The New Deal was a set of US government programs introduced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to help Americans affected by the Great Depression. The First New Deal was introduced in 1933, followed by the Second New Deal in 1934-1936. The programs aimed to stabilize the US economy, create jobs, and regulate industries. Some programs, such as the Civil Works Administration and the Public Works Administration, hired workers directly. The New Deal was controversial and some programs were declared unconstitutional, but some, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the TVA, the FDIC, and Social Security, remained in place into the early 21st century.
The New Deal was a comprehensive set of US government programs implemented by the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt to help Americans affected by the Great Depression. The First New Deal refers specifically to the initial set of programs and reforms Roosevelt introduced in 1933, soon after he took office. The Second New Deal describes programs added from 1934 to 1936 to aide or replace earlier initiatives.
The Great Depression was precipitated by a stock market crash in 1929. The catastrophic destabilization of unregulated banking and financial markets threatened or destroyed national economies around the world. Roosevelt’s government took drastic measures to correct the problem, closing all banks and allowing them to open only after they had proven their solvency. The plan worked, stabilizing the US economy. The creation of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC, was part of the First New Deal initiative.
Roosevelt’s radical approaches to banking and unemployment caused opponents to label him a socialist, but millions of unemployed Americans found work through the programs of the First New Deal. Some programs, such as the Civil Works Administration and the Public Works Administration, have hired workers directly rather than waiting for employer incentives to take effect. The Civilian Conservation Corps has hired the unemployed to clean and maintain forests and national parks. Some of the public works created by these programs, such as park trails and murals, still exist in the 21st century.
The Early New Deal took a similar approach to the problems of agriculture and industry in the 1930s. These programs have met with uneven success; the Dust Bowl crisis has been overcome, but efforts to regulate agriculture and industry have met with resistance from government bodies and corporations. The Tennessee Valley Authority, or TVA, brought labor and industry together, creating electric dams and infrastructure in the hard-hit Tennessee River Valley.
The New Deal was controversial in Roosevelt’s day and after. The Supreme Court has declared many of the programs unconstitutional. Opponents found the New Deal’s agenda of government regulation and employment unnervingly similar to the programs instituted by the communist and socialist governments of the time. The political alliances formed in support or opposition to the New Deal influenced US politics for decades afterward.
Although the New Deal made significant progress, the Great Depression did not officially end until the United States entered World War II in 1941. Many New Deal programs were repealed during the war as the war industry forced them made superfluous. Other programs instituted by the First New Deal remained in place into the early 21st century. These include the Securities and Exchange Commission, the TVA, the FDIC and Social Security.
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