Fdr’s New Deal

FDR’s New Deal

It is nearly impossible to discus the economic situation of the 1930’s without discussing one of the major things that occurred during it: Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. The New Deal was put together by Roosevelt in order to satisfy the three R’s; Relieve, Recover and Reform. In doing so, he hoped to bring an end to the great depression. The new deal did not come in one form though. It took on the forms of many separate programs attempting to satisfy relief, recovery or reform. A few of the most notable programs were FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation), the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps), and the PWA (Public Works Association). The New deal did not satisfy each of the three R’s even though. Many of the programs set fort the by FDR were to satisfy recovery, and very few programs were meant to reform.

Before discussing the various programs of the New Deal, the main causes of the Great Depression must be discussed. One of the causes of the great depression was the over production of goods. Due to the invention of the assembly line, products could be produced very quickly, and extremely efficiently. This caused a drop in prices, because companies could compete with each other more easily. In order to make enough money though, the companies would have to produce more of the products in order to match the previous income they had, which caused a surplus of goods that Americans didn’t buy. Also, during this time, there was a huge problem with the uneven distribution of wealth in the United States. During this time period, the wealthy were raking in the riches, while the lower income people remained at the same income. The last major cause of the Great Depression was the loss of export sales. During this time period, the government raised most of the tariffs on exported goods. Since WWI left most European nations crippled economically, they were unable to afford American goods, and bought their own goods. This incurred a huge blow to our economy.

The three main goals of FDR’s New Deal were to provide immediate relief to those suffering the worst from the great Depression, to help the public recover by giving jobs to the unemployed, and reforming the standards and laws to help prevent another Depression from occurring in the future.

The main theme of FDR’s New Deal was to reinstate confidence into the economy. One of the sections that needed the most help were banks. When the stock market began to plummet, the banks began to invest everyone’s money into it in order to get it to rise. Needless to say, this failed, and even people without money in the stock market lost most of their savings. One of his programs that fit into the reform category, and aimed to build up confidence in banking once again was the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The aim of this program was to prevent banks from loaning out too much money, by requiring them to carry enough