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Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)
The Federal Emergency Relief Administration, established in May of 1933, was a grant-making agency that distributed federal aid to the states for relief. By the end of December 1935, FERA distributed over $3.1 billion and employed more than 20 million people. FERA's primary goal was to decrease household unemployment by creating new unskilled jobs in both local and state government. (1st New Deal, relief) -
Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA)
In the May of 1933, the AAA was designed by federal government to boost agricultural prices by decreasing surpluses. The government bought livestock for slaughter and paid farmers not to plant on part of their land. The government aimed to reduce export surpluses, and raising prices, in hopes that supply and demand would level out to normalcy. (1st New Deal, recovery) -
Civilian Conservations Corps (CCC)
The CCC, established by Roosevelt,, allowed single men between the ages of 18 and 25 to enroll in work programs to improve America's public lands, forests, and parks. This allowed unemployed men to become employed and also benefited America's natural land and parks. (1st New Deal, relief) -
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
The TVA was a U.S. government agency established to control floods, improve navigation, improve the living standards of farmers, and produce electricity along the Tennessee River. This program was important because it generated and sold surplus electricity, while creating jobs and conserving water power. (1st New Deal, reform) -
Public Works Administration (PWA)
The PWA built large-scale public works such as dams, bridges, hospitals, and schools. Its goals were to provide employment, stabilize purchasing power, and help revive the economy. The PWA was “To encourage national industrial recovery, to foster fair competition, and to provide for the construction of certain useful public works, and for other purposes." (1st New Deal, relief) -
National Recovery Administration (NRA)
The NRA was established to stimulate business recovery through fair-practice codes during the Great Depression. The NRA was an important element of the National Industrial Recovery Act, which authorized the president to institute industry-wide codes that would hopefully eliminate unfair trade practices, reduce unemployment, restore competition, and institute minimum wages/maximum hours. (1st New Deal, recovery) -
Works Progress Administrations (WPA)
The WPA was established and created to employ millions of job-seekers, mostly unskilled men, to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads. This administration resulted in millions of jobs on public-works projects. Workers built highways and public buildings, dredged rivers and harbors, and promoted soil and water conservation. (2nd New Deal, recovery) -
National Youth Administration (NYA)
The NYA provided job training and work for people ages 16-25 and provided part time jobs for students. As a result of the NYA, young men and women who finished school and were unemployed could work and develop skills that they could use to continue working once they finished the program. Jobs included building bridges, building schools, building furniture, nursing, and junior clerks. (2nd New Deal, relief) -
The Wagner Act/ National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)
The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 is a foundational statute of United States labor law that guarantees the right of private sector employees to organize into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining, and take collective action such as strikes. This act protects workers and provides a framework for collective bargaining. (2nd New Deal, reform) -
Social Security Act (SSA)
The SSA established two types of provisions for old-age security. First, the SSA established Federal aid to the States to enable them to provide cash pensions to their needy aged. It also established a system of Federal old-age benefits for retired workers.This Act provided for unemployment insurance, old-age insurance, and means-tested welfare programs. (2nd New Deal, reform) -
The Banking Act of 1935
The Banking Act of 1935 authorized the president to appoint a new Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, placing control of interest rates and other money-market policies at federal level rather than with regional banks. It required all states to join the Federal Reserve System by 1942 to take advantage of the federal deposit insurance system, and also encouraged the nation's central banking system. (2nd New Deal, reform) -
Rural Electrification Administration (REA)
The REA was created to bring electricity to America's rural areas. This act enabled the federal government to “make loans…for rural electrification and the furnishing of electric energy to persons in rural areas who are not receiving central station service.” The federal government provided low-cost loans to farmers who created complexes that installed and oversaw power lines. (2nd New Deal, relief)