Economic Reform: The New Deal

Improved Essays
After the Great Depression, many Americans were left disheveled. Many Americans needed some form of financial assistance to help them get their lives back to normal. Many government officials such as Hurbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt helped to create and enact bills and programs that would assist Americans in rehabilitating their lives. The amount of unemployed workers, the economic relief for retired workers, and the creation of programs directed towards financial stability all illustrate that the most important effects that the New Deal legislation had on the American government was a liberal one..
The Great Depression left the American banking system in shambles and left the American people broken and scared for their futures. There
…show more content…
Local cities and towns had the responsibility of providing economic relief for its own citizens. The poor economic status led to the legislation of the New Deal and the Social Security Act. In hopes to relieve some of the fear of joblessness from workers and to give elderly workers economic relief after retirement. When President Roosevelt ran for office he promised the American citizens a "New Deal" to relieve American suffering. The New Deal sought to provide two objectives. The first was "workfare" in place of "welfare." This would take place by poviding short-term employment in public works projects. The second objective was to create a more organized economic system. This would encourage the recovery of the private sector in the future. During Roosevelt's campaign, more than 12 million Americans citizens were unemployed, two million families had lost their homes and their farms, and thirty million Americans were members of households without a single employed family member working. In March of 1933, shortly after FDR took office, he enacted the first program of the "New Deal." It was called the Emergency Banking …show more content…
The U.S. Congress enacted the Social Security Act, originally called the “Economic Security Bill,” in August of 1935. The main purpose of the Social Security Act was to provide the elderly with a reasonable amount of money to survive on as they grew older. Within the Social Security Act there was a section that stated that "qualified individuals would receive monthly payments starting on the date he reaches the age of sixty-five and stopping on the day he dies. The plan was that these payments would begin in the year 1940 and the funds would be obtained from special "modest" tax paid by the employer. The intentions of the Roosevelt Administration was not for Social Security to be the only source of retirement for the elderly. The goal was just to give them a guarantee that they would have something. Later generations would increase the benefit from the initial average of $20 per month. The result of these increases and the growing number of retirees in proportion to workers has created challenges in modern times, yet Social Security remains the most popular program initiated during the New Deal. When FDR gave his speech upon signing the Social Security Act he stated, "Young people have come to wonder what will be there lot when they came to old age." He also stated, "This social security measure gives at least some protection to 50 million of our citizens who will reap

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    One of America’s darkest times in it’s history is known as the Great Depression. Isaac Asimov, a historical writer, once stated, “No one can possibly have lived through the Great Depression and not be scared by it. No amount of experience since the depression can conceive someone who has lived through it that the world is safe economically.” (Isaac Asimov) The country really struggled during this time, as jobs and money were scarce, impacting everyone throughout the nation.…

    • 1060 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This was one of the first steps for Americas recovery. Fiscal Policy began to stimulate the recovering states. Franklin Roosevelt implemented the New Deal in early 1933 and created 43 government programs. These programs were aimed to give people relief, providing food, shelter and work. For example, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) hired the unemployed to work on government building projects, and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) constructed dams and power plants in a particularly depressed area.…

    • 786 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    During the 1920’s, people in America seemed to live in a world of wealth and luxury. The economy was booming due to little government interference and workers were receiving higher wages. People could choose from new products such as refrigerators, washing machines, and cars. However, this prosperity wouldn 't last long. The people of this era were part of the worst economic depression in history.…

    • 1370 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    With the monthly checks from the Social Security Act of 1935, it provided financial insurance to the helpless people in tough times. By providing benefits for unemployment, retirement, and welfare for the needy, they are entitled to the benefits from paying taxes that were cut from their own paychecks. With the Social Security Act intact, the federal government formed the principle that they should be responsible for the population who are unable to work to support themselves. In addition to the Social Security Act, the New Deal program was effective as shown in the historical cartoon of the Evolution of progress with the New Deal programs for relief, reform and recovery (C). The New Deal created many successful agencies.…

    • 1111 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The aim of the New Deal was for the government to create Alphabet Agencies that would disburse money into providing jobs for the poor and unemployed. These led to action in helping industry and agriculture, resolving the banking crisis, more money spent on goods, an increased demand for these goods and increase in the production. In order for Roosevelt to be so successful he had to earn the trust of the US people. The population was used to being ignored and to suffer alone as Hoover left the economy to fix itself, which was ineffective.…

    • 975 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The New Deal Dbq Essay

    • 1647 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The world has known many great leaders, however, in my opinion President Franklin Roosevelt has made the biggest impact on our economy and government in this century. Roosevelt began a new era in American history by ending the Great Depression and helping the Second World War come to an end. Without Roosevelt who knows where this country could have gone? In 1929, the U.S. suffered from a stock market crash. This crash set off a train reaction that plunged the U.S. into what is known as the Great Depression.…

    • 1647 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    During Herbert Hoover's presidency, the Depression was fueled by the administration's hesitance to increase government spending. However, by financing many individual groups and agencies, the Roosevelt administration was able to get more money out for public use. The administration used strategies like giving out the social security checks mentioned in Document E to help redistribute much of the wealth in America to the working class. This was an important step in changing the government from a passive bystander to an active assistant that was working to help eliminate the problems of the Great Depression. This change, brought about by Roosevelt's New Deal, was vital in asserting Roosevelt's abilities to disable the Depression and is a good example of the effectiveness of Roosevelt's…

    • 836 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The New Deal Dbq

    • 1073 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In the early days of 1933 the U.S. needed urgent relief and recovery from the economic collapse which caused the Great Depression. 1929-1939 were some of the bleakest years in the country 's history, at least one-quarter of the population was unemployed and almost every family was in bad shape. President Franklin Roosevelt took office in 1933 and he swiftly brought in new rules, regulations, and ideas to begin improving the economy and the American people’s way of life. Over the next couple years the government implemented an array of experimental projects and programs, collectively known as The New Deal. The main goal of these projects was to restore peace and prosperity with the economy, and to lift some of the suffering off the American…

    • 1073 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    The picture of Fred Bell known as ‘Champagne Fred’, a one-time millionaire, selling apples at his stand on a busy street corner in San Francisco in March 1931 during the Great Depression, became a symbol of the stock market crash in 1929. (McLeod, 1969) Although the collapse of the stock market on October 24, 1929, known as the ‘Black Thursday’, signed in everyone’s mind the beginning of the Great Depression, actually it only precipitated it. A combination of conditions led the United States to the worst economic crisis in its history. During this traumatic period of despair, the Presidents Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt would answer this crisis with very antagonist approaches to bring the United States out of this economic catastrophe.…

    • 1247 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Three Acts of Roosevelt's New Deal The National Labor Relations Act is also known as the Wagner Act. In 1933, Senator Robert F. Wagner submitted a bill before Congress that would prohibit unfair labor practices by employers. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed this bill into law on July 5, 1935. It guaranteed the right of employees to organize, form unions, and bargain collectively with their employers.…

    • 751 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Roaring Twenties Essay

    • 1567 Words
    • 7 Pages

    After World War I, the US came into an era known as the Roaring Twenties. During this time, many Americans dedicated their time to buying consumer goods such as cars, telephones, and radios. This in turn led to a period of great prosperity in the United States and Americans were more geared to letting loose and having fun. Americans had so much fun, they spent money they didn’t have. However, a large segment of the population did not get to share in the wealth as the gap between the rich and poor widened.…

    • 1567 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    New Deal Dbq

    • 2191 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Franklin Delano Roosevelt came into his presidency and called for a change immediately, changing the government's economic policy from a hands-off ,laissez-faire system, to one more centered on government intervention. Roosevelt’s New Deal legislation was aimed to provide relief,reform, and recovery for every American, and ultimately to end the Great Depression. These policies were not as effective at immediately pulling the country out of an economic slump as one would hope, but it boosted public morale and involvement by the masses, while it marginalized the upper class. The New Deal changed the paradigm of government to protect and provide for the average American and helped to expand the middle class for over 40 years.…

    • 2191 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Roosevelt in office as of 1932, he began pondering on ways to relieve the unemployed in urban America. Roosevelt passed several acts and federal organizations to stimulate the economy and attempt to pull America out of the depression. These were tied together into one big administration called the New Deal. The New deal put out funding for the unemployed and put them to work doing odd jobs for public works. The New Deal did, however, have several flaws that prohibited America overcoming the depression.…

    • 779 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The New Deal was series of federal programs between 1933 and 1938 which were approved by Congress and Executive Order. These programs came in response to the Great Depression to establish a relief, recovery, and reform program that focused on the unemployed and poor. During the first 100 days of the New Deal of 1993 the American people were extremely dissatisfied with the economy and mass unemployment that rocked the country after the crash of the stock market. President Hoover, plan to rebound the national economy created a political realignment in the Congress which allowed the Democratic Party to hold the majority vote. The Democratic Party was once again able to unit labor unions, ethnic minorities, traditional southerners, and big business.…

    • 252 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    After America’s economy took a turn for the worst in 1929, millions of people lost their jobs, their savings, and their homes in the Great Depression. As the Democratic candidate for the 1932 Presidential election, Franklin D. Roosevelt assured the people he would take radical action to give the American people a “new deal” and provide relief, recovery, and reform to the country. Within the first 100 days, Roosevelt introduced a series of New Deal acts (referred to as “Alphabet Agencies”) designed to help certain groups of people, however some were left out. In the late 1930s, Roosevelt needed to create a second New Deal that took a more assertive approach in recovering from the economic depression.…

    • 992 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays