Title: The New Deal | Boundless US History
Headings: The New Deal
The New Deal
Launching the New Deal
Key Points
Key Terms
FDR and the Great Depression
First New Deal (1933–1934/35)
Second New Deal (1935–38)
The New Dealers
Key Points
Key Terms
The Great Depression and Politics
The New Deal Coalition
New Dealers
Strengthening the Monetary System
Key Points
Key Terms
Financial Crisis
The Banking Reform
Monetary Reform
Agricultural Initiatives and Recovery
Key Points
Key Terms
The Great Depression and Rural Areas
Agricultural Adjustment Acts (1933 and 1938)
Relief and Recovery Programs that Benefited Rural Areas
Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Planting Crew, author unknown, 1939.
Industrial Recovery
Key Points
Key Terms
National Industrial Recovery Act
National Recovery Administration
Criticism

Content: First New Deal: The first stage of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s response to the Great Depression. Nearly all the programs and reforms were initiated in the first 100 days of FDR’s presidency. FDR and the Great Depression
On March 4, 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the newly elected Democratic president, gave his inaugural speech in which he projected confidence, hope, and cautious optimism. Yet the U.S. economy was in the midst of the greatest crisis in the country’s history. The banking system was on the verge of total collapse, the unemployment rate reached nearly a quarter of the labor force, and farmers were destroying crops after their market value dropped dramatically. Although during the 1932 presidential campaign, Roosevelt had no clear idea what his New Deal agenda would entail, he took over the office ready to act. The New Deal was an unprecedented plan that envisioned large-scale programs and reforms designed to support struggling Americans, boost the economy, and prevent similar disasters in the future. A popular narrative presents the New Deal as a series of programs that responded to the Great Depression with “3 Rs”—relief, recovery, and reform. Relief was direct, immediate support for unemployed and poverty-stricken Americans.