Roosevelt?S New Deal Essay, Research Paper

Although the flood waters of poverty, unemployment, and famine known as the Great Depression began to recede under Hoover’s administration, it was Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his administration who saw to the retreat of the destitute ways of life that had enveloped the nation. When FDR took office, he intended to change the government in order to include help for the plight of the “forgotten man”. He had a plan for the change known as the “New Deal”. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs aimed at three R’s – relief, recovery, and reform.

Also, through his New Deal programs, one can see all he did during the Depression to relieve suffering and jump start the economy.

In the New Deal program, Roosevelt had short and long – range goals. One of his first short-range goals was relief – especially in the first 100 days. At the time of Roosevelt’s inauguration, one out of every four people was unemployed. Since FDR was intent upon ending human suffering first and foremost, he decided to be open about using federal money to aid the unemployed. With the okay from FDR, the Hundred Days Congress passed much legislation in order to help in the first short range goal – to give immediate relief. In 1933, Congress created the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which provided employment in fresh – air government camps for about 3 million uniformed young men. Their work included reforestation, fire fighting, flood control, and swamp drainage. Also new in 1933 was the Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA). It was the first major effort of Congress to deal with the unemployed adults, and its chief purpose was immediate relief rather than long-range recovery. Other legislation passed by Congress included the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA), the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC), and Civil Works Administration (CWA).

Roosevelt’s other short – term goal, recovery, was also off to a good start in the first 100 days of FDR’s administration. There were many legislative acts passed by Congress in order to allow for a quick recovery for the nation. The two best examples of recovery in the first 100 days would be the Emergency Banking Relief Act, which allowed the president to regulate banking transactions and foreign exchange and to reopen solvent banks, and the National Industrial Recovery Act. The National Industrial Recovery Act, which created the National Recovery Administration (NRA), designed to assist industry, labor, and the unemployed, and the Public Works Administration (PWA), intended for industrial recovery, as well as unemployment relief.

Roosevelt’s one long term goal, reform, also had its spot on the 100 days Congress list. Although it was a long – term goal, in order to get the proper effects of it in the future, work needed to begin on it immediately. For the reform category of the New Deal, the Tennessee Valley Authority Act, and the Glass – Steagall Banking Reform Act were very important at the time. The TVA was fixed on finding out exactly how much the production and distribution of electricity cost so that a “yardstick” could be set up to test the fairness of rates charged by private companies. In the end, the TVA brought about full employment cheap electric power, low – cost housing, abundant cheap nitrates, and many other amenities only once dreamed of in the impoverished area in which it was located. The Glass – Steagall Banking Reform Act provided for the Federal Deposit Insurance corporation (FDIC) which insured individual deposits up to $5,000, and helped put an end to the epidemic of bank failures in the United States and abroad.

After Roosevelt had the early part of the New Deal underway with the 100 days Congress, he moved on into the future, expanding his goals in order to reach beyond the Great Depression, and in order to prevent another depression from every happening. This part of his program had the same format as the first part. It was divided into the same three categories: recovery; relief; and reform. Although there were never two different specific parts of the New Deal, they are broken up into what Roosevelt did to immediately end human suffering upon taking office ( the short term goals), and what he did to make sure that such a tragedy as the Great Depression never struck America again (the long -term goals).

The two best samples of recovery under the New Deal after the first 100 days include the Gold Reserve Act and the Fair Labor Standards. Fair Labor Standards stated that industries involved in interstate commerce were to set up minimum – wage and maximum – hour levels. The intended goal was to eventually get to forty cents an hour and a forty – hour week. Labor by children under sixteen, and if it was dangerous, under eighteen.

In the relief section of the long – term portion of the New Deal, FDR created the Works Progress Administration as well as the Civil Works Administration. The purpose of the Works Progress Administration was employment on useful projects. Although the agency ended up spending $11 billion on thousands of public buildings, bridges, and hard – surfaced roads, the money was hardly put to waste. Nearly 9 million people were employed over a period of eight years as a result. The Civil Works Administration, which was a branch of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration was designed to provide purely temporary jobs during the winter emergency.

Finally, in the reform division of the New Deal, the best examples of reform during the latter 100 days would be between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), National Labor Relations Act, and the Social Security Act. The SEC was designed as a watchdog administrative agency in order to protect the public against fraud, deception, and inside manipulation; the National Labor Relations Act reasserted the right of labor to engage in self – organization and to bargain collectively through representatives of its own choice; and the Social Security Act provided for federal – state unemployment insurance as well as providing security for old age.

When Franklin Delano Roosevelt entered office in 1933, most Americans were simply getting by on a wing and a prayer, if that much. FDR and his New Deal helped put America back on the map as an industrial power. The new program had the right features in order to get America back on her feet, and allowed for much new legislation to pass which are still in effect protecting Americans today. If it had not been for the setup of the program with the problems that needed to be taken care of immediately actually coming first, and long – term things put into perspective in advance, it may have taken much longer to put the country back together again.