Student Name: Vivian Claire Hartman

Programs of the New Deal

You’ve learned about 12 federal programs and new laws that were part of the New Deal’s
attempt to end the Depression. Fill in the gaps in this table to review each programs, what it set
out to do, and how successful it was.

For example, in the first row, the program or law listed in the column on the left is “The 1933
Emergency Banking Relief Act,” and the middle column describes what this law tried to do.
Since the column on the right is blank, fill in that column with a description of the law’s success,
failure—or mixed results.

Program or Law What did it try to do? Was it successful?

The 1933 Stop bank failures by reforming Yes people put their money back
Emergency Banking the banking system. The Federal in the banks, which helped the
Relief Act Reserve would supervise banks economy.
and back them with federal
money. If a bank started to run
out of money, rather than let it
fail, the Federal Reserve would
loan it more money until it re-
stabilized.

The banking Act of This made the federal guaranty Yes! It became a permanent feature
1933 of bank customers’ deposits of American banking—the next time
permanent. you go to a bank, look around and
you will see a sign like this one
posted somewhere in it that says
that the money you deposit is
guaranteed by the FDIC. That means
that if the bank you use suddenly
went out of business, the federal
government will pay you the money
that was in your bank account, up to
$250,000—more than enough to
cover most bank accounts.
Student Name: Vivian Claire Hartman
Programs of the New Deal
The Securities Act It made it so public trade
of 1933 companies were required to
publish their profit losses and
net worth.
The Glass-Steagall This made it illegal for
Act (1933) commercial banks (banks that
individuals had savings and
checking accounts in) to
speculate in stocks.
US Securities and This organization oversaw the
Exchange enforcement of the Securities Act program being used today.
Commission of 1933. Creating it meant that
the requirements in the
Securities Act were meant to be
permanent.
Works Progress Unskilled people and the
Administration unemployed from a wide range
of fields (construction, medicine,
and the arts) were given short-
term jobs. They were paid by the
federal government. This was
supposed to get money
circulating again and jumpstart
hiring in long-term industries as
well.
The Agricultural The total amount of crops and
Adjustment produce was set to an amount
Administration sold each year. Farmers were
[AAA] (1933) paid for the amount or crops
they couldnt plant.
Yes! It kept companies from issuing
more stock that they could back up
with money on hand. This limited
stock speculation and brought the
paper value of the stock exchange
more in line with the real values of
the companies trading stocks on it.
Yes! Banks no longer had financial
relationships or partnerships with
stock brokers who convinced banks
to pour money into worthless stocks
on the advice of stock brokers who
were engaged in speculation.
Yes! this is still an exsisting
Yes! It provided desperately needed
jobs, services, and paychecks to the
public, and also jumpstarted some
long-term hiring. The services
provided, from vaccinations to
concerts, also boosted the public
morale.
Mixed: it was successful in stopping
over-supply of crops and livestock,
and in creating a permanent federal
role in agricultural planning and
farm subsidies. But it was shut
down as unconstitutional (price-
fixing) after just three years.
Student Name: Vivian Claire Hartman
Programs of the New Deal
The Resettlement The RA was created to relocate
Administration [RA] poor families from isolated
(1935) shacks and villages to planned
communities with electricity and
running water. The idea was that
ending rural poverty could be
jump-started by breaking
people’s ties to poor places and
letting them live in places they
could never afford to travel to or
afford a home in on their own.
The Rural It brought electricity to many
Electrification homes when before only 10
Administration percent of homes had
[REA] (1935) electricity. The govenment
payed for the electricity.
The Tennessee The TVA was established to build
Valley Authority dames in the Tennessee River
[TVA] (1933) Valley region to stop river
flooding and generate electricity
for the REA to sell.
The Social Security It established a retirement
Act of 1935 pension system,
unemployment payments, and
welfare benefits.
No! Even with 95 camps it wasnt
enough to house all the dust bowl
migrants. Very few families were
moved to planned comunities.
Yes! Over the decades, rural
America became fully electrified,
and the REA itself existed until 1994
when its functions were taken over
by the Rural Utilities Service. Quality
of life for rural Americans was
significantly improved by the REA.
Yes! It is still providing electricity
to 9 million people in 7 southern
states.
Yes! Some politicians worried that it
was socialism, but most Americans
were happy to have some kind of
guaranty that if they lost their job
they would not be out on the
streets because they had no money.
They were happy to pay a small
amount into Social Security to have
the assurance of financial help when
they were retired, or if they were
unemployed or injured. Today,
Americans still rely on receiving
Social Security payments when they
retire, and unemployment checks
when they are out of work.
Student Name: Vivian Claire Hartman

Programs of the New Deal

The AFL and CIO This guaranteed workers’ rights
to form unions where they
worked, join a union, engage in
collective bargaining, and go on
strike. It also created the
National Labor Relations Board to
enforce the new rights.
Yes! Union membership grew and
won important battles for fair
wages, working hours, and working
conditions. The National Labor
Relations Board still exists today.

The National The goal of the NIRA/NRA was to No! It was not successful
Industrial Recovery have the federal government becasue the supreme court
Act [NIRA or NRA] work with business leaders to overuled it.
(1933) decide on a fair price they could
all meet. They would also work
together to set fair wages, which
would help avoid conflicts with
unions. This would end unfair
competition that was driving
some companies out of business.