What the New Deal Wrought

“I'm usually a fan of Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., but his characterization of my 1999 book "Freedom From Fear" suggests he misread it ("What Sports Bets and Train Deaths Have in Common," Business World, Dec. 6). Mr. Jenkins has me arguing that "Franklin D. Roosevelt didn't end the Depression, he used it to enlarge the federal government." True enough but too reductive.

 

Roosevelt didn't simply "enlarge" the federal government; he right-sized and reformed it for the conditions of modern society. His initiatives rescued and dramatically upgraded capitalism, as witnessed by the unmatched performance of the U.S. economy in the post-World War II decades. The New Deal gave to the exceptionally fortunate "greatest generation" a scaffolding of institutions and practices that reduced risk in sector after sector of American life, brought stability and predictability to millions, nurtured the shared prosperity and consequent trust that ended the Jim Crow era and positioned the U.S. for world leadership to century's end and beyond.

 

That later generations may have undermaintained or even misused that apparatus is an argument for another day. But let's not read the dysfunction of our own time into one of the most successful episodes in American history.

 

Em. Prof. David M. Kennedy

 

Stanford University

 

Stanford, Calif.” [1]

 

1. What the New Deal Wrought. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 10 Dec 2025: A14.