7.10 The New Deal - Two Historians

“In eight years, [Franklin] Roosevelt and the New Dealers had almost revolutionized the agenda of American politics. . . Franklin Roosevelt re-created the modern Presidency. . . The White House became the focus of all government — the fountainhead of ideas, the initiator of action, the representative of the national interest. . . For the first time for many Americans, the federal government became an institution that was directly experienced. More than state and local governments, it became the government, an agency directly concerned with their welfare.”

“For all the alterations in politics, government, and the economy, the New Deal fell far short of a revolution. The two-party system survived intact, and neither fascism. . . nor communism attracted much of a following in the United States. . . The economy remained capitalistic; free enterprise and private ownership, not socialism, emerged from the 1930s. . . Roosevelt advocated measured change to offset drastic alterations. . . The New Deal’s great achievement was the application of just enough change to preserve the American political economy.”