the new deal thesis statement

Module 9: The New Deal (1932-1941)

Historical arguments and thesis statements, learning objectives.

• Evaluate historical claims and thesis statements

The Research Writing Process

In an earlier historical hack, we talked about the research writing process, as shown below:

• Understand the assignment
• Select a research topic/develop a research question
• Conduct research: find and evaluate sources
• Create your claim (make an argument)
• Synthesize evidence
• Put it together

These are guidelines to help you get started, but the process is iterative, so you may cycle through these steps several times while working towards your finished product. In this hack, we want to focus on the final three steps—once you’ve done your research and have a few ideas about what to say, how do you put it together to create your finished product?

Crafting Historical Arguments

In open-ended historical research assignments, you are almost always expected to create an argument (revisit the assignment prompt or ask your instructor if you’re unsure about this). Historical arguments are not like the arguments that you and your roommate might have about the best show on T.V. or an argument you’d have with the referee at a sporting event; historical arguments require you to pick a stance on an issue and defend it with supporting evidence.

Your objective is not to create an informal persuasive essay convincing others of your viewpoint based on your personal opinions, but an argumentative one, where you defend your stance on an issue by backing it with historical evidence. Argumentative writing is done for a formal, academic purpose— you have a compelling viewpoint on a topic, and you’ve conducted research. Now you are communicating that research and using evidence to back your claim. When you write an argumentative piece, you write as if you are the authority on the topic, a subject-matter expert.

The Differences Between Persuasive and Argumentative Writing

Check out the table below for a quick breakdown of the differences between persuasive and argumentative writing.

Sometimes it can be hard to tell a topic from an argument. If someone sees you reading an article and asks, “What’s that article about?” You might say, “It’s about photography during the Great Depression.” That’s a topic, not an argument. How do we know? You can’t disagree with “photography during the Great Depression.” An argument is something you could disagree with, like “Photography during the Great Depression was essential in bringing the realities of poverty into the public eye.”

Argumentative Statements

Understand the assignment.

Don’t forget the first step in approaching a research paper or assignment—to carefully understand what you are asked to do. Some assignments are more obviously arguments than others. They may ask you to pick an obvious side, like “Was the New Deal effective or ineffective?” Or “How do you think the government should address reparations for slavery? Or “Was the American Revolution really a revolution?”

Understanding Argumentative Statements

Other times the “argument” part is less obvious. The prompt may be more generic or broad. Let’s take a look at this option for a capstone assignment in this class:

Pick a reformer or activist involved with a social movement between 1877 and 1900. Evaluate and analyze the ideas, agenda, strategies, and effectiveness of the work done by your chosen reformer or activist. You can pick one aspect of the person’s involvement or significance to the movement to focus on in your research. You should make a claim in your final report that answers one of the questions below:

• What was the influence of your person on American life during their time period?
• What is their influence and legacy today?
• What changes came about as a direct result of their activism? 
• What obstacles stood in the way of this person from having a more significant impact on society?
• What activism methods used by your reformer were most effective, and why?
• How did their activism compare or contrast with other reform movements from the same time period?
• How are things different today because of their activism? In what ways are things the same?
• Why should people be aware of the work done by your chosen reformer?
• Can you draw any connections to a modern-day reform movement— what reform movement might they support today, and why?

With this prompt, you are tasked with creating an argument about the reformer or activist you chose. It is not simply a narrative or biography where you report about their lives, but you want to pick one of the listed questions to create an argument—something that shows your ability to take a stance (that could be debated by others) and support your view with evidence.

Activity #1

Give it a try—without even doing some research- what argumentative statement could you make about a 19th-century activist?

Let’s take a look at a more detailed example. For example, say that your chosen activist was  Bayard Rustin , a Black activist who was instrumental in organizing the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. What’s an argument you could make about Rustin?

Here is one option. “While you’ve heard of Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream Speech” during the 1963 March on Washington, you may not have heard of Bayard Rustin, whose involvement in planning the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was essential in propelling Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As the deputy director of the March, Rustin’s background in nonviolence and vision for the March led leaders to prioritize the civil rights movement and gave public backing to the federal law prohibiting racial discrimination.”

As you’ll learn in just a moment, this argument is what becomes the thesis statement.

Begin With a Thesis

The central claim you make in your argument is called the thesis statement . A thesis consists of a specific topic and an angle on the topic. All of the other ideas in the text support and develop the thesis.

Where in the Essay Should the Thesis Be Placed?

The thesis statement is often found in the introduction, sometimes after an initial “hook” or interesting story; sometimes, however, the thesis is not explicitly stated until the end of an essay, and sometimes it is not stated at all. In those instances, there is an implied thesis statement. You can generally extract the thesis statement by looking for a few key sentences and ideas.

Most readers expect to see the point of your argument (the thesis statement) within the first few paragraphs. This does not mean that it has to be placed there every time. Some writers place it at the very end, slowly building up to it throughout their work, to explain a point after the fact. For history essays, most professors will expect to see a clearly discernible thesis sentence in the introduction.

Characteristics of a Thesis Statement

Thesis statements vary based on the rhetorical strategy of the essay, but thesis statements typically share the following characteristics:

• Presents the main idea
• Most often is one sentence
• It tells the reader what to expect
• Is a summary of the essay topic
• Usually worded to have an argumentative edge
• Written in the third person

Crafting strong argumentative writing is a skill that teaches you how to engage in research, communicate the findings of that research, and express a point of view using supporting evidence.

Link to learning

For a few more examples of how to create arguments and thesis statements, visit this helpful writing guide .

What Makes a Good Claim?

Let’s take a closer look at this process by reviewing a worked example. For this example, we will use a topic you’ve studied recently—the FDR presidency and New Deal. Let’s imagine you’ve been assigned the following prompt:

• Did New Deal spending and programs succeed in restoring American capitalism during the Great Depression, and should the government have spent more money to help the New Deal succeed, or did the New Deal spend unprecedented amounts of money on relief and recovery efforts but ultimately fail to stimulate a full economic recovery?

You’ve already examined the prompt, selected a research topic, and conducted research, and now you are ready to make your claim. First, what claim do you want to make?

Identify the Claim

Let’s look at a sample introductory paragraph that responds to this prompt. Look for the central claim made in the argument.

Example ESSAY #1

Since the stock market crash and the onset of the depression, British economists John Maynard Keynes, Roy Harrod, and others had urged western governments to stop tinkering with monetary solutions and adopt an aggressive program of government spending, especially in the areas of public works and housing, to stimulate the economy during the depression. Keynes stressed these ideas when he met with President Roosevelt, who soon complained to labor secretary Frances Perkins: “He [Keynes] left a whole rigamarole of figures. He must be a mathematician rather than a political economist.” Roosevelt’s comments about Keynes opened a window on one fundamental reason why the president’s New Deal, despite unprecedented federal spending, never achieved full economic recovery between 1933 and 1940. Although surrounded by critical advisers such as Federal Reserve chairman Marriner Eccles, who understood Keynes and his central message about the importance of government spending, Roosevelt did not grasp these ideas intellectually. He remained at heart a fiscal conservative, little different from Herbert Hoover. Roosevelt condoned government spending when necessary to “prime the pump” for recovery and combat hunger and poverty, but not as a deliberate economic recovery tool.

Let’s look at yet another example. This also responds to this same prompt which you can find again below for reference:

Example ESSAY #2

When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave his inaugural address on March 4, 1933, America was in the midst of financial collapse. Banking holidays closed banks in 28 states, and investors traded their dollars for gold to have tangible wealth. The president reassured Americans” “This great Nation will endure as it has endured and will revive and will prosper.” He listed three goals to shore up capitalism through his New Deal: banking regulation, laws to curb speculation, and the establishment of a sound currency basis. Roosevelt shored up the financial sector through regulation to restore the public trust that mismanaged banks, and financial speculators had destroyed. His New Deal gave the federal government regulatory responsibility to smooth economic downturns. Over the next eight years, the New Deal’s economic practices and spending helped create recovery and restore capitalism.

Finding the Thesis Statement

You’ve found the central claims from each of these two sample essays. Quite often, the claim is the thesis statement. But sometimes, the thesis statement elaborates on the claim more by including the angle you’ll take about your claim. In the sample essay above, the thesis statement is written in reverse order, with the primary claim coming at the end, but if you read the sentences before that, you can see what the essay’s focus will be as well.”

• “Roosevelt shored up the financial sector through regulation to restore the public trust that mismanaged banks, and financial speculators had destroyed. His New Deal gave the federal government regulatory responsibility to smooth economic downturns. Over the next eight years, the New Deal’s economic practices and spending helped create recovery and restore capitalism”.”

Now we know that the rest of the essay will focus on how the New Deal’s economic practices and spending habits helped the recovery and also show 1) ways that Roosevelt shored up the financial sector and 2) gave the federal government regulatory responsibility.

Pick a reformer or activist involved with a social movement between 1877 and 1900. Pick two questions below and write a thesis statement explaining the main claim and angle you would take in an essay about the topic.

• What changes came about as a direct result of their activism?

Thesis statement #1:

Thesis statement #2:

thesis statement : a statement of the topic of the piece of writing and the angle the writer has on that topic

• Historical Hack: Crafting Historical Arguments. Authored by : Kaitlyn Connell for Lumen Learning. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
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• Did the New Deal End the Great Depression?. Provided by : OpenStax. Located at : https://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:WWZKMA1o@2/12-16-%F0%9F%92%AC-Did-the-New-Deal-End-the-Great-Depression . Project : Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. License : CC BY: Attribution . License Terms : Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]

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By: History.com Editors

Updated: March 28, 2023 | Original: October 29, 2009

The New Deal was a series of programs and projects instituted during the Great Depression by President Franklin D. Roosevelt that aimed to restore prosperity to Americans. When Roosevelt took office in 1933, he acted swiftly to stabilize the economy and provide jobs and relief to those who were suffering. Over the next eight years, the government instituted a series of experimental New Deal projects and programs, such as the CCC , the WPA , the TVA, the SEC and others. Roosevelt’s New Deal fundamentally and permanently changed the U.S. federal government by expanding its size and scope—especially its role in the economy.

New Deal for the American People

On March 4, 1933, during the bleakest days of the Great Depression , newly elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his first inaugural address before 100,000 people on Washington’s Capitol Plaza.

“First of all,” he said, “let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

He promised that he would act swiftly to face the “dark realities of the moment” and assured Americans that he would “wage a war against the emergency” just as though “we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.” His speech gave many people confidence that they’d elected a man who was not afraid to take bold steps to solve the nation’s problems.

Did you know? Unemployment levels in some cities reached staggering levels during the Great Depression: By 1933, Toledo, Ohio's had reached 80 percent, and nearly 90 percent of Lowell, Massachusetts, was unemployed.

The next day, Roosevelt declared a four-day bank holiday to stop people from withdrawing their money from shaky banks. On March 9, Congress passed Roosevelt’s Emergency Banking Act, which reorganized the banks and closed the ones that were insolvent.

In his first “ fireside chat ” three days later, the president urged Americans to put their savings back in the banks, and by the end of the month almost three quarters of them had reopened.

The First Hundred Days

Roosevelt’s quest to end the Great Depression was just beginning, and would ramp up in what came to be known as “ The First 100 Days .” Roosevelt kicked things off by asking Congress to take the first step toward ending Prohibition —one of the more divisive issues of the 1920s—by making it legal once again for Americans to buy beer. (At the end of the year, Congress ratified the 21st Amendment and ended Prohibition for good.)

In May, he signed the Tennessee Valley Authority Act into law, creating the TVA and enabling the federal government to build dams along the Tennessee River that controlled flooding and generated inexpensive hydroelectric power for the people in the region.

That same month, Congress passed a bill that paid commodity farmers (farmers who produced things like wheat, dairy products, tobacco and corn) to leave their fields fallow in order to end agricultural surpluses and boost prices.

June’s National Industrial Recovery Act guaranteed that workers would have the right to unionize and bargain collectively for higher wages and better working conditions; it also suspended some antitrust laws and established a federally funded Public Works Administration.

In addition to the Agricultural Adjustment Act, the Tennessee Valley Authority Act and the National Industrial Recovery Act, Roosevelt had won passage of 12 other major laws, including the Glass-Steagall Act (an important banking bill) and the Home Owners’ Loan Act, in his first 100 days in office.

Almost every American found something to be pleased about and something to complain about in this motley collection of bills, but it was clear to all that FDR was taking the “direct, vigorous” action that he’d promised in his inaugural address.

Second New Deal

Despite the best efforts of President Roosevelt and his cabinet, however, the Great Depression continued. Unemployment persisted, the economy remained unstable, farmers continued to struggle in the Dust Bowl and people grew angrier and more desperate.

So, in the spring of 1935, Roosevelt launched a second, more aggressive series of federal programs, sometimes called the Second New Deal.

In April, he created the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to provide jobs for unemployed people. WPA projects weren’t allowed to compete with private industry, so they focused on building things like post offices, bridges, schools, highways and parks. The WPA also gave work to artists, writers, theater directors and musicians.

In July 1935, the National Labor Relations Act , also known as the Wagner Act, created the National Labor Relations Board to supervise union elections and prevent businesses from treating their workers unfairly. In August, FDR signed the Social Security Act of 1935, which guaranteed pensions to millions of Americans, set up a system of unemployment insurance and stipulated that the federal government would help care for dependent children and the disabled.

In 1936, while campaigning for a second term, FDR told a roaring crowd at Madison Square Garden that “The forces of ‘organized money’ are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred.”

He went on: “I should like to have it said of my first Administration that in it the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match, [and] I should like to have it said of my second Administration that in it these forces have met their master.”

This FDR had come a long way from his earlier repudiation of class-based politics and was promising a much more aggressive fight against the people who were profiting from the Depression-era troubles of ordinary Americans. He won the election by a landslide.

Still, the Great Depression dragged on. Workers grew more militant: In December 1936, for example, the United Auto Workers strike at a GM plant in Flint, Michigan lasted for 44 days and spread to some 150,000 autoworkers in 35 cities.

By 1937, to the dismay of most corporate leaders, some 8 million workers had joined unions and were loudly demanding their rights.

The End of the New Deal?

Meanwhile, the New Deal itself confronted one political setback after another. Arguing that they represented an unconstitutional extension of federal authority, the conservative majority on the Supreme Court had already invalidated reform initiatives like the National Recovery Administration and the Agricultural Adjustment Administration.

In order to protect his programs from further meddling, in 1937 President Roosevelt announced a plan to add enough liberal justices to the Court to neutralize the “obstructionist” conservatives.

This “ Court-packing ” turned out to be unnecessary—soon after they caught wind of the plan, the conservative justices started voting to uphold New Deal projects—but the episode did a good deal of public-relations damage to the administration and gave ammunition to many of the president’s Congressional opponents.

That same year, the economy slipped back into a recession when the government reduced its stimulus spending. Despite this seeming vindication of New Deal policies, increasing anti-Roosevelt sentiment made it difficult for him to enact any new programs.

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and the United States entered World War II . The war effort stimulated American industry and, as a result, effectively ended the Great Depression .

The New Deal and American Politics

From 1933 until 1941, President Roosevelt’s New Deal programs and policies did more than just adjust interest rates, tinker with farm subsidies and create short-term make-work programs.

They created a brand-new, if tenuous, political coalition that included white working people, African Americans and left-wing intellectuals. More women entered the workforce as Roosevelt expanded the number of secretarial roles in government. These groups rarely shared the same interests—at least, they rarely thought they did— but they did share a powerful belief that an interventionist government was good for their families, the economy and the nation.

Their coalition has splintered over time, but many of the New Deal programs that bound them together—Social Security, unemployment insurance and federal agricultural subsidies, for instance—are still with us today.

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Home — Essay Samples — History — History of the United States — The New Deal

Essays on The New Deal

The new deal essay, types of the new deal essay.

• Cause and Effect Essay
• Compare and Contrast Essay
• Analysis Essay

Cause and Effect Essay about The New Deal

• Conduct thorough research: To write a well-informed New Deal Cause and Effect Essay, it is essential to conduct extensive research. This research should involve reading primary and secondary sources, including books, articles, and government reports, to gain an in-depth understanding of the topic.
• Develop a thesis statement: A thesis statement is a central argument or claim that guides the essay's content. It should be specific and concise and clearly outline the essay's main ideas and arguments.
• Organize the essay: In this type of essay, it is essential to have a clear and logical structure. The essay should have an introduction that outlines the topic and the thesis statement, followed by body paragraphs that discuss the causes and effects of the New Deal, and a conclusion that summarizes the main points and reiterates the thesis statement.
• Use evidence to support arguments: It is crucial to use relevant evidence to support the arguments presented in the essay. This evidence can be in the form of statistical data, quotes from primary sources, or expert opinions.
• Edit and proofread: Before submitting the essay, it is essential to edit and proofread it thoroughly. This process involves checking for spelling and grammar errors, ensuring that the essay's structure is logical and coherent, and ensuring that the arguments presented are well-supported and logically sound.

Compare and Contrast Essay about The New Deal

• Choose a specific aspect of The New Deal to compare and contrast. Some possible topics could include the similarities and differences between the Emergency Banking Act and the Glass-Steagall Act, the effectiveness of the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration in providing employment, or the similarities and differences between the Agricultural Adjustment Act and the National Industrial Recovery Act.
• Make a list of the similarities and differences between the two or more aspects of The New Deal that you are comparing. Consider factors such as goals, methods, impact, and public perception.
• Develop a clear thesis statement that highlights the main points of your comparison and contrast.
• Organize your essay in a way that clearly presents the similarities and differences between the aspects of The New Deal that you are comparing. One common approach is to use a block or point-by-point structure.
• Use specific examples and evidence to support your analysis. This could include statistics, historical accounts, or primary source documents.
• Make connections between the similarities and differences you have identified and draw conclusions about the successes and failures of The New Deal as a whole.

The New Deal: Analysis Essay

• Choose a specific aspect of the New Deal to focus on, such as the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Agricultural Adjustment Act, or the National Industrial Recovery Act.
• Conduct extensive research to gather relevant information and data related to the chosen topic.
• Analyze the effectiveness of the New Deal policies in addressing the challenges of the Great Depression.
• Evaluate the impact of the New Deal on the country's economy and society.
• Use examples and evidence to support the arguments made in the essay.
• Provide a critical analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the New Deal policies and their outcomes.
• Use clear and concise language and maintain a logical flow of ideas throughout the essay.

Tips on How to Choose a Topic

• Consider the type of essay you want to write and select a topic that fits the requirements.
• Research the various aspects of The New Deal, including the policies implemented and their effects.
• Choose a topic that interests you and that you have a strong opinion on.
• Look for gaps in the existing research and choose a topic that allows you to contribute new ideas.

Hook Examples for The New Deal Essays

Anecdotal hook.

Imagine living through the Great Depression, struggling to make ends meet, and suddenly, a series of government programs comes to your rescue. This was the reality for millions of Americans during the era of the New Deal.

Question Hook

Did Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal policies truly pull the United States out of economic despair, or did they sow the seeds of long-term government intervention in the economy? Explore the lasting impact of this pivotal period.

Quotation Hook

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." — Franklin D. Roosevelt. Discover the context and significance of this famous quote from FDR's inaugural address as it relates to the New Deal's mission to restore hope and confidence.

Statistical or Factual Hook

During the New Deal, over 15 million Americans were employed through various relief programs. Delve into the numbers and programs that aimed to combat unemployment and economic hardship.

Definition Hook

What exactly was the New Deal, and what were its key components? Unpack the policies, acts, and agencies that comprised this comprehensive government response to the Great Depression.

Rhetorical Question Hook

Can government intervention in the economy effectively stimulate recovery during times of crisis, or does it risk overreach and unintended consequences? Investigate the debates surrounding the New Deal's role in shaping economic policy.

Historical Hook

Travel back to the 1930s to explore the dire economic conditions and social challenges that prompted the implementation of the New Deal. Understand the historical context in which these policies emerged.

Contrast Hook

Contrast the New Deal's approach to economic recovery with previous laissez-faire policies. Analyze the shift in government philosophy and its implications for the role of the state in citizens' lives.

Narrative Hook

Follow the journey of a family impacted by the New Deal, from unemployment lines to the benefits of programs like the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Their story illuminates the tangible effects of these policies.

Shocking Statement Hook

Prepare to be astonished by the sheer scale and ambition of the New Deal, which aimed to not only rescue the economy but also reshape society. Explore the bold initiatives and controversies that surrounded this era.

The United States of America: a Diverse and Influential Nation

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The New Deal: an Analysis of Its Impact on American Society

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The Factors that Opened The Door for The United States to Deal with The Great Depression at The Start of World War Ii

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Research of How Successful The New Deal Was for Society and Economy

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• Great Depression

President Franklin D. Roosevelt

1933 - 1939

United States

Agricultural Adjustment Administration, National Recovery Administration, Public Works Administration, Public Works of Art Project

The New Deal was a series of programs and projects instituted during the Great Depression by President Franklin D. Roosevelt that aimed to restore prosperity to Americans.

Much of the New Deal legislation was enacted within the first three months of Roosevelt’s presidency. The main issue of the new president was to alleviate the suffering of the nation’s huge number of unemployed workers.

In 1935, Roosevelt launched a second, more aggressive series of federal programs, called the Second New Deal with three principal categories—relief, recovery, and reform. Recovery programs were intended to help stabilize and rebuild the economy.

From 1933 until 1941, President Roosevelt’s New Deal programs and policies provided support for farmers, the unemployed, youth and the elderly. In Roosevelt's 12 years in office, the economy had an 8.5% compound annual growth of GDP.

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The New Deal

Jane Doe History 505 Professor John Doe 3 April 2018

During The Great Depression, the American nation was in need of recovery from economic collapse, relief, and reform to prevent further depressions. An effort to create these new reforms came in the form of The New Deal. The New Deal comprised of domestic economic programs that were passed by the government in the 1930s as a response to the Great Depression. As Hardman observes, though the New Deal did not end the depression, it changed the American government for good (Hardman).

With the New Deal, there was a larger role for the government. First, President Franklin Roosevelt increased the power of the president, with the White House becoming the center of government. In addition to this, President Roosevelt expanded the federal government, with the national government becoming directly responsible for the well-being of the people in a way that it had not been before. The government would now make relief payments, serve school lunches and run pension programs. Instead of local and state governments, it was the federal government that became the protector of the people’s welfare.

The measures under The New Deal meant direct government involvement in economic areas never contemplated before. For example, the National Recovery Act was concerned with steps to achieve a planned economy. The Works Progress Act saw the government’s involvement into almost every aspect of the economy. Jobs were created for almost every aspect of employment. At the same time, major steps in government social programs were made. For example, the Tennessee Valley Authority tried to remake the social and physical environment of an entire area.

The programs spelt out under the New Deal led to increased spending by the government and unbalanced budgets. While American citizens had little expectations before the New Deal, many of them had bigger expectations from the federal government after the New Deal. According to Hardman, critics of the New Deal argue that “deficit and government spending absorbed the credit that was available, and this made the recovery of the private sector difficult” (Hardman).

A number of measures were instituted under the New Deal and they included the Emergency Banking Act, the Economy Act, the Federal Emergency Relief Act, the Agricultural Adjustment Act, the Tennessee Valley Authority Act and many other programs. In terms of fiscal policy, Bordo et al. observe that during the New Deal period, a regime shift took place and it increased the federal fiscal share by about 9 % points (25). Data suggests that programs under the New Deal led to an increase in fiscal centralization as well as setting in motion processes for further centralization.

With these programs, the political setting was such that local and state officials demanded and go active roles in their administration, with the central government setting up general guidelines and providing much of the funds in form of matching grants. As such, the political economy of these New Deal programs took the shape of a cooperative enterprise between various government levels, a factor that is still evident in today’s system of governance.

Also, this pattern of intergovernmental relations created by the New Deal is responsible for the struggles that exist between national and state governments, as well as between Congress and the President over the control of the programs. According to Bordo et al., ever since the New Deal, “congress has portrayed less inclination in locating either financial or administrative control at the state level” (26). Due to this, the national government continues to experiment with a broad range of intergovernmental forms. Therefore, the New Deal basically increased the government’s role in the economy.

Works Cited

Bordo, Michael, Claudia Goldin, and Eugene N. White. The Defining Moment: The Great Depression and the American Economy in the 20th Century. University of Chicago Press, 1998.

Hardman, John. “The Great Depression and the New Deal” Edge , 1999, Stanford University , web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/soc_sec/hgreat.htm. Accessed 2 Dec. 2017.

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How to Write a Thesis Statement | 4 Steps & Examples

Published on January 11, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on August 15, 2023 by Eoghan Ryan.

A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . It usually comes near the end of your introduction .

Your thesis will look a bit different depending on the type of essay you’re writing. But the thesis statement should always clearly state the main idea you want to get across. Everything else in your essay should relate back to this idea.

You can write your thesis statement by following four simple steps:

• Start with a question
• Write your initial answer
• Develop your answer
• Refine your thesis statement

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Table of contents

What is a thesis statement, placement of the thesis statement, step 1: start with a question, step 2: write your initial answer, step 3: develop your answer, step 4: refine your thesis statement, types of thesis statements, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about thesis statements.

A thesis statement summarizes the central points of your essay. It is a signpost telling the reader what the essay will argue and why.

The best thesis statements are:

• Concise: A good thesis statement is short and sweet—don’t use more words than necessary. State your point clearly and directly in one or two sentences.
• Contentious: Your thesis shouldn’t be a simple statement of fact that everyone already knows. A good thesis statement is a claim that requires further evidence or analysis to back it up.
• Coherent: Everything mentioned in your thesis statement must be supported and explained in the rest of your paper.

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The thesis statement generally appears at the end of your essay introduction or research paper introduction .

The spread of the internet has had a world-changing effect, not least on the world of education. The use of the internet in academic contexts and among young people more generally is hotly debated. For many who did not grow up with this technology, its effects seem alarming and potentially harmful. This concern, while understandable, is misguided. The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its many benefits for education: the internet facilitates easier access to information, exposure to different perspectives, and a flexible learning environment for both students and teachers.

You should come up with an initial thesis, sometimes called a working thesis , early in the writing process . As soon as you’ve decided on your essay topic , you need to work out what you want to say about it—a clear thesis will give your essay direction and structure.

You might already have a question in your assignment, but if not, try to come up with your own. What would you like to find out or decide about your topic?

For example, you might ask:

After some initial research, you can formulate a tentative answer to this question. At this stage it can be simple, and it should guide the research process and writing process .

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Now you need to consider why this is your answer and how you will convince your reader to agree with you. As you read more about your topic and begin writing, your answer should get more detailed.

In your essay about the internet and education, the thesis states your position and sketches out the key arguments you’ll use to support it.

The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its many benefits for education because it facilitates easier access to information.

In your essay about braille, the thesis statement summarizes the key historical development that you’ll explain.

The invention of braille in the 19th century transformed the lives of blind people, allowing them to participate more actively in public life.

A strong thesis statement should tell the reader:

• Why you hold this position
• What they’ll learn from your essay
• The key points of your argument or narrative

The final thesis statement doesn’t just state your position, but summarizes your overall argument or the entire topic you’re going to explain. To strengthen a weak thesis statement, it can help to consider the broader context of your topic.

These examples are more specific and show that you’ll explore your topic in depth.

Your thesis statement should match the goals of your essay, which vary depending on the type of essay you’re writing:

• In an argumentative essay , your thesis statement should take a strong position. Your aim in the essay is to convince your reader of this thesis based on evidence and logical reasoning.
• In an expository essay , you’ll aim to explain the facts of a topic or process. Your thesis statement doesn’t have to include a strong opinion in this case, but it should clearly state the central point you want to make, and mention the key elements you’ll explain.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . Everything else you write should relate to this key idea.

The thesis statement is essential in any academic essay or research paper for two main reasons:

• It gives your writing direction and focus.
• It gives the reader a concise summary of your main point.

Without a clear thesis statement, an essay can end up rambling and unfocused, leaving your reader unsure of exactly what you want to say.

Follow these four steps to come up with a thesis statement :

• Ask a question about your topic .
• Write your initial answer.
• Develop your answer by including reasons.
• Refine your answer, adding more detail and nuance.

The thesis statement should be placed at the end of your essay introduction .

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What is a thesis statement.

A thesis statement is a sentence that states the main idea of your paper. It is not just a statement of fact, but a statement of position. What argument are you making about your topic? Your thesis should answer that question.

How long should my thesis statement be?

Thesis statements are often just one sentence. Keep thesis statements concise, without extra words or information. If you are having trouble keeping your thesis statement to one sentence, consider the following:

• Is your thesis is specific enough?
• Does your thesis directly supports your paper?
• Does your thesis accurately describes your purpose or argue your claim?

Can I see some example thesis statements?

The following websites have examples of thesis statements:

• Thesis Statements This link opens in a new window (UNC)
• Tips and Examples for Writing Thesis Statements This link opens in a new window (OWL at Purdue)
• Writing an Effective Thesis Statement This link opens in a new window (Indiana River State College)

These web resources may be helpful if you are looking for examples. However, be sure to evaluate any sources you use! The Shapiro Library cannot vouch for the accuracy of information provided on external websites.

Where can I find more information?

Video tutorials.

• The Persuasive Thesis: How to Write an Argument This link opens in a new window (SNHU Academic Support)
• Research and Citation Playlist This link opens in a new window (SNHU Academic Support)
• Planning a Paper series: Drafting a Thesis Statement This link opens in a new window ( Infobase Learning Cloud - SNHU Login Required)

More Information

• Build a Critical Analysis Thesis This link opens in a new window (SNHU Academic Support)
• Build a Compare & Contrast Thesis This link opens in a new window  (SNHU Academic Support)
• Build a History Thesis This link opens in a new window  (SNHU Academic Support)
• Build a Persuasive Thesis This link opens in a new window  (SNHU Academic Support)

Further Help

This information is intended to be a guideline, not expert advice. Please speak to your instructor about the appropriate way to craft thesis statements for your class assignments and projects.

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The Great Depression and the New Deal Phenomenon Essay

The Great Depression was a phenomenon that did significant damage to the American economy. Before that, the economy grew on an unseen scale under President Hoover, but the growth was marked by excess and inequity, which eventually caused the Wall Street Crash. Hoover, clinging to the laissez-faire policy, was completely unable to alleviate the depression; on the contrary, F. D. Roosevelt introduced numerous steps (which became known as “the New Deal”) and provided significant governmental assistance to the population, which allowed the country to recover from the depression.

The Great Depression came to the USA in October 1929, with the bloated stock market crash known as the Wall Street Crash. In the preceding years, the U.S. had experienced a major growth in its economy under the President Herbert Hoover, a Republican.

However, the growth was extremely intense. While the level of life of an average American increased significantly, the owners of businesses, especially large ones, benefited the most. With time, due to the highly unequal distribution of income, as well as to the depression in farming regions, the buying capacity of Americans decreased significantly; this led to the inability to purchase the goods present in the market. It meant that companies could no longer sell their products; the products accumulated in the markets, unsold.

The businesses also could not hire employees or pay them salaries, so the unemployment rose. Everything “exploded” with the Wall Street Crash; tremendous amounts of money were withdrawn from the banks, and the latter were not able to collect debts from stagnating European banks. Numerous investors were wiped out of the market, and many businesses went bankrupt, while the surviving ones introduced layoffs and salary cuts, deepening the depression further (Foner 800).

President Hoover response to the Depression was controversial. He listened to his advisers who stated that crises were a normal part of capitalism (which they are), and that people should “tighten the belt” so that the unproductive firms die out and the moral virtue among the poor is born in large quantities (which is a doubtful point of view, though it apparently does follow from the logic of capitalism).

It was not realized by the government that the lower and middle classes constituted a crucial part of the people’s buying capacity, and that without the “less fortunate” being able to earn money, the depression would be only likely to worsen. Hoover strongly opposed any governmental aid to the needy, and continued hoping that the situation would solve on its own, as a result of voluntary steps of the business.

The Republican Congress under Hoover took a number of unsuccessful attempts to resolve the situation (in 1932 such as increasing taxes, which only further reduced the buying power of Americans); finally, in 1932, Hoover admitted that his politics had failed, and took some steps to help businesses, but not the unemployed (Foner 802-803).

On the other hand, when Roosevelt won the election in 1933, he took numerous steps which were almost opposite to what Hoover proposed. Before the elections, he offered the Americans “a new deal”; even though the notion was vague at the time, his policy became known under that name.

FDR significantly changed the relationship between businesses and the government, limited the actions of banks, and introduced significant governmental help to the population. In the first 100 days of his rule, Roosevelt adopted a large number of laws and established various national agencies aimed at addressing the crisis (Foner 812-813).

Among the acts adopted by the Congress under FDR, there were AAA (Agricultural Adjustment Act) and NIRA (National Industrial Recovery Act). AAA provided subsidies for farmers for not planting crops on a part of their territory, and for killing excess domesticated animals, which would defeat the excess of the farming products in the markets and increase their price.

NIRA established NRA (the National Recovery Administration) which was to set standards “for output, prices, and working conditions,” so that “‘cutthroat competition’… would be ended”; still, corporations turned NRA to their advantage, so it did little to help the situation (Foner 813-814).

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) was an agency that provided states with finances to run relief programs and create jobs. In March 1933, CCC (the Civilian Conservation Corps) was created to employ young men in projects such as forest preservation or improvement of nature reserves, which allowed them to earn at least some wages from the government.

In November, the Civil Works Administration (CWA) was established to provide temporary jobs (such as construction of roads, tunnels, etc.) to larger numbers of unemployed people to help them survive the winter. CWA, however, became too costly to the government, and was dismissed in spring 1934 (Foner 813-815).

In 1934, FDR decreased governmental employment for the needy. In 1935, however, he restored his politics. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was established; it provided jobs for nearly 3 million people who built bridges and buildings, organized art projects, etc.; WPA worked until 1943 and provided help to great numbers of people who were in the desperate need of a job (Foner 825).

To sum up, it should be stressed that the Great Depression came to the U.S. as a result of the highly unequal distribution of income, which meant that the population, the main purchasing power of the people, could buy not nearly enough products from the market, so the goods were left unsold, and the production stopped.

While the Hoover’s laissez-faire policy proved impotent in fighting the crisis, Roosevelt’s “New Deal,” which included numerous programs of social security, governmental jobs for the unemployed, etc., alleviated the situation and allowed the country to recover from the economic disaster.

Works Cited

Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty!: An American History . Vol. 2. 4th ed. 2013. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company. Print.

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IvyPanda. (2020, May 4). The Great Depression and the New Deal Phenomenon. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-great-depression-and-the-new-deal-phenomenon/

"The Great Depression and the New Deal Phenomenon." IvyPanda , 4 May 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/the-great-depression-and-the-new-deal-phenomenon/.

IvyPanda . (2020) 'The Great Depression and the New Deal Phenomenon'. 4 May.

IvyPanda . 2020. "The Great Depression and the New Deal Phenomenon." May 4, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-great-depression-and-the-new-deal-phenomenon/.

1. IvyPanda . "The Great Depression and the New Deal Phenomenon." May 4, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-great-depression-and-the-new-deal-phenomenon/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "The Great Depression and the New Deal Phenomenon." May 4, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-great-depression-and-the-new-deal-phenomenon/.

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OASIS: Writing Center

Writing a paper: thesis statements, basics of thesis statements.

The thesis statement is the brief articulation of your paper's central argument and purpose. You might hear it referred to as simply a "thesis." Every scholarly paper should have a thesis statement, and strong thesis statements are concise, specific, and arguable. Concise means the thesis is short: perhaps one or two sentences for a shorter paper. Specific means the thesis deals with a narrow and focused topic, appropriate to the paper's length. Arguable means that a scholar in your field could disagree (or perhaps already has!).

Strong thesis statements address specific intellectual questions, have clear positions, and use a structure that reflects the overall structure of the paper. Read on to learn more about constructing a strong thesis statement.

Being Specific

This thesis statement has no specific argument:

Needs Improvement: In this essay, I will examine two scholarly articles to find similarities and differences.

This statement is concise, but it is neither specific nor arguable—a reader might wonder, "Which scholarly articles? What is the topic of this paper? What field is the author writing in?" Additionally, the purpose of the paper—to "examine…to find similarities and differences" is not of a scholarly level. Identifying similarities and differences is a good first step, but strong academic argument goes further, analyzing what those similarities and differences might mean or imply.

Better: In this essay, I will argue that Bowler's (2003) autocratic management style, when coupled with Smith's (2007) theory of social cognition, can reduce the expenses associated with employee turnover.

The new revision here is still concise, as well as specific and arguable.  We can see that it is specific because the writer is mentioning (a) concrete ideas and (b) exact authors.  We can also gather the field (business) and the topic (management and employee turnover). The statement is arguable because the student goes beyond merely comparing; he or she draws conclusions from that comparison ("can reduce the expenses associated with employee turnover").

Making a Unique Argument

This thesis draft repeats the language of the writing prompt without making a unique argument:

Needs Improvement: The purpose of this essay is to monitor, assess, and evaluate an educational program for its strengths and weaknesses. Then, I will provide suggestions for improvement.

You can see here that the student has simply stated the paper's assignment, without articulating specifically how he or she will address it. The student can correct this error simply by phrasing the thesis statement as a specific answer to the assignment prompt.

Better: Through a series of student interviews, I found that Kennedy High School's antibullying program was ineffective. In order to address issues of conflict between students, I argue that Kennedy High School should embrace policies outlined by the California Department of Education (2010).

Words like "ineffective" and "argue" show here that the student has clearly thought through the assignment and analyzed the material; he or she is putting forth a specific and debatable position. The concrete information ("student interviews," "antibullying") further prepares the reader for the body of the paper and demonstrates how the student has addressed the assignment prompt without just restating that language.

Creating a Debate

This thesis statement includes only obvious fact or plot summary instead of argument:

Needs Improvement: Leadership is an important quality in nurse educators.

A good strategy to determine if your thesis statement is too broad (and therefore, not arguable) is to ask yourself, "Would a scholar in my field disagree with this point?" Here, we can see easily that no scholar is likely to argue that leadership is an unimportant quality in nurse educators.  The student needs to come up with a more arguable claim, and probably a narrower one; remember that a short paper needs a more focused topic than a dissertation.

Better: Roderick's (2009) theory of participatory leadership  is particularly appropriate to nurse educators working within the emergency medicine field, where students benefit most from collegial and kinesthetic learning.

Here, the student has identified a particular type of leadership ("participatory leadership"), narrowing the topic, and has made an arguable claim (this type of leadership is "appropriate" to a specific type of nurse educator). Conceivably, a scholar in the nursing field might disagree with this approach. The student's paper can now proceed, providing specific pieces of evidence to support the arguable central claim.

Choosing the Right Words

This thesis statement uses large or scholarly-sounding words that have no real substance:

Needs Improvement: Scholars should work to seize metacognitive outcomes by harnessing discipline-based networks to empower collaborative infrastructures.

There are many words in this sentence that may be buzzwords in the student's field or key terms taken from other texts, but together they do not communicate a clear, specific meaning. Sometimes students think scholarly writing means constructing complex sentences using special language, but actually it's usually a stronger choice to write clear, simple sentences. When in doubt, remember that your ideas should be complex, not your sentence structure.

Better: Ecologists should work to educate the U.S. public on conservation methods by making use of local and national green organizations to create a widespread communication plan.

Notice in the revision that the field is now clear (ecology), and the language has been made much more field-specific ("conservation methods," "green organizations"), so the reader is able to see concretely the ideas the student is communicating.

Leaving Room for Discussion

This thesis statement is not capable of development or advancement in the paper:

Needs Improvement: There are always alternatives to illegal drug use.

This sample thesis statement makes a claim, but it is not a claim that will sustain extended discussion. This claim is the type of claim that might be appropriate for the conclusion of a paper, but in the beginning of the paper, the student is left with nowhere to go. What further points can be made? If there are "always alternatives" to the problem the student is identifying, then why bother developing a paper around that claim? Ideally, a thesis statement should be complex enough to explore over the length of the entire paper.

Better: The most effective treatment plan for methamphetamine addiction may be a combination of pharmacological and cognitive therapy, as argued by Baker (2008), Smith (2009), and Xavier (2011).

In the revised thesis, you can see the student make a specific, debatable claim that has the potential to generate several pages' worth of discussion. When drafting a thesis statement, think about the questions your thesis statement will generate: What follow-up inquiries might a reader have? In the first example, there are almost no additional questions implied, but the revised example allows for a good deal more exploration.

Thesis Mad Libs

If you are having trouble getting started, try using the models below to generate a rough model of a thesis statement! These models are intended for drafting purposes only and should not appear in your final work.

• In this essay, I argue ____, using ______ to assert _____.
• While scholars have often argued ______, I argue______, because_______.
• Through an analysis of ______, I argue ______, which is important because_______.

Words to Avoid and to Embrace

When drafting your thesis statement, avoid words like explore, investigate, learn, compile, summarize , and explain to describe the main purpose of your paper. These words imply a paper that summarizes or "reports," rather than synthesizing and analyzing.

Instead of the terms above, try words like argue, critique, question , and interrogate . These more analytical words may help you begin strongly, by articulating a specific, critical, scholarly position.

Read Kayla's blog post for tips on taking a stand in a well-crafted thesis statement.

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The Trump camp and the White House clash over Biden’s recognition of ‘Transgender Day of Visibility’

President Joe Biden waves as he arrives Air Force One, Tuesday, March 29, 2024, in Hagerstown, Md. Biden is en route to Camp David.(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

FILE - Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally March 9, 2024, in Rome Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is facing criticism from Donald Trump’s campaign and religious conservatives for proclaiming March 31 — which corresponds with Easter Sunday this year — as “Transgender Day of Visibility.”

The Democratic president issued the proclamation on Friday, calling on “all Americans to join us in lifting up the lives and voices of transgender people throughout our Nation and to work toward eliminating violence and discrimination based on gender identity.”

But in 2024, the March 31 designation overlaps with Easter, one of Christianity’s holiest celebrations. Trump’s campaign accused Biden, a Roman Catholic, of being insensitive to religion, and fellow Republicans piled on.

“We call on Joe Biden’s failing campaign and White House to issue an apology to the millions of Catholics and Christians across America who believe tomorrow is for one celebration only — the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” said Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s press secretary. She assailed what she called the Biden administration’s “years-long assault on the Christian faith.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said on social media that the “Biden White House has betrayed the central tenet of Easter” and called the decision “outrageous and abhorrent.”

White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said the Republicans criticizing Biden “are seeking to divide and weaken our country with cruel, hateful and dishonest rhetoric.”

“As a Christian who celebrates Easter with family, President Biden stands for bringing people together and upholding the dignity and freedoms of every American,” Bates said. “President Biden will never abuse his faith for political purposes or for profit.”

The advocacy group GLAAD said in a statement that people can both celebrate Easter and show their support for the trans community.

“The date of Easter moves each year, while Trans Day of Visibility is always recognized on March 31, but this year right-wing politicians and talking heads are using the coincidental timing to overshadow the hope and joy that Easter represents,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD president and CEO.

Biden first issued a proclamation on transgender visibility in 2021 . Proclamations are generally statements about public policy by the president. But this year’s overlap with Easter and the heated tensions from the presidential campaign made the latest transgender proclamation a way for many Republicans to question the Democrat’s religious faith.

Biden devoutly attends Mass and considers his Catholic upbringing to be a core part of his morality and identity. In 2021, he met with Pope Francis at the Vatican and afterward told reporters that the pontiff said he was a “good Catholic” who should keep receiving Communion.

But Biden’s political stances on gay marriage and support for women having the right to abortion have put him at odds with many conservative Christians.

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NBC News Cuts Ties With Ronna McDaniel After Network Firestorm

A string of top stars had denounced the hiring of Ms. McDaniel, the former chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, on their own airwaves.

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By Michael M. Grynbaum and John Koblin

• March 26, 2024

The Ronna McDaniel era at NBC News has come to an abrupt and chaotic end.

Facing an extraordinary on-air revolt by its leading stars, NBC’s top news executive said on Tuesday that he had decided to cut ties with Ms. McDaniel, the former chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, who was hired last week as an on-air political commentator.

Her tenure at NBC lasted four days.

Ms. McDaniel’s appointment, announced with fanfare on Friday, was immediately criticized by reporters at the network and viewers on social media. Fans of MSNBC, NBC’s left-leaning cable arm, were particularly outraged, citing Ms. McDaniel’s leadership of the Republican Party under former President Donald J. Trump and her handling of his false claims that the 2020 election was rigged.

“After listening to the legitimate concerns of many of you, I have decided that Ronna McDaniel will not be an NBC News contributor,” Cesar Conde, the chairman of the NBCUniversal News Group, wrote in a staff memo on Tuesday.

“No organization, particularly a newsroom, can succeed unless it is cohesive and aligned,” Mr. Conde continued. “Over the last few days, it has become clear that this appointment undermines that goal.”

Ms. McDaniel did not respond to requests for comment. She learned of her dismissal through media reports on Tuesday evening, before NBC told her directly, a person close to her said.

The firestorm over Ms. McDaniel is a major test for Mr. Conde, who has led NBC’s news arm since 2020.

He had approved her hiring to help ensure that election-year coverage included a broader range of political perspectives. Networks regularly hire Washington veterans as commentators; Reince Priebus, Mr. Trump’s former chief of staff, recently joined ABC News.

But multiple star anchors viewed Ms. McDaniel’s involvement in Mr. Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election result as disqualifying, and they lined up one by one to denounce NBC’s decision on its own airwaves.

On Monday night, Rachel Maddow devoted 29 minutes of her show — the top-rated program on MSNBC — to addressing Ms. McDaniel’s hiring, calling it “inexplicable” and associating her with historical figures who attempted authoritarian takeovers of the government. She told her bosses: “Take a minute, acknowledge that maybe it wasn’t the right call.”

Her monologue followed similar calls from the MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and Nicolle Wallace, among others. Ms. Wallace, a former Republican who once earned Democrats’ ire as a chief defender of George W. Bush, said on Monday that NBC had given a green light for “election deniers” to spread falsehoods “as paid contributors to our sacred airwaves.”

Ms. McDaniel, who occasionally clashed with Mr. Trump, left the Republican National Committee this month under pressure from the former president and his allies. She quickly signed with Creative Artists Agency, the Hollywood powerhouse, and met with executives at several networks. Her deal with NBC was worth about $300,000 a year, according to a person familiar with its details.

In his memo on Tuesday, Mr. Conde described Ms. McDaniel’s hiring as “a collective recommendation” by members of his leadership team. Those deputies included Carrie Budoff Brown, who oversees NBC News political coverage; Rebecca Blumenstein, the NBC News president; and Rashida Jones, the MSNBC president. (Ms. Blumenstein is a former editor at The New York Times.)

But Mr. Conde acknowledged that he had ultimately approved her appointment, and he accepted full responsibility for the decision. “I want to personally apologize to our team members who felt we let them down,” he wrote.

The episode underscored the deeply partisan sphere in which news organizations are trying to operate — and the challenge of fairly representing conservative and pro-Trump viewpoints in their coverage, if major Republican Party figures like Ms. McDaniel are deemed unacceptable by viewers or colleagues.

Mr. Conde wrote that NBC remained “committed to the principle that we must have diverse viewpoints on our programs, and to that end, we will redouble our efforts to seek voices that represent different parts of the political spectrum.”

Shortly after Mr. Conde’s decision to reverse course on Tuesday, the anti-Trump MSNBC anchors Joy Reid and Ms. Maddow applauded the move on the air.

Ms. McDaniel had tried to walk a fine line regarding Mr. Trump’s baseless conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. She participated in a call with Mr. Trump in which he placed pressure on Michigan officials to not certify election results. But she also kept the Republican National Committee separated from many of Mr. Trump’s audacious lawsuits to overturn the results, and she confronted criticism from the Trump camp for not taking more aggressive steps to question national election processes.

The backlash at NBC has created other problems for Ms. McDaniel. She is no longer represented by CAA, which negotiated her deal with NBC, a person with knowledge of the change said.

Mr. Trump, for his part, criticized NBC on Tuesday after Ms. McDaniel’s exit. “The top people at NBC ARE WEAK,” the former president wrote in a post on his social media site. He added that Ms. McDaniel, whose departure from the national committee he had encouraged, was now in a kind of limbo.

“It leaves her in a very strange place,” Mr. Trump wrote. “It’s called NEVER NEVERLAND, and it’s not a place you want to be.”

Michael Gold contributed reporting.

Michael M. Grynbaum writes about the intersection of media, politics and culture. He has been a media correspondent at The Times since 2016. More about Michael M. Grynbaum

John Koblin covers the television industry. He is the co-author of “It’s Not TV: The Spectacular Rise, Revolution, and Future of HBO.” More about John Koblin

BREAKING: Donald  Trump posts $175 million bond in New York civil fraud case

Boeing CEO, other executives stepping down amid safety crisis

Three senior Boeing executives including its CEO are stepping down, the company said Monday, as the company continues to deal with an ongoing scandal and federal investigation into the safety of its passenger jets.

CEO Dave Calhoun confirmed he was leaving the company by the end of the year in a statement. Stan Deal, the CEO and president of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, has retired effective immediately. Larry Kellner, chair of the company's board of directors, will not stand for re-election at the next shareholders' annual meeting. Boeing board member and former Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf will succeed Kellner.

The company has been mired in a slew of negative stories since a door panel blew out on a Boeing 737 Max plane flown by Alaska Airlines in January. The fallout from that fateful flight shows no sign of stopping: The FBI informed passengers last week that they may have been the victims of a crime that the bureau is still investigating.

Despite Boeing announcing a range of measures to improve safety and committing to working with federal investigators, some passengers have spoken of feeling nervous climbing on board its aircraft.

In a letter to staff, posted on the Boeing website , Calhoun acknowledged that the Alaska Airlines incident had changed the company.

"As you all know, the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 accident was a watershed moment for Boeing," he wrote. "We must continue to respond to this accident with humility and complete transparency. We also must inculcate a total commitment to safety and quality at every level of our company."

"The eyes of the world are on us," he said, referring to ongoing efforts to reassure both the company's airline customers and the flying public that its aircraft are safe.

In an interview with CNBC following Monday's announcement, Calhoun acknowledged the ongoing challenges at Boeing.

"We have this bad habit in our company," he said, adding production pressures continued to weigh on performance. "When you move it down the line, it sends a message to your own people that 'Wow, I guess the movement of the airplane is more important than the first time quality of the product.' And we have got to get that in way more balanced. Without a doubt." 

Calhoun said in the letter to employees that the company had over the last five years faced “some of the most significant challenges our company and industry have ever faced in our 108-year history.”

Calhoun was appointed CEO in 2020 in the wake of two other air disasters that some experts blamed on failures at Boeing. The crashes of Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines in 2018 and 2019, which killed a total of 346 people, both involved the failure of a Boeing software system known as MCAS.

In an interview with the New York Times upon his appointment, Calhoun, who had served on the board of Boeing since 2009 and was appointed non-executive chairman in 2019, promised to change the internal culture at Boeing.

“It’s more than I imagined it would be, honestly,” Calhoun said at the time, describing the problems he was confronting at the plane manufacturer. “And it speaks to the weaknesses of our leadership.”

Yet in the same interview, he seemed to imply that American pilots would not have reacted to the MCAS system failures as the foreign-born ones did.

In the wake of the second crash in March 2019, the 737 Max was grounded worldwide and not re-approved for flight for nearly two years.

In 2021, Boeing agreed to pay a $2.5 billion penalty to settle criminal charges over accusations it concealed information about its 737 Max airplane, with Boeing admitting it had "deceived" the FAA about the MCAS system's reliability.

Calhoun said at the time that the settlement "appropriately acknowledges how we fell short of our values and expectations."

In an interview last week , Michael Whitaker, administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, told NBC News that Boeing had no choice but to develop a plan to improve its culture and practices to meet the agency's safety standards.

Whitaker said Boeing’s priorities “have been on production and not on safety and quality.”

In a written statement in response to the leadership changes, Alaska Airlines said it has flown Boeing planes for nearly 60 years and is committed to the company.

"We share more than a hometown with Boeing; we share a passion for flying and a commitment to safety. We know the people behind the planes, who have dedicated their careers over these decades to make air travel better and safer," the statement said, adding "we will do everything we can to contribute to the critical work under way to ensure excellence in production quality and safety." 

In the wake of the January Alaska Airlines incident, some Wall Street analysts said more drastic change was needed.

“How many times can ‘won’t happen again’ happen again?” Bank of America Corp. analyst Ronald Epstein wrote in a report in January.

“Both Boeing and [Boeing parts supplier] Spirit [AeroSystems] need a drastic cultural overhaul. This cultural change won’t come from FAA mandates, congressional hearings, internal memos, or one-hour all hands meetings. For culture to move from corporate jargon to being embodied in the habits and minds of both workforces, we see it as necessary for Boeing and Spirit to drastically rethink the ways they have operated.”

Patrick Smith is a London-based editor and reporter for NBC News Digital.

Rob Wile is a breaking business news reporter for NBC News Digital.