The New Deal : A Program That Changed The Lives Of Millions Of Americans

The government established short range goals that included relief and immediate recovery, especially in the first two years. They then set up long-range goals which included permanent recovery and reform of current abuses particuarly those that produced the boom-or-bust catastrophe (World Book, Vol.14, p.748). The Congress authorized the National Recovery Administration (NRA) in a daring attempt to simulate a nationwide comeback. This scheme was to perform immediate relief with long range recovery and reform. It was designed to assist industry, labor, and the

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).

In February 1933, “the Senate passed a resolution calling for the newly elected president, Franklin Roosevelt to assume unlimited power” (Bailey, Beth, et al. “Chapter 22: The Great Depression and the New Deal.” A People and A Nation: Brief Tenth Edition. Vol. 2. Stamford: Cengage Learning, 2015. 632-667. Book. [Further: Bailey, Blight, and Chudacoff]). Through the New Deal, Roosevelt sought to “revive the economy through economic planning and relief programs” (Bailey, Blight and Chudacoff). These relief programs helped many Americans find jobs and ultimately restore the economy.

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 necessary program out in place which helped the nation and expanded the role of the government in a positive way. The nation was struggling in effect of the Great Depression and going through a hard time, and the New Deal helped the country out of it. Alone, the citizens of the United States would have never been able to pull themselves out of this mess, but the government stepped in and helped to fix the nation. The benefits of the New Deal can best be summed up with the three R’s: relief, recovery, and reform.

The New Deal was a set of federal programs with the principle of social-welfare liberalism. President Roosevelt was deeply compromised to help the most vulnerable in the ongoing crisis. In second inaugural address he outlines the progress of the New Deal “We have always known that heedless self-interest was bed morals…. Out of the collapse of a prosperity whose builders boasted their practicality has come to the conviction that in the long run economy morality pays.” At some extend President Roosevelt proudly tell the Nation that he was heading to the right direction to progress. Some of the New Deal successful programs that brought relief and dignify living to many Americans were Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) a direct governmental regulation of farm economy to resolve the overproduction problem. In the unemployment relief, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) that provided federal funds for state relief programs. Public Works Administration (PWA) a construction program that lead to Civil Works Administration (CWA) that provide work for more than 4 million Americans repairing, building, and constructing America's infrastructure. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) that mobilized young men to do reforestation and conservation work helping their family’s income and the country reservation. In 1935 in housing issues Works Progress Administration (WPA) Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) that help many Americans keep their

The depression, however, was not only in the United States. Countries all over suffered from World War One as well. Depression spread and unemployment continued to skyrocket. Poverty spread, people lost their money and homes and struggled to feed their families. People moved from town to town just searching for work. In desperate need of food, women would even grow their own food to feed their family. The homeless often lived in shacks, nicknamed ‘Hoovervilles’ after President Hoover. Although Hoover felt a deep concern for the homeless and unemployed and as much as he tried to restore the confidence of the nation, he felt that the government should not become directly involved in helping restore the economy. He felt it was up to the people to end this depression, which was spiraling out of control. He opposed government relief programs and urged business leaders to keep workers employed and maintain wages. He also had called on churches as well as private charities to help the needy and set up soup kitchens (seen in document 4). Hoover also set up public works programs, which provided jobs and helped the government at the same time. He also approved the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, which would loan money to railroads, banks, and insurance companies to help them stay in business. Although Hoover had tried to help the economy, it had little effect. The depression continued to deepen. Hoover, however, was

To solve this he created many programs such as the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), the Civil Works Administration (CWA), the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Poor men and women were barely supported by the government.(Doc A) The CWA created jobs for americans by working on roads, constructing buildings or other things. This was good for employing people and repairing the country. The CCC also did the same thing by maintaining and restoring the environment. All of these programs were in the New Deal and dropped unemployment from 12,830,000 unemployed to 7,700,000 unemployed, proving the effectiveness of these relief programs. (Doc J) The creation of such programs also changed the role of goverment by demonstrating that the government could have big decisions done by states. The numerous programs FDR implemented were all run by the bureaucracy, thus the "bureaucracy in Washington grew by leaps and bounds" according to William lloyd Garrison, Jr. (Doc

When Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration was tasked with fixing the issues of the Great Depression the first step they took was creating programs to assist those in need. Although his programs pulled the United States out of the Great Depression they would prove to be a Pandora’s Box. Once the country was out of the depression these relief programs remained even when they were not needed. These programs would drain money from the Government and eventually lead to the bulk of the economic issues faced in recent years. Although these programs had a time and a place they eventually caused more harm then they helped.

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

Roosevelt proposed a “new deal” for the people, which would provide aid to the public during the depression (it was meant to provide “Recovery, Relief and Reform”). According to Document 6, the political cartoon illustrates Franklin D Roosevelt with a bag labeled “New Deal Remedies” which pretty much shows the action plan that he had in mind in order to help the United States recover from the economic downfall. To add on, many public offices or churches also contributed in helping many homeless and unemployed people as they would serve soup or bread (Document 4). However, some people also felt kind of left out and thus the Bonus Army (World War 1 veterans) went protesting in Washington D.C. Thus, in this times of despair many people and groups reacted in different

Gale Encyclopedia of U.S Economic History over the past 17 years has been covering the story of the National Industrial Recovery Act. The Book National Industrial Recovery Act talks about President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s initial New Deal Programs, National Industrial Recovery Act was the centerpiece of his programs. Roosevelt’s programs were about reversing the economic collapse of the Great Depression in 1933 to 1945. The Presidents first hundred days in office was when the National Industrial Recovery Act was designed for promoting competition, reducing

The poster promoting the New Deal Work Progress Administration (WPA) program reflects the role of the federal government in shaping U.S social life. The WPA was one of the part of President Roosevelt Second New Deal and became the maid federal relief agency for the rest of the depression. The purpose of the WPA relief program is to provide people with jobs. During Great Depression, the unemployment rate went up, leaving people become homeless and forced them to live in shantytowns. This program put workers to work constructing new bridges, roads, airports, and public buildings. The building of roads and bridges contributed to an exchange of idea and goods. In a working environment, people could also socialize with each other. Instead of suffering

They write, “In response to the massive unemployment of the 1930’s, Roosevelt’s New Deal in 1933 introduced the first federal relief programs targeted at the poor and unemployed… he anticipated that the work relief jobs would boost consumer spending and thus increase demand for labor, which would then raise private employment and earnings.” (Neuman, Fishback, Kanton, pg 4) This quotes illustrates that programs such as these relief jobs, would not only be able to get the people back to work, but also get the economy up and running again.

Recovery: The recovery measures were to rebuild people’s purchasing power and increase incentives to produce, restoring the economy. The National Recovery Administration asked businesses to voluntarily follow codes that had set standard prices, production limits, and minimum wages. But in 1935, the Supreme Court found that the National Recovery Administration unconstitutional because the federal government had no power to interfere with business activities within a state.