How did Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal approach its four broad goals, and was it successful in preventing the failure of democracy?

Quick answer:

Roosevelt's approach was to create economic security to ensure that a crisis like the Depression could not reoccur. Under the New Deal, he introduced the Social Security Act, which created safety nets for people who had lost their jobs, establishing unemployment assistance to people experiencing a short-term loss of earnings. The Act established retirement benefits for people who had contributed to the economy. In addition to financial relief, the Act also provided medical and other aid.

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The question about Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal is too complex to fully address in one eNotes response, so I will break it down and focus on one aspect.

FDR’s approach to creating economic security and ensuring a crisis on the scale of the Depression could not happen again was to implement measures to provide immediate economic relief and income to people. Under the umbrella of the New Deal, FDR’s administration created the Works Projects Administration (WPA) to provide jobs and immediate income to people.

In addition, a key component of the New Deal in its second phase was the Social Security Act, which president Roosevelt signed into law on August 14, 1935. This was the culmination of his promise to the American people for social insurance to safeguard against the impacts of future recessions and mitigate the likelihood of another economic downturn of the same magnitude as the Depression. As the Library of Congress notes,

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.

The Social Security Act created safety nets for people that were intended to provide financial relief during the Depression and mitigate the impact of future economic downturns. The establishment of the Social Security Board (SSB), which later became the Social Security Administration (SSA), appointed an independent agency to administer retirement benefits programs, unemployment compensation, and aid too many others, including indigent children and the blind.

One important element of the Social Security Act was to establish retirement benefits for people who had worked and contributed to the US economy. These benefits are used today and were a source of funds that many people relied on during the economic downturn created by the current pandemic. The Act introduced unemployment assistance to people who had become unemployed and were experiencing a presumably short-term loss of earnings. The Act also extended public health services so that people could access healthcare, even while they struggled with lost or greatly reduced income during the Depression.

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