The New Deal & The Great Society

Head Start (GS)

self help program for poor preschoolers, early childhood education program

Job Corps (GS)

vocation education, literacy programs, literacy services

Community Action Program (GS)

allowed poor to run antipoverty programs in their own neighborhoods

National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities (GS)

provided funding for the arts and for creative and scholarly projects

Elementary and Secondary Education Act (GS)

provided funds for poor school districts, special ed programs, and expanded Head Start

Child Nutrition Act (GS)

added breakfasts to the school lunch program

Medicare (GS)

provided health insurance for all people 65 and older

Medicaid (GS)

provided funds to states to pay for medical care for the poor and disabled

Food Stamp Act (GS)

expanded federal program to help poor people buy food

Immigration Act (GS)

abolished discriminatory quotas based on national origins

Federal Emergency Relief Administration (ND)

offered grants of federal funding to states and local governments operating forms of relief for the jobless and hopeless

Agricultural Adjustment Administration (ND)

attempt to guarantee reasonable profits for business and fair wages and hours for labor

Civilian Conservation Corps (ND)

employed young men for projects on federal lands and paid their families small monthly sums

National Recovery Administration (ND)

encouraged farmers to reduce production by offering to pay government subsidies for every acre they plowed under

Public Works Administration (ND)

allotted funding to state and local governments for building public works

Tennessee Valley Authority (ND)

hired thousands of people in the Tennessee Valley to build dams, operate electric power plants, control following and erosion, and manufacture fertilizer; sold electricity to residents of the region at rates well below market value from private power companies

Emergency Banking Relief Act (ND)

authorized the government to examine the finances of banks closed during the Bank Holiday and reopen those judged to be sounds

Glass-Steagall Act & FDIC (ND)

increased regulation of the banks and limited how banks could invest people money; the FDIC guaranteed people’s individual bank deposits

Home Owners Loan Corporation (ND)

provided refinancing of small homes to prevent foreclosures

Farm Credit Administration (ND)

provided low interest farm loans and mortgages to prevent foreclosures on the property of indebted farmers

Civil Works Administration (ND)

added to the PWA and other programs creating jobs; hired laborers for temporary construction projects sponsored by the federal government

Securities and Exchange Commission (ND)

placed strict limits on speculative practices, required financial disclosure by corporations to protect investors from fraud and insider trading

Federal Housing Administration (ND)

insured bank loans for building new houses and repairing old ones

origins of the Great Society

When Kennedy was assassinated, Johnson was sworn in with a vision to build "A Great Society" for the American people; elimination of poverty and racial injustice, reduction of crime, and improvement of the environment

origins of the New Deal

When Roosevelt became president he came into the White House with a plan: The New Deal; during the Great Depression, he aimed to restore prosperity to Americans with three goals: relief, recovery, and reform