Key New Deal Programs and Their Impacts

FDIC

Insured bank deposits up to $5000. Banks were required to have FDIC insurance to protect their customers.

TVA

Authorized the construction of hydroelectric dams in the Tennessee Valley.

CCC

Put 18-25 year old males to work on conservation projects throughout the US; $25 of their $30 salary was sent home to parents.

PWA

Spent $6 billion on 34,000 large-scale construction projects. The PWA gave contracts to private construction companies; it did not hire workers directly.

CWA

Program to address unemployment during the harsh winter of 1933-34. Directly employed 4 million for shovel-ready jobs (laying sewer pipe; road and bridge repairs; airport construction).

NRA

Attempted to eliminate destructive competition by creating 'codes of fair conduct' for each industry.

WPA

Implemented to address continuing unemployment. The WPA spent $11 billion on the construction of schools, libraries, bridges, airports and other projects. It employed 8 million.

Social Security Act

Provided old-age insurance for retirees over 65 and their spouses. Workers and employers would contribute equally through payroll taxes.

Fair Labor Standards Act

Created a maximum workweek of 44 hrs per week (later reduced to 40); barred child labor; and established a minimum wage.

REA

Provided federal loans to construct power lines in isolated rural areas.

Impact of CCC

Reduced crime and competition for jobs by taking young men out of urban areas; source of income for families; did useful work.

Notable projects of PWA

The Lincoln Tunnel (NYC); the Grand Coulee Dam.

Controversy of CWA

The program was criticized as a costly 'make-work' program.

NRA Codes

Established minimum wages, maximum hours, and minimum prices for goods.

Section 7(a) of NRA

Guaranteed the right to join a union and barred yellow dog contracts.

Schechter Poultry v. United States

The NRA was unconstitutional because it regulated trade that wasn't interstate in nature.

WPA Theater Project

Included the WPA Theater Project which employed those in the arts economy to write, act, put on production, paint murals on public buildings.

Notable projects of WPA

John Steinbeck's novels Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath.

Unemployment compensation

Paid by a new tax on employers.

Disability insurance

Aided families and was paid by federal funds given to states.

Social safety net

Designed to create a 'social safety net' to maintain some income for those looking for work.

Maximum workweek of FLSA

Created a maximum workweek of 44 hrs per week, later reduced to 40.

Child labor

Barred by the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Electricity in rural areas

By 1949, 90% of farms had electricity, up from only 12.6% in 1935.