The New Deal How America Got Essay

The New Deal: How America Got Essay, Research Paper One of the worst events in American history is the Great Depression. This was a time when practically everyone in the United States was poor and had given up hope. Everyone knew that something had to be done to save the country but nobody knew what. However, in 1933 Franklin D. Roosevelt brought hope to the country with his New Deal program after being elected president. This was a program that brought social and economic reform to the country. The New Deal consisted of many different programs that would help bring money to the people which would in return allow for spending which would help build up the economy. This is how the America got out of the Great Depression. The Great Depression began in late 1929 and lasted for

about a decade. Many factors played a role in bringing about the depression; however, the main cause for the Great Depression was the combination of the greatly unequal distribution of wealth throughout the 1920 s, and the extensive stock market speculation that took place during the later part that same decade. The misdistribution of wealth in the 1920 s existed on many levels. Money was distributed disparately between the rich and the middle-class, between industry and agriculture within the United States, and between the U.S. and Europe. This imbalance of wealth created an unstable economy. The excessive speculation in the late 1920 s kept the stock market artificially high, but eventually lead to large market crashes. These market crashes, combined with the misdistribution of

wealth, caused the American economy to capsize. The New Deal s programs helped to raise the economy. One of the early programs that Roosevelt brought into play was the Civilian Conservation Corps, or CCC. This was a program that helped bring relief to men between the ages of 18 and 25, as they are the ones that would be more likely to turn to a life of crime to survive. Instead, the CCC enrolled men in work camps around the country. There they earned about $30 a month participating in many different conservation projects. Examples are planting trees to stop erosion, creating game, fish, and bird sanctuaries and conserving coal, gas and petroleum deposits. This was one of the most popular programs with over 2 million young men taking part over the decade. Another relief effort was

the Works Progress Administration or the WPA. This was another attempt to provide work rather then give out welfare. Many buildings, roads, airports, and schools were constructed through this program. Part of this program was the Federal Theatre Project, the Federal Art Project, and the Federal Writers Project. Here, actors, painters, musicians, and writers were given work. Lastly, the National Youth Administration gave part-time employment to students, helped to establish training programs, and provided aid to unemployed youth. At a time the WPA only had about 3 million people involved, but when it was abandoned in 1943 it helped a total of 9 million people. One of the groups that was hit the hardest during the Great Depression were farmers. In 1933 congress passed the

Agricultural Adjustment Act or AAA. This was created to provide economic relief to farmers. The main plan was to increase crop process by paying farmers a subsidy to compensate for voluntary cutbacks in production. The payments would come from taxes that were levied on industries that processed crops. The Commodity Credit Corporation was also created. This was a program that extended loans for crops kept in storage and off the market. Another area that Roosevelt felt the New Deal had to cover were different business monopolies. The Nation Recovery Administration, or NRA was created in 1933 with the National Industrial Recovery Act, or NIRA. These was attempts to set codes of fair competitive practice to generate more jobs which would enable people to spend more as they would have