Question

In what ways did the New Deal both provide direct relief and create new jobs? Which programs served each of these goals?

Answer 1

The New Deal was a series of measures and projects enacted during the Great Depression (The worst economic downturn of America) that aimed to restore public confidence in the banking system, to provide relief to those most in need (like the elderly and the poor), to employ millions of Americans, to reform infrastructure, to regulate the economy and others.

The New Deal both provided direct relief and created new jobs through the establishment of government agencies, some of them were: 1) the Civilian Conservation Corps (1933) that gave millions of young men employment on environmental projects that, among others, included the plantation of trees and construction of trails and shelters for those homeless; 2) the Works Progress Administration (1935) that employed mostly unskilled men to carry out public works projects, such as the construction of public buildings and roads that benefited the whole society; 3) and the Tennessee Valley Authority (1933) that provided jobs to people and brought electricity to the rural Tennessee River Valley, operated the hydroelectric Wilson Dam, improved the navigability of the Tennessee River and developed the agriculture, commerce and industry in the region.