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Example research essay topic: Works Progress Administration Social Security Act - 1,595 words

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... t successful in abating a failure in the money system and gaining enthusiastic support for the Roosevelt administration. They did not, however, significantly reduce the immense pressure felt by the public as a result of the Great Depression. Along with this reality, several crucial New Deal programs were found to have violated conservative constitutional theory; the National Recovery Administration, the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, and others were invalidated by the Supreme Court, which was dominated by conservatives with a narrow view of the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution, the basis of much New Deal legislation. Other skeptics of the administration feared that the country was being lead down a path to socialism. During the period from 1935 to the middle of 1936, while FDR prepared for re-election, a new group of reforms were set in motion.

This new group of reforms is referred to as the second New Deal. Emphasis was removed from cooperation with businesses to reforming social issues. Roosevelt called the legislation passed during the second New Deal must legislation (Tindall and Shi 1254). The Wagner Act [also known as the National Labor Relations Act] prohibited employers from interfering with union activities and gave workers the right to bargain through unions of their own choice. The Social Security Act of 1935 was the New Deals supreme achievement, according to Roosevelt (1255). These acts obviously reinforced the labor forces right to assert their own goals and positions as well as to organize activities and negotiations independently from the control of outside interest groups.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA), authorized by Congress in April 1935, was the first massive attempt to deal with unemployment and its demoralizing effect on millions of Americans (Nash and Jefferey et al 781). By employing several million people per year, the WPA was able to complete many socially important projects including bridges, libraries, and golf courses. The Works Progress Administration had many critics, as the workers were often pictured as loafers and lackadaisical in production. The WPA did account for many thousands of useful projects. The National Youth Administration (NYA) complemented the Works Progress Administration by supporting 16 to 25 year old people for work on similar public assignments. The longest lasting social reform came in the form of a tax on personal income to fund some of the social based programs introduced by the government during this time.

The Social Security Act is sometimes considered the greatest accomplishment of the entire New Deal era. This tax would be used to establish a system of old-age pensions, unemployment insurance, and welfare benefits for such protected groups as dependent children and the handicapped. These reforms established a framework that shaped the American welfare system through the remainder of the century. The high volumes of social legislation during this period also included some important programs aimed at aiding the farmers and rural communities. The Resettlement Administration (RA) was used to allow for relocating many farmers to government held land. Lack of funds and fears that the Roosevelt administration was trying to establish Soviet-style collective farms limited the effectiveness of the RA program (783).

A different program would prove to be immensely more important to rural America than the Resettlement Administration. The Rural Electrification Administration (REA) was given authority to furbish the right to distribute electricity to areas not being serviced by the major private power companies. Only 10 percent of the nations farms had electricity in 1936. When the REAs lines were finally attached, they dramatically changed the lives of millions of farm families who had been able only to dream about radios, washing machines, and farm equipment advertised in magazines (783). The hardships endured by these families without electricity would, for the most part, now become an inconvenience of the past. This period of reform attempted to address other issues with more radical ideas.

The government passed legislation to limit the power of utility corporations and even planned to tax the very wealthy in order to level the financial playing field. This control of corporations and their respective power would meet plenty of opposition and would not be very effective since any attempt they made to pass this type of legislation seemed to project an appearance of communist influences. The power companies were not as successful in shedding the governments control. The Public Utility Holding Company Act was introduced in an attempt to limit the control over public utilities held by a few private companies. The company could be eliminated if efficiency levels were not maintained within a given period of time.

The successes greatly outweighed these later failures and more radical tendencies. For this reason, the public put their faith in Roosevelt's administration. This upswing toward an increase of social interest in massive waves of legislation led to a landslide victory for Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1936 election. After the election, Roosevelt entered into the third and final phase of his New Deal. This late portion of the New Deal administration was initially focused on decreasing the prevalence of impoverished people across America. Unfortunately, much of this later period would be focused on reforms within the government.

These internal reforms were aimed at a problematic and very conservative Supreme Court as well as the lesser courts in the judicial system. Roosevelt was bitter about the many programs that had been overturned by the Supreme Court. He tried to add more youthful justices to the Court and thereby reduce the strong conservative trends held there. This aggressive action and attempt to load the bench with sympathetic justices was quickly met with resistance in the Republican Party as well as with many members of the Democratic Party. The public also lost enthusiasm in Roosevelt for these almost dictatorial tactics.

Roosevelt eventually conceded and backed down in the face of public criticism over the attempt to manipulate the time- honored institution. The Court would eventually change its position and even support some controversial reform programs. His attempt to reorganize the Court dissipated energy and slowed the momentum of his legislative program (791). The third period of the New Deal included some more legislation on issues addressed in the previous periods.

Organizations like the Farm Security Administration (FSA), the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC), and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) were introduced to provide more relief, along with existing organizations, for the farming industry, migratory workers, and homeowners. The Federal Housing Administration provided long term, low interest loans for households in order to save many from foreclosure. New Deal housing policies helped make the suburban home with the long FHA mortgage part of the American way of life, but the policies also contributed to the decline of many urban neighborhoods (792). Of all the legislation introduced in this period, none were more important than the Fair Labor Standards Act. This established the minimum wage concept and provided for subsequent increases in the minimum wage over a period of time.

The policy also improved the standards of labor for most groups. The workweek was reduced to the now standard 40 hours per week with the exception for agricultural workers and household servants. When this program was implemented many workers enjoyed an immediate increase in pay and now had much more disposable income in the home. This program also set age limits and did not place any emphasis on gender. This made anyone under the age of 16 unavailable for work in most industries.

By doing this, the government effectively eliminated the shocking abuses endured by children as they were sent off to work in order to contribute to their households income. And without emphasizing the matter, the law made no distinction between men and women, thus diminishing, if not completely ending, the need for special legislation for women (793). Overall, the New Deal increased the governments sense of social responsibility for its citizens. All of these bills were part of Roosevelt's complicated, experimental, and radical plan, supported by his interest in providing relief from economic disparity, economic and social recovery, and social reform. Roosevelt's ideas of a big government were opposed by conservatives and businesses, which had enjoyed years of laissez-faire practices. However, most Americans gladly embraced the New Deal as saving the country despite its relatively small accomplishments.

Roosevelt was criticized for spending as much as he did on his programs, but some economists believe that he should have spent much more. Roosevelt's New Deal was a brand new approach to government that greatly limited states rights, strongly favored workers and unions, and formed programs that for many critics were borderline socialist. The charisma and enthusiasm he held for his New Deal made it a key ingredient for holding the country together through one of its most tumultuous periods. The limited success of the administration was no longer a concern for anyone after the beginning of World War II in 1939.

This worldwide event would boost the economy tremendously and jolt the United States back into prosperity. After all is said and done, the New Deal administration under Franklin Roosevelt laid down the framework and guidelines for America social policy still in effect today. Works Cited 1. Nash, Gary B. , Jeffrey, Julie Roy, Howe, John R. , Frederick, Peter J. , Davis, Allen F. , Winkler, Allan M. , general eds. , The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society. Vol. 2. , 5 th ed. Addison Wesley Educational Publishers Inc. , 2001 2.

New Deal. The Columbia Encyclopedia. 1993 ed. , p. 26532 3. Tindall, George, and Shi, David. America: A Narrative History. W. W.

Norton, New York, 1999


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Research essay sample on Works Progress Administration Social Security Act

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