The New Deal & 3 R's- Relief, Recovery, Reform
New Deal/3 R's OverviewAfter coming into office to replace President Hoover in 1933, President Roosevelt proposed a New Deal to combat the economic crisis. This New Deal consisted of 3 R's: relief, recovery, and reform. Relief aimed to temporarily help the millions of suffering and unemployed Americans. Recovery strived to help the economy rise up from the depression (programs for recovery were designed to boost the economy through government spending). Finally, reforms analyzed what caused the depression and attempted to prevent such a crisis from recurring in the future. During his presidency, Roosevelt inflicted two New Deals. The First New Deal came in 1933, during the "first hundred days", and the Second New Deal came in 1935.
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Relief
Social Security actThis law was enacted in 1935 and aimed to provide aid and financial security to retirees, the unemployed, people with disabilities, and dependent mothers with children. During the Great Depression 50% of senior citizens lived in poverty, 50% of people were unemployed or underemployed, and 50% of children did not have acceptable shelter, food, or medical care. The Social Security Act aimed to help these people out and provide relief during this crisis. This was perhaps the most significant program of the New Deal, and it is still intact today.
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Civilian conservation Corps (CCC)The CCC provided temporary jobs to millions of unemployed Americans in reforestation, road construction, prevention of forest erosion in an attempt to stimulate the economy. The CCC (in affiliation with the Works Progress Administration (WPA)) built more than 650,000 miles of roads in addition to 150,000 schools, airports, hospitals, parks, dams, and other public projects.
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Recovery
Works Progress Administration (WPA)
Like the CCC, the WPA provided government jobs to unemployed Americans in order to stimulate the economy. Unlike the CCC which provided temporary jobs, though, the WPA provided long term jobs building schools, airports, and other public projects.
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Home owners loan corporation (HOLC) The Home Owners Loan Corporation gave loans to home owners so that they could pay their mortgages. This program prevented people from losing their homes and going homeless, but it also prevented more banks from going under, or failing.
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Reform
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)During the Great Depression 40% of banks failed, in fact banks were failing everyday during this economic crisis. Roosevelt created the FDIC, which guaranteed savings deposits for all Americans. People could now trust private banks. If banks failed now, Americans were guaranteed that they would not lose all of their savings. This reform helped to prevent panic associated with banking from occurring.
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Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)Roosevelt created the Securities and Exchange Commission in order to regulate Wall Street and the stock market exchanges. One of the agency's purposes was to prevent fraud and abuse in stock markets by banks and corporations.The agency also enforces regulations to protect investors from illegal financial activities by banks and corporations.
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