an essay about the new deal

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History Grade 11 - Topic 2 Essay Questions

Essay Question:

To what extent did Roosevelt’s New Deal succeed in mitigating the negative effects of the Great Depression in USA in the 1930’s?  Present an argument in support of your answer using relevant historical evidence. [1]

Introduction:

On 29 October 1929 (also known as “Black Tuesday”), the United States (US) stock market crashed which initiated the Great Depression. [2]   After winning the US elections and taking office in 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt sought to bring economic relief to the US during the 1930’s by implementing a series of reforms and restructures in what he called the ‘New Deal’. [3]   Although the ‘New Deal’ succeeded somewhat in relieving economic situations on a macro-level, the “New Deal”, in the long run, is considered a failure as it did not ultimately succeed in what it was set out to do, which was to recover the economy from its “depressed state”. [4]   This statement will be discussed by analyzing the two phases of the “New Deal”, as well as discussing the effects of some of the relief, recovery and reform programs implemented.

The First Hundred Days

When analyzing the legacy of the “New Deal”, it is important to understand that there were two phases of the deal, namely the “First New Deal” and the “Second New Deal”.  The First New Deal consisted mainly of the first three months of Roosevelt’s presidency and is referred to as the “hundred days”. [5]   Within the first hundred days, various relief programs such as the “Federal Emergency Relief Administration” (FRA), the “Civilian Conservation Corps” and the “Agricultural Adjustment Act” were implemented in order to create employment opportunities for Americans as well as providing some extent of economic relief for struggling citizens. [6]

Another significant program that was implemented during the hundred days, was the “National Industrial Recovery Act” (NIRA).  This recovery act allowed working Americans to unionize and in a sense bargain for better working conditions, as well as wages. [7]   Roosevelt felt that a significant part of the recovery process will come from decreasing competition through using set prices, wages and commodities. [8]   Mixed reviews came from the implementation of these recovery acts, as many felt that corporate heads were being disadvantaged by the state, and in some instance some corporations felt as though their competition became the US government itself. [9]   However, on the larger part, many felt that the hundred days and the “First New Deal” was relatively successful as it was marked by a decrease in unemployment and the stabilization of US banks.

The Second New Deal

In 1935, Roosevelt decided that the New Deal should take a more aggressive approach in the attempt to diminish the Great Depression. [10]   This phase is known as the Second New Deal.  One of the more prominent acts implemented was the “Social Security” Act which provided the elderly and widowed people with some financial support, allowed some unemployment and disability compensation and set a framework or minimum wages and maximum work hours. [11]   Furthermore, the “Works Progress Administration” (WPA) was implemented to provide the unemployed with opportunities in the public sector.  These opportunities included building bridges, schools and roads. [12]   To some extent, the Great Deal built a platform for more financial security and opportunity for the American citizens during the onslaught of the Great Depression with its housing, employment and financial interventions. [13]

Criticism of the New Deal

When analyzing some of the programs and acts implemented by the Great Deal, one also has to mention points of criticism.  One of the more popular points of criticism stems from the “interventionalist” and anti-competitive nature of the New Deal. [14]   Larger companies and the Supreme Court also felt that some of the reform initiatives were unconstitutional and did not go through the right channels to implement reform acts. [15]   However, with this criticism in mind, the main reason why the New Deal was deemed unsuccessful, is simply because it did not achieve what it set out to do.  The American economy and employment rates did not recover enough for the New Deal to have remedied the effects of the Great Depression.  Rather, American entrance into the Second World War stimulated more economic growth than the New Deal. [16]

Therefore, one could say that the New Deal mitigated the effects of the Great Depression to an extent where it improved the employment rate from 25% of 1933 to 17% in 1939. [17]   One could also say that some of the relief and reform acts were deemed successful as some of them, such as the Social Security Act, still remains today. [18]   The New Deal also led to a, albeit short-lived, coalition between “white working people, African Americans and left-wing intellectuals”. [19]   Many also argue that the New Deal built a surface for the future economy of America post-World War Two. [20]   However, with regards to the mitigation of the Great Depression itself, the New Deal ultimately did not succeed in ending the Great Depression and its effects.

This content was originally produced for the SAHO classroom by Sebastian Moronell, Ayabulela Ntwakumba, Simone van der Colff & Thandile Xesi.

[1] National Senior Certificate.: “Grade 11 November 2017 History Paper 1 Exam,” National Senior Certificate, November 2017.

[2] M, Johnston.: “The Economic Effects of the New Deal,” Investopedia [online].  Accessed 20 March 2021 ( https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/011116/economic-effects-new-deal.asp ).

[3] History.  Editors of History.: “New Deal,” History [online].  Accessed 20 March 2021 ( https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/new-deal ).

[4] Johnston, M.: “The Economic Effects of the New Deal,” Investopedia [online].  Accessed 20 March 2021 ( https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/011116/economic-effects-new-deal.asp ).

[5] Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia.: “New Deal,” Encyclopedia Britannica [online].  Accessed on 20 March 2021 ( https://www.britannica.com/event/New-Deal ).

[6] Fiorillo, S.: “What were the New Deal Programs and what did they do?” The Street [online].  Accessed on 24 March 2021 ( https://www.thestreet.com/politics/new-deal-programs-14861940 ).

[7] History.  Editors of History.: “New Deal,” History [online].  Accessed 20 March 2021 ( https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/new-deal ).

[8] Fiorillo, S.: “What were the New Deal Programs and what did they do?” The Street [online].  Accessed on 24 March 2021 ( https://www.thestreet.com/politics/new-deal-programs-14861940 ).

[9] J. Green.: “The New Deal:  crash Course US History #34,” Crash Course [YouTube Online].  Accessed on 23 March 2021 ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bMq9Ek6jnA&t=380s ).

[10] History.  Editors of History.: “New Deal,” History [online].  Accessed 20 March 2021 ( https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/new-deal ).

[11] Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia.: “New Deal,” Encyclopedia Britannica [online].  Accessed on 20 March 2021 ( https://www.britannica.com/event/New-Deal ).

[12] History.  Editors of History.: “New Deal,” History [online].  Accessed 20 March 2021 ( https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/new-deal ).

[13] D.M. Kennedy.: “What the New Deal Did,” Political Science Quarterly, (124), (2), 2009, pp. 265-267.

[14] M, Johnston.: “The Economic Effects of the New Deal,” Investopedia [online].  Accessed 20 March 2021 ( https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/011116/economic-effects-new-deal.asp ).

[15] History.  Editors of History.: “New Deal,” History [online].  Accessed 20 March 2021 ( https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/new-deal ).

[16] History.  Editors of History.: “New Deal,” History [online].  Accessed 20 March 2021 ( https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/new-deal ).

[17] Johnston, M.: “The Economic Effects of the New Deal,” Investopedia [online].  Accessed 20 March 2021 ( https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/011116/economic-effects-new-deal.asp ).

[18] Fiorillo, S.: “What were the New Deal Programs and what did they do?” The Street [online].  Accessed on 24 March 2021 ( https://www.thestreet.com/politics/new-deal-programs-14861940 ).

[19] History.  Editors of History.: “New Deal,” History [online].  Accessed 20 March 2021 ( https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/new-deal ).

[20] D.M. Kennedy.: “What the New Deal Did,” Political Science Quarterly, (124), (2), 2009, p. 267.

• Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia.: “New Deal,” Encyclopedia Britannica [online], January 2021.  Accessed on 20 March 2021 ( https://www.britannica.com/event/New-Deal ).
• Fiorillo, S.: “What were the New Deal Programs and what did they do?” The Street [online].  Accessed on 24 March 2021 ( https://www.thestreet.com/politics/new-deal-programs-14861940 ). 
• Green, J.: “The New Deal:  Crash Course US History #34,” Crash Course [online].  Accessed on 24 March 2021 ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bMq9Ek6jnA&t=391s ).
• History.  Editors of History.: “New Deal,” History [online], November 2021.  Accessed 20 March 2021 ( https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/new-deal ).
• Johnston, M.: “The Economic Effects of the New Deal,” Investopedia [online], January 2021.  Accessed 20 March 2021 ( https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/011116/economic-effects-new-deal.asp ).
• Kennedy, D.M.: “What the New Deal Did,” Political Science Quarterly, (124),(2), 2009, pp. 251-268.

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The New Deal — A Guide to FDR’s Plan for Relief, Recovery, and Reform

The New Deal was a series of programs and policies implemented in the 1930s by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in response to severe economic and social issues in the United States.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944. Image Source: FDR Presidential Library & Museum on Flickr .

New Deal Summary

The New Deal was a series of programs and policies implemented in the 1930s by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt — commonly referred to as FDR — in response to severe economic and social issues in the United States. Each New Deal program and policy fell into one or more of three areas, known as the “Three Rs” — Relief, Recovery, and Reform.

At the end of the Roaring Twenties, the 1929 Stock Market Crash triggered the Great Depression started when the stock market crashed in 1929. Starting in 1931, the southwestern Great Plains suffered from a severe drought, which led to massive dust storms. The area was called “The Dust Bowl” and thousands of people were forced to abandon their homes and move west. In the wake of these events, Roosevelt ran for President in 1932, promising a “New Deal” for Americans, and defeated incumbent Herbert Hoover.

Roosevelt was inaugurated on March 4, 1933. In his First Inaugural Address, he delivered the famous line, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” FDR moved quickly to ease the effects of the Depression on Americans by passing New Deal legislation during “The First Hundred Days” of his Presidency.

FDR started by restoring faith in banks, which had suffered due to the stock market crash of 1929. A Bank Holiday was declared and Congress followed by passing the Emergency Banking Relief Act, which allowed the government to inspect the financial health of banks before allowing them to reopen.

The New Deal aimed to tackle unemployment by creating programs that provided job opportunities. The Civil Works Administration (CWA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) employed millions of Americans to work on infrastructure projects, such as building roads, bridges, and schools. Other programs, like the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), developed hydroelectric power plants to bring electricity to communities where none existed.

The New Deal also addressed labor relations by passing the National Labor Relations Act — also known as the (Wagner Act). It protected the rights of workers, allowing them to join unions and engage in collective bargaining. The act also established the Fair Labor Standards Act, which set a minimum wage for workers.

The New Deal programs and policies created a significant expansion of the Federal government. They also redefined the government’s role in dealing with economic and social issues. The New Deal was controversial when it was implemented, and its legacy continues to be debated by historians, economists, and others. However, the significance of the New Deal and its impact on the United States during the era leading up to World War II cannot be denied.

What did the New Deal do?

This video from the Daily Bellringer provides an overview of the New Deal and its programs. It also touches on the controversy caused by the New Deal which was caused by the expansion of the Federal Government.

New Deal Facts

• The name “New Deal” came from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1932 acceptance speech for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. In the speech, he said, “I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people.”
• The New Deal was designed to deal with the economic and social issues created by the 1929 Stock Market Crash, the Great Depression, and the Dust Bow.
• On March 4, 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected President. He gave a speech on Capitol Plaza in Washington DC to 100,000 people. He said the “only thing we should be afraid of is fear itself.”
• He took action right away by calling Congress into a special session known as “The Hundred Days,” during which legislation was passed to deal with the Depression and provide economic aid to struggling Americans.
• In an effort to restore the public’s confidence in banks, FDR declared a Bank Holiday and Congress passed the Emergency Banking Relief Act.
• The New Deal dealt with unemployment by creating programs like the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), providing jobs for millions of Americans and improving the nation’s infrastructure.
• The New Deal was followed by the Second New Deal, which included the National Labor Relations Act, the  Works Progress Administration, and the Social Security Act.
• The New Deal also included labor-related legislation, such as the National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) and the Fair Labor Standards Act, which gave workers the right to join unions, negotiate collectively, and established a minimum wage.
• The New Deal paved the way for the repeal of the 18th Amendment, which established Prohibition. The Beer-Wine Revenue Act of 1933 amended the Volstead Act by raising the amount of alcohol allowed to 3.2 percent and also levied a tax.
• Social programs established by the New Deal are still in effect today, including Social Security and the “Food Stamp Plan.”

New Deal AP US History (APUSH) Terms, Definitions, and FAQs

This section provides terms, definitions, and Frequently Asked Questions about the New Deal and the Second New Deal, including people, events, and programs. Also, be sure to look at our Guide to the AP US History Exam .

The New Deal was a series of policies and programs implemented by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the 1930s in response to the Great Depression. The New Deal aimed to provide relief to the unemployed and poor, promote economic recovery, and reform the financial system. The New Deal included programs such as the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), and the National Recovery Administration (NRA). It also created numerous agencies and programs such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Social Security Administration.

The second phase of the New Deal, which was enacted in 1935. The Second New Deal focused on providing economic security to Americans through the creation of Social Security and other welfare programs. It also included measures to stimulate the economy, such as the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The Second New Deal was instrumental in helping to alleviate poverty and providing employment opportunities during the Great Depression.

FDR’s Alphabet Soup refers to the numerous programs and agencies created during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency as part of the New Deal. These initiatives, often known by their acronyms, aimed to provide relief, recovery, and reform during the Great Depression. Examples include the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps), the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority), and the WPA (Works Progress Administration).

The New Deal was a series of economic programs and reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression. The New Deal sought to provide relief, recovery, and reform to the American economy. It included programs such as Social Security, the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). These programs were instrumental in helping to protect workers’ rights and providing employment opportunities during the Great Depression. However, the New Deal was controversial, with some arguing it was a “raw deal” for workers and others arguing that it helped to alleviate the suffering of millions of Americans.

The three Rs of the New Deal were 1) Relief for the needy, 2) Recovery of the economy, and 3) Reform of the financial system. Each of the New Deal Programs generally fell into one of these areas. The goal of the three Rs was to keep the United States from falling into another Economic Depression.

New Deal People and Groups

Herbert Hoover — Herbert Hoover served as the 31st President of the United States from 1929 to 1933. He faced the immense challenges of the Great Depression and was criticized for his belief in limited government intervention. Despite his efforts to address the crisis, Hoover’s presidency is often associated with economic hardships and the initial response to the Depression.

John L. Lewis — An American labor leader who was instrumental in the formation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in 1935. He was a key figure in the Second New Deal and helped to pass the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). He was also responsible for leading several major strikes during the Great Depression, including the United Mine Workers strike of 1934. Lewis worked to protect workers’ rights and provide employment opportunities during the Great Depression.

Franklin D. Roosevelt — Franklin D. Roosevelt was the 32nd President of the United States, serving from 1933 to 1945. He was elected to the presidency during the Great Depression, and his presidency is closely associated with the New Deal, a series of policies and programs aimed at addressing the economic crisis and promoting economic recovery. He was re-elected for an unprecedented four terms and his leadership during the Great Depression and World War II solidified the role of the Federal government in the American economy and society.

Eleanor Roosevelt — The wife of Franklin D. Roosevelt and one of the most influential First Ladies in American history. She was an advocate for civil rights and women’s rights, and she used her position to promote social reform.

FDR’s Brain Trust — A group of advisors to President Franklin D. Roosevelt who helped him develop the New Deal. They included prominent academics and intellectuals such as Raymond Moley, Rexford Tugwell, and Adolf Berle.

New Deal Democrats —  New Deal Democrats were a faction within the Democratic Party during the 1930s and 1940s that supported Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal policies. These Democrats supported increasing government intervention in the economy and expanding social welfare programs.

United Mine Workers — A labor union that was formed in 1890. The union was instrumental in the formation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in 1935 and led several major strikes during the Great Depression, including the United Mine Workers strike of 1934.

Hundred Days Congress — The Hundred Days Congress was a special session of the United States Congress that ran from March 9 to June 16, 1933. It was called in response to the economic crisis of the Great Depression and was used to pass a number of laws known as the New Deal. During this period, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed a series of sweeping reforms designed to provide relief for those affected by the depression, as well as to stimulate the economy. The Hundred Days Congress passed a number of laws, including the Emergency Banking Relief Act, the Glass-Steagall Act, and the National Industrial Recovery Act.

New Deal Events

1932 Presidential Election — The 1932 Presidential Election marked a pivotal moment in American history as the nation grappled with the Great Depression. It was primarily a contest between Republican incumbent Herbert Hoover and Democratic candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR). FDR emerged victorious, promising a “New Deal” to combat the Depression and implementing a series of reforms that fundamentally reshaped the role of the federal government.

Bank Holiday — A bank holiday is a period of time during which banks are closed, usually by government order. In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared a national bank holiday in order to address the banking crisis caused by the Great Depression. During the holiday, which lasted four days, the government examined the books of all banks and only those that were found to be sound were allowed to reopen. This action helped stabilize the banking system and restore public confidence in banks.

Fireside Chats — The Fireside Chats were a series of radio addresses given by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during his presidency. The chats were designed to provide the American people with information about the government’s policies and actions and to explain the reasoning behind them in plain language. The chats were informal and conversational in tone, and they were delivered from the White House, often in the evening, giving the impression that Roosevelt was speaking directly to the American people from the warmth and comfort of their own homes. The Fireside Chats were a powerful tool for Roosevelt to communicate with the American people, build public support for his policies and maintain public confidence during a time of economic crisis.

Great Depression — The Great Depression refers to the severe economic downturn that occurred in the United States and other countries during the 1930s. It was characterized by widespread unemployment, poverty, and a sharp decline in industrial production and trade—ultimately leading to a fundamental restructuring of the American economy and significant social and political changes.

Roosevelt Recession — A period of economic contraction that occurred during the Great Depression, starting in 1937 and lasting until 1938. It was caused by a combination of factors, including President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s decision to reduce government spending, an increase in taxes, and the Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates. This resulted in a decrease in consumer spending and investment, leading to a decrease in economic activity. The Roosevelt Recession was a major setback for the New Deal and led to increased unemployment and poverty.

United Mine Workers Strike of 1934 — A major strike led by the United Mine Workers Union during the Great Depression. The strike was in response to wage cuts and other grievances. It lasted for several months and resulted in a victory for the miners, who were able to secure higher wages and better working conditions.

New Deal Programs

Agricultural Adjustment Act (1933) — A law passed by Congress in 1933 as part of the New Deal. The AAA was designed to help farmers by providing subsidies for reducing crop production and encouraging soil conservation. It also established the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA), which was responsible for implementing the provisions of the act. The AAA was instrumental in helping to stabilize agricultural prices and providing economic relief to farmers during the Great Depression.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) — The CCC provided employment for young men between the ages of 18 and 25, who were paid to work on conservation projects such as planting trees, building roads, and constructing dams. The CCC also provided educational opportunities for its workers, including classes in literacy, math, and vocational skills. The CCC was instrumental in helping to restore the environment and providing employment opportunities during the Great Depression.

Civil Works Administration (CWA) — An agency created by the Federal Emergency Relief Act of 1933 as part of the New Deal. The CWA was responsible for providing jobs to millions of Americans during the Great Depression. It provided employment in construction, repair, and maintenance projects such as building roads, bridges, and public buildings. The CWA was instrumental in helping to alleviate poverty and providing employment opportunities during the Great Depression.

Emergency Banking Relief Act (1933) — A law passed by Congress in 1933 which allowed the federal government to provide emergency loans to banks in order to stabilize the banking system. The act was part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal and was designed to restore public confidence in the banking system. It provided for the reopening of solvent banks, the reorganization of insolvent banks, and the establishment of a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to insure deposits up to $2,500. The act was instrumental in helping to stabilize the banking system during the Great Depression and restoring public confidence in banks.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) — An independent agency of the United States government created in 1933 as part of the New Deal. The FDIC provides insurance for deposits up to a certain amount in member banks, protecting depositors from losses due to bank failures. The FDIC also regulates and supervises financial institutions to ensure that they are operating safely and soundly. It is one of the most important financial regulatory agencies in the United States and has helped to restore public confidence in the banking system.

Federal Emergency Relief Act (1933) — A law passed by Congress in 1933 as part of the New Deal. The FERA provided federal funds to states and local governments to create relief programs for the unemployed. It also established the Civil Works Administration (CWA), which was responsible for providing jobs to millions of Americans during the Great Depression. The FERA was instrumental in helping to alleviate poverty and providing employment opportunities during the Great Depression.

Federal Housing Administration (FHA) — An agency created by the National Housing Act of 1934 as part of the New Deal. The FHA was responsible for providing mortgage insurance to lenders, which allowed them to make home loans with lower down payments and easier credit requirements. This helped to increase homeownership and provided jobs to thousands of Americans during the Great Depression. The FHA helped stabilize the housing market and provide employment opportunities during the Great Depression.

Glass-Steagall Act (1933) — The Glass-Steagall Act was a law passed by Congress in 1933 as part of the New Deal. It was designed to separate commercial and investment banking, and it prohibited banks from engaging in certain types of speculative investments. The act also established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which provided insurance for bank deposits up to a certain amount. The Glass-Steagall Act helped restore public confidence in the banking system and prevent another financial crisis.

National Industrial Recovery Act (1933) —  The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) was a law passed by Congress in 1933 as part of the New Deal. It was designed to stimulate economic growth by providing government assistance to businesses, setting minimum wages and maximum hours for workers, and establishing codes of fair competition. The NIRA also established the National Recovery Administration (NRA), which was responsible for enforcing the provisions of the act. The NIRA was eventually declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1935.

The Public Works Administration (PWA) — An agency created by the National Recovery Administration of 1933 as part of the New Deal. The PWA was responsible for providing jobs to millions of Americans during the Great Depression. It provided employment in construction, repair, and maintenance projects such as building roads, bridges, and public buildings. The PWA played an important role in helping to alleviate poverty and providing employment opportunities during the Great Depression.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) — An agency created by the Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933 as part of the New Deal. The TVA was responsible for developing the infrastructure and resources of the Tennessee Valley region, including hydroelectric power, flood control, navigation, reforestation, and soil conservation. It also provided jobs to thousands of Americans during the Great Depression. The TVA played an important role in helping modernize the region and providing employment opportunities during the Great Depression.

Second New Deal Programs

Committee for Industrial Organizations (CIO) — An organization formed in 1935 as part of the Second New Deal. The CIO was responsible for organizing workers into unions and bargaining collectively with employers.

Fair Labor Standards Act (1938) — An act passed in 1938 as part of the Second New Deal. The Fair Labor Standards Act was responsible for establishing a minimum wage, overtime pay, and other labor standards.

National Labor Relations Act (1935) — An act passed in 1935 as part of the Second New Deal. The NLRA was responsible for protecting the rights of workers to organize and bargain collectively with their employers. It also established the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which was responsible for enforcing the provisions of the act.

Social Security Act (1935) — An act passed as part of the Second New Deal. The Social Security Act was responsible for providing economic security to Americans through the establishment of a federal retirement program and other welfare programs. It also provided unemployment insurance and disability benefits.

Wagner Act — Also known as the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), it was passed in 1935 as part of the Second New Deal. The Wagner Act was responsible for protecting the rights of workers to organize and bargain collectively with their employers. It also established the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which was responsible for enforcing the provisions of the act.

Works Progress Administration (WPA) — An agency created by the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 as part of the Second New Deal. The WPA was responsible for providing jobs to millions of Americans during the Great Depression. It funded a variety of projects, including construction, infrastructure development, and arts and culture programs. The WPA was instrumental in helping to stimulate the economy and providing employment opportunities during the Great Depression.

More New Deal Terms and Definitions

21st Amendment — The amendment to the U.S. Constitution that repealed the 18th Amendment and ended Prohibition. The 21st Amendment was ratified in 1933 as part of the New Deal and allowed states to regulate the sale and consumption of alcohol within their borders. It also gave states the power to collect taxes on alcohol sales, which provided a much-needed source of revenue during the Great Depression.

Boondoggling — A term coined by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to describe wasteful government spending on public works projects. The term was used to criticize the New Deal programs, which were seen as a form of government waste and corruption. Boondoggling became a popular term during the Great Depression and is still used today to refer to any wasteful or unnecessary government spending.

Tennessee River Valley — The Tennessee River Valley refers to the region in the southeastern United States encompassing parts of Tennessee, Alabama, and Kentucky. It gained prominence during the New Deal era due to the establishment of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a federal agency tasked with developing the area’s water resources, controlling flooding, and promoting economic development through hydroelectric power generation and irrigation projects.

National Parks — National Parks are protected areas designated by the federal government to preserve and showcase the country’s natural, historical, and cultural heritage. These areas, managed by the National Park Service, offer opportunities for recreation, conservation, and education. Notable examples include Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon. National Parks serve as significant landmarks and contribute to the nation’s tourism industry and environmental conservation efforts.

Why is the New Deal important?

The New Deal is important to United States history for several reasons:

1. Response to the Great Depression: The New Deal was a direct response to the economic crisis of the Great Depression, which was one of the most challenging periods in American history. It represented a major shift in the role of the federal government in addressing economic issues and providing relief to citizens.

2. Economic Recovery and Relief: The New Deal implemented a range of programs and policies aimed at stabilizing the economy, creating jobs, and providing relief to those affected by the Great Depression. It helped alleviate immediate suffering and provided assistance to millions of Americans through employment, financial aid, and social welfare programs.

3. Expansion of Federal Government Power: The New Deal marked a significant expansion of the federal government’s role in regulating the economy and addressing social issues. It introduced new agencies and programs, such as the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Social Security, that had long-lasting impacts on American society and established a precedent for increased government intervention in the economy.

4. Transformation of American Society: The New Deal’s programs had a transformative effect on American society. It brought about improvements in infrastructure, public works, and conservation projects, enhancing the nation’s physical landscape. It also introduced labor reforms, such as the right to unionize and the establishment of minimum wage standards, which aimed to improve working conditions and workers’ rights.

5. Legacy and Long-Term Impacts: Many of the programs and policies initiated during the New Deal era had lasting impacts on American society. Social Security, for example, continues to provide financial security to elderly and disabled Americans. The New Deal also shaped the political landscape, as the Democratic Party under FDR gained support from various social groups and established a coalition that would dominate American politics for decades.

• Written by Randal Rust

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal Essay

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FDR (Franklin D. Roosevelt) engaged in a program that was referred to as the New Deal. According to the program, the federal government would take more roles so as to improve the citizen’s economic welfare. The economic system was exceptionally poor when Roosevelt became the president in 1933.

A majority of the state governments had taken a banking holiday, which aimed at preventing depositors from destroying the banking institutions. The banks would be ruined if depositors withdrew all their cash. Roosevelt gave all banking institutions four days for holiday. Consequently, Roosevelt pressured the Congress and obtained a legislation for reopening the banks.

The federal government certified that all banks were sound for reopening. Afterwards, there were several banking reforms. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation allowed deposits to be insured.

According to the New Deal, a larger percent of the federal government funds would be used to pay all needy citizens. Grants, as opposed to loans, would be given to the needy citizens. A number of novel agencies were initiated to ensure that the unemployed benefitted from government- sponsored jobs.

The WPA (Works Progress Administration) initiated special projects, which offered jobs to the unskilled and skilled citizens. People trained as musicians, actors, artists, and writers benefitted from such employment. The PWA (Public Works Administration) initiated projects such as construction of dams, sports centers, and highways. The young men benefitted from conservation projects since they were employed by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps).

In my opinion, photographs and paintings are not simply a recording of the past. On the contrary, they are fashioned and composed descriptions, which detail the past. Dorothea Lange’s photos were constructed to give different stories. The photographs advocated for sympathy for all poor people.

Dorothea was a renowned documentary photographer in America. Particularly, she was extremely popular for the Great Depression chronicles and the photographs involving migratory farm employees. She created photographs for the FSA (Farm Security Administration), which were assessing the farm worker’s living conditions in California. A majority of the laborers had migrated to the west as an escape strategy from the Dust Bowl.

Dorothea took photographs, which depicted the depression in human lives. In 1934, Dorothea had the first show. It exhibited various issues, which were facing the government. These included breadline recipients, labor leaders, strike rallies, and political demonstrations. After presenting her photographs during the show, Dorothea got a job with the New Deal Administration.

The photographs were utilized as symbols of the White Angel Breadline migrant, which occurred in 1933 in San Francisco. Dorothea communicated the urgent need for government action to help the destitute Americans. 1939 was declared the year of a novel start.

The Florence Owens Thompson sequence of photographs had a picture of a migrant mother. Moreover, the series showed an underprivileged Californian pea picker. In another photograph, there was a migratory cotton picker from Mexico who was aged ten years. In the picture, the boy was working on the family car and was unable to attend school.

According to him, the father never allowed him to go to school since he was supposed to pick cotton. The boy picked approximately twenty five pounds of cotton every day. In my opinion, this was child labor. In essence, Dorothea’s photos and Roosevelt New Deal had a common goal; fighting for the rights of the underprivileged Americans.

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Presentation U.S. History Primary Source Timeline

President franklin delano roosevelt and the new deal.

In the summer of 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Governor of New York, was nominated as the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party. In his acceptance speech, Roosevelt addressed the problems of the depression by telling the American people that, "I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people." In the election that took place in the fall of 1932, Roosevelt won by a landslide.

The New Deal Roosevelt had promised the American people began to take shape immediately after his inauguration in March 1933. Based on the assumption that the power of the federal government was needed to get the country out of the depression, the first days of Roosevelt's administration saw the passage of banking reform laws, emergency relief programs, work relief programs, and agricultural programs. Later, a second New Deal was to evolve; it included union protection programs, the Social Security Act, and programs to aid tenant farmers and migrant workers. Many of the New Deal acts or agencies came to be known by their acronyms. For example, the Works Progress Administration was known as the WPA, while the Civilian Conservation Corps was known as the CCC. Many people remarked that the New Deal programs reminded them of alphabet soup.

By 1939, the New Deal had run its course. In the short term, New Deal programs helped improve the lives of people suffering from the events of the depression. In the long run, New Deal programs set a precedent for the federal government to play a key role in the economic and social affairs of the nation.

To search for more documents in  Loc.gov  related to New Deal programs and agencies, use such terms as  Works Progress Administration, Civilian Conservation Corps, Public Works Administration, Farm Security Administration , and the  National Recovery Administration .

• An African American (Eugenia Martin) and the WPA
• Row shelters, FSA ... labor camp, Robstown, Tex.
• The mail must go through.
• PWA (Public Works Administration) housing project for Negroes. Omaha, Nebraska
• Swimming pool created by CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) dam
• Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) Unionism
• Disagreeing with the New Deal
• The New Deal Was a Failure
• Roosevelt Is a "Damned Good Man"
• The Works Progress Administration

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New Deal Causes and Effects

Essay: The New Deal

The election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 resulted in the New Deal he proposed, a fundamental shift in the American political economy and a new conception of the relationship between the government and the governed.

Though less overtly critical of the Constitution than the early progressives, FDR largely ignored it, saying only that it was “so simple and practical that it is possible always to meet extraordinary needs by change in emphasis and arrangement without loss of essential form” (Franklin D. Roosevelt, “First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1932).

The New Deal redefined the purpose of government. No longer was it enough for the government to protect the rights of individuals. The Founders’ regime of limited government, Roosevelt believed, had created a new class of industrial titans, “malefactors of great wealth,” who had acquired tyrannical power over farmers, small businessmen, consumers, and workers. It was now necessary for the government to redress this imbalance of power, to redistribute income and wealth, and to provide economic security for the victims of the old system. In the 1932 campaign he called for “an economic declaration of rights,” a new Bill of Rights that would provide citizens with such goods as jobs, housing, education, recreation, and health care.

In the 1932 campaign Franklin D. Roosevelt called for “an economic declaration of rights,” a new Bill of Rights that would provide citizens with such goods as jobs, housing, education, recreation, and health care.

Roosevelt’s initial strategy was to promote a system of industrial and agricultural cartels created by government.

The Agricultural Adjustment Act would enable farmers to limit crop production in order to increase the prices they got, with government subsidies if those prices were not reached, paid for by taxes on processors of farm commodities. The National Industrial Recovery Act invited industries to devise “codes of fair competition”—to limit production, raise prices, and agree to bargain with labor unions. The New Dealers hoped that these schemes would produce reliable profits for businessmen and farmers, who would then increase their own spending and hiring, and thus facilitate economic recovery. They had, however, clearly failed by the time the Supreme Court declared them unconstitutional in 1935 and 1936.

The administration did not abandon its initial strategy. A “second New Deal” followed further Democratic victories in 1934 and adjusted to the Court’s constitutional objections—for example, by providing benefits to farmers from general revenue and promoting crop reduction as “soil conservation.” It enacted more specific price- and production-fixing measures for particular industries like coal, oil, and motor transportation. It promoted labor unions with the National Labor Relations (Wagner) Act, which compelled employers to bargain exclusively with whatever organization a majority of its workers chose to represent them. It regulated capital markets by the Securities and Exchange Commission and passed legislation strengthening the power of the Federal Reserve Board. It also embarked on massive public works spending and government employment programs, adopting and gradually applying the economic philosophy of John Maynard Keynes that government spending was the cure for depression and unemployment. Congress also provided long-term policies for old-age pensions, unemployment insurance, and insurance for widows and orphans in the Social Security Act of 1935. This was said to be insurance paid for by one’s earnings, rather than a welfare payment.

Large Democratic majorities in Congress accepted the proposals of the president, but the Supreme Court remained an obstacle. Roosevelt said nothing about the Court when he ran for re-election in 1936, winning a landslide victory that increased Democratic congressional majorities still further. A month after his second inauguration, he asked Congress to increase the size of the Supreme Court so that he could appoint six new justices. This “Court-packing plan” shocked the country, split the Democratic party, and went down to defeat. Except for the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which established a national minimum wage and abolished child labor, Congress did not enact any further New Deal legislation. But the Court responded to the threat by abandoning its objections to New Deal programs, so Roosevelt was able to claim that he had “lost the battle but won the war.”

Upholding the Wagner Act and Social Security Act, as well as state economic regulations, the Court no longer used the due process clause of the Fourteenth and Fifth Amendments or the dual federalism of the Tenth Amendment, to protect property rights.

Charles Evans Hughes was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1930-1941

After 1937, the Court stepped aside when it came to economic regulations. The states were free to exercise their police powers to legislate for the safety, health, welfare and morals of the people, unrestrained by the Fourteenth Amendment, the due process clause of which had been held to protect fundamental economic freedoms such as the “liberty of contract.” Congress could do [virtually anything] under the interstate commerce power and its power to tax and spend. The Court declared in the 1938 case of  U.S. v. Carolene Products  that it would apply a stricter standard of constitutional protection to non-economic rights and the rights of minority groups especially.

The Second World War had many of the same effects as the First, establishing a wartime economy in which the government controlled prices and rationed scarce goods in the Office of Price Administration, one of many new agencies. Government control of the wartime economy included extraordinarily high rates of taxation, inflation, the promotion of labor unions, wage and price controls, and outright rationing. The Second World War, like the First, produced a public reaction against these economic controls after the war ended. But the most important New Deal programs survived the postwar readjustment and many of them, like Social Security, expanded. Liberals were disappointed that they were unable to bring the New Deal to completion, as President Harry Truman proposed in his “Fair Deal” campaign. Conservatives were disappointed that the Republican Eisenhower administration did not roll back the New Deal. Labor unions continued to grow, but their powers were limited by the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, whose most important provision permitted states to prohibit agreements that compelled workers to join unions. Over time, more capital would be invested and economic growth would occur in these “right to work” states of the South and West.

The New Deal and the war had produced a myriad of administrative agencies that combining legislative, executive and judicial functions.

These powers were largely confirmed in the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946, which attempt to guarantee due process to persons and companies who were accused to violating administrative regulations. As the Cold War settled in, especially with the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, many elements of the wartime economy in both world wars, such as conscription, continued after World War II. President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned about an excessively militarized economy—what he called the “military-industrial complex”—in his 1961 farewell address (Dwight D. Eisenhower, “Farewell Address,” January 17, 1961). At the height of the Cold War the U.S. spent 10 percent of its gross domestic product on defense.

The twenty years following World War II were prosperous. Economic growth was slow but widely shared; this period saw less income inequality (measured by the share of national income going to the top and bottom quintiles of the population) than any before or since.

American producers were temporarily ahead of foreign competition, and American workers similarly benefited from laws that severely limited immigration until 1965. These were the years of the “big-unit economy,” in which a small number of firms dominated their markets, and the country valued stability and equality above entrepreneurial risk-taking. Policymakers believed that modern, Keynesian economics, by which government fiscal powers could prevent depressions and inflation, now enabled the government to ensure growth and full employment without excessive inflation. In the generation after the Second World War, the American people had great confidence in the government. This fed another great expansion of progressivism, now called liberalism, in the “Great Society” of the 1960s.

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The New Deal

Home — Essay Samples — History — History of the United States — The New Deal

Essays on The New Deal

The new deal essay, types of the new deal essay.

• Cause and Effect Essay
• Compare and Contrast Essay
• Analysis Essay

Cause and Effect Essay about The New Deal

• Conduct thorough research: To write a well-informed New Deal Cause and Effect Essay, it is essential to conduct extensive research. This research should involve reading primary and secondary sources, including books, articles, and government reports, to gain an in-depth understanding of the topic.
• Develop a thesis statement: A thesis statement is a central argument or claim that guides the essay's content. It should be specific and concise and clearly outline the essay's main ideas and arguments.
• Organize the essay: In this type of essay, it is essential to have a clear and logical structure. The essay should have an introduction that outlines the topic and the thesis statement, followed by body paragraphs that discuss the causes and effects of the New Deal, and a conclusion that summarizes the main points and reiterates the thesis statement.
• Use evidence to support arguments: It is crucial to use relevant evidence to support the arguments presented in the essay. This evidence can be in the form of statistical data, quotes from primary sources, or expert opinions.
• Edit and proofread: Before submitting the essay, it is essential to edit and proofread it thoroughly. This process involves checking for spelling and grammar errors, ensuring that the essay's structure is logical and coherent, and ensuring that the arguments presented are well-supported and logically sound.

Compare and Contrast Essay about The New Deal

• Choose a specific aspect of The New Deal to compare and contrast. Some possible topics could include the similarities and differences between the Emergency Banking Act and the Glass-Steagall Act, the effectiveness of the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration in providing employment, or the similarities and differences between the Agricultural Adjustment Act and the National Industrial Recovery Act.
• Make a list of the similarities and differences between the two or more aspects of The New Deal that you are comparing. Consider factors such as goals, methods, impact, and public perception.
• Develop a clear thesis statement that highlights the main points of your comparison and contrast.
• Organize your essay in a way that clearly presents the similarities and differences between the aspects of The New Deal that you are comparing. One common approach is to use a block or point-by-point structure.
• Use specific examples and evidence to support your analysis. This could include statistics, historical accounts, or primary source documents.
• Make connections between the similarities and differences you have identified and draw conclusions about the successes and failures of The New Deal as a whole.

The New Deal: Analysis Essay

• Choose a specific aspect of the New Deal to focus on, such as the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Agricultural Adjustment Act, or the National Industrial Recovery Act.
• Conduct extensive research to gather relevant information and data related to the chosen topic.
• Analyze the effectiveness of the New Deal policies in addressing the challenges of the Great Depression.
• Evaluate the impact of the New Deal on the country's economy and society.
• Use examples and evidence to support the arguments made in the essay.
• Provide a critical analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the New Deal policies and their outcomes.
• Use clear and concise language and maintain a logical flow of ideas throughout the essay.

Tips on How to Choose a Topic

• Consider the type of essay you want to write and select a topic that fits the requirements.
• Research the various aspects of The New Deal, including the policies implemented and their effects.
• Choose a topic that interests you and that you have a strong opinion on.
• Look for gaps in the existing research and choose a topic that allows you to contribute new ideas.

Hook Examples for The New Deal Essays

Anecdotal hook.

Imagine living through the Great Depression, struggling to make ends meet, and suddenly, a series of government programs comes to your rescue. This was the reality for millions of Americans during the era of the New Deal.

Question Hook

Did Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal policies truly pull the United States out of economic despair, or did they sow the seeds of long-term government intervention in the economy? Explore the lasting impact of this pivotal period.

Quotation Hook

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." — Franklin D. Roosevelt. Discover the context and significance of this famous quote from FDR's inaugural address as it relates to the New Deal's mission to restore hope and confidence.

Statistical or Factual Hook

During the New Deal, over 15 million Americans were employed through various relief programs. Delve into the numbers and programs that aimed to combat unemployment and economic hardship.

Definition Hook

What exactly was the New Deal, and what were its key components? Unpack the policies, acts, and agencies that comprised this comprehensive government response to the Great Depression.

Rhetorical Question Hook

Can government intervention in the economy effectively stimulate recovery during times of crisis, or does it risk overreach and unintended consequences? Investigate the debates surrounding the New Deal's role in shaping economic policy.

Historical Hook

Travel back to the 1930s to explore the dire economic conditions and social challenges that prompted the implementation of the New Deal. Understand the historical context in which these policies emerged.

Contrast Hook

Contrast the New Deal's approach to economic recovery with previous laissez-faire policies. Analyze the shift in government philosophy and its implications for the role of the state in citizens' lives.

Narrative Hook

Follow the journey of a family impacted by the New Deal, from unemployment lines to the benefits of programs like the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Their story illuminates the tangible effects of these policies.

Shocking Statement Hook

Prepare to be astonished by the sheer scale and ambition of the New Deal, which aimed to not only rescue the economy but also reshape society. Explore the bold initiatives and controversies that surrounded this era.

Comparison of President Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt

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What if The Great Depression Never Happened

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The Factors that Opened The Door for The United States to Deal with The Great Depression at The Start of World War Ii

Causes of the great depression and a critical view on the new deal, the objectives of franklin roosevelt's new deal program after the great depression, the debate over the effectiveness of the new deal for african americans, get a personalized essay in under 3 hours.

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Research of How Successful The New Deal Was for Society and Economy

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• Great Depression

President Franklin D. Roosevelt

1933 - 1939

United States

Agricultural Adjustment Administration, National Recovery Administration, Public Works Administration, Public Works of Art Project

The New Deal was a series of programs and projects instituted during the Great Depression by President Franklin D. Roosevelt that aimed to restore prosperity to Americans.

Much of the New Deal legislation was enacted within the first three months of Roosevelt’s presidency. The main issue of the new president was to alleviate the suffering of the nation’s huge number of unemployed workers.

In 1935, Roosevelt launched a second, more aggressive series of federal programs, called the Second New Deal with three principal categories—relief, recovery, and reform. Recovery programs were intended to help stabilize and rebuild the economy.

From 1933 until 1941, President Roosevelt’s New Deal programs and policies provided support for farmers, the unemployed, youth and the elderly. In Roosevelt's 12 years in office, the economy had an 8.5% compound annual growth of GDP.

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The New Deal

President roosevelt’s new deal, by  catherine a. paul.

“I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

The New Deal was enacted from 1933 to 1939 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to provide immediate economic relief from the  Great Depression and to address necessary reforms in industry, agriculture, finance, water power, labor, and housing. The New Deal was grounded in the belief that the power of the federal government was needed to lift America from the Great Depression (Library of Congress, n.d.). These programs signaled both an expansion of federal power and a transformation in the relationship between the federal government and the American people (Hopkins, 2011).

Many of the New Deal policies were enacted in the first three months of President Roosevelt’s time in office, which became known as the “Hundred Days.” Roosevelt’s first objective was to address widespread unemployment by establishing agencies such as the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) . Such agencies dispensed emergency and short-term government aid and provided temporary jobs, such as work on construction projects and national forests (New Deal, n.d.).

Before 1935, the New Deal’s primary focus was on revitalizing business and agricultural communities. The National Recovery Administration (NRA) shaped  industrial regulations governing trade practices, wages, hours, child labor, and collective bargaining. Moreover, the New Deal sought to regulate the country’s financial hierarchy to prevent another incident like the stock market crash of 1929 and the bank failures that followed. The Federal Deposit  Insurance Corporation (FDIC) granted federal insurance for bank deposits in Federal Reserve System member banks, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) protected individuals from fraudulent stock market practices. The Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) controlled the production of staple crops through cash subsidies to farmers in order to raise prices, and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) covered seven states to supply cheap electricity, prevent floods, improve navigation, and produce nitrates (New Deal, n.d.).

In 1935, the New Deal shifted its attention to labor and urban groups. The Wagner Act increased the authority of the federal government in industrial relations and gave further organizing power to labor unions under the execution of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) . In addition, one of the most notable New Deal programs, the Social Security Board (SSB) , was enacted in 1935 and 1939, providing benefits to the elderly and to widows, unemployment compensation, and disability insurance. Moreover, maximum working hours and a minimum wage were set in some industries in 1938 (New Deal, n.d.).

While many New Deal reforms were generally met with acceptance, certain laws were declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, which stated that the federal government had no authority to regulate industry or undertake social or economic reform. In response, Roosevelt proposed in 1937 to reorganize the court. Ultimately, this effort failed, and the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the contested legislation (New Deal, n.d.). By 1939, the New Deal had improved the lives of Americans suffering from the Great Depression, set a precedent for the federal government to help regulate economic social and economic affairs of the nation, and insisted that even poor individuals had rights, (Venn, 1998).

This work may also be watched through the Internet Archive .

For Further Reading:

“1934: The Art of the New Deal,” courtesy of the Smithsonian

“New Deal,” courtesy of the National Archives 

“The New Deal: Primary Source Set,” courtesy of the Digital Public Library of America

“The New Deal,” courtesy of the National Museum of American History

References:

Hopkins, J. (2011). The New Deal. A Companion to Franklin D. Roosevelt (238-258). Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

Library of Congress. (n.d.). President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1933-1945. The Library of Congress . Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/event/New-Deal

New Deal. (n.d.). In Encyclopedia Britannica online . Retrieved from https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline/great-depression-and-world-war-ii-1929-1945/franklin-delano-roosevelt-and-the-new-dea

Venn, F. (1998). The New Deal . Edinburgh, SCT: Edinburgh University Press.

How to Cite this Article (APA Format):  Paul, C. A. (2017). President Roosevelt’s New Deal.  Social Welfare History Project.  Retrieved from https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/eras/great-depression/the-new-deal/

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The New Deal, Essay Example

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When a national economy is shattered, as was the case in the Great Depression in the United States, it is inevitable that those lower on the socio-economic scale bear a greater brunt of the impact. The Depression vastly influenced all working people in the nation, of course, and its effects have been well-documented. More than half of all American families in the 1930s lived on annual incomes of between $500 and $1,500, and the lowest amount considered necessary for an average standard of living was $2,500 (Cravens 46). This was a devastating and widespread crisis affecting virtually all. Nonetheless, as such a crisis demands from a society a paring down of opportunities, those on the lower ends of employment and status were the hardest hit. African Americans had not enjoyed anything like equal employment status during the prosperous 1920s, and the same bias became more pronounced when the Depression struck. Black workers were dismissed immediately and in vast numbers, as the severe conditions enabled discrimination to become overt. If, in good times, it was acceptable to hire blacks, it was seen as necessary to sacrifice them in order to promote better chances of white survival. The numbers are striking; in Detroit, for example, blacks made up four percent of the population but accounted for over 25 percent of relief cases (Cravens 106).

For Mexicans and Latin American, it was worse. Only a decade earlier, the U.S. had actively encouraged Hispanic immigration, chiefly to meet the labor needs of the new industries. With the Depression, new laws were enacted and there began a widespread deportation process, and hundreds of thousands of Mexicans were sent back to their native country (Cafferty, Engstrom 38). The circumstances were different for women. For most, the Depression translated into something of an elevation in status; the homemaker, wife, and mother was now critically important in keeping the family together through economizing (Cravens 47). The government greatly reinforced the role of women in domestic life as crucial to seeing the nation through. At the same time, women fared as badly as blacks and Hispanics in terms of securing work outside the home. They were, like the blacks, immediately dismissed from jobs because it was felt that the few available rightly belonged to men. There was as well another backlash; as jobs were scarce, it was believed that women should be legally banned from working in cases where the husband had a job (Craven 46). Not unexpectedly, minority women were less able to find work, as those few jobs offered to women were given to whites.

The New Deal would radically change a variety of all these circumstances, and perhaps the most notable was in regard to Native Americans. Like other minorities, they were generally discarded when the Depression struck. However, and largely due to the efforts of Secretary of the Interior John Collier, Native Americans were addressed constructively by the New Deal. Collier promoted the culture and worked to destroy the reservation system, and give to the population sovereignty taken from them. His aims were defeated by Congress, however, and the result was that, while greater attention was given to tribal life, conditions for Native Americans worsened with the New Deal (Miller, Cherny, & Gormly 646). Essentially, segregation would continue to deny Native Americans opportunities.

For others, however, there were great improvements. The Roosevelt government, and particularly through the presence of Eleanor Roosevelt, made great efforts to create jobs for women, even as the administration of the New Deal agencies supplied women with clerical work. There was bias and women still received less pay, but they were now accepted as a significant part of the workforce (Miller, Cherny, & Gormly 643). In his 1936 address to the nation, Roosevelt made it clear that his administration would be devoted to providing opportunity equally as the New Deal continued to unfold (Ourdocuments.gov). As women were increasingly acknowledged and provided with work, government agencies carefully ensured that blacks, Hispanics, and other minorities would not be overlooked. Most significantly, the Works Progress Administration (WPA), funded by the federal government, created jobs for minorities, and the numbers of blacks who switched from the Republican to the Democratic Party attests to the support perceived (Miller, Cherny, & Gormly 646). Certainly, life remained hard as the Depression went on, but the New Deal appears to have “leveled” the opportunity bases and promoted the interests of women and minorities.

This as the legacy of the New Deal is, however, disputed. Historians have been widely divided as to the lasting good of it, or even its efficacy at the time, in all the decades since. Even those who defend the New Deal’s policies point out important failings of it, as in its lack of concern for rural poverty and issues. Industrialization and modernization were central to WPA efforts, and large areas of the nation were, it is felt, ignored. Rural poverty increased, in fact, as agricultural business grew (Cravens 116). It has also been observed that the tensions between the Roosevelt administration and the business community exacerbated issues; government-funded operations succeeded, but resistance from the private sector illustrates how the government failed to bring business in line with its own agendas (Cravens 151). There is, in a word, no shortage of criticism as to the effects and legacy of the New Deal. At the same time, it must be remembered that this was a drastic era in American life, and only drastic measures could begin to address the conditions created by the Great Depression. It is likely that no government initiative at this time could have addressed so many, enormous problems. Then, and states of discrimination in place then and lingering afterward, the New Deal and the Roosevelt administration did make important strides in promoting equality. To assert that these strides were not wholly effective is to ignore the times and conditions in which they were made. It is regrettable that there were significant failures, as in the intentions to create independent Native American communities. What is equally important, however, is that the New Deal broke new ground, and made overt and consistent efforts to supply opportunity to all Americans in a time when another government might well have ignored women and minority populations.

Works Cited

Cafferty, P. S. J., & Engstrom, D. W. Hispanics in the United States: An Agenda for the Twenty- First Century. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 2002. Print.

Cravens, H. Great Depression: People and Perspectives . Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2009. Print.

Miller, C. L., Cherny, R. W., & Gormly, J. L. Making America: A History of the United States: Since 1865, Volume 2 . Belmont: Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.

Ourdocuments.gov. Transcript of President Franklin Roosevelt’s Radio Address Unveiling the Second Half of the New Deal (1936). N/D. Web.

<http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=69&page=transcript

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African americans in the great depression and new deal.

• Mary-Elizabeth B. Murphy Mary-Elizabeth B. Murphy Department of History Eastern Michigan University
• https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.013.632
• Published online: 19 November 2020

For African Americans, the Great Depression and the New Deal (1929–1940) marked a transformative era and laid the groundwork for the postwar black freedom struggle in the United States. The outbreak of the Great Depression in 1929 caused widespread suffering and despair in black communities across the country as women and men faced staggering rates of unemployment and poverty. Once Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), a Democrat, was inaugurated as president in 1933, he launched a “New Deal” of ambitious government programs to lift the United States out of the economic crisis. Most African Americans were skeptical about benefiting from the New Deal, and racial discrimination remained rampant. However, a cohort of black advisors and activists critiqued these government programs for excluding African Americans and enacted some reforms. At the grassroots level, black workers pressed for expanded employment opportunities and joined new labor unions to fight for economic rights. As the New Deal progressed a sea change swept over black politics. Many black voters switched their allegiance from the Republican to the Democratic Party, waged more militant campaigns for racial justice, and joined interracial and leftist coalitions. African Americans also challenged entrenched cultural stereotypes through photography, theater, and oral histories to illuminate the realities of black life in the United States. By 1940, African Americans now wielded an arsenal of protest tactics and were marching on a path toward full citizenship rights, which remains an always evolving process.

• African American history
• cultural history
• labor history
• political history
• women’s history

Last Hired, First Fired: The Crisis of the Great Depression

On the eve of the Great Depression, African Americans across the country already occupied a fragile position in the economy. 1 In the late 1920s, the vast majority of African Americans toiled as domestic servants, farmers, or service workers, jobs marked by low wages, weak job security, and fraught labor conditions. 2 Approximately eleven million African Americans lived in the American South, where they principally labored as sharecroppers, tenant farmers, and wage workers. Approximately 10 percent of black southerners owned land, but most cultivated crops on white-owned land and received a small share of the harvest. 3 Many regions of the South were already suffering from an economic downtown, and most black southerners were locked in an endless cycle of poverty, exploitation, and malnutrition. Disfranchisement and violence—especially the dangers of lynching and sexual assault—created a culture of fear for -black southerners. 4

Between 1915 and 1930 , approximately 1.5 million black southerners had migrated to northern and midwestern cities, such as Baltimore, Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, New York, and Philadelphia. Not only did New York attract southern migrants, but thirty thousand immigrants from the West Indies also settled in the city, which made the Harlem neighborhood a very cosmopolitan place. 5 African Americans also streamed into western cities, such as Los Angeles, Oakland, and San Francisco. 6 Black migrants had aspired to improve their economic and political standing in their new cities. But most discovered that Jim Crow was ever present beyond the Mason-Dixon line, marked by racial segregation, interracial police violence, and labor segmentation. Some black men were able to secure low-level positions in industry, while most black women labored as servants, cooks, and laundresses. However, southern migrants were able to vote in elections, which created black political constituencies to be courted by politicians. The ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 enabled most migrant women to vote, and they participated enthusiastically in politics. 7

In October 1929 , the US stock market crashed, which precipitated the most serious economic crisis in the nation’s history. Banks began to fail, businesses closed, and workers across the nation lost their jobs. The Great Depression triggered immediate suffering in black communities. Economic conditions had been poor in the South since the early 1920s, but the Great Depression marked a new low. Between 1929 and 1933 , the price of cotton dropped from eighteen cents to six cents, which only exacerbated black southerners’ precarious economic position. With a decline in cotton prices, the number of black sharecroppers fell. 8 In northern and midwestern cities, white unemployment reached as much as 25 percent, but for black workers in Chicago, New York, and Pittsburgh, 50 percent were out of work, and that number climbed to 60 percent for black workers in Philadelphia and Detroit. 9 African American workers were often the last hired, and thus, the first fired. The Great Depression initially slowed the pace of migration, but black African Americans continued to stream out of the South throughout the 1930s. 10

With the crisis of the Great Depression, African Americans struggled to receive adequate relief from the crushing impact of unemployment and poverty. White officials distributed relief in the form of food, money, or work programs, but many reasoned that African Americans did not need as many resources as white Americans. 11 At the federal level, President Herbert Hoover’s administration responded to the crisis of the Great Depression by creating the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, which offered loan payments to large corporations in order to restart the economy, but very few of these dollars reached suffering workers in the United States. 12

African Americans turned toward their community institutions to alleviate the worst effects of poverty and suffering. Middle-class African Americans spearheaded relief efforts by working with their churches, fraternal orders, and social and political organizations to assist unemployed workers. 13 As the chief purchasers for their families, black women were keenly aware of the cost of living and used the power of their pocketbooks to cope with the Depression. In 1930 , Fannie Peck formed the Housewives’ League of Detroit, asking members to patronize black-owned businesses as a way to protect these establishments and keep money in the black community. By 1934 , the organization had ten thousand members. These organizations mushroomed in other cities, such as Cleveland, Indianapolis, and Pittsburgh, underscoring the importance of black women’s organizing at the grassroots level. Women also banded together to clothe, feed, and house their families. In New York, Detroit, and St. Louis, black women staged meat boycotts and protested rent evictions, while in Cleveland, they protested electricity shut offs. 14 Some African Americans joined the Communist Party (CP) during the Great Depression, finding that this organization was an important vehicle to achieve economic survival for their families. Across the country, black activists united with the CP to fight against interracial police brutality, press for an economic redistribution in society, or protest the unjust criminalization of the thirteen men falsely accused of raping two white women in Scottsboro, Alabama. 15 As black citizens struggled to survive during the Great Depression, they pondered whether they should remain loyal to the Republican Party or cast their lot with Democratic candidate FDR and his vision for a New Deal in American society.

The New Deal and Racial Discrimination

African Americans supported President Hoover by a two-to-one margin in the 1932 election. While most African Americans still associated the Grand Old Party with Abraham Lincoln and civil rights, Hoover had an uneven record on racial justice. 16 He made black equality a plank in his campaign platform and appointed black men to serve in patronage positions and tapped black women to sit on government advisory committees. But other practices in his administration distressed African Americans. In 1930 , he permitted the War Department to segregate black and white gold star mothers on separate ships; gold star mothers were women whose sons had been killed in World War I. 17 That same year, Hoover nominated John J. Parker to the US Supreme Court. A former governor of North Carolina and Republican, Parker had once declared that African Americans should not participate in politics and publicly supported disfranchisement laws. In response, African Americans in the nation’s two largest civil rights organizations—the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the National Association of Colored Women (NACW)—banded together to thwart Parker’s confirmation. In response to this robust lobbying, the senate narrowly voted not to confirm Justice Parker, and many scholars point to this victory as a new era in black politics. 18

Hoover’s opponent in the 1932 election, FDR, bore the burden of the Democratic Party’s long support for racial segregation and intolerance. 19 Between 1913 and 1920 , the last Democratic President, Woodrow Wilson, had installed racial segregation in the federal government and thwarted opportunities for black government workers. 20 On the surface, FDR seemed little better. A northerner who served as governor of New York, he also maintained a home in Warm Springs, Georgia, where he received therapeutic treatments for polio and seemed comfortable in the white South, a crucial region in the Democratic coalition. 21 Furthermore, FDR’s running mate was the Texas politician John Nance Garner—further evidence that FDR would likely embody the worst impulses of the Jim Crow South as a Democratic president. Although some African Americans supported FDR, most black voters remained loyal to the Republican Party. 22

Even before FDR’s inauguration, his administration began to take a different path from his predecessors on race relations. Over half of the servants who were hired to work in the White House were African American, which was the largest number in recent years. Two of the most notable were a married couple from Georgia who had met FDR in Warm Springs; Irvin McDuffie worked as FDR’s valet and his wife, Elizabeth, labored as a maid in the White House. Both Irvin and Elizabeth McDuffie became active in Washington’s black community, and they helped to humanize the Roosevelt administration to African Americans in the early 1930s by giving interviews in the press and attending White House events with black performers. However, while FDR was willing to bring black servants into the White House, he appointed no African Americans to the cabinet or other administrative positions. 23

Once FDR was inaugurated as America’s thirty-second president in March 1933 , he pursued an ambitious agenda to bring relief to unemployed persons and set the economy on a path of economic recovery. In his first hundred days, FDR created five sweeping programs, including the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which created the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA), the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). White administrators oversaw all of these programs, and most were not attuned to racial discrimination, which meant that very few black workers experienced immediate relief. For example, both the TVA and AAA were aimed at the South, and without vigilance, it was easy to deny benefits to African Americans. The AAA evicted black sharecroppers and tenant farmers off of the land they were cultivating. The CCC hired unemployed young men to labor on public works projects and its white director, a native of Tennessee, believed that young black men did not need these jobs as much as their white men. As a result, the CCC admitted fewer black men, housed them in segregated dormitories, and barred black CCC workers from most administrative positions. The TVA tried to bring rural electrification and economic development to the South, but its strict practices of racial segregation thwarted black participation. 24

The National Recovery Administration’s (NRA) program of regulated wage codes underscored how the federal government based their programs on the needs of white men and women. In theory, the NRA was intended to provide a minimum wage for worker in various industries. But in practice, the NRA did not recognize the ways that race intersected class and sex. The NRA’s cotton industry hours regulation excluded the central positions where black male workers labored, while the southern lumber industry’s wages were far lower than those wages paid in the North. Even when black workers were eligible for higher wages, employers preferred to pay this money to white workers. 25 The NRA also sought to regulate the hours and wages for hairdressers. Most white hairdressers had white clients who received their treatments during regular working hours. But black domestics who worked during the day and received their treatments in the evening comprised the clientele of most black hairdressers. Across the country, black hairdressers banded together to protest this exclusionary legislation, pointing out that black women did not have identical interests as white women. One black hairdresser in Washington, DC, even declared that the New Deal was “a white man’s law.” 26

The Social Security Act epitomized the New Deal’s negligence toward race and sex. Social Security was a revolutionary piece of legislation that granted unemployment insurance and retirement benefits to workers in the United States. It was designed to mitigate the worst effects of the Great Depression by providing income to unemployed workers and preventing poverty among the elderly. But, southern white men who were determined to preserve the South’s racial order served these on congressional committees and inserted a provision in the proposed Social Security legislation that excluded farmers and domestic workers. 27 Representatives from two major black organizations—Charles Hamilton Houston from the NAACP and George E. Haynes from the National Urban League (NUL)—testified in Congress, stressing the importance of including all black workers. 28 But when FDR signed the Social Security Act into law in 1935 , it deemed farmers and domestics ineligible, which meant that 87 percent of all-black women and 55 percent of all African American workers were excluded. 29 A broad swath of African Americans protested these exclusions, ranging from individual black workers to the NACW and the Grand Order of the Elks, but this legislation was not broadened until the 1950s. 30

During the early 1930s, the one New Deal agency that took decisive action against racial discrimination was the Public Works Administration (PWA), a massive program of construction projects. During the 1930s, the PWA spent $6 billion and built thousands of projects across the country, including airports, schools, hospitals, libraries, and public housing (see figure 1 ). 31 Interior Secretary Harold Ickes, a former president of the Chicago branch of the NAACP, headed the PWA, which was created as part of the NIRA. To express sensitivity toward race, Ickes announced that he would hire a “Special Advisor on the Status of Negroes” for the PWA and selected Clark Foreman, a white southerner. The appointment of a white man, especially when there were hundreds of qualified black men and women for this position, upset African Americans, causing them to express profound concern whether the New Deal would provide substantive change in black communities. 32 However, Ickes also sought the advice of black advisors, who counseled him on the ways that African Americans could benefit from the PWA. He tapped two black graduates of Harvard University—economist Robert Weaver and attorney William Hastie—to serve in the PWA. 33

Figure 1. Through their residency in these PWA housing complexes, African Americans were able to save money and plan for their future. “ PWA (Public Works Administration) housing project for Negroes .” Omaha, Nebraska, November 1938.

One of the most important programs that the PWA spearheaded was the construction of fifty-one public housing projects, which marked the very first time that the US government erected housing for its low-income citizens. Since segregation was rampant in the 1930s, Ickes did not propose integrated housing projects. But he designated nineteen, or one-third, of these housing projects, for African American occupancy. In cities with large black populations, such as Atlanta, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC, African American families moved into affordable, new housing that was designed to be transitional and life changing. 34 In September 1933 , the NAACP lobbied Ickes to issue a non-discrimination clause in the PWA, stating that construction projects could not discriminate on the basis of race. Ickes’s advisors, including Clark Foreman, William Hastie, and Robert Weaver, supplemented this clause with a quota system, stating that all construction crews had to employ a number of black workers that was proportional to their population. They also recruited black architects to design some of these public housing complexes. 35 The success of the PWA in assisting African Americans in such a concrete way demonstrated that black advisors could make a significant difference in New Deal programs, and prompted other government agencies to hire black consultants.

Activism in the Black Cabinet

By the mid-1930s, white administrators had begun to tap black advisors for government programs with more regularity. This shift can be traced to the PWA’s success in addressing racial discrimination, as well as growing black support for New Deal programs and the Democratic Party. In 1935 , the National Youth Administration (NYA), an agency focused on finding work opportunities for young people, appointed prominent clubwoman and school president, Mary McLeod Bethune, to become the Negro Advisor, and later chair, of its Division of Negro Affairs (see figure 2 ). In taking this position, Bethune became the first black woman to head a government division. A native of South Carolina, she was the founder of the Bethune-Cookman School in Florida, a former president of the NACW, and an activist with deep networks in black women’s politics. In 1935 , Bethune founded a new civil rights organization, the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW). 36 In the NYA, Bethune lobbied for African Americans to serve in leadership positions at the federal, state, and local levels. Under her watchful eye, more African Americans served in administrative positions in the NYA than any other New Deal program. And by the early 1940s, as many as 20 percent of black youth participated in NYA programs. 37 Mary McLeod Bethune also cultivated a public friendship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and educated her about the particular problems that African Americans faced in the United States. Through this friendship, Eleanor Roosevelt elevated her standing with African Americans and became an ally of black civil rights causes. Eleanor Roosevelt supported a federal anti-lynching bill, an end to the poll tax, and increased funding for black schools. 38

Figure 2. Mary McLeod Bethune was able to use her appointment in the New Deal to form the Black Cabinet and the NCNW. “ Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, founder and former president and director of the NYA (National Youth Administration) Negro Relations .” Bethune-Cookman College, Daytona Beach, Florida, January 1943.

Not only did Bethune assume a prominent position in the NYA and inform the First Lady about racial justice, but she also used her new status in Washington, DC, to gather a group of black consultants into the Federal Council of Negro Affairs, which became known as the Black Cabinet. Composed of lawyers, politicians, and journalists, members of the Black Cabinet advised President Roosevelt on matters related to African Americans. Some members of the Black Cabinet included the economist Robert Weaver, lawyer Charles Hastie, Pittsburgh Courier editor Robert L. Vann, who was in the Office of the Attorney General, social worker Lawrence Oxley, and CCC advisor Edgar Brown. The black press covered the Black Cabinet extensively, thereby introducing African American readers to the cohort of black professionals who advised the Roosevelt administration. By 1940 , one hundred African Americans served in administrative positions in the New Deal. But the Black Cabinet was not a formal government institution and Bethune convened its meetings in her office or apartment. 39

Members of the Black Cabinet worked in concert with civil rights organizations to pressure New Deal agencies and programs to end racial bias. For example, in 1933 , the CCC had enrolled a paltry number of young black men. But, after the NAACP put pressure on the CCC, two hundred thousand African American men participated in the program by 1940 , and one-fifth of them learned to read and write while enrolled. 40 In 1935 , Congress passed the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which took over some of the work from the PWA. The WPA’s administrator, Harry Hopkins, built on Ickes’s example by appointing a series of black advisors to design programs that would assist African Americans. 41 In the first year alone, two hundred thousand African Americans joined WPA programs, and that number climbed steadily each year. 42 The WPA constructed black schools and community centers, opened domestic service training centers, conducted adult education classes, and oversaw a myriad of arts projects (see section on “ Black Stories in the New Deal Era ”). In the rural South, African American men and women flocked to literacy classes, which enabled them to learn to read and supplement the poor education they had received in deeply underfunded schools, or even attend school for the first time in their lives (see figure 3 ). By the end of the 1930s, black illiteracy fell by 10 percent. 43

Figure 3. Older African Americans flocked to the WPA adult literacy programs. Pictured is an 82-year-old woman who is the “star pupil” in Gee’s Bend, Alabama. “ Star pupil, eighty-two years old, reading her lesson in adult class. Gee’s Bend, Alabama .” May 1939.

Despite the presence of racial advisors, however, many New Deal programs failed to address the black structural inequalities that lay at the root of American society. For example, the WPA limited black women’s employment opportunities to domestic service training programs and sewing programs, both of which paid low wages, while it enabled white women to seek opportunities in other industries, such as clerical work, gardening, and nursing. 44 Similarly, when the PWA constructed black housing projects, they engaged in slum clearance by razing black neighborhoods. This practice actually created a housing shortage for African Americans in segregated cities and paved the way for urban renewal programs in the postwar era. When Congress created the United States Housing Authority in 1937 , the bureau did not issue mortgages to African Americans in racially integrated neighborhoods. In all of these instances, New Deal programs did not touch America’s landscape of racial segregation and labor segmentation. 45

New Deal programs were especially challenged to improve the lives of rural black southerners, which was a source of continual frustration. A significant number of FDR’s economic advisors were native to the South and determined to use the New Deal as an instrument to tackle poverty in the region. The Agricultural Adjustment Act tried to increase crop prices by paying farmers to decrease their acreage. But the AAA lacked programs to assist black sharecroppers, who could not receive these payments because they were not landowners. Moreover, prominent white men who served on the AAA’s local committees crafted policies that favored white farmers over black farmers, which sometimes forced black landowners off their land and squeezed sharecroppers out of their jobs. The Resettlement Administration tried to relocate southerners to planned communities, but ultimately, only 1,393 black families were able to benefit from this program. 46 Cumulatively, the New Deal assisted black southerners by allocating money to African American schools, funding public health programs, and improving black housing. 47 While black participation in New Deal programs was uneven, there was no question that it marked a new era for African Americans and enabled them to recast their ideas about citizenship and belonging in the United States. By 1935 , 30 percent of African Americans were recipients of New Deal relief programs and many turned their political allegiances in these shifting times. 48

The 1936 election marked a major test for black politics. In his bid for a second term in office, FDR actively courted the black vote, envisioning African Americans as a part of his expanding electoral coalition that included workers, European immigrants, and white southerners. President Roosevelt was very delicate on the race question. Without supporting anti-lynching legislation publicly, he appealed to black voters by touting his record of black appointments and government programs that assisted African Americans. By the mid-1930s, black voter registration was at an all-time high in cities such as Philadelphia, Chicago, and Detroit. In southern cities, some African Americans had managed to escape the barriers of disfranchisement and formed Democratic political clubs. 49 At the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in June 1936 , thirty African Americans served as delegates, which was a first for the party. Furthermore, the black press received seats in the press box, a black minister, Marshall L. Shepard, delivered the invocation, and black politicians delivered addresses. 50 And, in the weeks before the election, FDR sent his maid, Elizabeth McDuffie, on the campaign trail to offer personal testimony about the Democratic Party’s commitment to African Americans. McDuffie traveled to midwestern cities where she held rallies and spoke to a total of fifty thousand black citizens. As the child of former slaves, McDuffie argued that the New Deal represented a second emancipation for African Americans. 51 This outreach worked and FDR was reelected in a landslide victory in 1936 . He captured 61 percent of the total vote, but he won 76 percent of the black vote. In this election, he cemented the relationship between African Americans and the Democratic Party. 52 Not all African Americans switched to the Democratic Party, however, and some black voters lamented that neither party offered a robust response to black poverty and civil rights. 53

Militant Black Protest Politics in the 1930s

While African Americans caused a major political realignment by switching from the Republican to the Democratic Parties, they also formed new protest organizations and deployed strategies of mass action in order to achieve racial justice. Early 21st-century historians point to these activities in the 1930s as evidence of a “long” civil rights movement in the United States, which helped to pave the way for the postwar black freedom struggle. 54 During the 1930s, the NAACP and NUL paid close attention to New Deal programs and put pressure on administrators to end racial bias. African Americans frequently reached out to their local branches or the national organization, and the NAACP was swift to conduct investigations and assisted thousands of African Americans across the country. 55 The NAACP had brilliant lawyers in Charles Hamilton Houston and his student at Howard University Law School, Thurgood Marshall. This legal team won landmark cases: Murray v. Maryland in 1936 and Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada in 1938 , which both whittled away at racial segregation in professional and graduate schools. 56 They also scored a victory in the Supreme Court in Hale v. Kentucky in 1938 which opened jury service to African Americans. And the national NAACP, along with local branches, aligned with the CP, despite worries about the party’s radicalism, to secure justice for the Scottsboro Nine, black teenagers who had been accused of raping two white women on a train in Alabama in 1931 . All but the youngest were given a death sentence by electrocution in Alabama courts. Ada Wright, mother of two of the accused, traveled with the CP’s International Labor Defense throughout Europe in the early 1930s to spread awareness about the case, and her speaking engagements helped to educate a global audience about the injustices of the legal system for African Americans. 57 Through mass marches, newspaper exposes, and a massive fundraising campaign, the defendants were ultimately exonerated and released from jail. 58

African Americans also formed new organizations to fight for their economic rights and political interests in the 1930s. In 1931 , black sharecroppers in Alabama established the Alabama Sharecroppers Union in connection with the CP and by 1934 , it had four thousand members. Black women evaluated the strength of their organizations and tested new strategies. In 1935 , Mary McLeod Bethune founded the NCNW, to serve as a civil rights organization for black women. The NCNW gathered members from the NACW, but also federated with sororities, church groups, and professional organizations. Seeking to distance herself from the NACW’s respectability politics, Bethune designed the NCNW to lobby for black women’s interests with a special emphasis on employment opportunities. However, the NCNW was largely a middle-class organization that did not directly assist working-class women. In 1936 , John P. Davis and Howard Professor Ralph Bunche formed the National Negro Congress (NNC) and its youth organization, the Southern Negro Youth Congress (SNYC). The NNC and SNYC reached down below to the grassroots level, recruiting activists, students, and workers to fight for black rights. By the late 1930s, the NNC established seventy-five local chapters across the country. 59

Men, women, and especially, young people, banded together with these new protest organizations to stage militant campaigns across the country. Activists in the NNC fought to broaden New Deal programs, improve living conditions for African Americans, organize black workers into industrial labor unions, protest disfranchisement, and protect all African Americans from interracial violence, especially lynching and police brutality. 60 In Baltimore, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Washington, DC, black women and men staged Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work campaigns. Citizens picketed the white-owned stores and restaurants in black neighborhoods that did not hire black workers. 61 They also withheld their patronage from these establishments and intimidated black customers. These protests were largely successful and resulted in hundreds of jobs for unemployed and underemployed men and women, including teenagers who needed to supplement their family’s income. 62 African Americans also celebrated a major success when the Supreme Court upheld their right to picket in New Negro Alliance v. Sanitary Grocery in 1938 . These grassroots protests in the 1930s demonstrated the power of mass action and would help to inspire protests in the postwar era. 63

Not only did African Americans fight for jobs, but they also formed labor unions within different industries. In 1935 , Congress passed the Wagner Act, which upheld the right of workers to organize labor unions, participate in collective bargaining, and stage strikes, which nurtured a more supportive climate for industrial black workers. The largest black labor union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP), negotiated a contract with the Pullman Company to reduce their hours and increase their wages. 64 White labor leaders formed the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), which organized black and white workers in mining, automobile, meatpacking, and steel industries. The CIO made racial equality central to its organization by fighting against pay scales and hiring black organizers in all of its unions. 65 The CIO also became a civil rights ally by lobbying against the poll tax, supporting a federal anti-lynching law, and fighting against labor discrimination. 66 Black tobacco workers and Red Caps both joined CIO-affiliated unions to fight for economic justice during the 1930s. 67 While black women joined some of these labor unions, they overwhelmingly assisted male workers. 68 In the 1930s, with the backing of the NNC, some black women formed a domestic workers union in New York City. But the union proved unable to improve their circumstances significantly during the Great Depression and New Deal eras, and domestic workers remained one of the nation’s most exploited groups, as they still are. 69

During the New Deal era, domestic workers suffered from abject poverty. Not only were they excluded from the Social Security Act, but white families reeling from the Depression fired servants or slashed wages. In 1935 , activists Ella Baker and Marvel Cooke wrote a landmark piece that was published in the NAACP’s organ, the Crisis , entitled “The Bronx Slave Market.” 70 This piece chronicled the desperate black servants who crowded the streets of the Bronx and the white housewives who would hire them for day wages. By terming this a “slave market,” Baker and Cooke underscored the severity of black women’s economic predicaments and the intersections of race, class, and gender during the Depression. 71 One job coveted by Washington, DC, domestic workers was to become a federal “charwoman,” a worker who cleaned government offices. The positions paid higher wages than domestic service and offered retirement benefits, and when the federal government announced it was accepting applications for these positions, between ten thousand and twenty thousand black women showed up to apply for these jobs. Many had spent the night at the station in order to obtain a good place in line. Their numbers were so large that officials had to stop distributing applications and turn toward crowd control. When women learned that they could not receive job applications, they began to express anger and frustration as white police officers were dispatched to contain the crowds of rioting women. The episode illustrated the dire economic circumstances experienced by black women and black families, the women articulating their collective desire to leave domestic service in white women’s houses and their exclusion from many New Deal programs, especially Social Security. 72

Black women and men who had suffered disproportionately from unemployment sometimes turned to the underground economy for survival. African Americans held rent parties, played numbers games, joined economic cooperatives, engaged in petty theft, and traded in sex to survive the effects of the Depression. 73 Yet these activities also made black women and men vulnerable targets for interracial police violence in cities such as Chicago, New York, and Washington, DC. 74

The visibility of African Americans in this era—whether they were marching in picket lines, staging boycotts, or rioting for jobs—underscored a new era in their culture of protest. Simultaneously, art, photography, writing, and oral history offered African Americans bountiful opportunities to recast their image in American culture and speak some of their truths.

Black Stories in the New Deal Era

Through the New Deal, the federal government first began to finance arts projects that, in turn, involved significant black engagement. Not only were writers, actors, photographers, and painters suffering from higher rates of unemployment than other categories of workers, but New Deal administrators also argued that the arts were a crucial part of the nation’s vitality. Largely through the WPA, the federal government organized the Federal Theater Project (FTP) and the Federal Writers Project (FWP), which employed writers and playwrights. The FWP also dispatched interviewers to travel to the South and interview thousands of former slaves in the United States, which became an invaluable resource for historians of slavery. Finally, the Farm Security Administration (FSA) hired photographers to travel across the country and document the lives of ordinary Americans. Not only did the FSA recruit black photographers, but white photographers also snapped searing and indelible images of African Americans. Collectively, all of these initiatives enabled African Americans to defy some of the pernicious racial stereotypes that were perpetuated against them throughout American culture. 75

African Americans participated enthusiastically in both the FWP and the FTP. During the 1920s, cities such as Chicago, New York, and Washington, DC, had witnessed the flourishing of black arts through literature, poetry, painting, film, and playwriting. These artistic communities laid the groundwork for black participation in New Deal artistic programs. 76 Both the FWP and the FTP had Negro divisions that oversaw black projects. The FTP’s Negro Division staged plays, hired black actors and directors, and took black stories seriously. Prior to the FTP, most black actors were limited to artistic opportunities related to minstrelsy. In rare cases, black actors were able to perform in the early phase of black film with auteurs, such as Oscar Micheaux. 77 The FTP’s Negro Division traveled to twenty-two cities across the country, which enabled African Americans to interact with this new, innovative type of theater. Black performers not only acted in plays with themes rooted in African American history and culture, such as racial prejudice, the Haitian Revolution, and lynching, but they also performed all-black productions of Macbeth and Swing Mikado , which reset expectations about black actors portraying historical white and Asian characters. 78

The FWP hired luminaries in black culture, including the writers Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison, the scholars St. Clair Drake and Horace R. Cayton, and the poet Sterling Brown. These writers documented the contributions of African Americans to United States history and culture. 79

The gathering of ex-slave narratives may have been the most important aspect of the FWP’s work. In the mid-1930s, the last generation of enslaved men and women were about to die. Members of the FWP recognized that this project represented a transformative opportunity for interviewers to speak with the men and women who had survived the trauma of racial slavery and narrate their experiences. Prior to the ex-slave narrative project, the vast majority of historiography about racial slavery was written from the viewpoint of white masters and mistresses. By inviting former slaves to share their recollections and offer their personal testimony, the nation would be able to reckon with its traumatic past.

Between 1936 and 1938 , dozens of black and white researchers traveled to the American South to interview over two thousand former slaves. When the project had concluded, they had amassed ten thousand typed pages and thousands of hours of testimony. These interviews proved invaluable in illuminating some of the hidden worlds of slavery, including sexual violence, physical brutality, and black survival strategies. The vast majority of these former slaves had regional accents, or in some cases, spoke in black dialect. Since white interviewers conducted the majority of the interviews, power relations were imbalanced and former slaves were not as direct as they would be with black researchers, especially around issues of trauma and sexual violence. Moreover, the interviews starkly illuminated the abject poverty that former slaves experienced. 80 The ex-slave narratives offered invaluable information to future historians, who continue to use the narratives as major sources for understanding both American slavery and the disappointment of Reconstruction.

In addition to listening to African Americans through testimony, the FSA hired a series of black and white photographers, who traveled across the country to visualize African Americans and black culture in the 1930s (see figure 4 ). Photography was a revolutionary instrument that could be wielded for social change. In this era, mass culture, such as advertisements, cartoons, and films, depicted African Americans in derogatory stereotypes as lazy, immature, childlike, and dangerous. These stereotypes were not simply abstract images, but rather, evidence that fueled a social, cultural, and political narrative about who African Americans were. 81 A documentary photograph that depicted a person hard at work, then, made it that much more difficult to deny basic human rights and dignities. These photographs helped to give a human face to African Americans who were suffering as ordinary Americans. White FSA photographers, such as Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans, traveled across the country and snapped indelible photographs of African Americans. These images revealed the complexities of black life across the country. 82 Gordon Parks, one of the most notable black FSA photographers, used his camera as a weapon and captured images of thousands of African Americans throughout the country. His image of Ella Watson, a charwoman in the federal government, dramatically portrayed her between an American flag and a broom, meditating on a black woman who literally mopped the floors of the federal government yet was denied access to major government programs. It is now known as the black American gothic (see figure 5 ). 83

Figure 4. In this photograph, Dorothea Lange depicts a 13-year-old sharecropper boy in Americus, Georgia, in an image that defies racial stereotypes. “ Thirteen-year old sharecropper boy near Americus, Georgia .” July 1937.

Figure 5. In his photograph of government charwoman Ella Watson, Gordon Parks meditates on a black woman who cleans government offices, yet is excluded from government programs. “ Washington, D.C. Government charwoman .” August 1942.

Marian Anderson’s 1939 concert at the Lincoln Memorial became one of the most significant cultural moments for African Americans during the New Deal era. Anderson was a classically trained opera singer popular among both black and white audiences. It had been customary for Anderson to perform a concert with the Howard University Music School each year in Washington, DC. But organizers struggled to find a venue that was large enough to accommodate the audience as Anderson’s fame grew. In 1939 , the Daughters of the American Revolution lent their concert space, but then rescinded the invitation, explicitly because of Anderson’s race. After a protracted battle to find a place where Anderson could perform, a coalition contacted Interior Secretary Harold Ickes, who had been an important white ally for African Americans in the New Deal. Ickes arranged for Marian Anderson to perform her concert on Easter Sunday in 1939 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, where Anderson’s stunning voice sang the sweet words, “America (My Country Tis’ of Thee).” Only dedicated in 1922 , Anderson’s concert marked the first time when Americans would use the Lincoln Memorial as a site of protest. Her concert foreshadowed future civil rights demonstrations, most notably the iconic March on Washington in 1963 . 84

The Great Depression and New Deal represented a watershed moment for African Americans throughout the country and reshaped the 20th-century trajectory of black life in the United States. By 1940 , black politics had undergone a radical change. The majority of voters now identified with the Democratic Party and used the party as a vehicle for civil rights and economic justice. Through the Black Cabinet and racial advisors, the federal government now turned toward African Americans for advice on the distribution of programs. African Americans scored important legal victories in the United States with the right to serve on juries, stage pickets, and integrate some graduate and professional schools. These legal triumphs were crucial ingredients for the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. the Board of Education and the postwar black freedom struggle. Leaders such as Robert Weaver and William Hastie had experimented with non-discrimination clauses and quota systems that would pave the way for this implementation on a national level as well as the rise of affirmative action in the United States in the 1960s. At the grassroots level, black women and men formed local organizations, staged economic boycotts, picketed businesses, joined labor unions, and engaged in strikes and riots for better jobs. Black women brought their deep organizational networks to all of these campaigns and played a transformative role in the struggle for racial equality and justice. Culturally, African Americans were able to defy racial stereotypes and illuminate the beautiful complexities and contradictions of the black experience in the United States.

Discussion of the Literature

Since the institutionalization of African American History in the 1960s, scholars have devoted significant attention toward the periods of the Great Depression and New Deal eras, and this historiographical literature reflects a rich and complex body of work. Early historians focused on the relationship between African Americans and the New Deal, especially as it related to region. Raymond Wolters’s essay—“The New Deal and the Negro,” in the edited volume, The New Deal: The National Level —and Harvard Sitkoff’s important essay—“The Impact of the New Deal on Black Southerners,” in another edited volume, The New Deal and the South —both offer an excellent overview about each New Deal program and the precise ways that African Americans did and did not benefit from these government initiatives. 85 Nancy Grant’s TVA and Black Americans: Planning for the Status Quo and Owen Cole’s The African-American Experience in the Civilian Conservation Corps , both followed in this vein by centering on specific government programs. 86 In several important works—such as Harvard Sitkoff’s A New Deal for Blacks: The Emergence of Civil Rights as a National Issue ; John Kirby’s Black Americans in the Roosevelt Era: Liberalism and Race ; and Nancy Weiss’s Farewell to the Party of Lincoln: Black Politics in the Age of FDR —historians have debated the reasons for black political realignment in the 1930s, with some pointing to the New Deal’s economic benefits and others emphasizing the Democratic Party’s (slow) embrace of civil rights. 87 Scholars in this period also highlighted the white allies in the New Deal who spoke out for racial equality, including Interior Secretary Harold Ickes, FSA administrator Will Alexander, and especially, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Patricia Sullivan’s Days of Hope: Race and Democracy in the New Deal Era added complexities and nuance to this literature. 88 Finally, in the 1980s and 1990s, historians explored the black alliance with the CP, with Mark Naison’s Communists in Harlem during the Depression and Robin D. G. Kelley’s brilliant Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists during the Depression . 89

In the early 21st century , historians have focused less on electoral realignment and interracial alliances, and more on the ways that African Americans worked at the grassroots level to wage an early civil rights movement in the United States. Jacquelyn Dowd Hall’s seminal article, “The Long Civil Rights Movement and the Political Uses of the Past,” credits leftist black protest during the Depression and the New Deal with the success of the postwar black freedom struggle even as it struggled to survive during the Cold War and rise of the New Right. 90 In Death Blow to Jim Crow: The National Negro Congress and the Rise of Militant Civil Rights , Erik Gellman builds on Robin Kelley’s work to chronicle the grassroots organizing of the NNC and SYNC in cities such as Richmond, Virginia, Washington, DC, and Chicago. 91

In this turn toward the flourishing of black activism in this period, historians have particularly emphasized women’s participation, stretching from their leadership in organizations and government programs to their grassroots advocacy for social change. In Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta , Karen Ferguson puts gender at the center of her analysis of the Great Depression and New Deal, while in For the Freedom of Her Race: Black Women and Electoral Politics in Illinois , Lisa G. Materson analyzes the political activism of both migrant women and clubwomen. 92 In “Running with the Reds: African American Women and the Communist Party during the Great Depression,” LaShawn Harris analyzes the complex ways that black women forged relationships with the CP. 93 Other historians have chronicled black women’s widespread participation in housewife boycotts, labor riots, and underground economies. Finally, cultural historians have analyzed black participation in New Deal arts programs. Lauren Rebecca Skarloff’s Black Culture and the New Deal: The Quest for Civil Rights in the Roosevelt Era analyzes the relationship between black participation in arts programs and visions of democracy. 94

Primary Sources

Government sources.

For African American experiences with the New Deal, the National Archives’ trove of records are a good place to start. The majority of these collections are housed at the National Archives II in College Park, Maryland, and many have finding aids that list the Negro division for each branch and contain a wealth of materials. Additionally, New Deal Agencies and Black Americans offers a curated set of documents that can be a helpful entry point for further research. 95 These documents are available on microfilm or on LexisNexis. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Censuses can illuminate information about the lives of ordinary Americans and whether they were the beneficiary of government programs. These census records are available at any branch of the National Archives or through ancestry.com.

Manuscript Collections

Organizational records from the NAACP, the NCNW, the NUL, the NNC, and the BSCP, all offer information about black activities in this era and all are available in the manuscript reading room at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. The George Meany Memorial Archive at the University of Maryland, College Park, has collections related to the American Federation of Labor-CIO unions. The Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, has the papers of the Housewives’ League of Detroit. Additionally, many of the leaders of this era—including Nannie Helen Burroughs, Charles Hamilton Houston, Irvin and Elizabeth McDuffie, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Robert Weaver—have personal papers that are rich with information. The Houston papers are at the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University in Washington, DC; the Burroughs papers at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC; the Bethune papers at the Amistad Research Center at Tulane in New Orleans; the Irvin and Elizabeth McDuffie papers at Robert W. Woodruff Library at Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia; and the Robert Weaver papers at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at the New York Public Library in New York City. Finally, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, New York, has an immense amount of materials related to African American participation in New Deal programs, as well Eleanor Roosevelt’s correspondence with a range of black individuals and organizations.

Newspapers & Periodicals

The 1920s and 1930s were a golden age in the black press. To chronicle some of the political activities as well as everyday experiences, newspapers such as the Baltimore Afro-American , the Chicago Defender , the New York Amsterdam News , the Norfolk Journal and Guide , and the Pittsburgh Courier are all excellent resources, and they are digitized through ProQuest. Additionally, the Crisis and Opportunity were two periodicals that offered updates about black life and activism in the 1930s.

Photographs

The FSA photographs are outstanding sources for gathering information on African Americans. The Prints and Photographs Division at the Library of Congress have all of the FSA photographs, and the digital website Photogrammar from Yale has digitized the photographs in an excellent database that is searchable by region, photographer, and subject. Finally, the WPA Slave Narratives at the Library of Congress offer an important assessment of some of the material circumstances of African Americans in this era.

Further Reading

• Kirby, John B. Black Americans in the Roosevelt Era: Liberalism and Race . Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1980.
• Ferguson, Karen . Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta . Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
• Gellman, Erik S. Death Blow to Jim Crow: The National Negro Congress and the Rise of Militant Civil Rights . Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012.
• Grant, Nancy . TVA and Black Americans: Planning for the Status Quo . Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1990.
• Greenberg, Cheryl . “Or Does It Explode?” Black Harlem in the Great Depression . New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.
• Kelley, Robin D. G. Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists during the Great Depression . Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1990.
• Materson, Lisa G. For the Freedom of Her Race: African American Women and Electoral Politics in Illinois . Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2008.
• McMahon, Kevin . Reconsidering Roosevelt on Race: How the Presidency Paved the Road to Brown . Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004.
• Murphy, Mary-Elizabeth B. Jim Crow Capital: Women and Black Freedom Struggles in Washington, D.C., 1920-1945 . Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2018.
• Naison, Mark . Communists in Harlem during the Depression . Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1983.
• Sitkoff, Harvard . A New Deal for Blacks: The Emergence of Civil Rights as a National Issue . New York: Oxford University Press, 1978.
• Skarloff, Lauren Rebecca . Black Culture in the New Deal: The Quest for Civil Rights in the Roosevelt Era . Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009.
• Sullivan, Patricia . Days of Hope: Race and Democracy in the New Deal Era . Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996.
• Watts, Jill . The Black Cabinet: The Untold Story of African Americans and Politics during the Age of Roosevelt . New York: Grove Atlantic, 2020.
• Weiss, Nancy . Farewell to the Party of Lincoln: Black Politics in the Age of FDR . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983.
• Wolcott, Victoria . Remaking Respectability: African American Women in Interwar Detroit . Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000.

1. Major historiographical works on African Americans in the Great Depression and New Deal include: Raymond Wolters, Negroes and the Great Depression: The Problem of Economic Recovery (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1970); Harvard Sitkoff, A New Deal for Blacks: The Emergence of Civil Rights as a National Issue (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978) ; John B. Kirby, Black Americans in the Roosevelt Era: Liberalism and Race (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1980) ; Nancy J. Weiss, Farewell to the Party of Lincoln: Black Politics in the Age of FDR (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983) ; Nancy Grant, TVA and Black Americans: Planning for the Status Quo (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1990) ; Robin D. G. Kelley, Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists in the Great Depression (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1990); Cheryl Greenberg, “Or Does It Explode?” Black Harlem in the Great Depression (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991) ; Patricia Sullivan, Days of Hope: Race and Democracy in the New Deal Era (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996) ; Karen Ferguson, Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002) ; Lauren Rebecca Skarloff, Black Culture and the New Deal: The Quest for Civil Rights in the Roosevelt Era (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009); and Jill Watts, The Black Cabinet: The Untold Story of African Americans and Politics during the Age of Roosevelt (New York: Grove Atlantic, 2020) .

2. US Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930, Population , Vol. IV, Occupations by States (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1933), 25–34.

3. Sitkoff, A New Deal for Blacks , 35; Kelley, Hammer and Hoe , 35–36; and Ira Katznelson, Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time (New York: Liverlight, 2013), 163.

4. Greta de Jong, A Different Day: African American Struggles for Justice in Rural Louisiana, 1900–1970 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002), 90–91; Joe William Trotter Jr., “From a Raw Deal to a New Deal?, 1929–1945,” in To Make Our World Anew: A History of African Americans , eds. Robin D. G. Kelley and Earl Lewis (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 417.

5. Irma Watkins-Owens, Blood Relations: Caribbean Immigrants and the Harlem Community, 1900–1930 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996).

6. Definitive works on the first Great Migration include James Grossman, Land of Hope: Black Southerners and the Great Migration (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989); Joe William Trotter Jr., ed., The Great Migration in Historical Perspective: New Dimensions of Race, Class, and Gender (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991); Gretchen Lemke-Santangelo, Abiding Courage: African American Migrant Women and the East Bay Community (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996); Milton C. Sernett, Bound for the Promised Land: African American Religion and the Great Migration (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1997); Kimberly L. Philips, Alabama North: African-American Migrants, Community, and Working-Class Activism (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1999); Victoria Wolcott, Remaking Respectability: African American Women in Interwar Detroit (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001); James N. Gregory, The Southern Diaspora: How the Great Migrations of Black and White Southerners Transformed America (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2005); Douglas Flaming, Bound for Freedom: Black Los Angeles in Jim Crow America (Berkeley, CA: University Press of California, 2005); Davarian L. Baldwin, Chicago’s New Negroes: Modernity, the Great Migration, and Black Urban Life (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2007); and Beth Tompkins Bates, The Making of Black Detroit in the Age of Henry Ford (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012).

7. Grossman, Land of Hope ; Rosalyn Terborg-Penn, “Discontented Black Feminists: Prelude and Postscript to the Passage of the Nineteenth Amendment,” in We Specialize in the Wholly Impossible: A Reader in Black Women’s History , eds. Darlene Clark Hine, Wilma King, and Linda Reed (Brooklyn, NY: Carlson Publishing, 1995), 487–504; Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, “In Politics to Stay: Black Women Leaders and Party Politics in the 1920s,” in Unequal Sisters: A Multicultural Reader in U.S. Women’s History , eds. Vicki L. Ruiz and Ellen Carol Dubois (New York: Routledge, 2000), 292–306; Nikki J. Brown, Private Politics and Public Voices: Black Women’s Activism from World War I to the New Deal (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2007); and Lisa G. Materson, For the Freedom of Her Race: Black Women and Electoral Politics in Illinois, 1877–1932 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009), 60–184.

8. Trotter, “From a Raw Deal to a New Deal?,” 409.

9. Wolcott, Remaking Respectability , 170; Greenberg, “Or Does It Explode?,” 65–66; and Cheryl Lynn Greenberg, To Ask for an Equal Chance: African Americans in the Great Depression (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2009), 27; and Shawn Leigh Alexander, W. E. B. DuBois: An American Intellectual and Activist (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2015), 93.

10. Sitkoff, A New Deal for Blacks , 34–39.

11. Ferguson, Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta , 51; and Greenberg, “Or Does It Explode?,” 47–56.

12. Trotter, “From a Raw Deal to a New Deal?,” 412.

13. Sernett, Bound for the Promised Land ; Ferguson, Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta , 48–54; and Mary-Elizabeth B. Murphy, Jim Crow Capital: Women and Black Freedom Struggles in Washington, DC, 1920–1945 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2018), 113–117 .

14. Darlene Clark Hine, “The Housewives’ League of Detroit: Black Women and Economic Nationalism,” in Visible Women: New Essays on American Activism , eds. Nancy A. Hewitt and Suzanne Lebsock (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993), 223–241; Annelise Orleck, “‘We Are That Mythical Thing Called Public’: Militant Housewives during the Great Depression,” Feminist Studies 19, no. 1 (Spring 1993): 147–172; Wolcott, Remaking Respectability , 181–183; and Bettye Collier-Thomas, Jesus, Jobs, and Justice: African American Women and Religion (New York: Knopf Press, 2000), 303–305; and Keona Ervin, Gateway to Equality: Black Women and the Struggle for Economic Justice in St. Louis (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2017), 39–42.

15. Mark Naison, Communists in Harlem during the Depression (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1983) ; Kelley, Hammer and Hoe ; LaShawn Harris, “Running with the Reds: African American Women in the Communist Party during the Great Depression,” Journal of African American History 94, no. 1 (Winter 2009): 21–43; Erik S. McDuffie, Sojourning for Freedom: Black Women, American Communism, and the Making of Black Left Feminism (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2011); Gellman, Death Blow to Jim Crow: The National Negro Congress and the Rise of Militant Civil Rights (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012) ; and Murphy, Jim Crow Capital , 75–109.

16. Sitkoff, A New Deal for Blacks , 19–30; and Weiss, Farewell to the Party of Lincoln , 22–25.

17. Weiss, Farewell to the Party of Lincoln , 16–17.

18. Kenneth J. Goings, “ The NAACP Comes of Age”: The Defeat of Judge John J. Parker (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990); Patricia Sullivan, Lift Every Voice: The NAACP and the Making of the Civil Rights Movement (New York: Free Press, 2009), 138–142; and Murphy, Jim Crow Capital , 37–38.

19. Sitkoff, A New Deal for Blacks , 19–30; and Weiss, Farewell to the Party of Lincoln , 22–25.

20. For information on Woodrow Wilson’s segregation of the federal government, see Eric S. Yellin, Racism in the Nation’s Service: Government Workers and the Color Line in Woodrow Wilson’s America (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2013).

21. Kaye Lannings Minchew, A President in Our Midst: Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Georgia (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2016).

22. Kirby, Black Americans in the Roosevelt Era , 16–18; Sitkoff, A New Deal for Blacks , 19–30; and Weiss, Farewell to the Party of Lincoln , 22–25.

23. Weiss, Farewell to the Party of Lincoln , 38, 104; Adrian Miller, The President’s Kitchen Cabinet: The Story of the African Americans Who Have Fed Our First Families, from the Washingtons to the Obamas (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2017), 133–136; and Mary-Elizabeth Murphy, “‘The Servant Campaigns’: African American Women and the Politics of Economic Justice in Washington, D.C. in the 1930s,” Journal of Urban History 44, no. 2 (March 2018): 189–190.

24. Raymond Wolters, “The New Deal and the Negro,” in The New Deal: The National Level , eds. John Braeman, Robert H. Bremmer, and David Brody (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1975), 170–178; Harvard Sitkoff, “The Impact of the New Deal on Black Southerners,” in The New Deal and the South , eds. James C. Cobb and Michael Namorato (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1984), 117–124; Grant, TVA and Black Americans ; Owen Cole, The African-American Experience in the Civilian Conservation Corps (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1999); Trotter, “From a Raw Deal to a New Deal?,” 411–416; and Neil M. Maher, Nature’s New Deal: The Civilian Conservation Corps and the Roots of the American Environmental Movement (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), 109–110.

25. Sitkoff, “Impact of the New Deal on Black Southerners,” 120–121; and Wolters, “The New Deal and the Negro,” 180–185.

26. Tiffany Gill, Beauty Shop Politics: African American Women’s Activism in the Beauty Industry (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2010), 70; and Murphy, Jim Crow Capital , 119–121.

27. Mary Poole, The Segregated Origins of Social Security: African Americans and the Welfare State (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006); Katznelson, Fear Itself , 163–174; Murphy, Jim Crow Capital , 122–123.

28. Weiss, Farewell to the Party of Lincoln , 166–168.

29. US Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Fifteenth Census of the United States , 25–34.

30. Murphy, “The Servant Campaigns,” 190–191.

31. Wolters, “The New Deal and the Negro,” 186–187; and Kirby, Black Americans in the Roosevelt Era , 17–18.

32. Sullivan, Days of Hope , 24–40.

33. Weiss, Farewell to the Party of Lincoln , 67–68.

34. For a discussion of the PWA housing projects, see Gail Radford, Modern Housing for America: Policy Struggles in the New Deal Era (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 85–110, 147–176; Ferguson, Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta , 186–220; and Richard Rothenstein, The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America (New York: Liverlight, 2017), 20–23.

35. Marc W. Kruman, “Quotas for Blacks: The Public Works Administration and the Black Construction Worker,” Labor History 16 (Winter 1975): 37–51; Paul D. Moreno, From Direct Action to Affirmative Action: Fair Employment Law and Policy in America, 1937–1997 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1997); Sigmund Shipp, “Building Bricks without Straw: Robert C. Weaver and Negro Industrial Employment, 1934–1944,” in Historical Roots of the Urban Crisis: African Americans in the Industrial City, 1900–1950 , eds. Henry Louis Taylor Jr. and Walter Hill (New York: Garland Publishing, 2000), 209–226; and Wendell E. Pritchett, Robert Clifton Weaver and the American City: The Life and Times of an Urban Reformer (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008).

36. Deborah Gray White, Too Heavy a Load: Black Women in Defense of Themselves, 1894–1994 (New York: W. W. Norton, 1999), 148–154; and Rebecca Tuuri, Strategic Sisterhood: The National Council of Negro Women in the Black Freedom Movement (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2018), 15–18.

37. Wolters, “The New Deal and the Negro,” 193.

38. Weiss, Farewell to the Party of Lincoln , 143–145; Kirby, Black Americans in the Roosevelt Era , 76–105; and Blanche Wiesen Cook, Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume 2: The Defining Years, 1933–1938 (New York: Viking Penguin, 1999).

39. Weiss, Farewell to the Party of Lincoln , 136–156; Kirby, Black Americans in the Roosevelt Era , 106–151; and Watts, The Black Cabinet .

40. Sitkoff, “Impact of the New Deal on Black Southerners,” 124.

41. Trotter, “From a Raw Deal to a New Deal?,” 418–419.

42. Wolters, “The New Deal and the Negro,” 189.

43. de Jong, A Different Day , 90–91; Trotter, “From a Raw Deal to a New Deal?,” 417.

44. Ferguson, Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta , 121–128; and Murphy, “The Servant Campaigns,” 194–198.

45. Trotter, “From a Raw Deal to a New Deal?,” 415; and Ferguson, New Deal Politics in Black Atlanta , 165–185.

46. Sitkoff, “Impact of the New Deal on Black Southerners,” 127.

47. Sullivan, Days of Hope , 41–69; and Ferguson, Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta .

48. Wolters, “The New Deal and the Negro,” 189.

49. Trotter, “From a Raw Deal to a New Deal?,” 431; and Elizabeth Gritter, River of Hope: Black Politics and the Memphis Freedom Movement, 1865–1954 (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2014).

50. Weiss, Farewell to the Party of Lincoln , 184–193.

51. Murphy, “The Servant Campaigns,” 191–193.

52. Weiss, Farewell to the Party of Lincoln , 204–208.

53. Leigh Wright Rigueur, The Loneliness of the Black Republican: Pragmatic Politics and the Pursuit of Power (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015), 13–51.

54. Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, “The Long Civil Rights Movement and the Political Uses of the Past,” Journal of American History 91, no. 4 (March 2005): 1233–1263.

55. Sullivan, Lift Every Voice , 145–206.

56. Mark V. Tushnet, The NAACP’s Strategy against Segregated Education, 1925–1950 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1987), 49–81; and Sullivan, Lift Every Voice , 207–211.

57. James A. Miller, Susan D. Pennybacker, and Eve Rosenhaft, “Mother Ada Wright and the International Campaign to Free the Scottsboro Boys, 1931–1934,” American Historical Review 106, no. 2 (April 2001): 387–430.

58. Dan T. Carter, Scottsboro: A Tragedy of the American South (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1969); Kelley, Hammer and Hoe ; James Goodman, Stories of Scottsboro (New York: Pantheon Books, 1994); and Sullivan, Lift Every Voice , 145–151.

59. Kelley, Hammer and Hoe ; Trotter, “From a Raw Deal to a New Deal?,” 151–155; White, Too Heavy a Load , 157–165; Tuuri, Strategic Sisterhood , 16–20; and Gellman, Death Blow to Jim Crow .

60. Gellman, Death Blow to Jim Crow .

61. In Harlem, the movement was known as the “Jobs for Negroes” movement. For the historiography on the Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work campaigns, see Greenberg, “Or Does It Explode,” 114–139; Michele F. Pacifico, “‘Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work’: The New Negro Alliance of Washington,” Washington History 6, no. 1 (Spring–Summer 1994): 66–88; Ervin, Gateway to Equality , 79–96; and Traci Parker, Department Stores and the Black Freedom Movement: Workers, Consumers, and the Civil Rights Movement from the 1930s to the 1980s (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2019), 61–65; I fixed it to be 61-65

62. Marcia Chatelain, South Side Girls: Growing Up in the Great Migration (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2015), 96–129.

63. Pacifico, “Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work,” 82.

64. Beth Tompkins Bates, Pullman Porters and the Rise of Protest Politics in Black America, 1925–1945 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001), 126–147.

65. Robert H. Ziegler, The CIO: 1935–1955 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995); and Michael Goldfield, “Race and the CIO: The Possibilities for Racial Egalitarianism during the 1930s and 1940s,” International Labor and Working-Class History 44 (Fall 1993): 1–32.

66. Trotter, “From A Raw Deal to a New Deal?,” 422–424.

67. Robert Rodgers Korstad, Civil Rights Unionism: Tobacco Workers and the Struggle for Democracy in the Mid-Twentieth-Century South (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003); and Eric Arnesen, Brotherhoods of Color: Black Railroad Workers and the Struggle for Equality (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001).

68. Melinda Chateauvert, Marching Together: Women of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1998).

69. Danielle Phillips, “Cleaning Race: Irish Immigrant and Southern Black Domestic Workers in the Northeast United States, 1865–1930,” in U.S. Women’s History: Untangling the Threads of Sisterhood , eds. Leslie Brown, Jacqueline Castledine, and Ann Valk (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2017), 36–27; and Vanessa May, Unprotected Labor: Household Workers, Politics, and Middle-Class Reform in New York, 1870–1940 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2011), 146–173.

70. Ella Baker and Marvel Cooke, “The Bronx Slave Market,” Crisis 42, November 1935.

71. Barbara Ransby, Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003), 76–77; and LaShawn Harris, “Marvel Cooke: Investigative Journalist, Communist, and Black Radical Subject,” Journal for the Study of Radicalism 6, no. 2 (Fall 2012): 91–126.

72. Murphy, Jim Crow Capital , 133–138.

73. Wolcott, Remaking Respectability ; and LaShawn Harris, Sex Workers, Psychics, and Numbers Runners: Black Women in New York City’s Underground Economy (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2016), 123–166.

74. Simon Balto, Occupied Territory: Policing Black Chicago from Red Summer to Black Power (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2019), 82; Murphy, Jim Crow Capital ; and Clarence Taylor, Fight the Power: African Americans and the Long History of Police Brutality in New York City (New York: New York University Press, 2018), 51–58.

75. Skarloff, Black Culture in the New Deal , 1–14.

76. David Levering Lewis, When Harlem Was in Vogue (New York: Random House, 1981); Baldwin, Chicago’s New Negroes ; and Treva B. Lindsey, Colored No More: Reinventing Black Womanhood in Washington, D.C . (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2017).

77. Jacqueline Jajuma Stewart, Migrating to the Movies: Cinema and Black Urban Modernity (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2005); and Baldwin, Chicago’s New Negroes , 91–154.

78. Skarloff, Black Culture in the New Deal , 33–80.

79. Trotter, “From a Raw Deal to a New Deal,” 419; and Skarloff, Black Culture in the New Deal , 81–122.

80. William F. McDonald, Federal Relief Administration and the Arts: The Origins and Administrative History of the Arts Projects of the Works Progress Administration (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1969); Stephanie J. Shaw, “Using the WPA Ex-Slave Narratives to Study the Impact of the Great Depression,” Journal of Southern History 69, no. 3 (August 2003): 623–658; and Skarloff, Black Culture in the New Deal , 81–122.

81. Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness: The African American Image in Film (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1993); and Skarloff, Black Culture in the New Deal .

82. Linda Gordon, Dorothea Lange: A Life beyond Limits (New York: W. W. Norton, 2009), 259–278.

83. Gordon Parks, A Choice of Weapons (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1965); Nicholas Natanson, The Black Image in the New Deal: The Politics of FSA Photography (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1992); Deborah Willis, Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers, 1840 to the Present (New York: W. W. Norton, 2000); and Richard J. Powell, Maurice Berger, and Deborah Willis, Gordon Parks: The New Tide, Early Work, 1940–1950 (Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 2018).

84. Scott Sandage, “A Marble House Divided: The Lincoln Memorial, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Politics of Memory,” Journal of American History 80, no. 1 (June 1993): 135–167; and Raymond Arsenault, The Sound of Freedom: Marian Anderson, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Concert That Awakened America (New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2009).

85. Wolters, “The New Deal and the Negro”; and Sitkoff, “Impact of the New Deal on Black Southerners.”

86. Grant, TVA and Black Americans ; and Cole, African-American Experience .

87. Sitkoff, A New Deal for Blacks ; Kirby, Black Americans in the Roosevelt Era ; and Weiss, Farewell to the Party of Lincoln .

88. Sullivan, Days of Hope .

89. Naison, Communists in Harlem .

90. Hall, “The Long Civil Rights Movement.”

91. Gellman, Death Blow to Jim Crow .

92. Ferguson, Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta ; and Materson, For the Freedom of Her Race .

93. LaShawn, “Running with the Reds.”

94. Skarloff, Black Culture and the New Deal .

95. John B. Kirby, ed., New Deal Agencies and Black Americans (Arlington, VA: University Publications of America, 1984).

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Did New Deal Programs Help End the Great Depression?

By: Brian Dunleavy

Updated: September 10, 2018 | Original: August 13, 2018

Since the late 1930s, conventional wisdom has held that President Franklin D. Roosevelt ’s “ New Deal ” helped bring about the end of the Great Depression . The series of social and government spending programs did get millions of Americans back to work on hundreds of public projects across the country.

But in the 80 years since the Great Depression was formally declared over in June of 1938, historians and economists have continued to debate the true merits of the New Deal and whether, in fact, the radical government spending programs brought about the end of the biggest economic downturn in history.

Many New Deal programs established critical economic safeguards.

“The reforms put in place by New Deal, including encouraging the beginning of the labor movement , which fostered wage growth and sustained the purchasing power of millions of Americans, the establishment of Social Security and the federal regulations imposed on the financial industry, as imperfect as they were, essentially ensured there wouldn’t be another Great Depression after the 1930s,” says Nelson Lichtenstein , professor of history and director of the Center for the Study of Work, Labor and Democracy at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

“And there hasn’t been. We’ve had a few close calls, but nothing like the Great Depression,” he says.

But, just because the United States hasn’t repeated the economic catastrophe of the Great Depression doesn’t mean the programs of the New Deal can take all the credit. Other factors were also at play—including the onset of a major world war. “It really could be argued World War II , which ultimately lowered unemployment and increased GNP through weapons production really played a much bigger role,” Lichtenstein says.

Still, as Dr. Lichtenstein notes, several programs created through the New Deal did have a lasting positive impact on the U.S. economy which was flagging throughout the 1930s, among them the Social Security Act , which provided income for the elderly, disabled and children of poor families. The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation , which effectively insured the savings of Americans in the event of a bank failure, which was all too common at the time.

The modern labor movement was born out of New Deal initiatives.

In addition, Lichtenstein notes, the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 was enacted to foster “fair competition” through the fixing of prices and wages and the establishment of production quotas, among other measures.

The subsequent National Labor Relations Act of 1935 allowed for collective bargaining and essentially led to the development of the labor movement in the United States, which protected workers’ rights and wages.

Why the Tennessee Valley Authority was the New Deal’s Most Ambitious—and Controversial—Program

The TVA was a model for rural electrification in the South, but it displaced thousands and attracted a slew of lawsuits.

How a New Deal Housing Program Enforced Segregation

In the 1930s, the FHA refused to insure houses for Black families, or even insure houses in white neighborhoods that were too close to Black ones.

Artists of the New Deal

President Franklin Roosevelt creates a series of programs designed to help America cope with, and recover from the Great Depression.

But New Deal programs alone weren’t enough to end the Great Depression.

According to Linda Gordon , professor of history at New York University, the Works Progress Administration , created in 1935, also had a positive impact by employing more than 8 million Americans in building projects ranging from bridges and airports to parks and schools.

Such programs certainly helped end the Great Depression, “but were insufficient [because] the amount of government funds for stimulus wasn’t large enough,” she notes. “Only World War II, with its demands for massive war production, which created lots of jobs, ended the Depression.”

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The New Deal

Jane Doe History 505 Professor John Doe 3 April 2018

During The Great Depression, the American nation was in need of recovery from economic collapse, relief, and reform to prevent further depressions. An effort to create these new reforms came in the form of The New Deal. The New Deal comprised of domestic economic programs that were passed by the government in the 1930s as a response to the Great Depression. As Hardman observes, though the New Deal did not end the depression, it changed the American government for good (Hardman).

With the New Deal, there was a larger role for the government. First, President Franklin Roosevelt increased the power of the president, with the White House becoming the center of government. In addition to this, President Roosevelt expanded the federal government, with the national government becoming directly responsible for the well-being of the people in a way that it had not been before. The government would now make relief payments, serve school lunches and run pension programs. Instead of local and state governments, it was the federal government that became the protector of the people’s welfare.

The measures under The New Deal meant direct government involvement in economic areas never contemplated before. For example, the National Recovery Act was concerned with steps to achieve a planned economy. The Works Progress Act saw the government’s involvement into almost every aspect of the economy. Jobs were created for almost every aspect of employment. At the same time, major steps in government social programs were made. For example, the Tennessee Valley Authority tried to remake the social and physical environment of an entire area.

The programs spelt out under the New Deal led to increased spending by the government and unbalanced budgets. While American citizens had little expectations before the New Deal, many of them had bigger expectations from the federal government after the New Deal. According to Hardman, critics of the New Deal argue that “deficit and government spending absorbed the credit that was available, and this made the recovery of the private sector difficult” (Hardman).

A number of measures were instituted under the New Deal and they included the Emergency Banking Act, the Economy Act, the Federal Emergency Relief Act, the Agricultural Adjustment Act, the Tennessee Valley Authority Act and many other programs. In terms of fiscal policy, Bordo et al. observe that during the New Deal period, a regime shift took place and it increased the federal fiscal share by about 9 % points (25). Data suggests that programs under the New Deal led to an increase in fiscal centralization as well as setting in motion processes for further centralization.

With these programs, the political setting was such that local and state officials demanded and go active roles in their administration, with the central government setting up general guidelines and providing much of the funds in form of matching grants. As such, the political economy of these New Deal programs took the shape of a cooperative enterprise between various government levels, a factor that is still evident in today’s system of governance.

Also, this pattern of intergovernmental relations created by the New Deal is responsible for the struggles that exist between national and state governments, as well as between Congress and the President over the control of the programs. According to Bordo et al., ever since the New Deal, “congress has portrayed less inclination in locating either financial or administrative control at the state level” (26). Due to this, the national government continues to experiment with a broad range of intergovernmental forms. Therefore, the New Deal basically increased the government’s role in the economy.

Works Cited

Bordo, Michael, Claudia Goldin, and Eugene N. White. The Defining Moment: The Great Depression and the American Economy in the 20th Century. University of Chicago Press, 1998.

Hardman, John. “The Great Depression and the New Deal” Edge , 1999, Stanford University , web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/soc_sec/hgreat.htm. Accessed 2 Dec. 2017.

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