Analyze the New Deal under Franklin D. Roosevelt, including relief, recovery, and reform programs such as the CCC, WPA, and Social Security, and the expansion of the federal government's role (TEKS US History RC3 Government and Citizenship; RC4 Economics).

What this topic is asking

When Franklin Roosevelt took office in 1933, a quarter of Americans were jobless. His response, the New Deal, reshaped the relationship between citizens and their government. The TEKS want you to explain the New Deal's programs (organized as relief, recovery, and reform), key agencies such as the CCC, WPA, and Social Security, and how it expanded the federal government's role. This is a heavy Reporting Category 3 (Government and Citizenship) topic with strong Category 4 (Economics) ties.

Roosevelt and the New Deal

When Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) became president in 1933, he promised "a new deal for the American people" and launched a flurry of programs in his first "Hundred Days." Unlike Hoover, FDR believed the federal government should act directly to relieve suffering and restart the economy.

The three R's

Key programs

A handful of programs come up again and again:

• Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC): put young men to work on conservation projects (planting trees, building parks), addressing both unemployment and the environment.
• Works Progress Administration (WPA): employed millions on public works (roads, schools, bridges) and even funded artists and writers.
• Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA): built dams to control floods and bring cheap electricity to a poor rural region.
• Banking and finance reform: the FDIC insured bank deposits so people would not lose savings; the SEC regulated the stock market to curb the abuses that fed the crash.
• Social Security Act (1935): created old-age pensions and unemployment insurance, the heart of the modern safety net.

Expanding the federal government

The deepest change of the New Deal was constitutional and political: the federal government took on a permanent, active role in managing the economy and protecting citizens' welfare. This was a sharp break from the laissez-faire tradition and a major expansion of federal power, building on the Progressive Era's start.

Try this

Q1. State the "three R's" of the New Deal. [3]

• Cue. Relief (immediate help for the suffering and unemployed), recovery (restarting the economy), and reform (fixing the causes of the Depression to prevent another).

Q2. Explain how the Social Security Act expanded the role of the federal government. [2]

• Cue. By providing old-age pensions and unemployment insurance, the federal government took on a permanent responsibility for citizens' economic security, creating a social safety net and greatly expanding its role.