The Road to Welfare: America in the 1930s The decade of the 1930s is infamous in American history as a result of the nation’s worst economic crisis, the Great Depression. However, the 30s also became a time of substantial reform that led to many government welfare measures. Much of American society today has been greatly influenced by the ideas started in this time period. Specifically, the decade of the 1930s influenced American history through the increase of government power and the people’s dependence on federal aid. First, the 1930s were influential in American history due to the vast increase in government power. This power surge came on the heels of the Great Depression in 1932 when Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected President. In
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Roosevelt’s reforms coupled with the Great Depression led many Americans to adopt the perspective that government was responsible to provide for them. The first two years of the Depression were influence by President Hoover’s belief that relief for the nation’s needy should come from private charities such as the Red Cross instead of the federal government. In fact, the greatest of Hoover’s attempts to alleviate the nation’s difficulties was through public works projects to help lower the unemployment rate. However, President Roosevelt’s New Deal created many relief programs such as the Federal Surplus Relief Corporation, the Federal Farm Bankruptcy Act, the Commodity Credit Corporation, the Jones-Connally Farm Relief Act, and many more which led to more and more government-funded aid for industry. Trying to restore the nation’s prosperity, the New Dealers worked tirelessly to pass legislation to aid labor, agriculture, insurance, and conservation, replacing private charity with government welfare. Perhaps the most lasting of Roosevelt’s welfare measures was the Social Security Act which established a federal old-age pension. Upon Roosevelt’s insistence, the system was to be self-sufficient, with revenue taken out of every American’s paycheck to be distributed to citizens after they retire. This system was the largest scale proposal of government welfare in United States
Roosevelt’s reforms coupled with the Great Depression led many Americans to adopt the perspective that government was responsible to provide for them. The first two years of the Depression were influence by President Hoover’s belief that relief for the nation’s needy should come from private charities such as the Red Cross instead of the federal government. In fact, the greatest of Hoover’s attempts to alleviate the nation’s difficulties was through public works projects to help lower the unemployment rate. However, President Roosevelt’s New Deal created many relief programs such as the Federal Surplus Relief Corporation, the Federal Farm Bankruptcy Act, the Commodity Credit Corporation, the Jones-Connally Farm Relief Act, and many more which led to more and more government-funded aid for industry. Trying to restore the nation’s prosperity, the New Dealers worked tirelessly to pass legislation to aid labor, agriculture, insurance, and conservation, replacing private charity with government welfare. Perhaps the most lasting of Roosevelt’s welfare measures was the Social Security Act which established a federal old-age pension. Upon Roosevelt’s insistence, the system was to be self-sufficient, with revenue taken out of every American’s paycheck to be distributed to citizens after they retire. This system was the largest scale proposal of government welfare in United States