New Deal Programs
New Deal Programs were a result of the Great Depression. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt took vigorous action to implement programs that would restore American success. Just five days after Roosevelt was inaugurated, he closed all banks for four days and helped reorganize prospective banks and close the failed ones. After the "bank holiday," Roosevelt encouraged the American people to put their money and confidence back into the banks and at the end of the month, nearly 75 percent of the banks reopened. Encouraging Congress to end Prohibition, Roosevelt believed much of the country's success could come in alcohol industry, which the 19th Amendment prohibited. President Roosevelt encouraged the introduction of federal programs and perhaps the most common one was the Works Progress Administration which gave federal jobs to unemployed people. Roosevelt's surplus of federal programs angered the conservative majority who thought he was overstepping his bounds and already had initiatives in place to counter Roosevelt's. When Roosevelt threatened to "Court-pack," or add justices that would pass his laws, the conservative majority rethought their plans. Many of Roosevelt's New Deal Programs still last with us today.
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