President Roosevelt's New Deal Programs

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 Great Depression was one of the most devastating events in human history. When FDR was president, his administration contributed to the creation of relief programs in order to help solve the problems of the Great Depression such as the effects of the stock market crash. The government was helping the nation get back on it’s feet by being involved more in people’s daily lives. Franklin D. Roosevelt and his administration created relief programs in order to help Americans after the Great Depression. In Document C, FDR states, “Its evolution, not revolution, Gentlemen”!

Roosevelt. This World War One navy veteran saw the troubles that the United States was going through, (document 5) and promised a ‘New Deal’. During his run in office, he had three goals: Relief for the unemployed, repair the economy, and reforms to prevent another depression (the three R’s). The first thing Roosevelt did was fix the banking system. He knew that without stable banks, money would not be able to start flowing in the economy anymore. He ordered and ‘Bank Holiday’ and went through to all the banks making sure they were financially stable, and shut down the ones that were not. The nation soon had faith in Roosevelt and quickly saw brighter days ahead. Roosevelt provided relief for the unemployed through the Civilian Conservation Corps, and the Works Progress Administration. Both hired unemployed civilians to work building parks, playgrounds, hospitals, schools, etc. Roosevelt also provided recovery to the industry and farmers. He passed acts such as the National Industrial Recovery Act, and the Agricultural Adjustment Act. He paid farmers to start planting a variety of crop instead of competing in prices for the same product. He also provided long-term reforms and has so far prevented another depression through acts such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Social Security

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

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in response to the Great Depression that was wreaking havoc on America in the 30’s, enacted a plan called the New Deal. Which entailed a series of federal programs, public work projects, financial reforms and regulations to hopefully restore our country to a state of prosperity. The prospects of this New Deal were stated to be all about the three ‘R’s. These three ‘R’s included: Relief for the unemployed and poor, Recovery of the economy back to normal levels, and Reform of the financial system. The goal of this plan was to pull our country out of the Great Depression, to rebuild the nation, and to prevent a depression like this from ever

The most important agency to the workers and FDR’s primary vehicle for fighting the depression was the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA). Under NIRA, FDR set up set up the National Recovery

FDR wasted no time trying to deliver the country from the financial hole it had been dug into. In the first three months of his presidency, the majority of the New Deal was enacted and this period of productivity is now called the Hundred Days (“New Deal”). Roosevelt’s target industries and areas to improve include “industry, agriculture, finance, waterpower, labour, and housing” (“New Deal”). Agencies that fell under FDR’s New Deal include ones that worked to bring jobs to people like the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps and organizations like the National Recovery Administration acted as overseers of companies that needed assistance (“New Deal”). This is just the beginning of FDR’s plan to juggle this

The New Deal policies were created by Franklin D. Roosevelt and his people who are known as the “New Dealers”. They were created in hopes that they would bring relief, recovery, and reform to America and help bring America out of the depression. This flawed plan that many historians believe was largely a success brought America another rescission and caused the unemployment rate to rise. To believe that the New Deal was largely a success is to overlook its many failures and negative impact on America. From the failure of the NRA to the hostile reactions of many critics to the fact that unemployment rose, and the discrimination towards women and blacks it is clear that this New Deal was far from a success and was indeed very flawed.

In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt took office and launched the New Deal to prevent the Great Depression which has started from October 29, 1929. The program had four major goals which are Economic Recovery, Job Creation, Investment in Public Works and Civic Uplift. In the first day of the New Deal, President Franklin Roosevelt said in his speech, “First of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself” . This states that he could change the situation around if the people believe in him. This speech gave many people confidence and they trusted him. The first goal of the New Deal is Economic Recovery. This stabilized the banks from the Stock Market crash of 1929 by giving banks a few days off. The second and third goal are Job Creation and Investment in Public Works by building projects such as parks, big buildings, museums and railroad underpass. This gave jobs for millions of workers and saved millions of lives. The last goal is Civic Uplift. This created the bones between the people and the government because men and women who worked on New Deal programs believed that they were not only serving their families, but also the society.

In 1932 during the worst of the great depression and prior to World War II, President Roosevelt’s administration implemented a series of initiatives or legislative reforms that all fell under the New Deal. “The flood of New Deal legislation that followed produced major changes in government-economy relationships and in government’s role in American society generally.” (Anderson, 2015, p. 72) Roosevelt’s description of the New Deal was that it would help to provide relief, recovery, and reform; this came to be known as the “3 Rs.” Many of the reforms were highly successful like the Federal Emergency Relief Act, Tennessee Valley Authority, Federal Housing Administration and the Social Security Act. In 1933 the Rural Rehabilitation

The Public Works Administration was a very instrumental factor during the Great Depression time period. It helped provide people in rural areas with electricity and built public works such as hospitals and roads. Many of these stood the test of time and are still in use today.

Out of the three “R's,” the next one was recovery programs. These programs were intended to fix the economy in the short run and put people back to work. There were other recover programs in the New Deal. One of them was the National Industrial Recovery Act. This act was also part of the National Recovery Administration. The NIRA actually created the NRA which was a combination of businesses organized by the government and gave the power to set rules and regulations for the economy. The Public Works Administration was also involved with NIRA. It took funds to construct roads and other federal projects. It provided jobs for people in order for them to go back to work. Another recovery program was the Agriculture Adjustment Act. This act was

Roosevelt and his Economic Crisis Committee, in 1935, came up with the simple idea of providing benefits to the generation of retired workers from tax money of currently working generation. Roosevelt put this straightforward idea into the system to make it work, and it surprisingly has worked out well so far. When the bill became a law in 1935, there were many people who were affected by the Great Depression and sought financial aid. Unlike the bank money that goes in loans and still depositor have access to the money; Social Security System passes out collected money immediately into benefits (“Social Security System”). This way, the working generation will always provide enough money to the fund. Rather than providing money from government fund, idea of benefiting citizens from their own money didn’t receive

During the 1930s a series of acts and programs were created under the Roosevelt administration. These programs were called the New Deal acts, Alphabet acts, and agencies. These programs focused on relief and recovery from the troubles of the Great Depression. Some acts like the Agricultural Adjustment Act were developed to help the farmers out of extreme poverty but as of today the majority of the acts are not in use and unfair. The AAA act as stated above gave farmers money for their empty plots of lands for crops to reduce surpluses and increase the sale price. Since the price rate for crops has stabilized, the act is now considered unconstitutional. Programs that were repealed decades later they were enacted were the Glass-Steagall act in