Did the New Deal Satisfy the Three R's?

The United States encountered many ordeals during the Great Depression (1929-1939). Poverty, unemployment and despair clouded the “American Dream” and intensified the urgency for solutions to address and control the nationwide damage. President Franklin Roosevelt proposed the New Deal to detoxify the nation of its suffering. It can be argued that the New Deal was ineffective due to the inability to end the Great Depression with its short-term solutions and created more problems, however; it was successful in regards to providing direct relief for the needy, economic recovery and some structural reform for the majority of the general public in the severity of the Great Depression.

Once President Franklin Roosevelt was elected during the Great Depression, his first 100 days enacted what he called the New Deal. This “deal” was a series of reforms that were meant to increase available jobs, better the working conditions, and put money back into the economy. Jobs offered during this time, as well as the relief, recovery, and reform efforts gave a kick start to the American economy, helping to pull us out of the Great Depression. Some examples of these efforts can be seen in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the National Recovery Administration (NRA), and the Social Security Act (SSA).

Many of the New Deal’s relief programs were revolutionary; the federal government was now responsible for relieving the problems of society previously left to individuals, states, and local governments. Work relief programs, such as the popular Civilian Conservation Corps, which offered unemployed Americans a chance to earn wages while working to conserve natural resources, and the Works Progress Administration, which gave unemployed Americans

The New Deal was a specific set of government works programs put into effect by President Roosevelt in response to the Great Depression. The New Deal took action to bring fast economic relief as well as improvements in industry, finance, agriculture, housing, the labor force, etc. The traditional American policy of laissez-faire was opposed in the new democratic promise of the “New Deal”. The majority of the New Deal was enacted in the first couple months of FDR’s presidency, which later became known as the Hundred Days. The first objective was to lessen the hardship of the large amount of unemployed workers in the nation. The Works Progress Administration(WPA) and Civilian Conservation Corps(CCC) were created to establish short term government aid to temporary jobs. The National Recovery Administration (NRA) was created to develop rules to govern trade practices, hours, child labor, wages, and collective bargaining. Also, the New Deal worked to avoid another stock market crash and bank failures.The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) gave insurance for bank deposits and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was created to protect the people from stock-market companies committing fraud. An agricultural program , the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) attempted to raise prices by providing subsidies to farmers to reduce crop production. The New Deal was filled with government works programs to help pull the country out of the Great Depression but,

During this time, “…FDR promised ‘a new deal for the American people’” (Polenberg, 8). FDR quickly realized that in order to win over the citizens of the United States and to fix the crisis they were in, he had to address the two main things that he saw every American wanted during this economical depression. Polenberg informs his readers that FDR saw that the two things every American wanted was “…Work; work with all the moral and spiritual values that go with work. And with work, a reasonable measure of security—security for themselves and for their wives and children” (p.8). Knowing that these were the two main aspects (at the time) that FDR had to place the majority of his attention on, he went to work immediately as “He feared that a resolution was likely if he failed, as Hoover had, to solve the nation’s problems” therefore he begun formation of the first New Deal reforms (Polenberg, 8). These reforms were “…designed not so much to promote reform as to proceed recovery,” (Polenberg, 9) therefore indicating that “…the Roosevelt administration intended to move the country in a dramatically new direction” (Polenberg, 9). Some of the programs that the New Deal initiated were: the NIRA (National Industrial Recovery Act), the NRA (the National Recovery Administration), the AAA (Agricultural Adjustment Act), the WPA (Works Progress Administration), the CWA (Civil Works Administration), and the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) just to name a few (Polenberg, 9-13). Each reform act was aimed at recovering a different but specific area of society. For example, the TVA worked to “…provide cheap electrical power… and… help prevent soil erosion and control floods” (Polenberg, 13) while the AAA “…served as the foundation of New Deal farm policy… balancing agricultural production and consumption so as to avoid surpluses and ensure that

When the Great Depression occurred the U.S. and the American nation was thrown into complete chaos. Herbert Hoover established a ”hands off” policy which left the American people poor, homeless, and unemployed. Then FDR decided to intervene and take the U.S. out of the Great Depression with the New Deal idea which was a set of policies set in place to pull Americans out of the Great Depression. The policies help many and were very successful in getting American citizens back on their feet. One example of the impact of the New deal on American people was it employed many people. Including providing jobs for young men which also gave food clothing. The CCC cared for nearly 2.5 million young men. Many more bills employed many people under CWA and WPA. The program also provided food for many malnourished children and nursed them back to health. Last of all the New Deal offered recovery to many poor in debt farmers. These beneficial bills were very successful in pulling the U.S. out of the Great Depression and leading them to a new better life with the New Deal.

Thesis: The New deals legislation has played a very integral part in helping recovery effort during the great depression because it led to a greater employment, and restored the security in the American economy. Although not perfect, the new deal success ultimately set the precedent for future progressive reform during times of economic depression and recession.

Franklin D Roosevelt jumped into action to save the economy the 1930s. In Doc A, he said “we are giving opportunity of employment to one-quarter of a million of the unemployed, especially the young men…” (Doc A). This shows that the New Deal created jobs so people could get paid and ended the Depression. In Doc E, it shows that in 1937, the unemployment rate had increased down to 9.1% compared to the 22.5% it was before FDR took office (Doc E). This shows that the New Deal succeeded in providing work. Besides providing jobs, the New Deal gave Americans faith in their government.

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs were a weak response for severe consequences that resulted from the Great Depression, and other conflicts that were occurring in the 1930’s. Although the New Deal programs positively revamped the political system and helped unemployed citizens get jobs, it challenged the order of the Executive Branch of the Federal government, gave false hope to the unemployed, and crushed the spirits of people of color and immigrants with its discriminatory views.

The New Deal also attempted to help workers. The workingman was one of the people hardest hit by the Great Depression. At one point during the one in four Americans, 25% were unemployed. FDR saw this as a major problem and attempted to correct it with a massive public works programs. The New Deal set up agencies such as the Federal Emergency Relief Association (FERA) and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). FERA was given one billions dollars to help end hardship. Under FERA, the Civilian Works Association (CWA) and the Civilian Conservation Core (CCC) helped to ease people’s suffering. The CWA hired 4 million people to help do public works projects. The CCC took city boys into the country to do construction work. Their pay was mailed home to their families to help ease the financial struggles. The TVA was perhaps the most successful New Deal project. It built 20 dams and provided cheap power. It also put many people to work.

The Great Depression brought hardship to every aspect of life in the 1930’s and took almost 15 million jobs. Franklin D. Roosevelt passed a plan to fund experimental projects to provide jobs through government needs, collectively known as The New Deal. The programs created a way for unemployed, or homeless Americans rebuild their lives and country. Today we have financial aid either through the same systems or improved ideas that came from the Great Depression.

After the Stock Market Crash of 1929, life for Americans changed dramatically as the nation’s economy came to a halt. With unemployment rates reaching historic levels, politicians scrambled to find a fix for the Great Depression; but President Hoover’s attempts to mediate the issue with charity and negotiation were unsuccessful at best. In the end, what had the greatest impact at the time was President Roosevelt’s New Deal. Roosevelt’s New Deal, focusing on the goals of direct relief, economic recovery, and financial form, had limited effectiveness in its time, but expanded the long-term role of the federal government profoundly. Roosevelt’s primary concern was to provide direct relief to the poor by providing jobs and financial assistance.

The New Deal help created jobs and money to a lot of people in the 1930s. The New Deal created jobs by “creating the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to provide jobs for unemployed people” (history.com/topics/new-deal). This administration gave jobs to millions

The New Deal was started due to the Great Depression that lasted for years of sadness. During this time their where so many people who lost their jobs and no one was sure how or when it would be better. At the time of the Great Depression Presidential Roosevelt was in charge of our country and he offered the citizens “relief, recovery and reform”. Many programs were implemented such as the FERA Federal Emergency Relief Administration that provided relief to companies and citizens. President Roosvelet received some criticism about the new changes but he knew in the end that this was help our country Great Depression. A view of the long term effects that we are benefiting from today is called The Social Security Act which helps citizens who cannot

Another goal of the New Deal was recovery. To FDR and his administration, recovery meant fixing the economic problems, such as the insolvent banks. To combat this problem, Roosevelt declared a Bank Holiday, which stopped the panic immediately. He also created the Emergency Banking Act, which closed the insolvent banks and only reopened the solvent ones, creating a better financial system. This was a major relief measure and was crucial to the effectiveness of the New Deal. Without the extra aid given to banks who just needed a little more, these banks would too have closed, creating an even tighter economy. To