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The First New Deal
On the "bleakest days of the Great Depression", President Franklin D. Roosevelt promised he would take great and bold steps to solve the nation’s problems. He would introduce many programs during the first New Deal. The programs as a whole was a recovery and a relief program. -
Emergency Banking Act
FDR closed and reorganized all banks as soon as he was inaugurated to stop bank runs. The Depression hit the banks hard and made them unstable. His proposition was taken into a special session and was passed in seven-and-a-half hours. Within three days, along with his fireside talks asking people to return their savings to the banks, almost five thousand banks reopened. -
Abandonment of Gold Standard
FDR stopped a run on the precious metal. He ordered everyone to exchange all gold for dollars. -
Agricultural Adjustment Act
The legislation subsidized farmers to reduce crops, which would doubled crop prices by 1937. It would later be overturned by the Supreme Court in 1936 because it taxed processors but gave funds to farmers. -
Emergency Farm Mortgage Act
Act put in place to help provide loans for farmers to save their farms. -
Tennessee Valley Authority Act
This program would establish a federal corporation that built power stations in the Tennessee Valley (a.k.a. the poorest area of the nation) -
Securities Act
This act made it a requirement for companies/corporations to provide information to investors before issuing stock. -
Gold Reserve Act
Prohibits the private ownership of gold and increased the price of gold to $35 per ounce. That doubled the value of the gold from $4.033 billion to $7.348 billion, making the United States the world's largest owner of gold. -
Share the Wealth
The program was designed to provide a decent standard of living to all Americans by spreading the nation's wealth among the people. One of the aspects was that it would levy enormous taxes on the rich so that every American family could earn at least $5,000 a year. -
Federal Communications Act
Consolidated all federal regulation of telephone, telegraph, and radio communications under the Federal Communications Commission. -
Securities Exchange Act
The law created the Securities and Exchange Commission, which regulates stocks and the stock market. -
National Housing Act
This law established the Federal Housing Administration, which provides federal insurance for mortgages -
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Second New Deal
The second Branch of New Deals was put in place by FDR after the Supreme Court struck down the National Industrial Recovery Act. These focused on providing more services for the poor, the unemployed, and farmers. FDR spoke about helping the "...millions who never had a chance -- men at starvation wages, women in sweatshops, children at looms." -
Soil Conservation & Domestic Allotment Act
This act benefited the land and the farmers. The program paid farmers to plant soil-building crops, like beans and grasses, to counteract the Dust Bowl. -
Emergency Relief Appropriation
The program replaced FERA and funded the new Works Progress Administration with $5 million. The program also; employed 8.5 million people to build bridges, roads, public buildings, public parks, and airports; and paid artists to create 2,566 murals and 17,744 pieces of sculpture to decorate the public works. -
Resettlement Act
Created the Resettlement Administration that trained farmers and administered farm debt. It resettled farmers onto better land and taught them modern conservation and farming techniques. -
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was an American New Deal agency, employing millions of people to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads. -
Rural Electrification Act
The act would provide loans for farming cooperatives to generate electricity in rural areas. -
National Labor Relations Act/Wagner Act
This would protect the rights of employees to organize and address working conditions, with or without a union, and created the National Labor Relations Board. -
Social Security Act
It created the Social Security Trust Fund and Administration to provide income to the elderly, the blind, the disabled, and children in low-income -
Farm Tenancy Act
This created Farmers’ Home Corporation to provide loans for tenant farmers to buy their farms. -
Judicial Procedures Reform Bill
FDR proposed that the President should be given the power to add a new Supreme Court justice for every member over the age of 70 ½ (up to a maximum of 6). The entire plan was very unpopular and was received negatively. The plan was never passed. -
United States Housing Act
This funded state-run public housing projects.
