During the Interwar Period and the Post-War Era, the United States experienced a broad set of domestic reforms that changed the way society functioned and significantly impacted American legislation. Under presidents such as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman, these reforms were passed in great numbers and fundamentally changed the direct role of government in people's lives. However, while both of these presidents had the same goal of giving the average American greater support from the government, there were fundamental differences in their goals which essentially divided their plans into two separate domestic agendas: the New Deal and the Fair Deal.
Enacted by president FDR in the 1930's, the New Deal was a domestic plan designed largely to pull the United States out of the Great Depression. Using liberal legislation such as the establishment of social security, welfare programs, public food distributors, and public works programs, the government was able to position itself more directly in the lives of the American people and provide them with greater support in order to pull everyone up in to a better economic state. The New Deal also focused on the prevention of another Great Depression happening in the future through actions such as mass-closing unreliable banks and introducing the idea of insurance in order to help secure the money of American citizens, showing the program's focus on alleviating the Depression.
As for the Fair Deal, Truman had similar legislation to that of FDR, but was more focused on simply improving the stability of society than eliminating remnants of the Great Depression. Like the New Deal, the Fair Deal included reforms based on liberal economics such as the introduction of boosted welfare and social security programs, but also focused on social improvements such as slum clearance and providing a national healthcare plan. Truman was quoted as saying that he wanted all Americans to get a "fair deal" with the government, and this is how the plan received its name. Differently from the New Deal however, the Fair Deal was not as aggressive in its passage of legislation and did not seek to rapidly create enormous numbers of jobs through sacrificing the success of other parts of the economy. The Fair Deal was slightly more subtle than the New Deal in this fashion, leading it to take smaller, but less risky steps toward social improvement. Overall, the two plans had the same goals of introducing a broad set of reforms in order to more directly involve government in the lives of the people, but were executed in different fashions and for different reasons by two of our nation's greatest presidents.Sources:
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/truman-delivers-his-fair-deal-speech
https://www.britannica.com/event/New-Deal
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070415114057AALpToI
http://us-presidents.insidegov.com/compare/16-35/Theodore-Roosevelt-vs-Harry-S-Truman
Interesting post! I think one reason behind the difference we can see is, ironically, the similarities between the two. That is, during Roosevelt's later years, he began to focus on more smaller, comprehensive reforms that Truman continued. Moreover, if we compare this to LBJ's "Great Society" we can see a continuation of helping those in poor and combating the future and current affects on those who were in poverty - a theme that Truman started.
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