoover was the 31st President of the United States, from 1929 to 1932, he lost the 1932
election to F. D. Roosevelt. His term was stained by the 1929 crisis. He was a supporter of the letalone
policy; he refused to allow the federal government to have too much power and believed in
“associationalism” which means having business and professional organisations working together
to solve the nation's problems and having the federal government playing only a coordination role
between the two bodies*. However, H. Hoover's policies were vain, the depression only worsened
and reached extreme ends leading to social unrest, racial violence and made the President very
unpopular.
In a passage of his book, Hoover call the New Deal false Liberalism, describing Roosevelt's reforms
as a threat to freedom and individualism defended by the United States constitution. He considered
that there could be no control by the federal government without control of people's lives and the
loss of their freedom.
Considering Hoover's statement one may wonder to what extent was the New Deal in
contradiction with American foundations. At some point, the policies of the New Deal created
dependency on the government but it created also opportunities in time of crisis. Moreover, the lack
of regulations was itself a threat to the American ideals.
*Source : A People and a Nation, Mary Beth NORTON et al.
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