Fdr's New Deal

Following the stock market crash in late 1929, America began a long period of depression. The thirties were known for the extreme lack of money for families and for individuals. No jobs were available and the road ahead was long. In an attempt to help fix these problems, President Roosevelt developed a series of programs known as the New Deal. The different programs all aimed to help differently, but ultimately worked together in one of three ways: relief, recovery, or reform. They would later be known as the three “R”s. His administrations and the New Deal Programs were effective in helping to mend the country’s economic downturn in that, though the Depression struck hard, they overcame a variety of obstacles and used an array of strategies to aid the country. The Depression changes the way the economy was structured, the social norms were viewed, and the politicians chose to handle disasters like this. It was clear from the start that this depression would affect everyone, including the working class. The stock market collapse ruined the investing rich and lost value of the dollar for the working or not-working poor. Families would beg and pick for ingredients just to make soup for dinner (Doc. 1). It was a dull era: people were anxious to work, but there were no stores or factories hiring anyone because no one was buying any products and therefore the businesses couldn’t pay workers (Doc. 2) (Doc. 12). The Dust Bowl caused distress among farmers who could not grow crops with wind blowing dust over their land: even those who could grow their own food were unable to sustain themselves (Doc. 6). They would eventually choose to leave their farms because they were too expensive to continue to live on. With a hard-hitting economy that would not fix itself and a government of politicians who at first opted not to help the public, the people’s morale began to drop as quickly as the economy. Change was needed. A variety of programs were created by the FDR