This memory aid covers Memory Aids: New Deal Success and Failure within New Deal Success or Failure for GCSE History. Revise New Deal Success or Failure in America 1920-1973 for GCSE History with 12 exam-style questions and 15 flashcards. This topic appears less often, but it can still be a useful differentiator on mixed-topic papers. It is section 8 of 11 in this topic. Use it for quick recall, then test yourself straight afterwards so the memory aid becomes usable in an answer.
🧠 Memory Aids: New Deal Success and Failure
The "Traffic Light" verdict on the Three Rs:
- GREEN — RELIEF: Success. CCC (2.5m), WPA (8m), nobody starved. Direct, visible help to millions.
- AMBER — RECOVERY: Partial. Unemployment fell from 25% to 14%, but was still 14% in 1937. Roosevelt Recession set things back. Only WW2 finished the job.
- GREEN — REFORM: Success. Social Security Act still exists. Glass-Steagall prevented banking crashes for 66 years. Wagner Act transformed workers' rights.
Key numbers for the essay:
- 25% — unemployment when FDR took office (1933)
- 14% — unemployment in 1937 after four years of New Deal
- 19% — unemployment after Roosevelt Recession (1938) — it went UP
- 1.2% — unemployment in 1944 after WW2 production (not the New Deal)
- 10.5 million — CCC (2.5m) + WPA (8m) = people directly employed
"The New Deal kept America alive until WW2 could cure it" — This is a memorable way to summarise the consensus verdict. It's not technically a mnemonic, but it captures the nuance perfectly: the New Deal was necessary but not sufficient. Use this phrase in your conclusion.
Who was left out? The "BWSN" test:
- B — Black Americans (excluded from Social Security, AAA hurt sharecroppers)
- W — Women (excluded from or underpaid in work programmes)
- S — Sharecroppers (evicted when landowners took AAA payments)
- N — Native Americans (received some help under Indian Reorganization Act but limited)
Practice questions for New Deal Success or Failure
Approximately how many young men did the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) employ?
What was the approximate unemployment rate in the USA in 1937, despite the New Deal?