When Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected to the presidency in 1932, it was on a promise to restore the confidence of the American people and to bring America out of the Great Depression. Roosevelt stated in his first inaugural address that "we have nothing to fear but fear itself." His objectives were to calm the economic fears of Americans, develop policies to alleviate the problems of the Great Depression, and gain the support of the American people for his programs. Show
Immediately after his election, Roosevelt began to formulate policies to bring about relief from the economic hardships the American people were experiencing. These programs became known as the New Deal, a reference taken from a campaign speech in which he promised a "new deal for the American people." The New Deal focused on three general goals: relief for the needy, economic recovery, and financial reform. During the One Hundred Days, Congress enacted 15 major pieces of legislation establishing New Deal agencies and programs. Among these was the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which was established to protect depositors from losing their savings in the event of bank failure. Another program was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which put thousands of men to work on projects in national forests, parks, and public lands. The Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) was created to ease the desperate plight of the farmer during the Depression by establishing a program of production limits and federal subsidies. To address the problems of industry and workers, Congress passed the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) in June 1933. The NIRA established codes of fair practice for individual industries in order to promote industrial growth. It also created the National Recovery Administration (NRA). The NRA was perhaps one of the most sweeping and controversial of the early New Deal programs. Its purposes were twofold: first, to stabilize business with codes of "fair" competitive practice and, second, to generate more purchasing power by providing jobs, defining labor standards, and raising wages. The NRA also reflected trade union hopes for protection of basic hour and wage standards and liberal hopes for comprehensive planning. General Hugh S. Johnson headed the NRA and eventually proposed a "blanket code" pledging employers generally to observe the same labor standards. By mid-July 1933 he launched a crusade to whip up popular support for the NRA and its symbol of compliance, the "Blue Eagle," with the motto "We do our part." The eagle, which had been modeled on an Indian thunderbird, was displayed in windows and stamped on products to show a business's compliance. There was even a parade down New York's Fifth Avenue with over a quarter of a million marchers in September to show support for the NRA and the "Blue Eagle." While developing programs to help America emerge from the Great Depression, Roosevelt also needed to calm the fears and restore the confidence of Americans and to gain their support for the programs of the New Deal, including the NRA. One of the ways FDR chose to accomplish this was through the radio, the most direct means of access to the American people. During the 1930s almost every home had a radio, and families typically spent several hours a day gathered together, listening to their favorite programs. Roosevelt called his radio talks about issues of public concern "Fireside Chats." Informal and relaxed, the talks made Americans feel as if President Roosevelt was talking directly to them. Roosevelt continued to use fireside chats throughout his presidency to address the fears and concerns of the American people as well as to inform them of the positions and actions taken by the U.S. government. The topic of this lesson's featured document, Fireside Chat on the Purposes and Foundations of the Recovery Program, was the NRA. Although this radio message, given on July 24, 1933, addressed some of the problems and issues of the Great Depression, it also focused on what industry, employers, and workers could do to bring about economic recovery. For a time, the NRA worked. It gave an air of confidence to the American people to overcome the fears of the Depression and the downward turn of wages and prices. However, once recovery began, hostility among businessmen grew with the daily annoyances of code enforcement. Within two years the NRA had developed many critics and by May 1935 was struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional. The experiment of the NRA was generally put down as a failure. Nevertheless, the codes had set new standards for business and workers such as the 40-hour week and the end of child labor. The NRA also helped the growth of unions with the endorsement of collective bargaining. ResourcesAllen, Frederick Lewis. Only Yesterday and Since Yesterday: A Popular History of the '20s and '30s. New York: Bonanza Books, 1986. Foner, Eric, and John A. Garraty, eds. The Reader's Companion to American History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991. Tindall, George Brown, with David E. Shi. America: A Narrative History. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1992. The DocumentsFireside Chat on the Purposes and Foundations of the Recovery Program View on DocsTeach, the online tool for teaching with documents from the National Archives Franklin D. Roosevelt Library First Carbon Files 1933 - 1945 National Archives Identifier: 197304 Poster Displayed by Business to Show Participation and Support for the NRA Program Click to Enlarge Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs 1882-1962 National Archives Identifier: 195507 Photograph of a Woman Hanging an NRA Poster in the Window of a Restaurant Click to Enlarge Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs 1882-1962 National Archives Identifier: 196519
Some came into being by law, some by executive order; some are well known, some are not; some changed names or were amended in mid-course; some lasted only a few years, some still exist. It can be confusing, and we hope that this list can help sort things out. The list of programs is as complete as you will find anywhere. For each New Deal program, there is a summary of the law, agency, goals and achievements, as well as key actors and legacies. These are based heavily on primary sources (which are cited) and are as accurate as possible. —Click on a program name and a pop-up text will appear. Economic Stimulus & StabilizationReconstruction Finance Corporation (1932)Created during the Hoover Administration, expanded by FDR. Helped finance public works, industry, and national defense activities. National Industrial Recovery Act (1933)Created National Recovery Administration (NRA). Legalized industry collaboration for price controls and collective bargaining for labor. Agricultural Adjustment Act (1933, Reauthorized 1938)Created Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA). Introduced measures to reduce crop supply, stabilize prices and support farm incomes. Electric Home and Farm Authority (1934) Income and Wealth Taxes (1934-1941) Federal Credit Unions (1934) U.S. Travel Bureau (1937) Bank Stabilization & Financial ReformEmergency Banking Relief Act (1933) Glass-Steagall Banking Act (1933)Created Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to insure personal bank accounts Separated commercial from investment banking – The ‘Firewall.’ Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) (1933) Federal Credit Unions (1934) Securities Act (1933) & Securities Exchange Act (1934)Created Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Allowed federal regulation of stock trading in public corporations. Gold Reserve Act (1934) Bankruptcy Reform (1934-1938) Banking Act (1935) Public Utility Holding Company Act (1935) Relief & WelfareFederal Emergency Relief Act (1933) Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation (FSCC) (1933) – named Federal Surplus Relief Corporation (1933-1935), then Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation (1935-1940) Railroad Retirement Board (1934) Emergency Relief Appropriation Acts (1935-1943) Social Security Act (1935) Public Works – New ProgramsCivilian Conservation Corps (CCC) (1933)Created under Emergency Conservation Act. Put unemployed, unskilled young men to work on rural and park improvements. Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) (1933)Created under the Tennessee Valley Authority Act. Planned river basin development based on dams and hydroelectricity. Public Works Administration (PWA) (1933)Created under the National Industrial Recovery Act. Paid private contractors to build large-scale projects proposed by states. Civil Works Administration (CWA) (1933)Created by Executive Order as temporary work relief under FERA. Hired unemployed directly to work on local projects; became model for WPA. Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) (1933) Works Progress Administration (WPA) (1935) – renamed Work Projects Administration (1939)Created by Executive Order to fund state and local public works projects. Hired the unemployed directly and became the largest of all public works programs. National Youth Administration (NYA) (1935)Created by Executive Order as a subdivision of the WPA. Hired young men and women, both in and out of school, for works programs. Rural Electrification Administration (REA) (1935)Created by Executive Order to bring electricity to isolated rural areas. Made permanent by Rural Electrification Act (1936). Soil Conservation Service (SCS) (1935) Public Works – Expansion of Existing ProgramsBureau of Public Roads (BPR) (1918) – renamed Public Roads Administration (1939) U.S. Post Office Department (1792) Bureau of Reclamation (1902) Army Corps of Engineers (1802) Quartermaster Corps (1775) U.S. Armed Forces and National Defense Industries Arts & Culture ProgramsPublic Works of Art Project (PWAP) (1933) Art & Culture Projects of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) (1934) Treasury Section of Fine Arts (TSFA) (1934)– originally called Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture (TSPS) from 1934 to 1938, then Treasury Section of Fine Arts (TSFA) from 1938 to 1939, and then finally just Section of Fine Arts (SFA, located in the newly-created Public Buildings Administration, from 1939 to 1943 . Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP) (1935) Indian Arts and Crafts Board (1935) Federal Project Number One (Federal One) (1935)Created by the WPA to employ artists, writers, historians and other professionals The largest of the arts programs, with five divisions: —Federal Art Project (FAP) (1935) A reorganization in 1939 changed the names of the first three to WPA Arts Program, WPA Music Program and WPA Writers’ Program, eliminated the Theater project, and made the HRS part of the WPA’s Research and Records Program. Federal Dance Project (1936) National Youth Administration Dance Group (1936) Historic PreservationNational Archives and Records Administration (1934) Historic Sites Act (1935) Historical Records Survey (HRS) (1935) Public Works Programs ReorganizationU.S. Treasury, Public Buildings Branch (PBB) (1933) – called Public Works Branch from 1933-1935, then Public Buildings Branch from 1935-1939Part of new Procurement Division created to consolidate federal building activities.Managed the construction and repair of most federal buildings. Managed Treasury Section of Painting & Sculpture and Treasury Relief Art Project. Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) (1937)Created by Bonneville Power Act. Managed electric power grid and sales from the Columbia River project. Public Buildings Administration (PBA) (1939) Federal Works Agency (FWA) (1939)Created under the Reorganization Act of 1939 as an umbrella agency to administer existing public works programs, including the PWA, WPA, USHA, PRA (BPR), and PBA. Federal Security Agency (FSA) (1939) Rural & Farm AssistanceAgricultural Adjustment Act (1933, Reauthorized 1938) Farm Credit Act (1933)Created Farm Credit Administration (FCA). Oversight of all farm credit programs & refinancing of farm mortgages. Electric Home and Farm Authority (1934) Bankruptcy Reform (1934-1938) Virgin Islands Company (1934) Shelterbelt Project (1934) Resettlement Administration (RA) (1935)Evolved from earlier emergency relief legislation. Created planned communities for Americans whose livelihoods had been upturned by the Depression; rehabilitated overused land; made loans to farmers. Soil Conservation Act (1935) Rural Electrification Act (1936) Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act (1937) Housing Aid & Mortgage ReformHome Owners’ Loan Act (1933)Created Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC). Provided financial assistance to home owners and the mortgage industry. Alley Dwelling Authority (1934) National Housing Act (1934)Created the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to guarantee mortgages with banks Created the Federal Savings & Loan Insurance Corporation to act like Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (see above) for Savings and Loan institutions. United States Housing Act (1937) Labor LawNational Industrial Recovery Act (1933) Wagner-Peyser Act / U.S. Employment Service (1933) Railroad Retirement Board (1934) National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) (1935) Social Security Act (1935) Fair Labor Standards Act (1938) Health & Public SafetyNational Cancer Institute Act (1937) Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (1938) Land & Wildlife ConservationCivilian Conservation Corps (CCC) (1933) Federal Parks Reorganization (1933) Shelterbelt Project (1934) Fish & Wildlife Conservation Acts (1934) Soil Conservation Act (1935) Taylor Grazing Act (1935) Regulation of Trade, Transport, & CommunicationsRepeal of Prohibition (1933) Export-Import Bank (1934) Reciprocal Trade Agreement Act (1934) Communications Act (1934) Robinson-Patman Act (1936) Civil Aeronautics Act (1938) Indian Lands & US TerritoriesIndian Reorganization Act (1934) Virgin Islands Company (1934) Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA) (1935) Indians in Oklahoma and Native Alaskans (1936) Civil & Criminal JusticeCivil Rights Section, Department of Justice (1939) Education & Civic EngagementFederal Forum Project (1936) United States Film Service (1938) These summaries are the work of Brent McKee, with assistance from Richard A Walker. 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