Relief, Recovery, or Reform

During the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the Relief, Reform, and Recovery programs in order to address and fix the problem with mass unemployment and the ongoing, continuous economic crisis. Also know as the “Three R’s” the program focused on emergency relief programs, regulating the banks and the stock market, providing debt relief, managing farms, initiating industrial recovery and introducing public works construction projects. Ultimately, each “R’s” required either immediate, temporary or permanent actions and reforms and were collectively known as President Roosevelt’s New Deal. The relief policy was targeted to give direct aid to reduce the suffering of the poor and the unemployed. Meanwhile recovery was created to increase job openings and helping businesses grow by restarting the flow of consumer demand. Lastly, “reform” was to ease the economic crisis and introducing permanent programs to avoid another depression and insuring against future economic disasters. Because of the policies from reform, until today the nation is still in the majority of economic stability and ensured the economic similar to the Great Depression does not reoccur.  Roosevelt's goals from the New Deal was to provide assistance to millions of needy Americans, to improve the level of the economy, and to pass laws to eradicate poverty and unemployment, demonstrating the “Three R’s”.

Of the “Three R’s”, Relief is the most crucial one to shape American into the land Roosevelt had hope for it to be. While there were many reform and recovery programs aimed to put Americans back to work, the Civilian Conservation Corps had the unique goal of preserving the country’s natural resources through the establishment of conservation jobs. This meant that more than three million men especially youth between the years of 1933 and 1942 went to work in the parks and forests did tasks such as “planting trees, building flood barriers, fighting fires, and maintaining roads and trails.” As a result, more than three billion trees were planted in the course of nine years. The Civilian Conservation Corps not only showed that the federal government valued protecting the environment, but also that many government agencies could join together in the face of national struggle to create a stronger nation. The Department of Labor recruited young men, the War Department trained them, and the Department of Agriculture decided on and managed the specific jobs of the workers. The effect of “Relief” programs last until today, because of “Relief”, National Parks are established and in existence.

Measures taken for “Relief”

• BANK HOLIDAY: 6 March 1933 -- closed all banks; government then investigated banks and only those that were sound were allowed to reopen.
• FEDERAL EMERGENCY RELIEF ASSOCIATION [FERA]: 1933 -- gave direct relief in the form of money as aid to states and localities for distribution to needy. Ultimately FERA distributed about $3- billion in relief to 8 million families -- one-sixth of the population.  
• CIVIL WORKS ADMINISTRATION [CWA]: Money to states to build 225,000 miles of roads, 30,000 schools, and 3,700 playing fields and athletic grounds.  
• PUBLIC WORKS ADMINISTRATION [PWA]: Loans to private industry to build public works such as dams, ports, bridges, sewage plants, government buildings, power plants, airports, hospitals, and other useful projects.  
• FARM CREDIT ASSOCIATION [FCA]: 1933 -- helped the 40% of farms that were mortgaged by providing low-interest loans (2.25% per year) through a Federal Land Bank for 50-year terms.  
• CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS [CCC]: 1933 -- provided jobs and relocation for young men (18- 25) in rural settings under direction of U.S. Army. CCC workers built public parks, cut fire trails, planted trees, built small dams, helped with flood control, reclaimed ruined land, drained swamps, and helped with conservation.  
• HOMEOWNERS' LOAN CORPORATION [HOLC]: 1933 -- lowered mortgages to stop foreclosures.
• Source: http://www.brunswick.k12.me.us/pwagner/files/2012/08/relief-recovery-reform.pdf