Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal by William E. Leuchtenburg is the story of the series of programs that were implemented between 1933 to 1938 for the purpose of bringing the economy out of the Great Depression. The Great Depression was the biggest economic slump this nation has ever experienced and the traditional economic theories and policies did not work. This meant that new policies and theories were called for. These were basically the theories proposed by John Maynard Keynes that called for massive deficit spending to cure the economy's ills.

Roosevelt stepped into a situation after the stock market crash wherein there were millions of people that were unemployed and homeless and a large number of bank failures. The new president walked into a situation that required emergency measures to help a suffering nation, and he began to take those emergency measures right away. Since the traditional policies had been based on a balanced budget, people were afraid to deviate too far from this policy. But a balanced budget was the last thing that the economy needed at the time, since that just pushed deeper into the depression.

Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal is the story of the first two presidential terms as Roosevelt and his advisors grappled with the situation of the depression. The President's way was to allow dissension among his advisors and to let them debate the issues. None of them was sure what to do even though they eventually implemented programs based on deficit spending.

The programs of the two Roosevelt administrations are divided into periods called the Hundred Days and the Second Hundred Days. In each of these periods, legislation was enacted to deal with the problems in different sectors of the economy. Much of this legislation proposed radical measures, many of which were found to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. All of these different programs and policies are what is referred to as the New Deal.

Leuchtenburg is a historian and expert scholar on the New Deal. Most of the material for the book comes from a collection of eight essays and an interview with Roosevelt. This book discusses the economic and living situations of the public and what their problems were and the program that was implemented to alleviate that situation. Different views are discussed as the officials try to figure out the best approach. The benefits of the programs are described as well as their legal ramifications.

This book is quick and interesting reading. There is not much theory or jargon in the book, so it is easy for everyone to understand.