The New Deal

The New Deal was a series of comprehensive social and economic programs created in hopes of providing the broken nation with some stability and ultimately help it recover. Franklin Roosevelt believed that government had the responsibility to intervene in economics. He claimed that people had the right to economic recovery, and that through government intervention, the economy of the United States would be repaired. The bank crisis was probably the most critical issue that he needed to address through the New Deal – he closed all of the nation's banks to address health of the bank industry. Congress passed the Banking Act with the goal of restoring trust in the system, in which federal deposit insurance offered insurance on deposits, making the banks trustworthy to the people again. The work program administration was one of the largest New Deal programs; the new agency created employment for over three million americans and opened jobs in construction of school repairs, broken dams, and roads. The civilian conservation corps act assisted in reducing employment and provided jobs such as government funded environmental projects of planting trees, draining swamps, and building public parks. The Social Security Act was created to reduce poverty levels for senior citizens. Under this act social security administration, government implemented a new national program that offered income to retired wage earners as well as federal aid to handicaps, children, and the blind. The Tennessee Valley Authority Act implemented with the goal of improving conditions of the Tennessee river valley. The government funded the reactivation of a hydroelectric power plant, providing cheap electric power and economic development to the entire valley (one of poorest areas of United States). The National Industry Recovery Act – which was later found to be unconstitutional – included legislature that would inure healthy competition, limit the number of hours that employees could work, establish a minimum wage, and allow collective bargaining for labor workers. There were many other acts enacted by the New Deal, and despite its failure to end the Great Depression, there were some indisputable benefits. For it was the first time the government took responsibility for ensuring the nation had the right to economic stability, and brought hope to the nation in one of its darkest times in history.