Student Question
What were the goals of the New Deal?
Quick answer:
The New Deal, initiated by Franklin Roosevelt, aimed to address the Great Depression through three primary goals: Relief, Recovery, and Reform. Relief focused on providing immediate support and jobs to the unemployed, exemplified by programs like the CCC and WPA. Recovery aimed to rebuild the economy, with initiatives such as the National Industry Recovery Act and the TVA. Reform sought to prevent future economic crises by establishing measures like Social Security, the FDIC, and the SEC.
As framed by candidate Franklin Roosevelt, the "new deal" with the American people if he was elected president would create the conditions necessary to bring the US out of the Great Depression.
The New Deal was based on addressing the Three Rs: Relief for the needy, economic Recovery, and Reform for permanent changes to systems that failed and led or contributed to the development of the economic circumstances shaping the Depression.
Relief for the needy was critical. Programs were implemented to create opportunities for unemployed individuals to find constructive employment in activities that benefited the infrastructure of the country while giving purpose and training to millions. Economic Recovery activities led to programs supporting agriculture and business interests trying to rebuild and recover. Reform in the way the nation's banks were supervised and organized gave the public the confidence to again trust in institutions whose failure had a huge impact on the...
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development of the crisis that became the Great Depression.
There were two major goals of the New Deal. The first and most urgent goal was to end the Great Depression. The second goal was to prevent a similar catastrophe from happening in the future.
To achieve the first goal, FDR put in place a number of programs meant to create jobs. He created, for example, the CCCs and the WPA. Both of these programs put people to work on government jobs. He also created programs that gave relief to the poor.
But FDR also wanted to prevent future depressions. To try to do this he created government agencies that were meant to do things like preventing poverty among old people (Social Security), prevent people from losing money in bank failures (FDIC) and prevent fraud against investors (SEC). He also created things like the TVA that were meant to strengthen the potential of the US economy.
The New Deal, then, was meant to ameliorate conditions in the short run and to prevent future depressions.
What were the three major goals of the New Deal?
There were three major goals of the New Deal. They were to provide relief to our people, to help the economy recover from the depression, and to create reforms to prevent another depression from happening.
The New Deal tried to provide relief to the American people. At the height of the Great Depression, about 25% of the American people were unemployed. There were various laws passed to create jobs to get the American people working again. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration gave funds to state and local governments to provide help for those who weren’t working. The Public Works Administration and the Civil Works Administration created construction jobs. Schools, airports, roads, and bridges were some of the jobs that were created. The Civil Conservation Corps created jobs for young, unemployed men who worked on conservation projects. These job programs helped provide relief to unemployed workers.
Another goal of the New Deal was to help the American economy recover from the effects of the Great Depression. The National Industry Recovery Act encouraged businesses, workers, and the government to work together. This law created a series of codes of fair competition where wages, prices, and hours of work were established. The Home Owners Loan Corporation helped working people refinance their loans. The Agricultural Adjustment Act paid farmers not to grow crops. The Tennessee Valley Authority helped to provide electricity to the South. These programs were designed to help the economy recover.
The New Deal also tried to provide reforms to prevent another Great Depression from occurring. The Securities Act required companies to provide truthful information to investors. It also created the Security and Exchange Commission to regulate the stock market. The Glass-Steagall Act created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. This provided insurance for saving accounts. It also prevented commercial banks from speculating in the stock market.
The New Deal had goals that fell into the categories of relief, recovery, and reform.