Roosevelt's new deal.

Additionally, government interaction within the nation’s economic realm was an immense change as result of New Deal influence. The primary piece of New Deal legislation passed within the first hundred days was the Emergency Banking Relief Act, which reopened banks with government regulatory money. This expanded the government’s role in both private and public banking, and the American economy as a whole. Furthermore, the establishment of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insured deposits up to five thousand dollars. Government intervention here reinstated public faith in the banking system and has had such an important impact that the corporation exists today insuring deposits in excess of $100,000 and keeping the government heavily involved with banking. In addition, the establishment of added federal economic safeties such as the Securities and Exchange Commission further enlarged government’s influence in and regulation of business, so much so that the commission operates presently ensuring pure stock operation. Less far reaching, but highly effective in expanding a federal presence in business was The National Recovery Act and Administration (NRA) which drafted codes for fair competition among businesses and set production limits, prescribed wages and working conditions, and outlawed unfair competition and price-cutting. The NRA was also responsible for allowing the organization of labor unions among industries. Because of the economic tailspin that was the Great Depression, strict regulation of business practice and operation was of primary importance in an effort to fight the hard times. New Deal reforms in this regard, were paramount in permanently reshaping the role federal government had in business.

Moreover, New Deal legislation in regard to addressing social and domestic issues further influenced a change within the role played by the federal government. Throughout the course of the New Deal, Roosevelt sought to address the plight of average working Americans both through economic and psychological aide. Primarily the need to Americans to work was key focus of various New Deal enactments and in turn, the government gave more direct attention to public works projects. The creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the Public Works Administration (PWA) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) collectively employed millions and built numbers of projects that reached the hundreds of thousands. The WPA alone pumped $11 million back into the economy firmly rooting the success of employing Americans in relation to government action. The federal government through these administrations and acts exhibited a care for the individual worker not previously seen in American history. And though not all of these New Deal programs lasted beyond the Depression, their impact transformed the ideology of government. Continuing this theme, cultural works provided by the government through the Federal Theatre and Arts Projects sought to raise American spirits and give people back aspects of life taken by the devastation of the Depression. The most notable of all the government’s efforts to this degree however was seen in the establishment of Social Security. It established a mixed federal-state system for old age pension and benefits for disabled and dependent persons. Arguably, this was perhaps the most successful and influential of all the New Deal reforms as it is still in existence today and has pushed the United States to maintain a welfare minded government.

Collectively, the reforms of the First and Second New Deals have had a direct influence over the federal government and its interactions in the economic and social realms. Several variables came together for the immense change the American federal government experienced the years after the Great Depression. Had Roosevelt not been elected, the government would not have expanded and enlarged as it did and the nation’s managerial ideals of grass-roots pure capitalism may have never changed. What is clear however is that the massive transformation of the government’s role with its people and industry was greatly influenced by the acts of the New Deal with ramifications reaching into the modern day.