Franklin D Roosevelt's New Deal - Essay Example

First New Deal The First New Deal started functioning during 1933 and ended during 1935, during this period, various reforms were made to strengthen the institutions of US. These reforms include the AAA or Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, this act was passed with the aim of insuring minimum wages for the farmers. According to this Act, farmers were paid in order to produce less so prices of agricultural produce could increase. Another reform made during the period of 1933 was the NIRA or National Industrial Recovery Act, this act was proposed and accepted in three different parts.

Under this act, PWA or Public Works Administration was created for the management of government projects. The administration hired huge number of people while spending a total of $7 billion on development of projects. The Administration even created various labour procedures for working hours, competition, banning of child labour and wages. Individuals hired by this administration were paid a minimum wage of $1.25/hour and they were permitted to work for eight hours per week. Another adjustment made under this act was related to membership of trade unions.

This act allowed trade unions to participate in business matters and these unions were legally allowed to bargain on behalf of the employees. The president even passed the Emergency Banking Act due to which banks reopened and money and gold being saved by the public were deposited back to the banks. According to this act only the best banks of US were allowed to start functioning again, and that too under the supervision of the government and these banks were lend money under compulsory situations.

Banks that were smaller in size experienced shutdown and merger with banks that were larger in size, depositor’s money was returned on the basis of 85 cents for each $1 deposited by the customers. Later Glass-Steagall Act was passed by the president; the purpose of this act was to restrict the participation of commercial banks in securities firms. The president even created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, though this corporation, deposits that were higher than the amount of $2500 were insured, and this move was made to decrease the risk of deposit getting out of banks.

Second New Deal The second New Deal refers to the next 100 days of the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, during this period; he passed various acts and created various programs for correcting the relationship between the government and the public and to further strengthen existing institutions. One of the greatest acts passed by the president was the Social Security Act, under this act under which benefits were forwarded to those who were retired and to the children of those families that that existed without a father.

The pensions and the benefits forwarded to the people under this act were to be financed by the taxes paid by the citizens of US. The president even created the Works Progress Administration which helped in providing employment to over 8.5 million individuals who worked on the development of government projects such as roads, highways, public offices, irrigation system and playgrounds. These projects not only helped in decreasing unemployment in US, these projects even helped in building the infrastructure of US