What was the New Deal?

The New Deal was a domestic program of the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt between 1933 and 1939. This program took actions to bring immediate reforms in industry, finance, housing, and agriculture as well as incredible economic relief. It also vastly increased the level of federal government activities. Much of legislation behind the New Deal was enacted within the first 3 months of Roosevelt's presidency, commonly referred to as the Hundred Days. One of the objectives of the new administration was to handle the suffering of the nation's large amount of unemployed workers throughout the country. To help such process, new agencies were created. Some of the agencies established to give short-term government assistance and provide such assistance to civilians were the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration. They provided temporary jobs to help out those in need as well as supporting construction projects and youth programs. In order to revive the industrial business and activity, the National Recovery Administration was granted authority to create codes that governed trade wages, hours, practices, and collective bargaining. The New Deal also introduced regulation to reconstruct and lead the nation's financial hierarchy to further prevent a repetition of the great stock market crash in 1929. In 1935 the New Deal shifted its emphasis to assist urban groups and labor. Following this, the Wagner Act of 1935 was created which immensely increased the authority of the federal government in regards to industrial relations which in turn strengthened the organizational power of labor unions. This lead to the establishment of the National Labor Relations Board to help further the execution of the plan. In order to assist, the standard homeowner legislation was passed to refinance and support the unstable mortgages and guaranteed bank loans. The most outreaching and best outcomes of the New Deal was perhaps the Social Security measures enacted in 1935 and 1939. This lead to the further assistance to those who were old, unemployed, and/or disabled. Also further in 1938, there were rules set to a maximum amount of hours able to be worked as well as a minimum wage.