History of the United States II / Unit 18 USH2 2579 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
The Critics' Pressure
The idea
Entry 1532 records three of the New Deal's loudest critics attacking from the left and one from the right, and the balance shaping the legislation of nineteen thirty-five. 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.
In practice
The Social Security Act of nineteen thirty-five, entry 1538, answering a demand the Townsend movement had made.
Where people slip
The confusion to avoid is placing the New Deal at one end of the spectrum. In its own time it stood between critics who wanted far more and critics who wanted far less, and it moved toward the pressure. Theme seven's argument is not only liberal against conservative; it is also the pull of the edges on a governing centre.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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