Roosevelt and the New Deal

Franklin D Roosevelt won the 1932 election and became president at the beginning of 1933. He had promised America a New Deal to fix the problems of the Great Depression. There has been a lot of debate among historians about how successful his New Deal was. By 1941, the worst of the Depression was over and the USA was ready to become involved in World War Two.

Roosevelt becomes president

As the 1932 presidential election approached, President Herbert Hoover became increasingly unpopular. He had tried to solve the problems caused by the Depression, but people had not seen any improvements in their lives. The candidate in the election, Franklin D Roosevelt, offered a different vision of how to solve America’s problems.

The 1932 election

By the time the election campaign began, Hoover was so unpopular that there were reports that he was booed at in public. The Secret Service had to protect him from a number of attempts.

Hoover’s opponent, Roosevelt, was becoming increasingly popular as he presented plans to deal with the Depression. He blamed politicians like Hoover, as well as the bankers and the rich, for the Depression. He promised public work projects to give people jobs, as well as reforms for the banks and for those who could not look after themselves.

Roosevelt won the election, receiving around 23 million votes and winning 42 states. Hoover got around 16 million votes and won only six states.

I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people. Let us all here assembled constitute ourselves prophets of a new order of competence and of courage. This is more than a political campaign; it is a call to arms. Give me your help, not to win votes alone, but to win in the crusade to restore America to its own people.

— Franklin D Roosevelt in his speech accepting the Democratic Party’s nomination for the presidential election, July 1932

The New Deal

When he took office as president in January 1933, Roosevelt began to implement his programme to solve the problems of the Depression. This was known as the three Rs.

The three Rs

A photograph of Franklin D Roosevelt sitting at a desk — Figure caption,
President Franklin D Roosevelt

The three Rs were implemented in the following order:

Relief - spend money to relieve hunger and get the unemployed back to work
Recovery - support businesses and solve the problems with the banks
Reform - create a welfare system to support people in need as well as make sure banks and businesses did not get into trouble again

This would form the basis of what Roosevelt called his New Deal.

Roosevelt had pass the laws that would put his three Rs into practice. The result of this was the founding of a number of government organisations. These became known as the as people referred to them by their initials.

The New Deal was split into two phases.

The first New Deal

The first New Deal focused on relief and recovery.

Government action	Impact of government action
Emergency Banking Act	All banks were closed for four days. The government supported 5,000 banks and promised people they would not lose all of their money if banks failed again. They would receive at least $2,500 of their savings back.
Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)	This agency was given $500 million to provide food, clothing and housing for the poor.
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)	Men aged 18 to 25 were offered work on environmental projects such as planting trees. Around 2 million men were given work by this agency.
Public Works Administration (PWA)	This agency spent $3.3 billion on public building projects to provide work for the unemployed. This included the building of schools, hospitals and roads.
Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA)	Farmers were paid to destroy some crops and livestock to force up prices. Farmers earned one and a half times as much in 1936 as they had in 1933.
National Recovery Administration (NRA)	This agency was set up to improve wages, working hours and conditions.
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)	This agency built and acquired dams along the Tennessee Valley. The dams helped to prevent flooding and provided water for irrigating farms. Power-plants were also built to produce hydro-electric power. The construction new dams created many jobs.

Government action	Emergency Banking Act
Impact of government action	All banks were closed for four days. The government supported 5,000 banks and promised people they would not lose all of their money if banks failed again. They would receive at least $2,500 of their savings back.

Government action	Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)
Impact of government action	This agency was given $500 million to provide food, clothing and housing for the poor.

Government action	Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
Impact of government action	Men aged 18 to 25 were offered work on environmental projects such as planting trees. Around 2 million men were given work by this agency.

Government action	Public Works Administration (PWA)
Impact of government action	This agency spent $3.3 billion on public building projects to provide work for the unemployed. This included the building of schools, hospitals and roads.

Government action	Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA)
Impact of government action	Farmers were paid to destroy some crops and livestock to force up prices. Farmers earned one and a half times as much in 1936 as they had in 1933.

Government action	National Recovery Administration (NRA)
Impact of government action	This agency was set up to improve wages, working hours and conditions.

Government action	Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Impact of government action	This agency built and acquired dams along the Tennessee Valley. The dams helped to prevent flooding and provided water for irrigating farms. Power-plants were also built to produce hydro-electric power. The construction new dams created many jobs.

The second New Deal

The second New Deal was established after Roosevelt won the next presidential election, in 1936. It focused more on welfare and the rights of workers.

Government action	Impact of government action
Works Progress Administration (WPA)	This agency set up more schemes to create jobs with more work for public building projects including roads, harbours and airports. It employed artists, writers and actors and would become the country’s biggest employer.
National Labor Relations Act	Also known as the Wagner Act. This allowed workers to join trade unions and gave them some protection from being treated unfairly by their employers.
Fair Labor Standards Act	This act enforced employment laws such as the minimum wage. It helped 700,000 workers to get higher pay and enabled 1.5 million workers to work fewer hours each week.
Social Security Act	This act provided benefits for the elderly, the disabled and the unemployed, as well as widows and orphans.

Government action	Works Progress Administration (WPA)
Impact of government action	This agency set up more schemes to create jobs with more work for public building projects including roads, harbours and airports. It employed artists, writers and actors and would become the country’s biggest employer.

Government action	National Labor Relations Act
Impact of government action	Also known as the Wagner Act. This allowed workers to join trade unions and gave them some protection from being treated unfairly by their employers.

Government action	Fair Labor Standards Act
Impact of government action	This act enforced employment laws such as the minimum wage. It helped 700,000 workers to get higher pay and enabled 1.5 million workers to work fewer hours each week.

Government action	Social Security Act
Impact of government action	This act provided benefits for the elderly, the disabled and the unemployed, as well as widows and orphans.

Impact of the New Deal

Rural life during the Great Depression

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