New Deal

The New Deal was the name that President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave to a complex package of economic programs he effected between 1933 and 1935 with the goal of giving relief to the unemployed and badly hurt farmers, reform of business and financial practices, and promoting recovery of the economy during the Great Depression. Sometimes, the “Second New Deal” is used to distinguish programs that were enacted beginning in 1935, including the Wagner Act to promote labor unions, the Works Progress Administration, WPA, relief program to create millions of new jobs, the National Youth Administration and most significantly, the Social Security Act of 1935 which provided guaranteed income to Americans 65 and older.