After being elected in 1932, Franklin Roosevelt started to think of ways in which he could help America to recover its strength yet again. He concentrated on the different people who were suffering for example; banks, poor, unemployed and farmers.
To help the banking industry the Emergency Banking Act forced the weak banks to go out of business whilst the government helped the strong banks to reopen. Roosevelt told the American people that they could trust the banks again and that they should reinvest their money.
To help the poor millions of dollars were spent so that soup kitchens could be made and blankets could be bought. The agencies that were made to support the unemployed were also helpful to the poor.
To help the unemployed the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was set up. It was aimed at anyone aged between 18 and 25 and their aim was plant trees around riverbanks to strengthen them. They did this so that dams could be made by the other unemployment acts. In 1933 the Civil Works Administration (CWA) was set up. It provided relief for the unemployed who were prepared to voluntarily work for the community schemes. This particular agency was replaced by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) although it had the same aims it was much more successful. The workers were paid wages and they built useful public buildings, hospitals, roads, airports, schools and playgrounds. Roosevelt started these agencies to help the workers gain self respect and the confidence to get other work.
To help the farmers, who were the first to be hit by the depression, the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) was set up. This agency gave money to the farmers to stop them being evicted and advice to help the farmers improve their soil and farming methods. The main reason why the farmers suffered was because they were overproducing. The AAA paid the farmers to cut their amount of crops and animals this would cause the prices to increase. The AAA got the money from increasing taxes; this caused the government to be disliked by the rich population who had to pay more.
Roosevelt introduced the New Deal because there were also many other problems in America at the time. Blacks were treated badly before the Wall Street crash, most were poor and unemployed. Roosevelt had to try to solve this problem. Most of the black people were included in the unemployment acts.
Equality was also a problem, at one end of the spectrum there were the rich who wined and dined and at the other end there were people who were living in shantytowns with no running water. To solve this problem, taxes were increased resulting in the money being spent on the poor. Soup kitchens were built to help the poor; this gave them food and shelter.
The New Deal was also made to challenge the previous policies of Herbert Hoover. His laws did not work so if Roosevelt contrasted his policies he had a chance of being President. In conclusion 1 feel that this idea was probably why he made the New Deal. He knew it was what the American people wanted so if he could give it to them he would. The New Deal gave the public confidence in the new government whilst recovering the country economically and socially.