Memory Aids: New Deal Success and Failure
Part of New Deal Success or Failure — GCSE History
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 10 exam-style questions and 4 flashcards. This is a high-frequency topic, so it is worth revising until the explanation feels precise and repeatable. 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.
Topic position
Section 8 of 11
Practice
10 questions
Recall
4 flashcards
🧠 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)