Professor Sharon Kay Evanshine

History Web Site

History of the US since 1876

The New Deal and World War II

Franklin D. Roosevelt won the Election of 1932 and promised a “New Deal” for the American people. In the administration’s first One Hundred Days a series of measures was presented dealing with banking, unemployment, farm policy and business reform.

Later programs were enacted to deal with social security and collective bargaining. The Election of 1936 was regarded as a referendum on both FDR and the New Deal. In 1937, the President was engaged in a Supreme Court fight.

The New Deal provoked critics and admirers, both in the 1930s and in the years thereafter.

In foreign affairs, Roosevelt pledged the United States to be a “good neighbor” to Latin America while strong sentiment for isolationism grew as problems deepened in Europe and Asia. Pacifism was effectively ended by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, and Japanese Americans were faced with internment.

American entry into the War necessitated mobilization efforts on a massive scale. Military action occurred in the Pacific, North Africa, Europe and the North Atlantic.

Harry S. Truman faced a critical decision regarding the use of the atomic bomb.