Reactions to the New Deal
The New Deal Contested
The New Deal was politically controversial from the moment it began. It faced sustained opposition from the political right and from business interests, but also significant criticism from the left — from those who argued it did not go far enough and actively excluded the poorest Americans. Understanding both types of opposition is essential for assessing the New Deal’s impact and limitations.
The main left-wing critics of the New Deal were Huey Long, who ran his “Share Our Wealth” clubs and threatened to challenge Roosevelt in 1936; Father Charles Coughlin, whose radio programme attracted millions of listeners; and Francis Townsend, who campaigned for a guaranteed pension for all Americans over 60. All three saw Roosevelt’s reforms as inadequate. The right-wing opposition was organised principally through the American Liberty League, founded by conservative Democrats and large corporations.
The Supreme Court Challenge
Between 1935 and 1936, the Supreme Court struck down several major New Deal programmes. The NRA was declared unconstitutional in Schechter Poultry v United States (May 1935) on the grounds that Congress had delegated too much legislative power to the executive branch. The AAA was struck down in United States v Butler (January 1936). These rulings threatened the entire edifice of the New Deal.
Roosevelt’s response — the court-packing plan of February 1937, proposing to add one new justice for each sitting justice over 70 — was rejected even by a Democrat-dominated Congress as an attack on judicial independence. Yet the court effectively backed down anyway, upholding the Wagner Act and Social Security Act in 1937. Historians often refer to this as “the switch in time that saved nine.” The court-packing episode demonstrated the limits of presidential authority and damaged Roosevelt’s reputation for pragmatic compromise.
Huey Long was one of the most colourful and dangerous political figures of the 1930s. As governor of Louisiana, he built roads, hospitals, and schools through a populist political machine that combined genuine reform with authoritarian methods. His “Share Our Wealth” plan proposed to cap personal fortunes at $50 million and use the revenue to guarantee every American family an annual income of at least $2,000. By 1935, the Share Our Wealth clubs had claimed over 7 million members. Political insiders feared Long might draw enough support from Roosevelt to throw the 1936 election to the Republicans. Long was assassinated in September 1935, removing this threat but also one of the New Deal’s most persistent critics.
The New Deal and African Americans
The New Deal’s relationship with African Americans was deeply contradictory. On one hand, more Black Americans benefited from federal programmes than ever before: the WPA employed hundreds of thousands, and Eleanor Roosevelt publicly championed civil rights, resigning from the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1939 when they refused to let Black singer Marian Anderson perform in their hall. Roosevelt appointed a group of African American advisers — informally called the Black Cabinet — headed by Mary McLeod Bethune.
Despite these gestures, the New Deal’s core programmes systematically excluded Black workers. The Social Security Act excluded domestic servants and agricultural labourers — the two occupations that employed the majority of Black Americans, especially in the South. The AAA’s production reduction payments went to landowners, while African American sharecroppers were displaced when landlords took land out of production rather than passing on benefits. The Federal Housing Administration’s mortgage guarantee programme institutionalised redlining, explicitly coding racial discrimination into federal housing policy.
Roosevelt’s decision in 1937 to cut federal spending sharply — under pressure from conservatives who argued the deficit was too large — plunged the economy back into recession. Unemployment, which had fallen from 25 per cent in 1932 to around 14 per cent by 1937, rose sharply again. Critics argued this demonstrated that the New Deal had not fixed the underlying economy — it had merely sustained demand through federal spending, and when that spending was cut, the recession returned. Roosevelt reversed course and increased spending again, but the political damage was done. The United States did not fully escape the Depression until wartime spending transformed the economy after 1941.