The Great Depression and Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal

Essay by applejackHigh School, 11th gradeA+, May 2009

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IB History Of The Americas

Ms. Foster (B)

23 March 2007

The Great Depression

Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal and the depression relief scheme of Brazil's Getulio Vargas were in some ways similar, but also in some ways different. Vargas's and Roosevelt's measures imparted to ordinary citizens, in most cases for the first time, the premise that government cared about them and would defend their interests. They were both created to try to get their country out of the depression and satisfy the needs of the ordinary citizen. However, these two leaders had some different ideas on how to do this.

Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal consisted of essentially two types of reforms; social and economic. One of the most important of his economic reforms was the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933. The purpose of this act was to get people back permanently so they would be able to buy more goods which would simulate industry and help the economy to function normally again.

Included in this act was the introduction of the Public Works Administration which provided money for the building of useful public works including dams, bridges, hospitals, roads, schools, and government buildings. The most important part of building all these things was it created several million extra jobs.

Another important part of the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 was it set up the National Recovery Administration which abolished child labor, introduced a minimum wage and an eight-hour working day, and helped to create more employment. These rules were not mandatory, but employers were pressured to accept them and those

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who did were allowed to put an official sticker on their goods showing a blue eagle and the letters NRA which showed consumers they complied with these new rules. Even...