New Deal Key Facts

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The domestic program known as the New Deal, intended to stem the effects of the Great Depression, was launched by the administration of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933. The purpose of the program was to provide immediate economic relief to those struggling under unprecedentedly high levels of unemployment.

The New Deal also brought on reforms in industry, agriculture, finance, waterpower, labor, and housing, vastly increasing the scope of the federal government’s activities in these areas.

Greater regulation of the financial sector was enacted to avoid dangerous practices that could endanger the public’s financial well-being. For example, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) granted government insurance for bank deposits in member banks of the Federal Reserve System, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was formed to protect the investing public from fraudulent stock market practices.

The term new deal 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 U.S. President Herbert Hoover in meeting the ravages of the Great Depression, American voters overwhelmingly voted in favor of the Democratic promise of a “new deal” for the “forgotten man” the following November.

The bulk of New Deal legislation came within the first three months of Roosevelt’s first term, 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.

Public works agencies, such as the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), were created to dispense emergency and short-term governmental aid and to provide temporary jobs, employment on construction projects, and youth work in the national forests.

One of the first New Deal measures to be enacted was the National Industrial Recovery Act, which created the National Recovery Administration (NRA). The law authorized the president to institute industry-wide codes intended to eliminate unfair trade practices, reduce unemployment, establish minimum wages and maximum hours, and guarantee the right of labor to bargain collectively.

The Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) sought to control the production of key crops by providing cash subsidies to farmers.

The federal government also reached into the area of electric power, establishing in 1933 the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). The TVA built dams and other projects to harness the power of the Tennessee River for the first time. It helped lift the region out of poverty by supplying cheap electricity, preventing floods, and improving navigation over a seven-state area.

The Wagner Act of 1935 greatly increased the authority of the federal government in industrial relations and strengthened the organizing power of labor unions. The act established the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to execute this program.

Perhaps the most far-reaching programs of the entire New Deal were the Social Security measures enacted in 1935 and 1939, providing old-age and widows’ benefits, unemployment compensation, and disability insurance.