“Critics of the New Deal had a significant impact on the policies of Franklin D Roosevelt.” Discuss.

The question requires that candidates offer a considered and balanced review of the statement that critics of the New Deal had a significant impact on the policies of Franklin D Roosevelt. Candidates may offer equal coverage of evidence supporting the impact of critics and evidence suggesting their impact was limited, or they may prioritize their discussion of either. Candidates may refer to Father Coughlin’s support for an inflationary monetary policy that may have caused Roosevelt to abandon the gold standard; the creation of the Works Progress Administration to appease supporters of Huey Long; the proposal of the Social Security Act to address the popularity of Doctor Townsend’s criticisms; the introduction of the “court-packing scheme” as a response to rulings against the New Deal by the US Supreme Court. Other relevant factors may be addressed, for example Roosevelt’s imposition of higher income taxes in spite of opposition from the American Liberty League, but with a focus on the issue in the question. Candidates’ opinions or conclusions will be presented clearly and supported by appropriate evidence.

The claim that critics of the New Deal had a significant impact on FDR was selected by a few candidates, but very few were able to apply sufficient knowledge or analysis. The majority described programs of the New Deal as compared to those of Hoover and asserted that New Deal supporters were the critics of Hoover's approach. Only a minority applied the criticisms of Huey Long, Dr. Townsend, Father Coughlin, the Liberty League or the Supreme Court as examples and were able to assess the impact of these critics on FDR. Stronger essays applied the criticisms from both the political left and right to illustrate the pressures impacting the President.