The “American Way” and how it was at odds with Roosevelt’s New Deal
Is the “American Way” a myth, a wonderful ideal but something never a part of reality? Or is it really America’s guiding ethos: the beliefs and ideals that make America a great nation? A matter of national self-identity even?
They say the best time to judge an individual is when facing a set-back. So with a nation, and the Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression that followed could certainly be called a set-back. So let’s take a look at the “American Way”, put it in the context of the Great Depression and see where the New Deal upholds the ideal or challenges it.
The “American Way” comes out of the motivating drive of the first settlers in America, their rejection of the divine right of kings and the estates system that was eighteenth, even nineteenth century Europe, and the lack of opportunity as well as intolerance that went with it (not least religious intolerance). And we see it at the heart of America’s fight for independence: ‘We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable; that all men are created equal and independent, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent and inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’ is at the heart of the American Declaration of Independence
So at the heart of the “American Way” is the individual, free and with rights but also with responsibilities. The individual is free from the likes of discrimination and arbitrary arrest, and is free with an equal opportunity to pursue his dreams, protected by a representative democracy that he is free to take part in.
But such freedom demands self-reliance, hard work and self-improvement is at the core of how an individual is valued. Success is measured in wealth and material goods, but also in status and respect of peers; all of which is gained on merit. Optimism and the refusal to be fatalistic is a particularly positive characteristic. Energy and will-power is seen as important as intelligence and skills. The “American Way” brings the “American Dream”: upward mobility, all the way to the top, baby!
As for society at large, continuous progress and improvement is the expectation. And in the economy the emphasis is on free enterprise, minimal government involvement in the economy (or interference, if you prefer – in Europe we call it laissez-faire) but also with welfare support: unemployment, sickness, old age benefits, even health care.
And in all this is a sense of ‘American exceptionalism’ – this is what has made America great: we are different, we are the best.
The Great Depression put millions of Americans on their knees, feeling helpless in the midst of forces they had no control over, and nor it seemed had their government. It led to lost farms, lost businesses, unemployment and homelessness. It led to mental depression. The “American Way” – self-reliance, hard work, self-improvement – didn’t seem to be the answer; a sense of fatalism seemed unavoidable. Farm closures, bankruptcies, queues for jobs were all growing. There just didn’t seem to be a way out.
Enter FDR and the New Deal: ‘So first of all let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.’ So, no room for fatalism. Roosevelt was to bend his back and get down to work straight away, dragging America out of the abyss and back onto its true path. But was he?
This is where his critics attacked him:
America had been built and made a great power on the principles of individual effort, self-reliance and minimal government intervention.
The WPA, for example, was criticised for paying people to do unnecessary jobs.
The New deal was weakening the American spirit, their reliance on self-help.
The New Deal had to be paid for and this mostly meant out of taxes
The NRA and the TVA in particular were seen as too like the central economic planning associated with the Soviet Union.
They would further undermine the ‘American way’, making people dependent on government help.
Business leaders also criticised Roosevelt for interfering in their businesses. Roosevelt’s support of trade unionism angered them, as did his campaign to raise wages. Such things should be left to market forces.
They also complained that the NRA, with its codes and regulations, was bureaucratic and added to their costs. And they balked against making social security contributions.
They also complained about schemes like the TVA which they argued meant that the government competed unfairly with privately owned businesses. America was looking like the Soviet Union, they argued.
Whilst the wealthy in general resented the higher taxes they were obliged to pay. Wealth, they argued, was the result of hard work, and high taxes a disincentive to work hard.