Taken together, the Great Depression and the New Deal ushered in the greatest expansion of fiscal liberalism in American history. The establishment of social security, of banking and stock market regulations, massive jobs programs, union rights, minimum wage and maximum hours laws, the social safety net these accomplishments are now staples of our modern society and impact all of us on a day-to-day level. But more importantly, the Great Depression and New Deal fundamentally altered our relationship with our government and redefined how Americans conceive of the word freedom. Crisis often breeds great change.

Franklin Roosevelt was elected President in 1932 after promising a “new deal” for the American people. Exactly what that meant was anyone’s guess. He didn’t quite know himself. The truth of it is, the New Deal was really two separate phenomena. The early years, often called the “first-New Deal,” were about stopping the bleeding and protecting our financial system from total oblivion. It worked. And once the immediate crisis was under control a “second-New Deal” emerged – this one designed to bring about a long-term restructuring of the American economy and establish a minimum standard of living for all Americans. Anyone looking to speak intelligently about the New Deal must understand it as a sort of one-two punch. This lecture uses a “top-down” historical approach to examine the limits and legacies of the New Deal, its key players, and explore with a healthy sense of skepticism whether it went too far, or not far enough.