New Deal: Reform, Relief, Recovery

     Although the New Deal addressed all three Rs: reform, relief, and recovery, it emphasized immediate relief over the other two. Immediately after winning the election of 1932, Roosevelt put out a series of cartoons intended to put people's minds off of the Depression, relieving them of their stress. He also provided relief for farmers, who were overproducing agricultural goods, through the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA), offering them subsidies not to plant crops and to kill excess livestock in order to raise prices back up. His creation of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) was intended to relieve the unemployment crisis by employing millions to create public works, and his fireside chats helped relieve fears over the banking crisis. Additionally, he passed the 1933 Banking Act, which established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), restoring trust in the American banking system, and in 1932 Roosevelt founded the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which provided labor jobs related to conservation and natural resources. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) provided states with federal loans with which they could pursue their own relief programs. Although later phases of the New Deal, often known as the "Second New Deal", addressed relief and recovery more thoroughly, passing legislation like the Social Security Act, Roosevelt's immediate response prioritized relief.