New Deal: Relief, Recovery And Reform

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Matt Ulinski 1/6/14 History New Deal The Great Depression was an economic disaster the hit the United States so hard that the lives of the whole country were affected in one way or another. There was little response from the first president who was in office when the disaster first struck, Herbert Hoover, but Franklin Delano Roosevelt who was elected after him formed a series of plans which collectively he referred to as The New Deal. The Three main points that constituted this plan of action is what some like to call the three R’s; Relief, Recovery, and Reform. While all three were crucial to the recovery of this great nation the two that seemed to be the most beneficial were relief, and recovery. When all things are considered, these…show more content…
The Social Security Act was an attempt to limit what were seen as dangers in the modern American life, including old age, poverty, unemployment, and the burdens of widows and fatherless children. This Act provided benefits to retirees and the unemployed, and a lump-sum benefit at death. The act also gave money to states to provide assistance to aged individuals for unemployment insurance. The Federal Emergency Relief Act, passed at the outset of the New Deal by Congress on May 12, 1933, was the opening shot in the war against the Great Depression. It created the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), which was given a start-up fund of $500 million from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to help the needy and unemployed. Direct aid was given to the states, which funneled funds through such local agencies as home relief bureaus and departments of welfare for poor relief. The funds, intended to buoy up those hurt most by the Depression, paid for workers, cash outlays, food, and clothes. Within the first two hours, $5 million were distributed. This was a hugely successful program and helped a very large amount of the…show more content…
Relief could have been given out for a very long time, but if nothing was done to fix what was not working, then it all would have been in vain. Overproduction was a major issue at this time, and one of the causes of the great depression. This was not just the overproduction of goods, but crops as well. This created disaster for both farmers and industrial workers which needed to be dealt with. One of the Acts that helped combat this issue was the National industrial Recovery Act, or NiRA, was passed by Congress on June 16, 1933. This law was designed to promote recovery and reform, encourage collective bargaining for unions, set up maximum work hours, minimum wages, and forbid child labor in industry. It did so, and had very limiting effects on industrialists and their businesses’ which meant they couldn’t raise prices and cut wages as they so pleased in times of economic disarray. This helped to settle down overproduction from an industrial standpoint. The Agricultural Adjustment act reduced agricultural production by paying farmers subsidies not to plant on part of their land and to kill off excess livestock. Its purpose was to reduce crop surplus and therefore effectively raise the value of crops. The money for these subsidies was generated through an exclusive tax on companies which processed farm products. The Act created a new agency, the Agricultural
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