What few people know about the program that saved America Meg Jacobs
In 1932, the Great Depression
entered its third winter.
One in four Americans was unemployed,
marking the highest unemployment rate
in the country’s history.
Tens of thousands had lost
their homes and life savings,
and there was very little confidence that
Republican President Herbert Hoover
could turn things around.
So when the election came, voters flocked
to his Democratic competitor.
Franklin D. Roosevelt promised
a New Deal for Americans—
a comprehensive set of legislation
to support struggling citizens
and put the country back to work.
The massive federal intervention Roosevelt
proposed was a radical challenge
to the individualist ideals that governed
many Americans’ lives.
But due to the extreme circumstances,
he began his presidency
with public and political support.
With the help of his advisers, Roosevelt’s
first hundred days in office
were perhaps the most eventful
of any US president.
In just over three months, he pushed
over 15 bills through Congress
and created an “alphabet soup”
of government agencies
to help farmers, workers, and businesses.
The New Deal’s first priority was
stabilizing the banks.
Over the previous three years,
many Americans had withdrawn their savings
out of fear the bank would lose
their money in bad investments.
So to regain the public’s confidence,
FDR increased federal oversight
of commercial banks,
and created bank insurance to guarantee
that any deposited funds
would always be available.
Next, he established the Federal Emergency
Relief Administration.
FERA cataloged each state’s
need for relief
and provided funds to help citizens afford
groceries, rent, clothing, coal,
and other necessities.
Meanwhile, the Agricultural Adjustment
Administration subsidized farmers
and educated them in improving
planting techniques.
These policies fed and housed thousands,
but they didn’t significantly address
the New Deal’s biggest promise:
reducing unemployment.
So the Civilian Conservation Corps was
established to employ
over 250,000 young men for projects
like tree planting, irrigation,
and fire prevention.
The CCC offered onsite work camps
that provided food, shelter,
and education to those employed;
mostly young, single men
with families in need of relief.
Subsequent programs
like the Works Progress Administration
and the Tennessee Valley Authority
added projects building roads, bridges,
and hydroelectric dams.
The WPA also funded art, writing,
and theater programs.
These initiatives cut
civilian unemployment in half.
And they did so alongside labor acts
that abolished child labor,
granted unions the right
to collective bargaining,
and set the first national minimum wage.
Benefits were also created to help
those unable to work.
The Social Security Act established
an old-age pension system
in addition to unemployment insurance,
disability benefits,
and welfare assistance.
But despite these sweeping policies,
the New Deal helped some groups
more than others.
Black Americans were hit hardest
by the economic downturn,
and the New Deal’s impact
on Black communities varied widely.
In northern cities like Chicago,
Black citizens received a large share of
jobs, vocational training, and education,
with New Deal programs teaching more than
one million Black Americans to read.
Northern Black communities also received
an influx of public housing,
though it was heavily segregated.
In the South, results were less positive.
Roosevelt relied heavily on the support
of Southern Democrats,
who welcomed economic development
but fought to preserve white supremacy.
They ensured that new labor laws
excluded domestic servants
and agricultural workers,
occupations held by many Black Americans.
These politicians and many others also
undermined Eleanor Roosevelt’s attempts
to push her husband toward supporting
a federal anti-lynching law.
As a result, the New Deal has often been
called a “raw deal” for Black communities.
And many modern inequities in housing,
employment, and financial stability
are partially due to New Deal programs
prioritizing white Americans.
In these ways and more, the New Deal
didn’t fully live up to its promises.
Despite employing
over 8 million Americans,
unemployment never went
lower than 14%.
And the US economy wouldn’t fully
recover until the country’s mobilization
for World War II.
But this bold campaign
of progressive policies
did empower unions to start
their own revolution.
In the coming decades, northern liberals,
Black Americans,
and other working minorities,
united to fight discriminatory hiring.
In the process, they reshaped
the Democratic Party;
challenging its racist leadership,
and laying the groundwork
for an emerging civil rights coalition.