3.2.1

The New Deal

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The New Deal

In 1933 Franklin D Roosevelt (FDR) launched his ‘New Deal’. This was a programme to bring America out of economic depression.

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Franklin D Roosevelt

  • FDR was elected as President in 1933 after a career in the Navy and then as Governor of New York.
  • FDR was extremely popular as he pledged to the American people that he would seek a ‘new deal’ and a way out of poverty. By 1932, 25% of the American population was unemployed.
  • In 1933 FDR launched his ‘New Deal’. This was a programme to bring America out of economic depression.
  • The deal promised help for the unemployed, subsidies for farmers and welfare payments for the poor and elderly.
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FDR and black people

  • FDR was a supporter of the black community.
  • FDR appointed Clark Foreman as the ‘Special Advisor for the Economic Status of the Negro’.
  • Although FDR appointed various white people who were sympathetic to the black cause, many of the state officials he needed to carry out the work didn’t share his views.
    • This resulted in a lack of assistance for black people.
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The alphabet agencies

  • FDR secured vast sums of money and established ‘alphabet agencies’ that were government institutions created to assist with the economic depression.
    • An example of an alphabet agency is the AAA.
    • This was the Agricultural Adjustment Administration but was known as the AAA, hence the term ‘alphabet agencies’.

Jump to other topics

1‘Free at Last’ 1865-77

2The Triumph of ‘Jim Crow’ 1883-c1890

3The New Deal and Race Relations, 1933–41

4‘I have a dream’, 1954–68

5Obama's Campaign for the Presidency, 2004–09

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