Opposition to the New Deal

They were unhappy about various aspects of the New Deal:

• Regulations of the working conditions
• The growth of trade unions and their increasing involvement
• The huge costs of the welfare programmes (which came from taxes paid for by the Americans)

Some states were concerned by the New Deal because:

• Measures like the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) cut across the rights of individual states
• They feared that the Federal Government was becoming too powerful

Some politicians opposed the New Deal:

• Republicans opposed the Democrat Roosevelt
• Even some conservative Democrats opposed Roosevelt
• Some radicals like Huey Long, believed the New Deal did not go far enough

The Supreme Court clashed with Roosevelt:

• Its judges ruled that several of the New Deal measures were illegal
• Matters came to a head in 1937 when Roosevelt wanted to appoint six new judges to alter the political balance of the Court in favour of the Democrats