General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSo what was the New Deal?
The New Deal was a series of domestic programs enacted in the United States between 1933 and 1938, and a few that came later. They included both laws passed by Congress as well as presidential executive orders during the first term (193337) of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were in response to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call the "3 Rs": Relief, Recovery, and Reform. That is Relief for the unemployed and poor; Recovery of the economy to normal levels; and Reform of the financial system to prevent a repeat depression.[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Deal
http://www.history.com/topics/new-dealThe Great Depression and American Politics
From 1933 until 1941, President Roosevelts programs and policies did more than just adjust interest rates, tinker with farm subsidies and create short-term make-work programs. They created a brand-new, if tenuous, political coalition that included white working people, African Americans and left-wing intellectuals. These people rarely shared the same interestsat least, they rarely thought they didbut they did share a powerful belief that an interventionist government was good for their families, the economy and the nation. Their coalition has splintered over time, but many of the New Deal programs that bound them togetherSocial Security, unemployment insurance and federal agricultural subsidies, for instanceare still with us today.
1934: The Art of the New Deal
An exhibition of Depression-era paintings by federally-funded artists provides a hopeful view of life during economic travails
By Jerry Adler
Smithsonian Magazine | Subscribe
June 2009
In early 1934, the United States was near the depths of what we hope will not go down in history as the First Great Depression. Unemployment was close to 25 percent and even the weather conspired to inflict misery: February was the coldest month on record in the Northeast. As the Federal Emergency Relief Act, a prototype of the New Deal work-relief programs, began to put a few dollars into the pockets of hungry workers, the question arose whether to include artists among the beneficiaries. It wasn't an obvious thing to do; by definition artists had no "jobs" to lose. But Harry Hopkins, whom President Franklin D. Roosevelt put in charge of work relief, settled the matter, saying, "Hell, they've got to eat just like other people!"
Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/1934-the-art-of-the-new-deal-132242698/#bcqpAmzARLWQgjrP.99
pampango
(24,692 posts)First New Deal (19331934)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Deal
Fiscal policy - Economy Act
Banking reform - Emergency Banking Act, GlassSteagall Act, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Monetary reform - Suspended the Gold Standard
Securities regulation - Securities Act of 1933, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Public works - Public Works Administration
Farm and rural programs - Resettlement Administration, Rural Electrification Administration, National Youth Administration, Civilian Conservation Corps, Tennessee Valley Authority, Agricultural Adjustment Administration
Housing Sector - Home Owners' Loan Corporation, Federal Housing Administration
Trade liberalization - Reciprocal Tariff Act
First Speaker
(4,858 posts)...that set up two generations of unique prosperity for all classes of Americans. Then economic sluggishness in the 1970s, combined with fading memories of the Depression, set up Reagan and the conservative renaissance, which has been working at chipping the accomplishments of the New Deal away. The immense economic disparities we see today show how successful that chipping away has been...