The New Deal

Relief, Recovery, and Reform

Roosevelt’s New Deal had three main parts: relief, recovery, and reform. First, relief was the immediate action taken to stop the economy’s deterioration. Second, recovery was the temporary programs that were set up to restart the flow of consumer demand.  Lastly, reform was the permanent programs to avoid another depression in the future and help insure protection of citizens against economic disasters. While there were programs set up for all three of the Rs, the most effort was put into relief. This was because without immediate action taken to stop the Depression, the effects would continue to worsen and the other programs would have no value.

The relief programs were implemented to immediately stop the economy’s decline. For example, the Banking Act that stated that only solvent banks could remain open. It also made bank holidays that would close financial institutions if and when a wave of panic occurred. It also included the Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA), the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) which provided immediate support in cash payments and temporary employments, and the Civil Works Administration (CWA). In implementing these programs, the New Deal helped to develop and repair the American transportation infrastructure and construct the foundations of National Parks.

The unique goal of the Civilian Conservation Corps was to preserve the country’s natural resources through the establishment of conservation jobs. More than three million men between 1933 and 1942 worked in the parks and forest to plant trees, build flood barriers, fight fires, and maintain roads and trails. The CCC showed that the federal government valued to environment and that many different government agencies could join together to create a stronger nation. The Department of Labor recruited men, the War Department trained them, and the Department of Agriculture managed specific jobs of the workers.

Roosevelt believed that most of the federal government's relief efforts had never been successful because they got stuck in political wrangling. Roosevelt asked Harry Hopkins to create an act that would focus on action rather than political complications. FERA, the Federal Emergency Relief Act had three goals: to be effective, to provide work for employable people on the relief rolls, and to have a diverse variety of relief programs. FERA provided state governments with grants for projects in fields of agriculture, arts, construction and education. The idea was by providing many different types of jobs, the whole country would benefit.

Additionally, the CWA, Civil Works Administration, was started as a subdivision of FERA. The goal of the CWA was to provide a short term solution to get people working again. The projects that the CWA undertook were much more short term and aimed mainly at unskilled laborers.

The reason that this R was so important in the New Deal was because it was the initial relief to the people suffering in the depression. Without the emphasis put on this relief, the other programs would have had no effect or no importance.