To the editor:

I would like to respond to Craig Smith’s Jan. 29 letter that FDR’s New Deal prolonged the Depression. It’s easy for revisionist economists and historians to criticize events that occurred 70 years ago. Drastic times called for drastic measures. My parents lived during that time and they and their friends, relatives and neighbors loved FDR. He restored their pride and confidence and helped people work together to get back on their feet.

FDR was elected four times. Do you think that would have happened if people had no confidence in his leadership? Economists are pretty much split down the middle concerning New Deal policies, but 75 percent of historians defend his actions. The New Deal saved the banking industry after over 20 percent failed and created the FDIC, which, according to economist Milton Friedman, was the structural change most conducive to monetary stability.

Banks reopened and people regained confidence in them. With the exception of 1937, the economy grew 9-10 percent every year, and unemployment fell every year of FDR’s two terms. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke stated that only with the New Deal’s rehabilitation of the financial system did the economy begin its emergence from the Great Depression.

Many economists’ ideas are simply theory. Things that worked in the 1930s may not work now. Different times and situations may require different remedies! There were mistakes made in the New Deal Era, but I think that for the most part people of that period respected FDR, and his historical legacy reflects his accomplishments and that cannot be tarnished.

Craig Tucker,
Lawrence