The New Deal was a series of economic programs and reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression. The New Deal sought to provide relief, recovery, and reform to the American economy1. Here are some key points about the New Deal:
The New Deal was a domestic program of the administration of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) between 1933 and 1939.
The program took action to bring about immediate economic relief as well as reforms in industry, agriculture, finance, waterpower, labor, and housing, vastly increasing the scope of the federal government’s activities.
The term was taken from Roosevelt’s speech accepting the Democratic nomination for the presidency on July 2, 1932.
Reacting to the ineffectiveness of the administration of President Herbert Hoover in meeting the ravages of the Great Depression, American voters the following November overwhelmingly voted in favor of the Democratic promise of a “new deal” for the “forgotten man”.
Much of the New Deal legislation was enacted within the first three months of Roosevelt’s presidency (March 9–June 16, 1933), which became known as the Hundred Days.
The new administration’s first objective was to alleviate the suffering of the nation’s huge number of unemployed workers.
Such agencies as the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) were established to dispense emergency and short-term governmental aid and to provide temporary jobs, employment on construction projects, and youth work in the national forests.
The WPA gave some 8.5 million people jobs. Its construction projects produced more than 650,000 miles of roads, 125,000 public buildings, 75,000 bridges, and 8,000 parks.
Also under its aegis were the Federal Art Project, Federal Writers’ Project, and Federal Theatre Project.
This period of American history had a profound impact on the nation and continues to influence it today.