The New Deal by Lindsay Poland

The New Deal was created by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1933. It was made to try and pull the United States out of the Great Depression and stabilize the economy by providing jobs for millions of people. The New Deal was created during the Hundred Days period when Roosevelt was first elected president. The many programs and organizations it created soon became known as the "alphabet soup".

Two of the programs included in the New Deal were the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Civil Works Administration (CWA). These organizations dealt with unemployment: the CCC created over two and a half million jobs and the CWA employed four million people in 1934.

Some other federal acts developed in the New Deal were the Emergency Banking Act and the Glass-Steagall Act. These were created to stabilize the banking system in the US. The Emergency Banking Act was proposed in the first of Roosevelt's "fireside chats". These "chats" helped restore the public's faith in the government and the country slowly began to recover from the Great Depression.

Here are some useful links that have more information on the New Deal, FDR, and the Great Depression:

• Text and Graphic of Franklin Delano Roosevelt
• "New Deal Cultural Programs"
• Text on the Great Depression and the New Deal
• Text and Graphics of New Deal Programs and the Great Depression

Here are some graphics of the CCC and Roosevelt:

• Text and Graphics of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
• Graphic of Working Men Employed by the CCC
• Another Graphic of Working Men Employed by the CCC
• A Road Built by the CCC
• Big Picture of FDR in Front of News Microphones.

Sources: Henretta, James A. "America's History", Worth Publishers, ©1997
By Lindsay Poland
Class 2000
History Teacher: Mr. Kelley
Noble and Greenough School
Dedham, MA