History of the United States II / Unit 11 USH2 1532 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
The Critics' Pressure
The idea
Three of the New Deal's loudest critics attacked it from the left and one from the right, and the balance shaped the legislation of nineteen thirty-five. Long demanded the redistribution of great fortunes, Coughlin a state-directed economy, Townsend pensions for the old; the Liberty League called the programmes a danger to liberty.
In practice
A Democratic poll finding, Digital History says, that Long could draw three to four million voters to an independent presidential ticket.
Where people slip
The anchor says the popularity of the Coughlin and Townsend movements gave Roosevelt leverage, and that parts of the new reforms were drawn from their proposals. The Yawp adds that Long, even after his death, pushed Roosevelt to attack inequality more stridently. The Second New Deal moved in their direction, and federal pensions arrived that same year.
Your place on the trail
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